Sunday 18 May 2025

Nollamara Church Of Christ Sermons.Raw transcript of meeting:

Date Of Sermon: 18 May 2025

Speaker: Jamie Boland

Sermon Title: Knowing More Than Knowing About Jesus

Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:7-12

  📍 Today's scripture reading is from Philippians chapter three, verse seven to 12, but whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more? I consider everything a loss. Because of the surpassing word of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. Mm, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is true faith in Christ.

The righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and the participation in his suffering becoming like him in his death. And so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have obtained all this. Or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that, which is Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Thank you, Sheba. So if you're here two weeks ago, you would remember that I preached from the first part of this passage from verses seven to nine. And today what I wanna do is focus on the second part of the passage, verses 10 to 12. You can see the title of my message, knowing More Than Knowing About Jesus and the subtitle, do you know about Jesus?

Or do you know Jesus? Can you discern the difference? Many people might know about God, about Jesus, but do we truly know him? Let's commit this time to the Lord. Father, we thank you that once again, we come as you gathered people, we praise you for the power of your word. It is life changing. It's mighty to save.

It has power to transform. Holy Spirit, come now. Speak into our hearts through the Word. Bless us, we pray. In Jesus' precious name. Amen. Now, some of you may have seen the film Goodwill Hunting. Anyone seen the film? It's not a recent film. Probably the late 1990s Stars, Matt Damon, as you can see, and also Robin Williams.

It's a story of this young man named Will, that's Matt Damon's character. His name is Will Hunting, so he's the, he's the title character. Will's grown up in a very poor part of Boston. His home life was a complete wreck, completely dysfunctional. He was abused as a child and as a result, he's deeply troubled.

You see the film, he struggles with anger. He is got major anger management issues. He abuses alcohol and he, he's prone to violence. He expresses his anger. Him and his mates go out and they just constantly getting into fist fights with other people. So you look at this guy, you see at the start of the film, you look at him and you think his his future prospects oblique.

He's got no hope. He's got no future. And yet the thing is intellectually he's a genius. I mean, here's a guy. He's got an eidetic memory. Do you know that word? Eidetic? Okay. It's a photographic memory. He can look at something and he can just, once he can retain all this information. He also has this analytical mind where he can look at complex mathematical problems and he can figure things out just like that in his head.

He can look at these complex equations and he can grasp stuff in his mind that someone with a PhD will struggle, you know, with it'll baffle them. See here we have this kid with enormous potential, and yet he's deeply disturbed at the start of the film. He's just been released from prison, and as part of his parole, he gets a job as a janitor.

Okay. He's a genius, but he's got a job as a janitor at this prestigious universities. Now one of the maths professors there. He sees how gifted this guy is and he can see that, you know, this guy's a janitor. This is a waste of potential. So he can see this. But he also sees that he has a dark side and knows he's never gonna make it in life unless he gets some help.

And so what he does is he makes an agreement with the court that he can actually stay on as his understudy at the university provided he goes for counseling. Now the problem is, will loves to antagonize people and get into their heads. And so every single counselor he does, he goes to see, he just picks them apart.

Okay? And so these counselors, they're fed up with him, you know, he, he actually reads their books in advance and he just pulls 'em to pieces. They're fed up, they refuse to see him, sends him away. Eventually, what the mass professor does, he turns to an old friend. And this is a character who's played by Robin Williams, and he's actually grown up in the same neighborhood as Will.

Now, when they first meet Will does what Will does best. He tries to dismantle the person that's trying to help him, you know? And what you see is it's actually part of his defense mechanism. He doesn't wanna allow anyone to get close. And what he does is he sees this painting by Robin Williams' character, the doctor.

He sees this painting that he actually did. He doesn't know that, and he begins to taunt the doctor about this painting. You know, he picks it apart. He then tries to psychoanalyze him. He says, you are lonely, aren't you? Are you married? I bet there's something wrong with your marriage. You married the wrong woman, didn't you?

I know. I bet she got fat. She got fat and she got sick of you and she left you. Now, what Will doesn't know is that the doctor's wife had actually died of cancer. And so here's the doctor. He can only take so much. He loses it. Suddenly he's on his feet with his hands around Will's neck and he's screaming at him.

He says, if you ever disrespect my, my wife like that again, we are done. And that's the end of the first meeting. The next time they meet, the doctor says to Will, he says, you know what? I've been thinking about what? What you said to me. He said, you know, you're a bright kid. You know you are right. You nailed me.

You picked me apart just like that. You are that smart. But then I thought about things last night while I was lying in bed and I began to realize, you are just a boy. You don't really know anything. All you know about is what you read in books. You know, you took my art and you critiqued it, you pulled it to pieces.

But I bet you've never, you know, stood in the Sistine Chapel and looked up in awe at what Michael, an Angelos produced. I bet you've never gotten on a plane. Stood there in that chapel and said, wow, you've never actually experienced it. And he said, you think you know people. I bet you've never had a real relationship.

You don't know what it means to know the love of a good woman, and you know nothing about trust and respect. You are just a kid. You can't give me anything that I can't read myself in a book. And what you see is he's nailed him right back. And so here's this kid with an incredible mind who's got all this knowledge, and yet he has no real experience of life.

He thought he knew things, but all he really knew was about things. Everything's up here in his head. Now imagine thinking you know about marriage when you're single. Okay? I was a single guy. I could have looked at other people's marriages. I could have looked at my parents' marriage. I could have read some books and I could say, you know, Hey, I know something about marriage, but can I tell you that knowledge is only gonna take you so far?

The people that really know about marriage of those are those who have been married. And to that, I, I would add those who've actually, you know, truly together as one, worked out what it means to, to be married. If you wanna find out about marriage, ask those people. I said on Monday, I was talking with Pastor Morris and he said before he went to Jerusalem, he said, you know, I wanted to prepare myself.

He said, so I read some books. I looked online at some pictures. I watched some videos. He said, but it was nothing compared to being there and experiencing Jerusalem in the flesh. He said, there's no substitute for the real thing. Now, it's interesting, the parallels we can draw here to our walk with Jesus.

We can read the Bible, we can quote it backwards and forwards. We can have all this information up here in our heads, and yet as the old song says, have you met the man from Galilee? You've read about him, you know about him, but are you actually walking with him? Our call as Christians is to more than simply know about Jesus.

Amen. You know, as I think about my own spiritual journey, a few years ago I was confronted with this stark reality that the Christian life is more than just accumulating the right sets of belief. That was my goal, getting all of my theological ducks in a row, making sure that I was right, that I knew everything right about God.

Can I tell you, you know what we believe it. It, it matters. Yeah. It's important to know about our faith, but the Christian life is much more than that. It is a call to allow Jesus to impact and transform our lives at our deepest point of need. And what I found, it can be only too easy to substitute our personal walk with God, with just knowing information about God.

What sets the Christian faith apart from every other world religion is that the God of the Christian faith calls us into relationship. Amen. Amen. We're called to know the one who made us and saved us not to merely know about him. We're called to know him. But two weeks ago we looked at those things in which Paul placed his hope and confidence.

If you can remember, we looked at verses seven to nine. You know, Paul had this great big, long list, his badges of honor, all those things that he could write down and say, I can bring these things before God and say, Lord, you're gonna have to accept me. I'm pretty impressive. God, look at me. Look at me. Look at me.

I've got the right pedigree. I've got the right credentials. I'm Jewish. I'm a Pharisee. When it comes to the law, I am blameless. No one can point a finger at me and say, Paul, you skimp when it comes to the law. God, look at all these people. Then look at me. No one else even comes close. God, I am the best of the best.

And Paul believed he could stand before God and have confidence in who he was and what he's done, but then he met Jesus. He met Jesus on that Damascus road and everything changed. His self perception was radically altered. He came to realize his confidence was not in the God of Israel, but in the flesh.

That's what he says. His hope and confidence were in these identity markers that ultimately mean nothing. And do you remember what we, what he called these things? Do you remember? He called them Scala? Do you remember I used that word, Scala. A word that was used in the first century as an expletive. It's a word we can politely translate today as excrement.

Okay? If you remember, I had, you know, the illustration of that green little doggy bag. Okay? You go to the, go to the park, you scoop the poop, you put it in the bin, okay? But what you don't do is you don't hold onto that. You put it there. You know, you don't take it home. Imagine taking it home, putting it on the, the mantle piece, pride of place.

Look at what we did in the park today. You don't do that with the poop. Yeah, you get rid of it. You don't hold onto it. And Paul says, what we bring to the table before God is nothing but Scala. It's nothing but doggy poop. Okay? Don't, don't place your confidence, your hope in who you are, what you've done.

You know, as we sang today before the sermon, our hope is built on nothing less than what Jesus blood and righteousness. And when speaking about all these things that he once held dear, that he once held confidence and put his hope and trust in. Paul says this, he says, but whatever were gains to me, my list, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

What is more? I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord. That's what it's all about. It's all about knowing Jesus Christ. It's not about knowing about Jesus, it's about knowing him. He says, I consider it a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.

I consider them garbage scuba, that I may what? That I may gain. Christ, can I tell you, you can't hold onto all of these things that should be in the doggy bag. You can't hold onto all of those things and also have Jesus Christ. You've gotta choose. You can't have both. You're either gonna bring that to the table before God, or you're gonna bring your hope and confidence in Jesus.

And Paul says, when I consider my achievements, my pedigree, my credentials, I consider them nothing but scuba garbage that I may gain Christ. Be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, a righteousness that comes from God and depends on faith.

A righteousness that is a gift from God and comes from grace. You can't earn it. You don't deserve it. Paul says that's what a game

he says. When I compare what it means to know Jesus with who I was and what I could bring to the table, there's no comparison at all. I am trading everything I once boasted about and I'm laying it down so that I can gain Christ, so that I can know him. In verse 10, Paul says, I want to know Christ, and what he's gonna do is gonna list three things specifically he wants to experience about Jesus.

Not three things he knows in his mind about Jesus, but three things that are alive and active in him. Three things he will experience. The first thing is this. I want to know Christ. Oops. I want one ahead. Can we skip back?

Is it missing? That's it. Thank you, Rex. Save me. He says, I want to know Christ to know the power of his resurrection. He doesn't want to just know about the resurrection and affirm its truth. He wants to experience the power of Jesus resurrection in his life. And so what does that mean? Let's go back to Easter.

At Easter, there was a lifeless body in that tomb. Jesus was dead. Whatever death is, Jesus experienced it, and then a power came upon him that filled that lifeless body and gave it renewed life. Okay? Jesus wasn't resuscitated. He wasn't given CPR and brought back to life. What happened was the Holy Spirit came upon him and his body was transformed.

It was glorified. His body was so different and so new that even though it bore the marks of the crucifixion, people who saw him asked themselves, is that really Jesus? Is that him? And Paul's saying, that's the kind of power I want to work in my life. I wanna know that kind of power at work in me, like it was in Jesus, the power to change me and transform me into something new.

This power that brings dead people back to life. I want new life for this person. That's what Paul's saying. Can you see? The resurrection is not merely something to believe in. It's something to be experienced. That's what Paul's saying, that power that transformed the dead body of Jesus. Paul's saying, I want it to work in me.

You know, the creeds will say, I believe in the resurrection. And we say, yes, amen. We believe in the resurrection. And Paul is saying, that's great. Now how about you experience the power of the resurrection?

Now maybe you hear you're thinking, well, pastor, you know this. Experiencing the power of the resurrection, bringing new life that's for new believers and young people. I'm too old. It's not for me. Listen to these words from Second Corinthians, chapter four. Paul says, though outwardly, we are wasting away the comparison yet inwardly, we are being renewed day by day.

Amen. Open up chapters three and four of that book. You're gonna see that entire section of the letter is about the new life that the Holy Spirit brings in us day by day, even as we outwardly waste away. So don't tell me I'm too old to experience this power of Jesus resurrection in me. I'm wasting away.

And Paul says, yeah, it's true. But inwardly, you can be renewed day by day. He doesn't put a limit on this.

Are you feeling convicted? And here's the truth, as we get older, we get more set in our ways. Yeah, thank you. Who's that, Frank? Bless you mate. Here's where we need to speak pastorally. We can be so set in our ways that we can begin to think that the Holy Spirit cannot continue to transform us in our lives.

Can I tell you, that's just not true. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you. The question is, do you want to experience that power? Absolutely. Do you want to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection? But pastor, I'm too old. I'm too poor, I'm too weak. No, you can be inwardly renewed day by day by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen. Yes.

Amen. Die. Now this chap here had in Robinson, he was the former president of Denver Seminary. He's known as the professor of preaching. Now, his most famous book, you can see there is Biblical Preaching. Now, this is a book that has greatly influenced the generation of preachers. Okay? Most of what I will do in my sermon can be, you know, traced back to the key principles this guy put in his book.

His work is seminal in the early 1980s. It has influenced a number of preachers. I. And so here he is, he's in his capacity as the president of a seminary. A proposal comes to him, a group approaches and says, look, we wanna start a counseling center and we're gonna have a specific focus on people who are affected by substance abuse.

And he's thinking, look, this is a great idea. It's a great idea to be able to help people who are far from God and have a, a very evident and pressing need in their life. The first thing he did though was he ran the idea by a prominent doctor who was on the, the seminary board. And the doctor's response surprised him.

He said this, he said, Hadden, I've got, I've got some reservations. It's a good idea. But you know, I, I, I really do believe that there is a need for counselors who are trained to work with people, and he said, this cannot be understated. We will always need those who understand the mind, who can help us, you know, set people on the right path.

He said, but let me explain why I think we need something more. I. He said, I work in a hospital that has all the best technology. We've got the best trained students, the, you know, the best and brightest workers. We've got access to all the technology we want. And he says, we work with, you know, people with chemical dependencies, you know, uh, substance issues, drugs and alcohol.

And he says our success rate is about 20% with all the best and the brightest, the latest technology, our success rate is about 20%. And then he said, Hadden, there's a small church just down the road from us. They also work with people who have substance abuse problems. They don't have any technology. They have hardly anyone there who's who's got a degree.

But do you know what they do? They present Jesus. And when Christ comes into people's lives, they become transformed and their success rate is significantly higher than ours. He said, I'm all for having a counseling center. We need that. But the one thing I don't want us to lose is the power that comes from knowing Jesus Christ.

Now this is the success behind groups like Teen Challenge and Shalom House. You know, these groups doing amazing work. They acknowledge the need for pro, professionally trained councils. They all have professionally trained councils on their staff, okay? They acknowledge is indispensable and helping people understand addiction cycles, helping them rebuild new patterns of life.

But above all, they recognize the need for the transforming power that comes from knowing Jesus. If you ever get the chance, read the testimony of Peter Lyndon James. You know who I'm talking about. He's been on tv. Big guy covered in tats, former drug dealer, looks like a bikey. He met Jesus and Jesus transformed him.

Okay, if you can't find his testimony, just go to shalom house's, um, Facebook page. There is story after story of testimonies of lives touched and transformed by Jesus Christ. And Paul says, this is what I want to know. I want to know Christ, the power of his resurrection. Paul also talks about knowing Jesus participating in his sufferings.

Hang on, hang on. Slow down. Paul. I like this resurrection power stuff, but you know, what do you mean by this participation in Jesus' sufferings? You can read this. You can isolate this verse and you can think, what is wrong with Paul? Is he a masochist or something? What does he mean by this? Think of Nelson Mandela.

He was incarcerated for 27 years. Now, no doubt this would've been a, you know, an extremely difficult experience for him. But he looked back as president of South Africa. He looked back at that time in jail and he could see it as a badge of honor. He could stand up and say, I suffered for a, just cause. He could say it was right, and just to suffer in protesting the evils of apartheid.

Paul could say something similar, whereas he was once proud and he would boast of his pedigree and credentials. Now what he's proud of is being identified with Jesus and if he got beaten up and he did, and if he got left for dead and he did, and if he got whipped and he did, then he can point to these things as a badge of honor and he did.

Okay, just read second Corinthians chapter 11. He's got this catalog of sufferings where he boasts. He boasts and he says, I must be a fool to do this, but if I'm gonna boast in anything, it's not about superior intellect or power and miracles, like those so-called super apostles. I'm gonna boast that I suffer like Jesus because I'm identified with him.

He boasts in these things because it shows that he was standing for Jesus and that his suffering was for a just cause. And to know these things in his life help him better know the one who suffered and died for him. Paul was happy just to experience a small part of what Jesus experienced because he knew it's gonna shape the life of Jesus Christ in him.

That's what happens when you suffer for following Jesus. It is gonna shape the life of Jesus in you like unlike anything else. Amen. Now, I love what Paul says in the opening chapter of two Corinthians. He says, this praise, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of compassion and the God of all comfort.

Who comforts us in all troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive for from God. Listen to this, for just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, we want an abundance of Jesus in our life. Amen. And he says the abundance that he received was the sufferings of Christ, so that also our comfort abound through Christ.

What he's saying is this, there's something about suffering for Jesus that helps us know he know him more. And through that knowledge, we can share his life. As we minister to others, the crucible of suffering for Jesus can transform you into him, unlike anything else we experience. Do you believe that?

Yes. If you will let it, if you will let it. Some people suffer for their faith and they become bitter and they miss the grace of God and they miss the transforming power that God has for them through that experience. If you suffer for following Jesus, please allow God to shape that into all he wants to shape into you.

Amen. Amen. This is why Paul says, I want to know Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings. One last thing I wanna say on this particular point. Now there's some theology. Some people believe that since Jesus died and rose again. And since he ascended to the throne of God and since, you know, we are also seated with him in the heavenly realm, since su suffering is something we skip, do you get what I'm saying?

We bypass the cross in our lives, and what we get to do is we get to jump straight to the resurrection and ascension. You know, the belief is Jesus suffered and died for us so that we don't have to, yes, we participate in him, but in his victory. You know, Jesus took upon himself the curse of the law, and so what we get is all the benefits.

We get life, we get victory, we get blessings. I want us to notice the order of the text here when it comes to knowing Jesus. What, when it comes to experiencing him in our lives, Paul, what Paul does is he actually reverses the order. He talks first about knowing the power of Jesus resurrection before he talks about participating in the sufferings of Jesus.

Okay, think of the order. Jesus goes from the, from the cross to the grave. From the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. You know the song from the cross to the grave to New Life. But for us, the order is different. We, yes, we participate with Jesus in his resurrection, but Paul says you first need resurrection power so that we can participate in the way of the cross.

That's the order of the text. Let's visualize it. Jesus goes from here to here and then up there. Yeah. But what we do is we, we participate first in resurrection power. Not to go to heaven, but so that we can walk the way of the cross. You need resurrection power in order to die to sin and to die to self.

Amen. Amen. There is nothing within in you that can help sustain you on that journey of walking the way of the cross. What we need is something outside of us to transform us, empower us to help us follow in the way of Jesus. We don't get to skip the cross and go straight from resurrection power into glory.

We need resurrection power so that we can walk the way of the cross and, and, and participate in the sufferings of Jesus. Because unless you are drawing on resurrection power, you ain't gonna make it. The sufferings will crush you. That'll be too much for you. But if you're filled with the resurrection life of Jesus, the crushing that comes will only bring out the fragrance of Jesus.

That's what Paul's talking about here. So all these theologies that say, Hey, it's only good stuff. We participate in the resurrection so that we can, you know, be seated on high with him. Don't, don't, don't miss the point of the cross. We have to walk that path as well. Are, are you with me To know Jesus is to know the man of sorrows and so God gives us resurrection life so that we can die.

Listen to how Paul explains this in Romans chapter eight. He says, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh to live according to it.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Paul's very clear. You need resurrection power if you were to become like Jesus in his death. And so somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead. And that's the third thing Paul says here in our text.

So Paul talks about three things that he wants to experience. He's already experienced the first two. He's received resurrection power in his life. He's participated in Jesus' suffering, and he says the third one though is yet to be experienced. He says, somehow I'm gonna become like Jesus in, in his death.

I haven't experienced yet, but I know that one day I will. Now, there's a famous story called Philips Egg. It's told by a minister named Harry Pritt. Now it's actually the true story of his young boy named Philip, who was born with Down Syndrome. Now, like many other children with Down Syndrome, he was a a pleasant, happy child.

Have you ever met someone with Down Syndrome? They're the most beautiful people you can ever meet. Just so beautiful. And Philip was like that. He was a beautiful young man, but he also was aware that he was different from the other children. And so he's part of this, you know, third grade Sunday school group along with nine other eight year olds.

So it's Easter time, and their teacher gave the me a plastic egg and the teacher said, look, here's a plastic egg. It's hollow inside. Here's your Easter project. What I want you to do is take the egg and put something inside it that's symbolic of Easter and new life. And so they come back on Easter Sunday, they bring their eggs and one by one the teacher comes along and she opens each one.

And as she opens each egg, she, you know, talks about what's inside outta one of the eggs. She pulled the bud of a flour and she said, yes, this is something that symbolizes new life. Eventually a flour will, you know, will, will blossom and or the, the bud will blossom in, into a flour. In another egg, there was a toy butterfly, and so we know a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

It's a symbol of new life. Then they came to this one egg. The teacher opened it and there was nothing inside. The teacher's looking at this, she's, she's a little bit confused. She doesn't know what to say, but the children did, and they're all shouting. That's stupid. Who did that? There's nothing inside.

Who did that? That's all wrong. Turns out it was Philip and the children are like Philip. Ah, man. You never do anything right. You are so stupid. Everything you do, Philip is wrong. And Philip said, no, I, I, I did it right. And then he took that empty egg and he held it up and he said, you see, the egg is empty.

Just like the tomb of Jesus Christ was empty. His body wasn't there. He didn't die. He came back to life. That's why my egg is empty. And Harry Pritchard writes, there was silence, a very full silence. And for people who don't believe in miracles, I want to tell you that one happened that day. From that time on, things were different.

Philip suddenly became a part of that group of 8-year-old children. They took him in one of their own. He was set free from the tomb of Differentness the following summer. Philip died. His family had known since the time he was born that he wouldn't live out a full lifespan. Many other things were wrong with his little body.

He passed away from an infection that most normal children could have. Quickly shrugged off. He was buried from the church on the day of his funeral. Nine, 8-year-old children marched right up to the altar, not with flowers, to cover the stark reality of death. These nine, 8-year-old children and their Sunday school teacher marched right up and laid an empty egg on that altar with nothing inside.

These children were young, but they knew. In front of them was a coffin, and inside it had a body, the body of Philip. But Philip wasn't in that coffin. They knew he was with Jesus. They knew that he was with Jesus. And this is what Paul is talking about. We walk with Jesus in this life. We participate with him in his sufferings, and then one day we become like him in his death, set free and liberated into all that God has for us.

Paul closes in verse 12 of these words, not that I've already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal. I mean, that's future, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Now, I love the way the King James version translates it. It says, I apprehend that for which I was also apprehended.

Now think of that word apprehended. Kev used to be a policeman. He knows what it means to apprehend a criminal. Okay? You hold onto that criminal, you see them, you chase them down, you hold onto them tight. You don't let them go. And Paul says, so too. We apprehend, we hold onto that for which Christ Jesus has apprehended us.

Jesus saw us, he pursued us, and he grabbed us from the jaws of sin and death and the power of Hell, and he holds onto us. Yes. And in the same way we are called to hold on tight to this hope we have in him, that one day we will experience the resurrection from the dead and walk in the fullness of all that God has for us.

So my question is, is this what you're holding onto? We can hold onto many things, can hold onto that doggy bag. My confidence and hope is in what I bring to the table, who I am. What I've done. You can hold onto that and see how far it gets you, or you can hold onto this hope you have. In Jesus Christ, it was a future hope for Paul.

It's a future hope for us. Paul knew it was the only hope that could sustain him, and it is the only hope that can sustain us. Amen. Amen. Let's pray.

Father, I think of those words we sing. All I once held dear built my life upon all I once thought gained. I've now counted loss spent and worthless. Now compared to this, knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater thing. You're my all. You are the best. You're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you, Lord.

Father, may these words resonate deep within our souls. Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there's, there's no greater thing. Help us to pursue knowing you in this way. Let us not be content with merely knowing about you, but let us experience you in our lives. The power of your resurrection, participating in your sufferings, becoming like you in your death, so that one day we will also join with you in resurrection.

Father, we thank you for this hope we have. May we hold onto it, cling onto it just as Jesus holds and clings onto us. Father, we thank you in all these things. In Jesus' precious name, amen.