And this morning we're going to be talking about how do you kind of keep your joy when you're going through tough times because the scripture talks about rejoicing when we are in trials and Peter addresses this, God the Holy Spirit will address it in our hearts this morning. And let me just take a moment to say if you're looking for a church home or for us as members at Faith Family, if God leads us somewhere else and we're looking for a new church home, you know, we're kind of living in a day in which people say, well, it really doesn't matter so much what they believe. It matters what I encounter when I get there. And I bring this up because this morning one of my neighbors said to me, I need to recommend somebody to come to your church. They just relocated here and the last place that they left, they had kind of an odd feeling. They went to a church and at that church service, the pastor got up and he announced names of different people who gave money. and told how much they gave and then ask everybody to get their wallets or purses out, hold them up, and we're going to pray and we're going to ask God to bless their wallets. And he said, I don't think that was the Christ kind of church I was looking for. And I hope that's not the kind of church you're looking for or you probably wouldn't be here this morning. But what we believe affects how we behave. And so doctrine, truth is essential. So as you're looking for a new church, you need to make sure that they are Christ-centered. All of theology is Christology. Meaning all that we know about God is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's got to be the center of everything that we say and do. And it can't be man. And too often times that's what happens in what we call church life today is it's about you and what can be done for you rather than recognizing we have a Savior and it's what He has done for us. And then everything else flows out of that. So when we get this relationship correct, it affects all the horizontal relationships appropriately. And so let me just encourage you as you're looking to make sure Christ is at the center of what's being said and done. 1 Peter chapter 4, we are finally moving on. After three weeks in the same small little passage and so if you have a copy of God's Word, 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 12 through 19. And I'm in the wrong, I have the wrong ribbon in my Bible, there we go. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 12. And let me ask you again as I did last week to stand as I read the scripture if you would. So beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, You are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or an evildoer or a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. And I do pray the Lord would bless his word this morning. Would you be seated? Father, I do bow my life before you this moment with a feeling similar to Job as Job thinks he knows and yet as he was going through trials and difficulties and hardships and he came to be answered by you he could only just shut his mouth. Lord we are awed by who you are to recognize the greatness of the God who made us and created us The Lord has set us for His purpose and for His glory and though we have fallen into sin and are broken and ruined and without hope and without God in this world, you came seeking us. And you sent your Son Christ Jesus to die on the cross in our behalf. in our stead and to do for us what we could never do for ourselves and then graciously calling us and enabling us to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. And in that, making us to be a joint heir with Jesus Christ, And then promising us that you will unite us together after this life in heaven to praise you and to enjoy you for all eternity. And so Father we come with humble hearts this morning. We ask you to give us hearts that are glad and joyful even in times of difficulty and trial. because of the grace that you have given to us in Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray, amen. And let me just kind of quickly go over those verses again, just to point out a couple of things. Back in verse 12, he gives us an imperative. There are several commands that are given in the text that if you don't just point them out, you may not recognize them. And in verse 12 he says, don't be surprised. That's the command. And the truth of the matter is when trials come, we are surprised. We are. Sometimes we just think life ought to always be easy, right? I mean, give me the easy button and a hard button, which am I going to push? I'm going to push the easy button. And what God says is that trials are going to come. And it's interesting, the word for trial is also the word that is translated temptation. And God left it that way apparently on purpose, right? Because God could have done anything that He wanted to do. And yet when He gives us this word for trial, it's also the word for temptation and so you can understand what He's giving us as an understanding whether it be a trial that we're going through or a temptation that we're facing, they're similar in the way that we respond to them. They're similar in the outcome that God wants us to experience, so He says, don't be surprised when these things come to you. And then notice He tells us part of the purpose, right, in that verse. It's to do what? To test you. But He gives us another command in verse 13, don't be surprised, but also to rejoice when you go through trials. God doesn't want us grumbling and complaining. And again, as preparing for the book of Genesis, I had to go to Job because as God is responding to Job, He does a lot of explaining about how He, God, is creator. And as creator, He created us in His image and because He made us in His image, He made us for His purpose, for His glory. And so if God is our creator, then He has the right to do what? He has the right to do whatever He wants to do with His creation of which we are. And so you see how those tie together. So He says, you need to understand when you're going through a trial that it is your Creator God that is commanding you to rejoice. Because you and I, like Job, we can't see the beginning from the end. And you don't, and I don't know what God's up to. And there's got to be a trust that we give unto the Lord. And then again he gives you purpose in verse 13, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. And then he gives us another command in verse 15, let none of you suffer, and then he says basically for doing evil. Don't suffer for doing evil. There's enough evil in the world to get ourselves into, don't make evil for yourself. On the other hand, he says, when you do suffer as a Christian, in verse 16, don't ever be ashamed, another imperative. But in that, and here's another command, glorify God. When you're going through trials, when you're going through persecution, when you're going through hardship, don't be ashamed, don't look back and say, why did God let this happen? But glorify God in it. And then there is a last command in verse 19 and that is, when you are suffering for the sake of Christ, notice what he says, entrust yourself to God. Put your trust and hope in the Creator God who Himself is faithful. So I'm going to quickly give you some points of the text and then we'll get kind of to the crux of, I believe, of what God is trying to say to us. Back in verse 12, He gives us the proposition of suffering. Notice what He says again. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you. When I say a proposition, he's saying it's going to happen. Trials are going to come. If you and I live long enough, you're either going to go through suffering, difficulty, hardship, persecution, trials. And it can come in multiple ways and you and I need to remember that when we are going through these things, God has not given them to us through His sovereign hand, His loving hand for nothing. The trials that come in our lives are for God's… our good and for God's glory. That's why we shouldn't be surprised when it comes. And so he says, notice it is here when it comes in order to test you. So it's not if, but when. You remember Solomon? He wrote several books for us. One of them was the book of Ecclesiastes. And the Ecclesiastes is written by the preacher, it says. And do you remember what the preacher's conclusion of life was? It's a sad conclusion. Vanity of vanity, all is vanity. Man, isn't that depressing? He says, life's just empty. He says, I looked at everything. And you have to understand where Solomon's coming from. He had everything available to him and he tried everything. So here's a man who says, so if you're wondering there, if I could just have something or experience something or be something, my life would be happier. Here is Solomon coming to the end of it, the man of great wisdom and saying, you're not going to find it there. So in Ecclesiastes 2 beginning in verse 18, he says, I hated all the toil in which I toil under the sun. seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool, yet he will be master of all for which I told and used my wisdom under the sun." This is vanity. This is emptiness. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair and over to the toil of my labors under the sun. Because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This is also vanity and a great evil. Boy, that's sad. He's saying, you know, you do all that you do and knowing that one day you're going to give it over to someone else. And then he goes on in verse 26, he says, to the one who pleases God, however, and has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, this is the one who enjoys the Lord. So there is a time for everything, chapter 3 says. There's a time to be born and a time to die. There's a time for laughter and there's a time for sorrow. So God is saying to us there is a portion of trouble that will come into the life of every human being. That would be sad if that's where we left the sermon, right? But there's a purpose. in the suffering for the Christian that God tells us. So he says, don't be surprised when these things come but rejoice to know that it is in your rejoicing that you will glory in Christ. Let me just remind you that suffering produces conformity to Christ in the life of the believer. Romans chapter 8 verses 28 and 29, we know that those who love God, for those who love God, all things are working for their good. For those who are called according to His purpose, for those to whom He foreknew, He also predestined, and look what it says, to be conformed to the image of His Son. So God is telling us in the trials, the hardships, difficulties that come in our life, sickness, sorrow, death, pain. For the life of the believer, God causes it to work together not just for our good but our conformity to Jesus Christ. It is making us more and more like Him. Also, to be comforted in Christ. You remember Paul's prayer in Philippians 3? He said, there's one thing I really want, I want to know Him. I want to know Christ. I want intimacy with Christ. I want to know the mind of Christ and the heart of Christ. So in Philippians 3.10 he says, I want to know Him, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. There comes a comfort that you and I have through our communion, our fellowship with Christ when we go through trials. He who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. And you know, we struggle to find joy in the middle of a trial, don't we? Where is it? It's in Christ. It's in coming to seek Christ, to know Christ, and to understand that It is in Jesus Christ that we find a comfort and a peace. You and I don't need Job's friends coming and sitting with us on the ash heap when we're in trial. Who do we need coming? the one who bore the nails on the cross of Calvary, the one who bore the thorns on his brow, the one who was beaten, scorned, rejected of men, who he in himself, it was pleased to do the will of his father. Lord, is there any other way that this pass from me? And the answer was no, and he gladly, joyfully went to the cross, and you and I find such great comfort by the Lord Jesus Christ when we're going through trial. But there's also a continual praise that comes in our suffering. 1 Peter 1, just a few chapters over in verses 6 and 7 says, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, and it is, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith It's of high value, it's more precious than gold, things that will perish, that they may be found to the praise and glory and honor of Jesus Christ at His revelation. So as you're going through trials, understand, he says, to realize one day it's going to produce praise and glory. Now you and I don't like to be tempered by temptations. We don't like to be tested by trials. But God says at the end of it we will become like Job did. Job said, I just thought I knew who God was. I just thought I knew who the Lord was. Now, that which I thought with my mind, I now see Him with my eyes. I behold the glory of who Jesus Christ really is. And so we need to understand there's a purpose in our trials. There's also a prosperity for suffering that he speaks of in this text of Scripture. And if you are insulted for the name of Jesus Christ, you are blessed. Now, the way the New Testament is written, the idea here is when you are, you're going to be insulted for the name of Christ. All that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Young people don't think you're going to get by without somebody making fun of you for following Christ. It's going to happen. I, you know, I was 14 when I became a believer in Jesus Christ and I, when I, and that happened during the summer going into my freshman year, the most wonderful thing that I could have ever dreamed of had just now happened to me. You know, I was one who was captured by multiple types of sins in my life. And I was breaking in houses. I was going into stores and stealing. I was doing lots of damage to people's property. There was a lot of things that were so wrong in my life. And when Christ came in, He began to transform and change me. And so I was so excited that my freshman year in high school was getting ready to start so I could go in and tell everybody what? This wonderful news that Christ Jesus is mighty to save you'll change your life. Not everybody was pleased with that. As a matter of fact, I met a new friend the first month we were in there and, you know, I was trying to be a big jock in those days and so I was with a football player friend and he was a Christian and he said, you know what, this good news that you and I have in Jesus Christ, you know what we need to do? We need to target all the cheerleaders. I mean, you know, if one day we're going to have to marry a godly girlfriend, we want the pretty godly girlfriends, right? So we're going to find all the cheerleaders. And we're going to do what? We're going to win them to Jesus. And so we did. We started going to their homes and saying, we came by to talk to you about Jesus. Are you aware that you're a sinner and you need a Savior? Do you know how well that went over? We came back to school and our names were dirt, you know, we couldn't find… our methodology probably had a lot of improvement that it needed to present the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm not sure if they were rejecting Christ or just rejecting these two guys, okay? But the point is, following Jesus Christ is not always popular, so the Scripture says when you are insulted for the name of Christ, Don't be bothered by it. God will bless you. The Bible word for blessing is far more full than I can even express because you know you can have all kinds of stuff and not be blessed. You can have your health and not be blessed. You can have tremendous amount of friendships and not be blessed. Conversely, you could have all of those things taken away from you and experience blessing. Because there's this inner joy, inner peace, inner happiness that when all things are right between you and your God, it really doesn't matter what's going on. So Jesus gave us a whole list, and I won't read that whole list, when He gave that famous sermon on the Mount. But remember he even said in context with being insulted for the name of Christ in Matthew 5.11, he says, blessed are you when others revile you, persecute you, utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account so that you can rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. You and I are reminded in that that we're not living for time but we're living for eternity. And our retirement plan is not in this world, it's out of this world. And you and I have to remember that. We may go through trials. I remember when I was in seminary we had a Romanian pastor. who had been persecuted and tortured for his faith who came and visited our school. The only reason why he was able to come to our school was because he had been kicked out of a communist country where he had been beaten and tortured. He'd been a pastor in Romania and he had spent 20 years in prison for his faith in Jesus Christ. I remember him telling this story. He says, when I was there in prison, I would continually pray this to the Lord, Lord, would you release me from prison that I might be free in Christ? Now, he was serving the Lord while he was in prison. He was sharing the gospel. And that's the reason why they kicked him out of prison because he was leading people to faith. He was doing more good in prison than he was out of prison while in Romania. People kept coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Some of the guards came to faith in Jesus Christ. And finally one day they said, we need to get you out of here. And he said when they took him to the border and they released him to a free country, he started jumping up and down and shouting, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And he said the joy immediately went away. And he said it was almost as if I heard an audible voice from the Holy Spirit say to me, you're no more free out here than you were while you were in that jail cell. Now I can't tell you that story as mine, I'm repeating it because here's a man who's been there, he's extolling exactly what we're talking about here, a prosperity in the midst of suffering because while he was in prison, what was God doing through him? God was building the Kingdom of God through His life. One day we'll get to see the full picture of the multitudes of people who've come to faith in Jesus Christ because God put Him in a hard place. It was in that hard place that he had blessing, he had joy. And when he was set free from that bondage, he realized that the joy that he had was not in the freedom from prison, but it was in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly, I want you to see a prohibition of suffering. And I won't spend any time here, but in verse 15 it says, don't let any of you suffer for doing evil. Don't suffer for being a murderer or a thief, an evildoer. Don't sit around and have a pity party because you've gotten yourself in trouble for doing evil. Okay? There's a prohibition about that. We, God's people, are saved to walk in holiness and purity in Christ. But then notice, fifthly, the praise that comes through suffering. In verse 16, yet when, and the idea here is when, yet when anyone suffers as a Christian, don't be ashamed but let him glorify God in that name. In the name of Christ, there is a praise that comes. Like Jesus said in John chapter 15, when the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. You're in good company. You're in good company in Christ Jesus. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But you're not of the world. I've chosen you out of the world. That's the reason why the world hate you. So come to understand, I am doing what I'm doing and allowing you to go through this trial that you might praise my name. You're going to the hospital for surgery and you are worried. If you're not worried, something's wrong with you, okay? Because, I mean, you think about it. They're getting ready to put me to sleep. What do you want them to do next? Wake you up, right? There's a lot of things that go through your mind when you're about to face surgery that bring up the natural human fears and yet from the perspective of God, what do we see? This is a blessing from the hand of God. They're going to do something to help bring healing to my body. Thank You, Lord. It is while I am in there that I will experience the comfort of Jesus Christ in a way and in a capacity that I may not ever experience otherwise. It is through this trial that I'm about to go through that God is going to give me a platform because I'm going to encounter lots of different people and I'm I know I've jokingly told you in past times about what happens to me when I get put on Versed. Versed is a drug that they use to… when they're putting you to sleep so you don't remember anything. And boy, when I get Versed, my… I get loose lips. I mean literally there's who knows what's about to come out of my mouth I could say anything I mean I just start it's almost it's just I just gush forth and every time that I know I'm getting put on verse said this is my prayer Lord I know all the words please don't let me say them but help me to speak forth your gospel And you know what happens every time? Janet can testify to this. This is my wife, if you're visiting right here, can you say yes? Yes. It's almost, I mean, I need verse, if you gave me verse said, I'd be the best evangelist the world has ever seen, okay? Maybe I'd be better than Billy Graham. Because what happens is, I just start talking, do you know Christ as your savior? Have you ever been born again? Let me tell you what God's doing in our church. Do you see what I'm saying? God gives us in trials platforms to do what? To speak forth the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when you're hurting, somebody's coming along and saying, oh, you poor thing. And you can say, you know what, God's doing a good work in me. God began a good work in me, he's continuing a good work in me and he's going to follow through. So don't be surprised. But look at the peril of suffering as he says in verses 17 and 18, there is a time for judgment to begin at the household of God. We the saints of God deserve and need and will have God's judgment come on us first. God's going to look at us, is what Peter says. Peter, remember, he's talking to a group of believers who've been scattered out and it could be easy for the believers to look at the world about them and say all the problems in the world is because of them out there. And Peter is saying no. We have a gospel that is mighty to save. We have a Christ who will save anyone who will call on Him by faith. Are you as my children walking obediently with me and publicly confessing me to others? You're fearful? That's human. And you have been quiet and silent, but you need to be living in such a way and speaking in such a way that everybody hears and knows the gospel of Jesus Christ. So the judgment begins first where? With us, the saints of God. And we need to repent and respond and correct according to the truth of God's Word. But then he gives a greater warning of the peril of suffering for he says, if that be the truth, if that be true, it begins with the church and notice his language here, if the righteous, verse 18, if the righteous is scarcely saved, how are we saved? By grace, alone in Christ alone, by faith alone. If we are just barely saved only by the grace of God, notice what he says, what will become of the one who is an ungodly sinner? The one who is outside of Christ. So there's a priority of judgment on the people of God but there's a peril of judgment to those who are outside Christ. Let me remind you of one of the most beautiful verses in all the Bible and it's John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever, notice it's not our work, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life because God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. But notice verse 18. Because we quote 3.16 but we rarely quote 3.18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe in him is condemned already. And he tells us why. Not because they're worse sinners than the saints. But why? Because they do not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There's a peril that needs to be in our minds to know that there's an ultimate judgment that's going to come on the world and so we need to be sharing him which leads me to the conclusion and that is persevering through suffering. Verse 19 says, therefore, because this is true, let those of us who are suffering according to God's will entrust our souls to the faithful Creator while doing good. This word to entrust has this idea of commit to Him. It's literally stand up in the face of God. Put it right before God and say, Lord, I'm committing totally my life to You. I have nowhere else to turn. I go through trials, hardship, difficulty. I'm not going to turn away from my God. My only hope is in God. And I'm placing it right before You. It has the idea of placing a deposit. It's the same word that Paul used when he said, I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded or convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. He is our Creator, therefore we can trust Him. Why did God use the word Creator and not Savior? Why is he not saying here, entrust yourself to the Savior, Jesus Christ? Why does he say creator? Think back with me, if you will, just very quickly. God made us in his image for his purpose and for his glory. And that's exactly where he took Job. When Job was going through trial and difficulty and hardship and he says, God, what are you up to? Do you remember what? The Lord says to him, Job chapter 38 verses 1 through 4, the Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind and says, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? You, Job, you dress for action like a man, I'm going to question you and you make it known to me. And then notice what God begins saying to Job, where were you? when I created this world. Job, understand I know what I'm doing. To find joy, peace, and rejoicing, and blessing, and fullness when we're going through temptation, or trial, or suffering, or persecution, it is to come to say God knows what God is doing. I don't have the privilege of seeing the beginning from the end and I may look at all of life and say, it's all vain. I don't understand. Somebody's going to take everything that I have lived for and they're going to enjoy it. My life will be gone. And God is saying, no. I'm the one that made you. I'm the one that created you. I'm the one that sent my son coming for you. And I not only began in you a good work, but I will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Job responds, I'm not gonna read the chapters there of God explaining these things to him, but in Job 40, Job responds by saying, Lord, behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I've spoken once, I will not answer twice, but I will proceed. No further, God, I'm going to put my hand over my mouth and I'm going to say, God, you are God. And it is not I. And Job comes to say, I know, God, that you can do all things. No purpose of yours can be thwarted. It can't be stopped, changed, redirected. You've got a plan. You love me. You love your children and whatever trial that I'm going through, it is you who direct it all. So hear and I will speak. I will question you and you will make it known. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear. Now my eyes see you. I despise myself, I repent in dust and ashes." Do you understand what he's saying? Lord, I'm committing myself to you. Have you committed your life to Jesus Christ? Have you entrusted yourself to him? The peril of not doing that is an eternal suffering. God's word is so clear from beginning to end, the wages of sin is death and the The consequences of physical death apart from Christ is an eternal death. It can be avoided so simply, he says, by belief on the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't come to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. But those who are condemned are condemned. Why? Because they do not believe. And so if you're here this morning, outside of Jesus Christ, He's calling you to come and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and commit yourself to Him. You say, I don't understand how a loving God can allow suffering. Suffering comes because of evil. God is not evil. The suffering is there because of evil. It is the eternal God who created us that calls us to salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ. So notice, and just some questions. I want to ask you, are you suffering because of evil? And it may be that we're suffering because of evil. Are you suffering as a Christian for doing the will of God? Are you going through a trial right now that you don't know how to respond to it but you will say today, I will respond in grace rather than react with an evil response? Will you continue to commit everything to Jesus Christ knowing that he knows far better than we do what is going on in our trial, our temptation or our suffering? Will you enter into His sufferings? in a union relationship with Him by faith to experience all of the intimacy of comfort and relief in Christ Jesus. Will you trust Him as your faithful God that you can entrust as a deposit your life into the hands of the Creator God who is committed not only to save you but to bring you across the finish line. One day He'll present you in glory. So verse 24 of Jude says, "...now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before his presence in glory with great joy." You see, this Creator God, Isaiah says, knows what he's doing. He says the deal is kind of metaphorical. He says the deal is not threshed with a threshing sledge. Nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin. But dill is beaten out with a stick and cumin with a rod. That's something you and I don't understand. We are not in an agrarian society and we don't know how to harvest stuff. This is what God's saying. In order to get the dill to be dill, make a dill pickle with, you can't crush it. You have to beat it, get the seeds out, and do the right thing with it. I'm God. I know what I'm doing. I know exactly how it goes on to say when you get the wheat, this is what you do to the wheat. I'm God. I know what I'm doing. But God, why am I going through this trial? Why am I going through this hardship? Why am I going through this misunderstanding? And you know what God's saying? Trust me. I know what I'm doing. Will you today entrust your soul into the hand of the living God? He is faithful. He will not disappoint you when you come to him by faith. Father, it's hard. When we are in trial, and I realize probably the majority of us are not in a trial or a test or a temptation this very moment, but we may all be. And it's so easy to get our eyes on the trial, the temptation, the test, the persecution and then complain. And yet you've called us to commit. to entrust, to believe, to believe the God who made us and created us for His glory that you're working something good out in our life. It'll conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. The reality is that blaming you for bad stuff not only doesn't help It hurts because there is only one who is the comforter of our soul. There's only one who bled and died on the cross, taking our sin upon himself, taking the consequences of evil and burying them in his body on a tree. He's the only one that can speak life into our death. And Lord, I realize sometimes it's hard for us to see that. Especially if a person is not a believer in Jesus Christ, it's really easy to say, oh, I couldn't worship a God like that. But oh, the God like that is the God who paid the price to set us free from the wages and the penalty of evil in our lives, the evil that's in this world, to give us hope and a future, to know that one day you will come and receive us to yourself. You'll resurrect us to life. After we've died and give us an eternal home in heaven, So help us to trust you now, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.