LifeTalk Podcast

Hope That Holds

• LifeHouse Church • Season 6 • Episode 32

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When life tilts—whether toward loss or success—where does your hope actually rest? We open our October theme on hope by drawing a clear line between fragile wishes and the rugged assurance Scripture describes. With Jarvis Brennan joining us, we explore why biblical hope is not a “maybe,” but a confident expectation rooted in God’s character and promises—and how that changes the way we suffer, celebrate, and make everyday choices.

We unpack Hebrews 11’s vision of faith as the substance of what we hope for and the evidence of what we can’t yet see. From Romans 8’s future glory to James 1’s refining trials, we show how an eternal perspective can hold steady under a diagnosis, a strained marriage, financial pressure, or the ache of grief. Hope doesn’t erase tears; it gives them direction. It refuses denial and instead reframes pain inside a bigger, truer story where God’s presence, purpose, and promise have the final say.

We also talk about the quieter danger—good times. Drawing from Philippians 4, we look at how abundance can shift our trust into work, wealth, or relationships, and how subtle idols overpromise and underdeliver. Jarvis shares practical steps to re-anchor your heart: assess your reality honestly, name who God is in it, restate what He’s promised, and respond with faithful next steps. Along the way, we revisit Abraham’s story, contrast works-based religion with the finished work of Christ, and remember that hope has an object—and His name is Jesus.

If this conversation helps you steady your gaze, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review so others can find it. Where is your hope anchored today?

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Intro music by Joey Blair

SPEAKER_01:

What's up, Life Talk family? Welcome back to the Life Talk podcast. We are getting the month of October started, and I am joined by a very and maybe the most special guest we've had. Drumroll, Jarvis Brennan. Jarvis is here. What's going on, man?

SPEAKER_00:

What's up, man? I don't know what the most special. Uh, but I'm had to set you up.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, had to set the bar really high for this episode. Get people in engaged. That'll be the title. Most special guest. Most special guest. So you get special guest stats.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh no, it's a it's a joy to be on this side. Uh it's been a while. I know.

SPEAKER_01:

So we give you a hard time, but for those who don't know, Jarvis does wear a lot of hats around here. So uh we are always excited to have him on the podcast. Uh when his schedule allows these days. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you're killing it. So keep it up, and yeah, you kill it. But we love getting with the audience every week and excited to have you. Like we said, we're kicking off October, so our theme this month is going to be we hope. So we finished investing in September, a lot of good uh topics on that, but we're looking at hope this month, and I think and something we miss a lot of times, and and really just all about hope we have. And so you got an opportunity to preach awesome Sunday, and and bring in the message to just kind of reflect, you know, on you've been studying hope, preparing on this for a long time. So, what should we really know about about hoping and Christian walk being faithfully different?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, I think that's that's one of the biggest things about um the the faith and really us being faithfully different is the fact that we hope, right? Uh we're it's not this. Uh I think it's good to start with what it's not, right? Hope is not just this wishful thinking, right? Thinking that, oh man, I hope that it rains so my crops can be watered, or I hope that we have pizza for dinner, or I hope my team wins the Super Bowl, or you know, different things like that, where we're uncertain about the outcome, right? Where we're we're wondering what will be the finality of this situation, right? Or I hope that it's true. We're not wondering if it's if it's true or if it's something that we can rely on, but really hope is a confident expectation or assurance based on a sure foundation for which we wait with joy and full confidence. So it's knowing, it's understanding, it's being sure that God has promised something, and that promise will come to pass, right? That it's true, that it, that it's not uh, it's there's no way fallible uh in it. There's nothing about it that that is. And so um, as you think about hope, right? That that's one of the biggest things, right? When we have a sure hope, we're confident in the fact that, man, the things of this life, they may, you know, be trials, they may be hard, they may be whatever, but in the end, we know we know the end, right? And we know that the hope that we have today, you know, I think it's super important.

SPEAKER_01:

I know we'll get to love at the end of the year. Sometimes the English language doesn't do us justice. And I think, like you well pointed out, there can be a lot of misconceptions of what we view hope culturally as, as you said, just as wishful thinking, maybe, maybe not. Most of the time we equate hope as you know, just wanting, maybe desiring something, but not having a guarantee. But that's not what the Bible tells us. 100%, not at all. A lot of times we miss what the Bible says about hope so often.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and and hope has, I mean, just this crazy. As I'm studying, I never really, I guess, recognized, but as I've been studying, hope is really a synonym for so many words, right? Like hope is often tied in with faith, right? Things that are in the future, things that we're looking to in the future, in faith for, we're hoped. Like they're they're they're based in hope or assurance, right? We can be assured in hope because we know that God is true. And so when he says that our salvation is sure, we can have that same hope that it's true, right? Not a again, not a wishful thinking uh in any way. And so it's very interesting to think about scripture and where it kind of ties in, uh, right, Hebrews uh 11.1 talks about faith and the things that in that you hoped for. Like it's this dichotomy of the both and you know what I mean, like an already, but a not yet. And so um, yeah, it's a very interesting thing that I didn't really think about in the fullness because of the way that our our English you know uh language uses hope. I use hope so many times, right? And like in a lot of the ways that I that I said, I hope this happens, or um, but I think and I don't think that's wrong.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't make that true. Like I say, I very much see it like love. Yeah, and my thought went exactly to Hebrews 11 as well, the hall of faith, but like you say, so much the things hoped for, the things unseen.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, a hope is really based on that promise that that God gives us. And so, like you say, it's not wrong. We shouldn't, you know, for anybody out there, we're not beating you up if you say hope in terms of like I hope the, you know, whoever your football team is wins, or you know, whatever sport, or you, you know, there's not wrong to use it in that context, but but when we're talking biblically, when we're talking about our faith, when we're talking about the Bible, we should definitely understand it differently.

SPEAKER_00:

And and really those things change right our perspective are two different categories ultimately, right? Like hope in I hope this happens and man, I have hope are totally different, right? They're they're different circumstances. Yeah. I can think of the situation. Uh I'm a Patriots fan. We talked a little bit yesterday, Nate. We're gonna get lots of uh hate mail now.

SPEAKER_01:

I was trying to not say teams, but you had to go and bring it up, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Um but I think it was 2018, uh, and they were playing the Atlanta Falcons. Um, I mean, I'm watching it. I'm the only uh one of the only Patriots fans. I think there was another guy there, and uh possibly in the state of Delaware. For real. I mean, really, and like uh the guy's house that I was at was actually at the Falcon Super Bowl. Um, and I was at his house with his brother and and stuff like that. And so the rest were let's go, Falcons. They're two in me the whole game. I mean, we're down 21, nothing and a half. You get into the third quarter, it's 28-3. Um, and in my mind, right, I'm hoping that they come back, right? I'm hoping that it's this, okay, Tom Brady's gonna clutch up. We're gonna be, I mean, you know, we're gonna be good. James White, kind of Julian Ellen, all those guys will do what they're supposed to do. They're gonna do their job and they're gonna get it done. Um, well, third quarter, I'm gonna beat myself. Like, what? Like, I can't watch this game, right? And so I'm hoping the whole time. Um, but it's it's this desire, this hope that this will happen. I have no clue if it will, right? And so then we get to the fourth quarter. I mean, you tie it up, you go into overtime, uh, and there's a play we're on the two or three yard line, uh and it's a toss to James White. And I'm this, I'm hoping that he gets into the end zone. And then he does, right? And so the thing that I hoped for obviously created it was a good outcome for what I wished, but I didn't I had no clue. But I didn't know in any way, shape, or form. One, were they gonna beat the deficit, and then two, were they gonna win it, right? I I didn't know. I was unsure, but I, you know, I I wanted that to happen. I was I was thinking that could happen. But in biblical hope, man, like contrast that to when you placed your faith in Christ. Exactly. It's totally different, right? And so uh when I got saved, yeah, there was an aspect of, okay, now I believed in God, and what did God tell me? And he told me that nothing can pluck me out of his hand. And so now I have this hope and this security, this assurance that nothing can take me from God. So, what does that mean? Well, when we looked at Romans 8, 18 through 25, it talks about the sufferings that we go through right now are not worth comparing to the glory that will be re revealed to us, speaking of the hope of future glory, right? That one day when God returns and calls up his saints and the new heaven and the new earth is created, we know that that will happen. And so now I have hope, not hoping and wishful thinking, but I have assurance. I think assurance is a good, a good word for that. I have security, I have faith that that will one day be revealed, and that I'm the things I'm going through right now, they're not worth comparing. Like because of the the truth that is found in the end, right? And so that's what that I think that's what hope is really is I I'm confident and I'm expecting what will happen when the Lord returns. That will happen. I don't have to wonder, I don't have to guess, I don't have to see, I don't have to figure out, and my calculations don't have to be right, but God has said it, and therefore it will happen, right? So you think of Abraham. Uh we talked about in Galatians last week, um, the the two different uh uh illustrations, right? Paul talks about yeah, Sarah and Hagar, and how uh Ishmael was seed that was not promised, and Isaac was, and how Isaac was promised. And because Isaac was promised, guess what happened? They had Isaac. You know what I mean? Like it was it was sure to happen, but Abraham and Sarah took it out of their own hands. They allowed you know Abraham to be with Hagar, and right, so they lost sight of the hope that they actually had, which was the word of God, which was the promise of God, that God would bless him uh with generations that are numbered of the stars, right? And so um I think hope is a I think it's good to uh understand and to know that it's a sure hope. It's it's a solid hope. It's not something that we're that wavers uh like often we do, right? We often waver and a lot that we even the things that we talk about, um we we can have true confidence that that God is where our hope is, right? Psalm, I think it's 42.5. He uh I think it's David speaking, and he talks about how he's basically like brought down and he's like, Why is my soul in turmoil? And then the next verse, chapter five, it says, Hope in God. Like don't don't hope in the other things, hope in God. Um, and that's the same call that I think we have as believers, right? And uh it's to hope in God.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think we can we'll get to maybe the suffering part you mentioned, but contrast that to other world religions, you know, we say very frequently Christianity is about a relationship, and I think this is a great example. What have other religions hoping in? They're hoping in works, and that Hera, uh Hagar and Sarah was the same thing. They decided to put their hope in, well, we're not gonna trust God, we're not gonna have our hope in Him, we're gonna take care of it. Yeah, and that's many other you know, faiths, you know, where it's really I'm hoping in my works and that God will honor what I have done. We have hope in what Christ has done, right? The finished works, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I think it's hard because sometimes I think we get into that same mindset, right? That like, man, not saying we're perfect, right? Yeah, no, but yeah, but I'm I think the reality is we should have that. I I pray that people can take the perspective of their work and not, I mean, Isaiah talks about how your works are filthy rags to the Lord. And so if we can see that rightly, knowing that as James talks about, faith without work is dead, right? Knowing that work is a good thing, that God isn't saying uh don't work and work is bad, but it's not what keeps us secure. And so I think that's not what your hope is. Exactly. And so I think we often not a bad thing, but don't hope in that. And I I think we often sometimes I think fall into the trap uh of if I just do enough, if I just read my Bible enough, if I just pray enough, if I just you know uh give enough, if I just walk that old lady across the road enough, like then the thing that I'm hoping will happen, which is eternity in heaven with God, like then I that will come to that will come true. When scripture says, like, no, that's not true. That's that's not what we're saying. Um we we often take into our own hands, yeah. Like you said, and so I think for those listening, like, man, assess, and I think this is the encouragement at the end as well, assess where your hope is. Assess the things that you're you're uh trusting in ultimately. Trust is another one with hope that you're trusting in to uh keep you secure and to give you those things and uh rightly place them.

SPEAKER_01:

Definitely. And so, you know, obviously now that we're defining it and how different that is, that allows us just daily to just walk differently. It should give us confidence, like you said, it's it's the assurance. So, really how we live our lives should be different because we don't have to live in this limbo state of did I do enough? You know, am I where's my standing? You know, kind of like it should give us uh peace, you know, in in having that hope and that assurance to walk out daily, so that's why we should be faithfully different. Just in how we were able to navigate, yeah, just generally the day-to-day. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I agree with that a hundred percent. I mean, I think uh having hope, true hope, biblical hope, definitely changes your framework for life, right? And when when I think that's where Romans 8, 18 comes in, where he says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time, the sufferings that you're dealing with right now, the things that that are at hand right now are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Like, okay, so what Paul's saying is the things that you're going through, the suffering, right? So maybe that's right, let's list suffering, right? And I'm not gonna obviously catch all of them, but any diagnoses, right, any marriage problems, any deaths, any you know, any other sickness, or maybe it's finances, you're struggling financially or relationally, caught in sin, right? Whatever that the sufferings in which you experience today, those are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed. And so when we acknowledge that to say, man, the things that I'm going through, or the things that I'm lacking in, or the things that I'm struggling, you know, fumbling through, I can know and have hope that these aren't these don't even weigh up, right? It's like, you know, you put it put it on a scale, you know, it's like it's far outweighs the glory that is to be revealed far outweighs any ounce of um uh of the suffering in which we uh we we we feel, right? And so we're trusting that God is faithful, we're trusting that he provides and that uh his presence is is is worth it through the circumstances, whether those are good or bad. Um and so if we have that actual hope, I think it it changes our our focus, right? Our eyes are fixed on something that is unchanging, is unmovable, um, and is always there. And so when we when our eyes are fixed there, um we it's hard to be shaken. You know what I mean? Like when our eyes are fixed on the rock, you know, it gives us perspective 100%.

SPEAKER_01:

That's good, it brings everything into perspective. And I think like those suffering, and we'll hear some great stories this month, but it doesn't discount the hope in this life because we still have hope. You know, there is we worship a great God who can work miracles, you know, raise his son from the dead. So we don't discount, we have hope. And uh, you know, Romans 8 28, we get to things working together for good, you know, for those who love him, you know, and sometimes that can be taken a little out of context, or people who don't love God still think it's gonna work out, but we have that hope in this life that you can get through these things because you have that eternal perspective. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it all flows through that that eternity, like that that what we go through today. I mean uh James 1, 2 to 3 says, Count it all joys, my brothers, and when when you meet trials, not if like when, not if like and he says count it joy. How do you count something joy that's hard? How do you count something joy that's terrible, right? That's that's evil, right? Like that is that is suffering because of the hope that we have, right? Or 1 Peter 1 uh talks about the hope. We have a living hope, which is in the person of Christ, but also like it says it's stored up for you in heaven, right? It's secure there in heaven, but then it continues down. It says when it says the uh when you meet trials, also, it's just so uh similar to James, but it says uh it purifies your your faith, right? It works through the refining of your faith, and at the end, we're produced with a greater faith in Christ. And so all of those aspects of hope and sanctification play hand in hand, right? Our our eyes are fixed on eternity, knowing that as we walk through today, um, God is changing our hearts for his glory, right? And ultimately to be more like him, right? And something that I thought was interesting as I was studying was uh hope is not needed in heaven.

unknown:

Right?

SPEAKER_00:

Hope is something that we have here, right? Yeah, hope is something that we have on earth right now, uh, until whenever we die, because hope is not needed in heaven because, like you said, it's realized. Right? Our our faith has become sight, right? Our hope has been revealed, it has been seen. Um, and so that's an interesting thing. It was like, man, we get to participate in something that we're not gonna be able to do in heaven. We're gonna just see it, we're gonna live in it, we're gonna you know, bask in God's glory. Um, and that's a that's a a blessing, right? And I think that should kind of again shift our mindset. Like, man, God thought it good for us to hope here. Like he knew what our eyes and what our minds and what our our hearts were to be fixed on for our good and for his glory. And I think hope is a central, a central theme of those.

SPEAKER_01:

Definitely is. So kind of maybe bring it down too for those who are walking through suffering, you know, like you said, diagnosis, you know, job situation, finances, whatever. How do we now faithfully different kind of live that out? How do we let that really just impact our soul, you know, from your message that you preached? You know, what are some of those real life takeaways that you want people to really kind of hear? Because, and we'll hear some great stories of how hope really changed people and and brought through people tough times, but you know, I know that's always a challenge. Like it's easy to say when you know you don't have the diagnosis or you know, you you have to do it so 100%.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, it ultimately bring uh brings me back to the apostle Paul, right? Paul, if we if we look at the the life of Paul, right? Paul was this guy, uh and we've been talking about Galatians, so it's it's fresh on people's mind, I think. But Paul was a guy who was a uh a guy who persecuted Christians. I mean, he hated Christianity, he wanted uh Christians to die, right? You can read Acts, um, but God radically changed his heart, saved him, and then from there on out, we see an interesting thing, right? Paul, before converting to Christianity or the way at that point, right? Like he was experiencing good things, right? He he he was living a pretty good life as uh a Jew, and kind of he says, I'm not sure Jews, right? He was up, he was up there the resume exactly, and so there was a switch though that happens in following Christ, and that ultimately is and he suffered so much more than realistically we suffer today. But there's something about Paul that's different, right? Paul, uh, you can read it in Philippians, right? Philippians 4 13. We all know that you know I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. The uh the verses that precede that, right? I've been brought low, I've been brought high, right? He knows how to work through all things, and he talks about how many times he was shipwrecked or beaten or stoned or all of these different areas. But the one thing that Paul did was he set his eyes on Christ, which caused him to hope. Right. And so then I think about the diagnosis and the uh sicknesses and the death and the different things that we feel. Um, and and this is not to minimize it at all, because those are terrible, tragic situations situations. And there, and there's many of them in our congregation, right? Uh Pastor Mark often talks about how what if you were to look out, right? Often when you're looking at the stage, you really only see one person, right? I I do, but it maybe if you're sitting in the back, you see a couple, but like when you're looking out at the the uh the congregation, and you can see faces and people in different areas, and you can you can know and you can feel, and there are so many different areas in which these people are are dealing with harsh and hard things, hard realities. Um but the benefit that we get to look through, so I don't want to minimize that right uh at all. But the benefit that we get to have is man, we get to have the fact that we can see how believers before us have navigated suffering. So when you look at Paul, there was one thing about him is he was secure in his hope, right? He fixed his eyes not on the present time, not on the things of uh, man, this is happening. I mean, my my bank account's low, or my my marriage is bad, or we don't really have food in our our our pantry, or uh you know, our car broke down, or I have a diagnosis, or this death happened. It wasn't necessarily about the the circumstance, but always was fixed back to who is my God, right? Who is the one who has set me apart for eternal glory with him? But and so as I think about the things that we go through, there are there are areas that I think grief and mourning and and feeling is okay. I mean, I don't I don't uh ever want to act like okay, yeah, just fuck it up, yeah, you know, but do it, figure it out, you have hope, you know, keep pushing. Man, there are there are circumstances, yes, feel them. And Paul says, grieve. We do grieve. He says grieve with hope. Exactly. I mean, yeah, you think of of uh First Thessalonians where he says, like, we don't mourn just to mourn. You don't mourn like the world does, but you mourn with hope, knowing that there is a greater thing. Uh, you think of Ecclesiastes, right? There is a time uh for everything, right? A time to laugh, a time to cry, you know, and he talks about mourning. There's a time to mourn. And so uh mourning and grief are a real thing, but I I I think what happens is we can lose sight of the hope that we have in the midst of those times, in the midst of grief, in the midst of mourning, in the midst of hardship, that we then lose sight for a longer period of time than is necessary to fix our eyes back on Christ. And so what I typically do, right? I don't live a perfect life and I don't have a you know 10 out of 10 day every single day, right? And there are sufferings that I and me and my wife and my kids go through. And one of the one of the things that I I think is so necessary for me as I walk through hardship is uh is to remind myself, man, who is the God that I serve? Right. And so as I walk through uh these feelings of loss or these feelings of grief or these feelings of uh disappointment or whatever the thing is, the suffering that I'm that I'm working through, there has to be a separation in my mind. And this is what I do. I mean, I'm just uh maybe you don't you can't do the same thing. I don't know. This is what I do. I assess my situation. Okay, what am I dealing with? Okay, I'm dealing with you know uh low income, right? Uh my my income's tight, right? Okay, and I'm I'm suffering in this way, or I'm dealing with loss, or I'm dealing with a bad marriage, or I'm dealing with uh a diagnosis, right? So, what's my income? Okay, now who is God? Who is he? So these are the things that I'm experiencing, but who is God? And and so then I can list and I can think through the names of who God is and and what he's done and what he's said and what he's promised, and the fact that he's sovereign and that he is in control of all things, he is uh providential in all ways, knowing that he, as Romans 8, like we quoted, for those who love him work all things together for his for good, right? And so I can trust that, man, God is working, even in the situation where it doesn't make sense, God is working this for good. I don't know how, I don't know why, but I trust that God is faithful to his promise. I trust that he's provider, right? That he's sustainer, redeemer, uh healer. And you kind of work through that, and then I think it and then I think we assess like based on that, what is the reality? That's right. You know what I mean? Like, so this is what I'm experiencing, this is who God is. Now, what's the reality? The reality is that in light of my circumstance, Romans 8.18, it is not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed.

SPEAKER_01:

Reminds me uh C.S. Lewis book he wrote. It's called A Grief Observed. If anybody wants to check that out. Real short book, you can read it, it's only like four chapters. But he wrote that after his wife passed away.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

And one of the most impactful lines tying into what you were saying as he was assessing, and it's a real raw book. So if anybody picks it up, if you've lost somebody, it can be a good read, or if you just know somebody, um, it's it can be helpful, you know, going through suffering. But what he says that was super impactful is he says, if my faith folded now, it wasn't really faith.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And he said, God knew how strong my faith was, my hope in our in our conversation. God knew I didn't. Yeah. You know, so it was I needed to go through this to see the true hope, to have the true strength of my faith, you know, so it would be refined and it would be something that he would realize. Like, yeah, I have this hope. Sure, I mourn and I grieve, and I'm not happy that I've lost my wife. But like you said, I have the reality of the hope and faith in Christ that takes you through versus just, you know, he caught himself from you know descending into that.

SPEAKER_00:

Because it's it's easy. I mean, it is it is easy. Um, and I know that. And so I I definitely don't want it to not feel like, oh man, he doesn't think it's easy, oh, it's easy. No, I don't I don't want people to think that, but I want people to see the beauty of Christ and know that and the the the thing that he does for you, one in salvation, but also just in sustaining and in providing and in just leading and guiding in all of those areas, like that propels us to think about our hope. Like that propels us to work through those things. Um, and so really like we're hoping, we're expecting, but we're also hope has an object. That object is Jesus. So we can know and we can be sure and we can have security, like I've said, not in anything that we do, not in anything that we are, not in uh in all of those aspects, but in Jesus, right? And often I think we tend to place uh our hope in again, possessions, money, relationships.

SPEAKER_01:

I was gonna say, touch on going back all the way to Philippians, because a lot of people miss yeah, I know how to be a base, but I know how to abound.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Because sometimes, I think that's where you were kind of going with that. Sometimes things are good and we lose sight and we start to put our hope somewhere else, you know, like, oh, my job's going really well. Let me just shift and put my hope in my career, or man, family life is awesome. You know, I've heard that from some atheists. Why don't you believe? Well, things are so great for me. Why do I need I don't need that hope? I have plenty now. So maybe you just comment on don't lose your hope even I think that's good in the good times.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, like like we talk about Philippians uh four, it talks about like you know, out of bound, you know, I've been brought low. But I think, like you said, so many people will come to Christ in a a season of of hardship, right? Like they have nowhere to turn. And I I I he is our only hope, right? And so that's a good thing. But then often, like you said, uh it's you know, it's easier for a camel to fit to the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to inherit the kingdom of heaven, right? Jesus says, and so I think that happens. And so when we lose focus on who our hope is in light of our circumstance, and it's easy to idolize so many things, right? And so I think, right, how how else does someone work a million hours a week other than in without the with other than in the hope of that work? That's right, right? Like how do you overwork and you you sacrifice time with your family and you you know all those areas other than idolizing and hoping in work? Right, or how how does someone buy things unnecessarily other than idolizing and hoping in that thing, right? And so I think um we often uh deviate to uh a relationship or health or circumstance or possession or money uh to to be that object of hope and it loses sight of of who Jesus is. But Psalm, I think it's 115 talks about those idols, they can't hear, they can't talk, they can't uh there's no hope in that yeah, they can't walk, there's they can't feel. But what he contrasts is there's hope in there's hope in the coming Messiah, there's hope in God. And so um, I think that's the reality is like you have to I would encourage people assess, assess, assess, assess. Where are you and what are you actually hoping in? Um that hope fixed. Yeah, and that's what it is. Like it's it's set on eternity, it's set on the end, it's set on knowing that the promise is true, not will be like in the aspect of like I I think it will be, but it is. And so um, yeah, I I think there's so many instances, right? When our health is good, when our relationships are good, when our you know, uh our bank accounts look good. It's easy. And and two, I think it's easy to kind of quote unquote hope in God. Like, oh yeah, God's providing for me. I'm good. That's right. Right, I feel good. Like, look at this. Like, I yeah, I love you, God. And then prosperity, gospel exactly to creep in.

SPEAKER_01:

And then when it doesn't go well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And so I think lost our hope. Quote unquote. Yeah, yeah. And so I think what what I think what is what is important to remember, right, is that that biblical hope is the sure and confident expectation of receiving what God has promised us in the future, right? It's the expectation, and so um, it's confident, you're you're assured, you know, and you can do it with joy and full confidence.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. So bottom line, and again great bringing the word. So excited that Jarvis preached here at uh Lifehouse Church, first time on Sunday. So uh awesome experience, and thanks for joining us for some overtime here on the podcast. Big blessing. Hopefully you'll come back and see us, right? Yeah, I'm sure the audience will be. I don't know. Now that you're a Pat's fan, we might uh our ravings might go down. Maybe, yeah. It's awesome. Bottom line, uh Life Talk Family, uh, hope in Christ. That is the solid hope. And stick with us this month. You'll hear a lot more great stories just of people who found their hope in Christ and how it navigated them through some tough times. Awesome. Thanks, man. All right, thanks, Jar. Life Talk Family. We'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe. Subscribe and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.

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Jarvis Brennan

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