Wednesday Night of Voting me out

My purpose of speaking at this moment is not to change anyones mind. many have already came tonight knowing the direction their vote will be cast. My purpose right now is that I want to encourage those who are hurt.

The word is clear that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

I want to exhort you to see not the situation surrounding us, but I want you to see the beauty of Christ. If you remember when we went through Habakkuk, the resolve of the prophet to look to the Lord and trust in his sovereign plan. He seeing the sin surrounding him, he cried out to God. God told him, I am doing a work that you wouldnt believe if I told you. Remember in this moment where Habakkuk went. He went God and to the Word for comfort. In this word was the reminder that the righteous shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk reminds himself at the end of his book what this faith is to look like through the suffering that he is about to experince. Habakkuk 3:17-19 “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.”

Rejoice in the Lord even when you dont now what is coming next. Find strength in him.

Remember where your hope is. Your hope is in Jesus Christ. Not me, not Chris Gravining, not this church, not this state, but in Jesus.

1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

This was the first question I asked the students when I came. I asked where their hope is. Our savior, through the mercy of God, causes us to have a living hope. Not a dead hope, jesus has been raised from the dead for us, he has saved us and bought us for himself, he has given us all we need in himself. Our hope being in Christ will never die, be defiled by our sins or those around us, and will never lose its glory based upon our situations. God is gaurding this hope for a time that it will be revieled.

1 Peter 1:6-9 “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Students remember this, remember the beauty of Christ and find hope in him through this time.

“We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.”

Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith. The God of all salvation that became man, went to the cross, died in the place that you should have died, and rose again, he is your lord, he is your savior and he is you king. For those who dont believe this gospel today, repent and believe in the savior.

Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”