“At the same time we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13 CEB We waited outside the building for quite a while hoping just to catch a glimpse. It was not really very likely that we would be able to see anything, much less have a meaningful encounter. Despite the odds … we waited. Time passed and we were truly wondering if we would leave disappointed. But there was hope. Everyone in the group had a sense that this was going to happen if we were just patient. So we waited. Of course, hope levels are really high when you have not been waiting for very long. As we continued to wait the hope may have waned a little, but it was still there. When we were about to give up, it happened. The doors opened and what we were waiting for actually was happening. The person we had been waiting for appeared, Jay Leno. We had been waiting for quite a while after his concert to try and see him, get an autograph, and meet this famous comedian. After waiting a long time, what we hoped for actually happened. It was a great experience. The appearance of Jay Leno was one of the great moments I remember in my life. He was a real guy and took time to sign an autograph and engage my friends and me in conversation. Someone we had admired, but never met, was right there in front of us in real life. It was such a great experience to have anticipated his appearance and then have that anticipation realized. It doesn’t always work out that way in life. A lot of times we hope for things and they don’t materialize the way we hoped. But there are times when we are willing to put ourselves out there in the hope something great will happen. We put ourselves out there in hopes of a great relationship. We put ourselves out there in hopes of a promotion at work. We put ourselves out there in hopes of realizing something new. Sometimes it happens and sometimes not. Hope is the factor that often drives us to be willing to try something we normally may not have done. It is the same with our faith journey. When we become a follower of Jesus Christ we place our hope in something, someone, new. Paul places this type of hope at the center of his faith and the center of his letter to Titus. In just four short verses he explains the motivation for living Godly lives. He says that “we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.” We wait in hope for the glorious appearance of our Savior. We live a godly life because we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We live in the name of Jesus Christ every day of our life. We have the hope that one day Jesus will appear and we will meet him face-to-face. When that day comes Jesus promises, “I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you.” [John 14:18] We live godly lives because we know Jesus and we are his disciples. Because we are disciples of Jesus we desire to live in a way that honors and glorifies his name. We live in the hope and promise that we will see Jesus in person when he appears. It will be an infinitely greater experience than meeting Jay Leno. So how is your hope? Do you place your hope in Jesus? Do you place your hope in other things? As followers of Jesus Christ there is only One in whom to place our hope. There is only one Savior and one God. Jesus will appear again one day and it will be well worth the wait. No matter where we find ourselves, we must wait in hope. No matter what we have done, we must wait in hope. No matter how unusual it seems to wait in a world that calls us crazy, we must wait in hope. We have a heavenly hope in Jesus Christ. The love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation we have is in Jesus Christ alone. It will be an amazing experience when Jesus appears again. It will be that for which we have hoped. It will be worth the wait. We must wait in hope. This Sunday we continue our message series Godly, looking at The Book of Titus. We will explore what it means to live a Godly life in the blessed hope of Jesus Christ's return. I hope you will join us as the best is yet to come at St. Andrew’s. I can’t wait to see you in church!