In this sermon, Francis Chan shares a personal experience of stepping out in faith and seeing God come through. He recounts a powerful encounter with a man who had been transformed by his DVD series while in prison. Despite facing challenges and uncertainty, this man displayed unwavering faith in God's provision. Chan emphasizes the importance of having a direct relationship with Jesus rather than relying solely on leaders or pastors, urging believers to seek their own personal encounters with God.

Thank you, thank you. I was telling Pastor Jim right before I came up here, I don't remember the last time I've been this encouraged in my faith by a group of people. The way the Lord is moving here, seriously. And to hear Pastor Tim's message during the 12 o'clock service, I go, gosh, I don't remember the last time a sermon has ministered to me so much, and so I feel so filled, and so good, and it's just so clear. See, some of you, this is all you know. And so you just think, oh, every church is like this. No. Okay, this is a movement. God did something here, is doing something here that is so unique. I mean, I travel every week, and I've never seen anything like this. This is a unique thing that God is doing. Last week, just last week, I was talking to a pastor from India, and he says, I've been studying movements of God. And he goes, do you know how movements start? And I go, no. He goes, the movements start because the founder of the movement truly knows Jesus. And then he says, do you know how movements die? He says, it's when the followers only know the founder. And they don't have a direct relationship with Jesus, but they almost live vicariously through a leader. And it's very easy to just trust, you know, and go, well, as long as I'm close to him, as long as I'm close to Moses. But as we were talking about Friday night, you know, with this other pastor who called me in tears one day, he goes, it just feels like the people in America, they're just happy to hear from Moses when they can go up the mountain themselves. But they're content, just hearing from someone who's been with God, and he was just begging, he was weeping. He goes, why don't they just want to go up the mountain? Why don't they just want to be alone with God himself? Don't they love him? You know, even in my church years ago, a few years ago, I just felt like, okay, it's my wife and I prayed. It's like, it's time to leave. It's time to move on. After almost 17 years, they're just, it was time for God to call us on. But one of the reasons I told the people, I said, part of the reason is I hear the words Francis Chan more than I hear the words Holy Spirit. And when we do that, we're going nowhere. Like we each have to know the Lord deeply ourselves. Okay, the confidence in this, I told my staff many times, man, we had 70, 80 staff people, I go, man, I wish you would all leave. I go, I love you, you know, and I could just hang out with you for the rest of my lives of our lives. But I, but there's such an amazing moment when you step out on your own and it's just you and God. And I said, I want you all to experience that where it's that step of faith. It's like when my oldest daughter turned 18 last year, you know, and heading off to college, I go, this is so good. You know, I mean, no, no, no, no, no, no, you know, I want her home, but, but I mean, it's so good for her and her growth. It's like, okay, it's you and God now. Daddy's not here. I'm not watching it. This is the time when you make a break. And I was telling my staff, oh, I want you all to go. I want you all just to go and try something insane where it's you and him, because it creates such an intimacy. I want to, I want to, there's some things I want to share. I feel like the Lord's put on my heart as, as, as of last night. And, and there are things that there are things that I want to see happen, that there's no way a human being in the flesh could make this happen. And so I want to pray, and I don't want to just have you close your eyes and listen. I, I mean, but, but, but to really hunger, like, God, I, I've already been to a service today or this or that. I don't need another service. God, I need you somehow. This has to be something from you. I want you to be desperate for it, to say, God, make this about you right now. Where's your Holy Spirit truly changing me right now? And it's not just some man speaking in the flesh, some thoughts that came out of his head, but truly words from you. So can we come before God right now? And can we just ask him, would you pray with me? God, can we experience you this afternoon, please? Father, I want people in this room, everywhere, just to be completely secure in you, to find all of their security in you. God, I pray that, that you would just get rid of the insecurity in this room, the fears, increase our faith. God, change our hearts, our minds, wash us, sanctify us by your word. God, it's so easy for me to walk in this room and just assume you're going to work because I know all of the prayer that's gone into this. But we ask you once again, Lord, make this real, make this you. There are people here that don't know you or are afraid of you or don't feel like they can approach you. And I pray that that would all change right now. Just because we ask for no other reason than your grace and your mercy is a spirit who gives life, the flesh is of no help at all. It's what your word tells us, Lord. And so we ask for your spirit to bring life to us today. In Jesus name, amen. I'm here today with my wife. We rarely get to get away because we've got five kids and she's pregnant with our sixth. And yeah, we've been married 20 years. It's been wonderful. But I know that each year I get less romantic. I don't want to, but you know, just every kid just, you know, and then life gets busy and everything else. And you just, you get a little lazy and you try to make comebacks every once in a while. And so I thought, you know, we were coming here and I thought, you know what, let me just bring my wife this time and let's just have a good time. In fact, I'm going to splurge. I'm going to take her to Broadway. Okay. You know, and just, you know, found out I called, I called, I planned ahead of time. It wasn't just show up and, Hey, what do you want to do? You know, it was one of those like, Hey, you know, what's the best musical out there. What is it? Lion King. Okay. I, yeah, Lion King. Right. So got tickets, Lion King. What, you know, I'm just going, honey, we're going to Lion King. You know, this, this is the best, even though every musical says best musical, you know, you'll walk down the street. This one really is. And, uh, you know, have a nice little dinner, walk over there, get to the counter, give the guy my tickets. He points that little scanner at it and he goes, these tickets are no good. I'm like, what? He goes, these are for next week. And I mean, my heart just sank. Yeah. It was like this. Oh. And I could look at my wife's face and I'm like, well, so are there other things now sold out? Okay. And you start walking away and you know, and it's just one of those feelings of, Oh man, I wasn't expecting that. Some of you guys look really sad for me right now. Thank you. Thank you. But things don't usually happen like that to me. You know? So I, I start praying. I go, God, that was really weird. Like why? You know, usually it's the opposite. I'm walking down the street and someone says, Hey, you want to go to Lion King? Here's some free tickets. Like that's what I'm used to. You know, just weird things happening, not the opposite. And so I mean, literally it, see, cause in my mind, I look at my life. I go, everything's in his control. You know, I didn't sweat it. I just go, okay. You know, disappointment, but there's a reason. There's a reason. And I'm praying and I'm praying and I'm praying. What's the reason behind this? And I feel like, uh, this morning as I was praying, I'm not certain, but I think I know. I believe there's an unspoken fear in some of you here today that one day you're going to die. You're going to come before God and he's going to say, your ticket's no good. You won't talk about that because as good Christians, we're not supposed to have that fear. Hundred percent secure in our relationship with God. But I believe that the reason why all of that happened last night was for this message today. That some of you, if you're honest, there's still some fear in your heart where you're pretty sure, maybe 60 or 70 percent sure that, yeah, you know, I think I'm going to come before God and he's going to let me in. You know, that's what I was taught in church. But there's still something inside of you. There's still a little bit of fear in you and you're living in this insecurity and God doesn't want that for you. See, there's this verse, there's this passage that I've been just meditating on since Wednesday. And there's this phrase that is stuck in my mind. It's in Hebrews chapter six. In Hebrews chapter six, verse 18. At the end it says, hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. A hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain. He says, hold fast to the hope, hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. Hold fast to this hope. I want to talk about hope for a little bit because I think we're terrible at hoping. Some of us are terrible at hoping. In fact, all the stats say, all the surveys say that this is the first generation in the history of America, this is the first time in the history of America, a generation does not believe that the future is going to get better. You look at the country, you look at everything and just go, it's not going to make a comeback. The economy is not going to get better. And I'm not even talking about it because, maybe that's right. I do, I travel to Asia and I watch how the kids are studying like 30 hours. I can't study 30 hours a day. That's how bad my math is. It's just, they're studying like hours and hours a day. And then you come to America and the kids are going, uh. And then you go, I don't think we're coming back. I don't think, it's just, I don't see how the future is getting better. You know, so we're not like this hopeful generation. And first time in the history of this country that this generation does not believe the future is going to get better. Hope is just something that we are not very good at. And some of it is because some of us have been hurt so badly by hope. Some of you in this room have believed in people who have hurt you so badly. And so what you do is you start doing what I do. You start guarding yourself, right? And you go into situations expecting what? The worst. This way you won't get let down, right? It's like, well, you know what, the metro is probably going to break down on the way to Lion King. And I'll probably get there and they'll say the tickets are no good. This way my heart won't be hurt when it happens. And then if something good happens, then it's a good day, right? You guard yourselves because you've been hurt so many times, but you've got to understand that's the exact opposite of hope. That's the exact opposite of hope. And because the Bible says in Hebrews 3, 6, God wants us boasting in hope. He wants us glorying, boasting, so sure of this. That's why he says hold fast to this hope. Hold fast to your hope. Let it be this anchor to your soul. I've been praying for you. I say, oh God, it'd be so cool if people made a switch today and they could actually boast about their future because they were so secure in it. So sure of it. No more doubts. You just walk around boasting in your hope. Like I don't care what happens. I know what's going to happen to me. I know where I'm going. I'm so sure of my future. Nothing is going to get me down. Go ahead, do whatever you want to me. I don't care. Like get to that point where we're boasting and that's what I prayed for. I go, God, I don't know who's going to show up. I don't know these people, Lord, but I bet you there's insecurity in that room. And God, I want them boasting in their hope. I want their souls anchored to this hope, this assurance of the future. Now, having said that, I will say that some people should be insecure. Okay? This is not a message, hey, everyone's going to heaven. So be cool. You know what? We're good. We're good. We're good. No, because Hebrews also says in chapter 10, verse 26, he says, if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse judgment do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace? For we know him who said, vengeance is mine. I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Okay. So there's a time to fear. Okay. I'm not saying, hey, everyone, we're all secure. We're good. Love wins. We're all going to heaven. Absolutely not. The Bible is clear. If you just, if you just keep on deliberately sinning, you should be insecure. Okay. If you, if you've heard it all and you decide to go back to that lifestyle, there's reason to fear, but I'm not really addressing that today. And I do want to address in that maybe, you know, like he says in Hebrews three and Hebrews four today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. Okay. Maybe, maybe you, you hear that and you go, wow, maybe today is the day of salvation for me, man. I pray for that. But I, my main goal today is to address a different type of person, a person who's a person that's kind of like me. I'll be honest with you. I struggle with insecurity. I drift. I don't know why I do it. I know the word of God. I've read the word of God. I know what it says. And there are times I'm 100% secure, but then there are days where I'll just start drifting back into works and I'll start questioning my own salvation because, well, I'm not seeing as much fruit as I'm used to. I'm not seeing this or that. And you start questioning, you're like, wait, what am I doing? I can't, I can't drift into this works mentality. And you catch yourself and you drift sometimes and you go, wait, if I start feeling good about my salvation because of my works, that's a scary thing. You know, that's my pride then. And then I can't be swayed back and forth by this. So I'm talking to that type of person, but I'm also talking to the person that there's this insecurity in your relationship with God because there's been so many insecure relationships you've had with people. And you somehow, your view of God is tainted by the view of your dad, the view of people who are in authority that were supposed to love you and protect you. Man, I understand that. I understand as a kid, just feeling like I never was loved by my dad, ever. My mom died while she gave birth to me. So I just felt like my dad was just wishing I'd never been born so his wife would still be alive. We never had a conversation. Man, I remember times when he would get angry one time, just tying me to a tree, just with a rope, tying me to a tree, and just grabbing every branch he could and just going at me. And I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, stop, dad, stop, stop, to where you can't cry anymore and you're bleeding and you have welts all over you. And the worst thing is he would just leave me out there. And you don't know what to do. Like, am I allowed to go back in the house? And I remember my brother untying me and I'm going, Paul, is this okay? Am I allowed to go? And I don't know what to do. And there was never any resolution. So when he died and I was 12, it was like, oh, I'm actually glad, I'm actually relieved. And then you read about how God is your father. I'm telling you, it messes with you. You start going, okay, okay, I won't screw up, I won't, let me stay pure, let me do this, let me do that. I promise I won't do that. And you're just working, working, working out of this insecurity. And your love for God and your understanding of him as a father is so tainted by these earthly relationships. And you don't trust in the word of God. I've been there. And then you finally get to the point where your spirit starts crying, Abba, Father, something the Holy Spirit does in you, that it's just not something that a speaker does for you or talks you into. Something internal happens where you go, you love me. I can't explain it, but you love me and you adore me and I'm secure in you. And I just want that for everyone. And that's who I'm speaking to today. Hebrews 6, going back to our passage, I want to back up and give you a little bit of context. In verse 11, it says, we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness. I love this phrase, to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. He says, you know what? I want you to have full assurance. See, those of you who right now go, I think I'm going to heaven. I think this future hope is good. I'm probably 80%. You guys, what is faith? Faith is being sure of what we hope for, right? He said later in Hebrews 11, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. And so here he's telling these people, he says, look, here's what we desire. We want you to have the full assurance of hope until the end. I want you to be just so sure all the way to the end of your life. Not sure when you were a little kid, when you were in Sunday school and then you heard those stories and you go, you know what? My God, he could close the mouths of lions. He says, no, I want you to have that as a kid, but I want you to have that when you're in your 30s too. And in fact, I want you to have that type of faith all the way till the end. I was speaking to the transitions group on Friday night and I said, you know, one of the things that is so frustrating to me is sometimes I'll see young people do crazy things for the Lord. Then they get married. And I said, when's the last time you saw two single people on fire for the Lord get married and even be more on fire for the Lord and do more for the kingdom. But instead we get ingrown. We get afraid. Well, now it's not just me risking my life. I've got a wife to take care of. Then I've got a kid, another kid, six kids, you know, hey, the risk. And suddenly this faith that you once had, now you're getting into protection mode. Or maybe you get married, you get into so many conflicts, you're in counseling every week. And it's just like, again, this uselessness to the kingdom. And that's why he says in 1 Corinthians 7, he goes, be careful, man. Marriage, it can distract you. I want you to secure undivided devotion to the Lord. And I was telling the young people, I go, there is a way. There is a way where we can get married. And actually it's not good for a man to be alone. There's times when he brings a helper and you're suddenly able to do things you were never able to do before. You're doing things for the kingdom that you never dreamed possible because you're going, God, this is amazing. I go, but I so rarely see that happen. And he's telling these people, he goes, I want you to have full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. You know, I was telling the young people on Friday, I go, please don't go backwards. Everyone goes backwards. They do crazy things when they're 18. And every year they live by less and less and less faith. They play safer and safer and safer and less and less kingdom minded. I go, come on, be this first generation that goes, no, we're going to take another level. We're not going to get sluggish. We're going to have faith till the end. No, I know. I know. Just like God could protect me when I was alone. Now he can protect me and my wife. And you know what? Now God can protect me, my wife and my kids. He's the same God to keep believing and saying, no, I'm going for this. That's why I love the example of your pastor, pastor Symbola. I mean, he's not young. And I mean, seriously, he is motivation to me. I go, man, I cannot believe what that guy is still doing. It just seems like he's ramping up still. And I'm going, that's the way it should be. I never see that though. Can that be that way in your life? And maybe there have been years, maybe you're listening to me right now and go, gosh, I did do radical things back then. What happened to this faith? I became sluggish. My fears got a hold of me. Like what we just heard about in the last service. I started getting scared for my kids, guys starting to care, scared about my future, scared of my retirement. Where's the faith? Man, every year I'm trying to do things that scare me even more so that God will increase my faith and go, no, I'm going to do this thing. I'm going to do this thing. I want my kids to see, no, this is the way we live life. Watch the way God comes through for us this year. We're gonna take another step, man. I say this because I don't want you to miss out on life. It's when you step out in faith and when you're just assured, you know, God's going to come through and you see him come through, man, that's where life is. Man, just two years ago, we did something that terrified me. I was walking in San Francisco and I was praying. I go, God, you know, I love how, you know, in the gospels, Jesus just walked around and he just knew who his disciples were going to be. I want to do that. You know, I just walk around the street and start talking to people and just know. And I'm walking down Market Street and this guy tatted up on his face, arms, legs, everything, big old guy comes up to me, goes, hey, aren't you Francis Chan? No, why does everyone ask me that? You know, but he, later on, you know, I get to know this guy. He goes, I did your DVD series when I was in prison. He goes, I spent 12 of the last 13 years in prison. And man, I did your DVD series and man, it changed me. I thought you were in China or something. What are you, what are you doing here? You know, like, I'm like, man, you really know about my life. And he goes, no, it changed me. He goes, I'm in this halfway house right now, but, you know, and they drop us off in like the worst part of town. He goes, look, drug deals going on everywhere. This is all I know. My friends that came out, you know, with me, they're already back in prison because this is all we know how to do. He goes, I got a wife and three kids. I don't know how to take care of them. I've never taken care of them. No one wants to rent to me. No one wants to give me a job. But I saw this smile on his face. He goes, but I know God's going to come through. I'm not sweating it. God's going to come through for me. And I'm like, man, this guy has a faith. But I'd hear him on the phone talking to his wife. I'm like, man, that is not how you talk to a woman. You know, just everything. It was just like this craziness. He goes, yeah, I'm coming out of the halfway house in about a month. And I don't have anywhere. I'm like, well, God will provide, God will provide. And we started hanging out. And I just thought, I looked at him one day. I go, look, according to scripture, you are my brother, like every bit as much as my flesh and blood brother, maybe even more so. I said, so I promise you, you're not going to go through this alone. Okay. I don't know what I'm going to do, but you're not alone. Just trust me. I'm with you. I'll figure something out. I'm looking for places, looking for programs, nothing out there. I finally go home to my wife. I go, honey, I met this guy. Okay. And, you know, I mean, we've invited people into our house before, but usually it's people I can beat up. And I got five kids and I have four daughters, you know, and I'm just going, okay, you're going to meet him. He's kind of scary, but I see the spirit of God in him. I do. And so let's just consider it. And we don't have a big place and there's already seven of us. And it'd be the five of them coming in. And she met him and was like, yeah, I see the spirit of God in him. We have to treat him like a brother. You think I wasn't terrified? Seriously? To just cram us all in this house. But the five of them moved in. I started discipling him. My wife started discipling his wife. My kids start meeting with his kids. They lived with us for about six months. This was two years ago. He's a pastor now. Yeah. He, uh, he actually heads up my ministry in San Francisco. Now he goes door to door, all the projects door to door. Can I pray for you? Because God changed my life. He'll jump out. There'll be a gang right there. I remember this, this was on a Friday. It was good Friday. And there was just this gang. Everyone was terrified. He stops the van jumps out and he goes, y'all know what day it is. They're all Friday. He goes, no, it's good Friday. You want to know what good Friday and just lays it out. I mean, it's just like this man is on fire. He heads up our discipleship ministry. We started a house. I go, man, he goes, there's more guys like me coming out of prison. They just need a chance. I go, let's figure out a way. Cause I can, I can only take one prisoner in my house at a time. It's figured out. We started discipleship house where we have guys coming out of rehab, you know, bunking up with someone who's going to be a mentor to them. They all live in this house together being discipled. They're becoming this army. Cause those are the people that God chooses, you know, powerful, powerful army. This morning, I got a text from him. First text I got this morning. So I think he's 40. Now it says this. You ain't my daddy, but man, you the closest I ever had to a father figure. Thank you, man, for leading the way for so many of us. Love you, bro. Happy father's day. God bless. Guys. You don't want to miss out on the blessings like that, man. I read that text this morning. I just get, I get weepy, man, God, I don't deserve that. Why do you think this scriptures are written? Why does he tell the rich and, and Timothy tells me, they tell the rich to be rich in good deeds. He goes, why? So that they can take hold of the life. That's really life. It's true life. This is where your assurance comes from. You, you go and you take faith and you, you don't get sluggish towards the end and you experience God and the security just keeps growing and growing and going, God, you are with me. You are with me. You're so good. He goes on. He says for God and Hebrews six, verse 13, for when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise for people swear by something greater than themselves. And in all their disputes, an oath is final for confirmation. Verse 17, this is beautiful. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. He says, you know what God wanted for everyone? He already made the promise to Abraham. He goes, look, you're going to have these. He goes, but he wanted to be so clear. He says, God who never lies. Okay. Everyone's going to lie to you. I'll lie to you. You'll lie to me. We're going to lie to each other, man. That's why we have contracts. Everything's got to be in writing because people are going to lie, right? They're going to lie. And it says, no, but this is different. He goes, God's making a promise here. And he wanted people so secure. He says, you know, usually when you swear, you go, no, I swear to God, or I swear on my mother's grave. He says, that always ends the argument. He goes, well, you just swore on your mother's grave. He says, God who never lies. His word was good enough. His purpose was good enough. His purpose never changes. He goes, but he wanted you to be so sure that he swore. He made an oath and he goes, I swear by myself because there's nothing greater than me because I want to make a promise because I don't want it to be a 70% hope. I want it to be something that anchors your soul. I love that phrase, a hope that anchors your soul. You know, it's interesting. If you see a bunch of boats in the water, if the water is calm, you can't tell which ones are anchored, right? They all look the same, but it's when the seas start stirring and things get difficult that you realize which ones are really anchored. Just a few days ago, a friend of mine, really sad story. He just called and said, man, my wife is right back to square one. She's the exact same person she was before the change happened, or we thought the change happened, and he said this. This is what he says. He goes, you're looking back. He goes, I realized I don't think she ever changed. It's just that things became stable for a while. Things were steady for a while. The house was good, money was good, and so she was at peace, but now that things are difficult, she's right back to who she was. See, sometimes we'll anchor ourselves to something else, and that may not, maybe you anchor yourself to a car that hasn't moved in five years, so it looks safe, but the moment that car takes off, you take off with it, and the same way there are people who may look like they're at peace, but they've anchored themselves to maybe a relationship, and once that relationship's gone, they're gone with it, and they anchor themselves to a job. Once that job is gone, they're gone with it. It's just we anchor ourselves to different things, and it may look that way, but what he's talking about here in verse 18, he says we have this sure and steadfast anchor, the soul, a hope that enters into the holy place behind the curtain. He goes, he's talking about the holy of holies. Remember the Old Testament, the holy of holies, where if this was the curtain and the ark of the covenants on the other side, you can't go in there. Once a year, the high priest, if he did everything right, he'd have a rope even tied around his waist as he walked in, because you might die in the presence of God, and if he dies, we gotta just pull him out by the rope. You can't go in there. You just start piling up all these bodies, right? I mean, it was a terrifying place. That signified the presence of God, and what God says, he goes, I want your hope not anchored to anything else. I brought an anchor with me, because I didn't bring it with me. I asked if I could borrow one yesterday, because I thought about this, because I just wanted you to have a picture. He says, this is where I want your soul anchored. I want it back in the holy place where God lives, where you go, you know what? God never lies. God never lies. He made a promise. Not only did he make a promise, but he swore by it. He goes, look, I swear by this promise, so you can anchor yourself to me. You set that anchor of your soul to me, and it doesn't matter. You can lose relationships. You can lose jobs. You can lose everything else, and you're just going, nothing's changed. This is what my heart's anchored to. This is what my soul's anchored to. Everyone else is going nuts, but I'm anchored. I'm anchored to something that doesn't change. It doesn't lie. Does that describe you right now, where you go, man, I'm so sure, I so hold fast the hope of my future, what Jesus did on that cross for me, that nothing shakes me, because this is unchangeable. This is God who never lies. He promised this. It says in Deuteronomy chapter 7, I love what it says about God. Deuteronomy 7 verse 9, it says, know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. He goes, this is your God. He's a faithful God. Some of you love people who are unfaithful to you. God says, that's not me. That's not me. He goes, I can't even do that. He goes, I can't even do that. I love what he says in Timothy, 2 Timothy 2, where Paul is writing from prison. Paul's about to die, and so his disciple, Timothy, must have been terrified. The verse we read earlier was in that context. Hey, God didn't give you a spirit of fear. He gave you a spirit of love, power, self-control. Okay, that's not you. That's not God. That's Timothy. Don't freak out. I know I'm in prison, but I'm going to die. It's not a big deal to me. My soul is anchored. I'm okay. And then he says to them, he goes, look, this saying in chapter 2 verse 11, the saying is trustworthy. That word trustworthy means you can lean on it. It'll prop you up. It'll hold you. It's not like others where you lean on them and you don't know if they're going to give, you know, like that exercise where you fall back and you're like, man, I don't know if the clown's going to catch me. You know, he goes, no, this one is trustworthy. God is trustworthy. And he says, this is the saying, if we have died with him, we'll also live with him. Paul goes, look, I'm not worried. Look, I'm the one in prison. I should be the one that's scared because I'm not scared. If we die with him, we're going to live with him. It's that simple. All I got to do is hold this firm till the end. And I'm good. He goes, in fact, he goes, if we endure, we're going to reign with him. We're good. We're good. Let's just hold on. And we're going to be reigning with God. But then he says a crazy thing. He goes, if we deny him, he'll also deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. God says, look, Paul's telling us, he goes, look, even if you're faithless, that doesn't change who God is. He remains faith. He can't deny. He can't stop being who he is. He says, I am who I am. It's not, I am going to be someone different tomorrow. I am who I am. I don't change. I'm the same yesterday, today, forever. He goes, if you're faithless, I still remain faithful because I can't deny myself. I can't lie. And not only can I not lie here, I'm making you a promise. I'm making you an oath. Because God says, I'm going to swear by this. Even though it should be enough that my purposes can't be changed, I'm going to put an oath on top of it because I want you to be so sure. He wants us to rest in his cross. And some of us, we just keep drifting back to works. And we keep thinking that God changes his mind about us because of our actions of the week. I don't know what it is, but some of us just keep drifting back to that, don't we? And it creates this insecurity in us that God's saying, that's not what I want for you. I want you anchored in me, in my promises. When I say something's going to happen, something's going to happen. Think about the cross, you guys. Did that have anything to do with you? Do you remember the cross? Do you remember the garden? The garden where he says in Mark, Mark, Jesus in the garden, where he says, my soul is overwhelmed to the point of death. My soul is grieved to the point of death. He just collapses. The Bible says he's sweating drops of blood. You know, I got to read it because it's so powerful. Mark 14, verse 34. He said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch. And going a little further, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. Man, did you ever notice that? That he, you know, he says, man, all things are possible for you. So Jesus looks at his dad, he goes, Dad, you can do anything. You can do anything. I feel like I'm going to die right now. My soul is overwhelmed to the point of, it's Father's Day. Fathers, imagine your son or your daughter looking at you going, Dad, sweating drops of blood. You can do anything. So take this away from me. You can do it. I feel like I'm going to die right now. Don't make me go through this. Man, you can do anything. Remove this cup from me. And your kid, looking you in the eyes, begging you three times as blood is just gushing out of his or her pores, going, please get me out of here. You can do anything. Remove this cup from me. Don't make me go through it. And then at the end, he goes, but not my will, yours be done. And then Isaiah 53.10, it says that it was the will. Right after Jesus said, not my will, but yours be done. It says it was the will of the Father to crush him. What? What did that have to do with your works? What'd you do to earn that? The Father is looking at his son begging. I see you, but not your will, but mine be done. Well, my will is to crush you as a guilt offering so that you'll be the first among many. You're going to lead all these people to you. It's going to happen. I promise. You know, you got to just endure this. It's my will where he made him, Jesus, who knew no sin, become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God through him. Right? And that's why Paul says, you know what? All of my achievements and flippances, I count them all rubbish. Keywords, in order that. In order that I might be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from works. He goes, I have to look at all that I do and say, man, that's like a pile of dung. In order that I might be found in him. What happened on the cross, what happened in that garden, what happened on that cross, I want that. I got to have that. I've got to, I need that type of righteousness. That's where I want my righteousness to come from. And so all of my works, I'm not going to go up and down going, oh, I had a good week, I had a bad week, I had a good, no, I just got to take everything I've ever done and go, look, here, I might as well just hand you a platter of dung. Go, will this get me in? He goes, that's ridiculous. I count everything I've ever done. He goes, and I've done more than all of you. I counted dung in order that. I've got to stop believing in myself. I got to stop believing in my works and I've got to anchor my soul to that cross and go, no, I'm going to hold onto this faith. I'm going to hold onto this faith, this hope. I know where I'm going because of what Jesus did for me, what Jesus did for me, what Jesus did for me. I bank on the cross. I don't want righteousness of my own. My righteousness comes from the cross. Let me just block out all those noises that tell me that they can come from somewhere else. And let me believe, like the Bible says, that if we confess our sins, he's what? Faithful. He doesn't lie. He's faithful. He says something. He promises it with an oath. It's going to happen. That I don't care what you've done in your life. He says right now, God, who does not lie, says I'll remove your sins as far as the east is from the west. You confess your sins to me. I'm faithful. I'm just. And I'll forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Take your eyes off of yourself. Don't anchor yourself to yourself. Okay? Because you're going to go all over the place. You anchor your soul to the promises of God, to the hope that's set before you. We need to be people who start boasting about our future, where we go. You know what? I know what Jesus did on that cross. And I know I believe in that. And he's given me that type of faith, a faith that's sure of my future. So I'm good. I'm good. I'll boast. I'm free. I'm set. That's my prayer for you. But I think there's people here who need to get some things right. Maybe just confess some of that doubt. Because faith is a gift. And the more I pray for, I go, God, I feel like my faith is getting weak. Strengthen me. It happens. It's through prayer. That's why I prayed for you. God, I want these people to have this faith that is so sure of what they hope for, that they're sure they're going to heaven. They're sure that at any moment, man, any moment, we're going to be in the presence of God. No more pain, no more death. Any moment. This is going to happen. Any moment. I'm going to rejoice in this. God's going to be right there with us. You know, it's not the sea between God and us, him and heaven, us. But somehow we're all going to be together. And this is going to happen. And the sin's going to be gone. And I'm not going to offend you. You're not going to offend me. It's just, death is gone. I don't have to worry about my kids. Are they going to make it another day? Are they okay right now at home? It's all happening. And the Bible says, let that be the anchor of your soul. That future hope, man, that needs to anchor your soul. So no matter what happens, you go, it's okay. It's okay. It's like Paul tells Timothy, it's okay. I'm going to die. Wow. Big deal. If we die, we're going to live with him. If we endure him, we're going to reign. We just can't deny him or he'll deny us. But even if we're faithless, he remains faithful. He can't deny himself. He's stuck that way. He just can't be anything but faithful. He can't lie. It's just not in him to lie. And then he wanted us to be so sure that he put an oath on top of it. And I swear by myself, by my own name, that this is true. When I make a promise, I keep it to a thousand generations. Are you secure in the cross tonight? Or did you drift and start believing that God was just like one of your friends that let you down? Or one of your parents that let you down? Or your parents who made a promise to be together forever and then broke it? And God says, that's not me. It's not in my character. I can't deny myself. I do what I say I'm going to do. So that ticket's good. I said it 2,000 years ago, you repent, be baptized for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit. This promise, it's for you, and it's for your kids, and it's for those 2,000 years from now. I made a promise. It's good. It's good today. Rest in that.