Sell everything you own

Mark Chapter 10. Brothers, while we are looking for that text, I don't know if you have noticed that our pastor has been bringing a series of messages that emphasize, among other topics, something that frankly I have heard the Lord and I have heard the Lord in my spirit once and again. The Lord has been convicting me with this message. I thank the Lord for this series that the pastor is bringing and it is influencing not only the way I live, but also the way I work in the academic resource center. It is still permeating the way I deal with the world around the Lion of Judah congregation and God's work in our midst.

And I believe that one of these issues, the one that grabs me the most, is this: brothers, God's economy is different from the world's economy. God's economy is different from the world's economy. In God's economy you win even if you lose everything. Amen. In God's economy the children of God are prosperous and their needs are met even when there is scarcity and anxiety in the world. In God's economy, my brothers, we can sleep peacefully knowing that our treasures are safe in heaven even when treasures in the world are exposed to thieves, moths and carelessness. And the key question this morning, brothers, is how do we enter into God's economy, how do we enter into that life of contentment, prosperity, anointing, discernment, trust, that world that allows us, like Jesus, to sleep peacefully in the boat even when there is a storm around us. How does one enter this world?

And brothers, the Lord's answer has never changed, and it is the same answer as last week, it is the same answer this Sunday, it will be the same next week, and this one: to enter God's economy the price is selling everything what you own Brothers, to achieve the most you want, it is necessary that we sell everything we have, everything we possess. Brothers, that has always been the price, it will always be the price and this was the new one, this was the message he shared with this rich young man who wanted to enter into God's economy.

Father, bless your word. Thank you Lord for the love you have for us, for the mighty God that you are, and for your promises that are inviolable. Lord, I declare, Father, an environment ready for lives to be transformed and for your blessing to be poured out on every home, Lord, here, Lord, and across the internet, and wherever this word reaches, in the name of Jesus .

Let's look together brothers, Mark Chapter 10 beginning with verse 17, the rich young man.

“…As he left to continue on his way, someone came running and kneeling before him asked him, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? None is good, but only one, God. You know the commandments, do not adulterate, do not kill, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother. He then, responding, said to him, Master, I have kept all this from my youth. Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him and said, "You lack one thing, go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come, follow me, taking up your cross."

And you know how this story ends. “….But he, afflicted by this word, left sad because he had many possessions….”

First of all, brothers, I like this image of this first encounter between the rich young man and the Lord because for me this represents a graphic encounter between the economy of the world, what the world calls prosperity, what the world considers as a fruitful life, and God's economy.

Brothers, what did this man have, what did this man count on? And allow me, my brothers, if they are going to have an experiment, we are going to have an experiment, at least I am going to experiment with a….. presentation. Come my brothers.

Elizabeth, get ready, this is going to be interesting.

Hopefully no portraits of my childhood come out. Amen. Well, soon they will know. Well, what does this young man have? That's why we call it an experiment, I hope your experiment turns out better. Amen.

First of all, what did this young man have going for him, this man going for him? I don't know about you, but maybe the publishers of your Bible call you, they call you the rich young man. How do we get this out? Because not even in the text in the book of Mark does it indicate that the man was a young man. Well, in Mark, in Luke and in Matthew, they all relate this encounter between this man, this person and the Lord Jesus.

Firstly, Matthew 19:20 tells us that he was a young man at first. What was he counting on? At first he was young. I mean, he counted if he was young, what does that mean for you? Youth, energy, his whole life ahead. Brothers, among the values of this world, among the world's economy, I don't know if you have noticed, but our society places a high value on youth. Our society values youth perhaps in an exaggerated way. What's more, I would say that it is more than valuing youth, it is closer to such a thing, to adore youth.

Brothers, unless it's not an AARP ad, a retirement plan, it's tough, it's very hard to get a model that represents less than 35 years old in a TV ad. It isn't true? Even if they are selling car tires, it is a young man, a young woman who is doing this, who is representing it. This man had all his youth.

What else? The Book of Luke, Chapter 18 declares that he is a principal, a leader, a principal. Now, what does that tell you, what does that imply? For me, this implies that this man also, in addition to his youth, had authority, that is, he had influence in his community, he had political power. And brothers, just like in our, I don't know about your country, in my country, in this country people who have connections, people who know people, people who can introduce you to people are highly valued, right? Brethren, he had the ability, in other words, to influence others. He was on some level a cacique, a boss of something, a leader of something, they called him you.

He was young, he had authority, and all three gospels agree that he was rich. What does that involve? In truth, not much explanation is needed: financial resources, money, wool, silver, quarters, what he had was valued by many. And when one speaks of someone who is rich, that merely implies that he has enough money to meet his needs, especially.

In the first century, speaking of someone rich means that they had the ability to acquire not only what was necessary but also luxuries and cravings. He had the ability to change his car every two years. He had the ability to buy this house and not even remember where the address was from, maybe give it to him as a gift. He had his two or three laptops, he had his wi. He had these things: he was young, he had authority, and he was rich.

Brothers, with everything and that this man, I love what the Gospel of Mark says, he did not approach Jesus, he did not send a messenger, he did not invite him to dinner, he threw himself at his feet, kneeling before the Lord. This man asks you, good Master, please, what will I do to inherit eternal life.

And why is this young, rich, authoritative man shooting himself? He's supposed to have everything he needs and more, how come this man throws himself at Jesus' feet. You know the answer, please, you well know that none of this fills the void in our lives, right? None of it fills that space in our lives. Maybe that's why you're here. If you're looking on the Internet, that's why you're tuning in. You who are seeing me in your office, you who in your break time are hiding with your laptop and looking to see what else God has for me.

That is why you are here. That is why you participate. That is why you are in discipleship. That is why we are looking for the face of God and brothers, this is not a secret that neither the youth that we value so much, nor the authority, that we respect so much and stand behind it, nor the money that this society values so much, none of it is enough.

Brothers, if you want more evidence of this, see brothers, the scandals that are still seen in the political world among people who are young and rich with authority. What need did the governor of Illinois have to break the law and thus waste his career, waste his marriage, waste, perhaps, his freedom?

Brethren, if he were alone, Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York with such influence, a man that many named him as a candidate perhaps for the presidency, why for such a base and empty sin would he waste everything, everything? Even here in the state of Massachusetts, even here in the Roxbury compound, we see young people, rich, with authority throwing everything away, wasting what they have, why? because they have more and even what they have is not enough.

And brothers, at least this young man had the integrity to recognize that even what he had was not enough. And he saw something in Jesus that attracted him and he said, I don't know what he has but if there is a good man in all this world that I have seen, it is he. This simple man.

Brethren, because it was not merely what Jesus said, it was what he was, what flowed from him. The Lord healed because virtue flowed from him. The Lord entering, glory to God, the Lord entering the scene the rules of the universe changed with him, merely his presence changed the scene, gave hope, filled one with joy, there was life in him, there was something that attracted him.

Brothers, that is why the crowds followed him, that is why the sick stretched out their hands to touch the edge of his cloak, that is why people leaned to the edge of society just to hear two or three words from his lips, because there was life in him and that is why you are here, because there is life in Jesus, life flows, flows, runs from him like springs.

Jesus is beautiful. It is a beauty that attracts us. It is a beauty that leaves us wanting more. And if we were honest and compared, this is my life, and this is what I see when I see him, and this is what I feel when I'm in his presence, and this is how he leaves me when I have a few moments alone with him. him, there is no comparison. And we want more. And we want more.

And this young man, seeing that the Lord was on his way, was already leaving his village, before losing this opportunity, before losing the opportunity for Jesus' intervention, he did not think about his reputation or how they were going to see him in the council, he ran , he threw himself at his feet and said, Good Master, I want what you have. How can I make my life count for something? How can I inherit eternal life?

The Lord, like a good shepherd, advises him and the first thing he asks is about the commandments. This isn't Santa Claus asking if you're being good. The Lord tells him, you know the commandments, right? You know the commandments and just as Pastor Gregory gave them an exam that he knew they were going to pass, he told them, do you know, don't adulterate, don't kill, don't steal?

By the way, my brethren, all these commandments realize that they are all commandments about how we treat each other. It does not speak anything of the commandments that commit us to our God, for example, do not bow down to other gods, you will not make an image of anything on the earth or under the earth and bow down to it.

Interestingly the Lord did not ask him about those. But he did ask about these. I think, I imagine that knowing his life from afar, and knowing his heart, he asked him, do you know these commandments? And the young man said, yes, yes, my neighbors speak well of me, I don't waste a day in the synagogue, I always take out the garbage when I have to take it out, yes, yes, everyone speaks well of me, I behave well. And still I feel dissatisfied, even with all my religious efforts I feel empty.

Brethren, you do not have to answer, but haven't many felt this way? Pastor, since I have entered this church I have tried to serve, I am involved in the cell, I am taking discipleship courses, I am doing everything.

Don't you know such an unconverted person? Good people. Brothers, good people. Noble people, people with a heart, many of them, of gold. And if we were to inquire, they still feel empty, they still feel incomplete, still in the full presence of the Lord, if they are sincere, as this man was, they have to admit that they have not yet entered into a life full of blessing as who are not identified with the anointing and the blessing and the fullness of God's life. This economy of the Lord has not dawned on him.

The promises of the Lord still, it is as if they were speaking in a foreign language. The Lord says that he looked at him, and looking at him he loved him. Brother, you know what? do not doubt that Christ loves you today. Do not doubt that Christ loves you. Brothers, the fact that you sincerely come before the Lord and say, Lord, I want more, I know that I have not yet reached where you want for me. Brothers, there is no one who wants you to grow, to be prosperous, to be blessed, there is no one who longs for that for your life more than him. There is no one who craves it more.

But there is something, there are things that not even he can do for you. There are steps that are only for you to take. There are things that, no matter how close we are to the Lord, it is only up to you to cross the line and the Lord, loving this boy, tells him, you know, you only need one thing, only one thing. You are close, you are close but you just need to do this: sell what? Give everything you have to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven.

At this point, brothers, this should answer in our hearts what he has been preaching about laying up treasures in heaven and the Lord says, "...and come, follow me, taking up your cross...."

And this young man upon hearing the price, considering this deal, there the seller folds his hands because no matter how well the seller presents the product, he cannot extract the money from you. That has to come from you. You have to enter into that deal. You have to pay that price. Only you have the authority to do it and this young man left sad because he had many. What? possessions.

And I believe, brothers, that he was not the only one who left sad. I hear lamentation in the voice of the Lord. I believe that the Lord, the Lord himself, was saddened. Wow, and what a shame so close, so close, almost. How difficult, said the Lord, how difficult it is for someone who trusts in his riches to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he said. How difficult.

Next. And in that the disciples hearing this they perfectly understood what the Lord meant. I hope, brothers, that we understand why they exclaimed, Who then, Lord, can be saved? If so, if so, who can be saved? And do you know why they exclaimed in this way? Because, brothers, you understood from the beginning that we all have possessions, all of us, brothers, we all have possessions, we all possess something. Moreover, we own something or someone. We all have possessions.

Do you know why, my brothers? A possession does not describe with a legal title. You don't own like that. Your possessions are not on file at your attorney's office. The title of your possessions are filed in your heart. One owns with the heart.

Do you know when you have a possession? A possession is that thing to which you approach and say, my identity is mixed in you, my x possession, my security depends on you. Author A W Tosers once wrote, identify your possessions and you are very close to identifying your God. That thing that you would easily give your life for because you can't imagine your life without it.

And what do we possess, my brothers? Well obviously we own things, stuff, oh the English service is over there, stuff physical possessions. In other words, all our odds and ends, all our things, in the good chapin, all our trinkets, everything. All our things, be it your house, be it your car, be it your job, be it your career, be it your iPhone, be it your Wi-Fi, whatever it is, brothers, what is a Wi-Fi, I don't even know, but it's there. I know that it is electronic, I know that it is expensive, and I know that it accompanies the plasma TV, that is the only thing I know.

Their possessions, now brothers, as the pastor shared a few weeks ago, people have walked, they will give and will continue to give their lives when they lose their homes, when at the moment they find themselves without work for 25 years, 30 years in the same place, like that that reconfigures your way of thinking.

Brothers, we are capable of owning our things and we are also capable of owning people, people. The people in our lives are also possessions: your parents maybe, your children, your friends, your wife, your husband, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. Brothers, your Isaacs, your Isaacs.

Brothers, that was the confrontation between God and Abraham, even though he loved Abraham, because of all the promises that he gave to Abraham, the Lord saw, and we are talking about surrendering not the people themselves, not the children themselves, but the place, listen well, the illegitimate place that they occupy in our hearts.

And this, brothers, when we possess, when a human being possesses cannot bless. When one possesses, behind that possession comes control, comes the title, comes squeezing and controlling and disconnecting and ugly. Brothers, all the people we possess are easy prey for the enemy. Look at it this way, God is not the only one and you are not the only one who knows where you have hidden your possessions. The enemy is quite capable of taking our possessions, even the people we love, and holding them hostage. Do you want to serve God? Do you want to pay the price? I know where your possessions are. And brothers, no one can bless and protect you better than our God, let us decide to deliver them to you once and for all on this day.

And also, brothers, we have intangible things, things that are not measurable: as well as their ideas and their way of seeing the world. How many people follow the Lord very happily until they stumble upon something in the word that scandalizes them, something that upsets their way of seeing the world, something that changes their entire philosophy of what God is like, what God expects of us, your sacred ideas about holiness or worship, or etc.? they are confronted with an idea and they have to choose, either I embrace the word of God as it is and I sell this idea and give it to the Lord even though it is convenient for me to know these things or I make a mess there trying to hold my God and at the same time ideas that have nothing to do with the Kingdom of God.

I know many like that, many like that. Intangibles: your pride, your reputation, your good name. Brothers, there is a precious moment of dedication in the Christmas story: when Mary, after hearing the announcement that this child Jesus was going to occupy her womb, when she declares to the angel Gabriel, she knows, here is the servant of the Lord, become with me according to your word. She is saying, although I know that this is impossible to explain to mommy, and to my neighbors in Nazareth.

Brothers, not because you are following the Lord does it mean that everything will be good for everyone. Furthermore, prepare yourselves since the church is a church, there are people who have lost their reputation, their good name by heroically selling their possessions and following Christ. Maria paid that price. Even to this day they speak scandalous things about that servant of God.

That's ok. Brothers, and also intangibles include: our pain and resentments. There are many who prefer to embrace resentments, pain, roots of bitterness, traumas, before selling it at once, selling it at once, leaving it to the Lord, following him.

Brethren, the vast majority of people who do not follow the Lord do not follow him for precisely the same reason that it was difficult for the rich young man to follow him. Because? we find it difficult to sell our possessions. The price is too high. They will tell you many things, they will give you many pretexts, they can put it in a theoretical way, but after all their pretext is this: this is very expensive for me.

I believe, I would love to have eternal life, but the price, this thing or this person, or this idea that I have is too precious for me, I really want this more than God, or what he has. And maybe they hope that next week there will be a bargain, now at Christmas time that there are bargains, that they will come next week and that there is a bargain on salvation, a bargain, the Lord lowered the price. Amen. Praise the Lord. I saw a flash of life there. Amen. Glory to God.

But the price does not change. Brethren, note how similar what the Lord declares to this rich young man in the 21st century is to what he says even to his own disciples. This is the price. Then Jesus said to his disciples, we know it by heart because he is in the discipleship course, if someone wants to come after me, what? deny yourself, deny yourself, take up your cross.

Brothers, for many of us giving up what we have is a cross and follow me because whoever wants to, what? save his life will lose it and everyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will man gain if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Or what reward will a man give for his soul? Brothers, next week when you come, again, asking the Lord, Father, I want more, I want fullness, I want virtue to flow from you, flood my life, flood my state. Father, I want a blessing that runs from generation to generation. I want to see my children saved. I want to see my family delivered to you. Father, I want to see myself written on the pages of the word and inhabiting the halls of your promises. I want your Holy Spirit to dwell in me like a temple. I want to participate in your glory and your resurrection. I want to be with you in exalted places and know that my prayer touches the bottom of my Father's heart and that when I bow to you, Lord, I can still feel the beating of angels' wings, and know that I am in your presence. How do I get it? I want that. I desire it more than life, Lord.

And next week the Lord is going to tell you, the price has not changed. The price has not changed. But behind this price is a promise. What's more, there are two. The Lord says, you know, my brothers, what seems impossible, what for you seems impossible on this day, brothers, how can I live without that possession. Knows? Still not knowing what he's saying, maybe, still fearful and trembling, even though your hand is shaking, you hand it over to the Lord and say, Lord, I don't even know what I'm doing, this sounds crazy to me. Take it. The Lord takes it from you, keeps it for you because he is a good owner, and he declares you the steward of that thing, multiplies it for you and tells you, I am not left in debt to anyone, truly I tell you that there is no no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or brothers or lands or past or background for the sake of me and the Gospel who does not receive a hundred times more now at this time, houses.

Brothers, welcome to the family of God. Sisters, mothers, the Lord puts orphaned children at home. And lands, with persecutions, he is not offering you rosy color, but the good thing is that each persecution for me is like an interest, and from there arises like a work of magic one more blessing, one more multiplication, even the persecutions serve to bless us and to multiply the grace of the Lord. In this age to come and in this age to come eternal life, he makes that promise to you, one hundred for one, one hundred for one. I see the smiles of many who have connected their little check from the Lord, who have seen the impossible. How do my children study? Not explain to me. How come we have a house? I can not tell you. How did my marriage survive? I don't know. What do I live? I don't know how to tell you, ask God. How did that disease disappear? The glory belongs to Dad. You know what this is and if you don't you want it. The Lord tells you, well, this is yours if you pay the price.

And the Lord tells you, and this is also very good news, another promise, I see this as a promise, it is not a warning, but many who are first will be last and the last will be first. You know what that says to me? In the Lord there is no seniority, there is no antiquity. You can be here 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, if you are not ready to pay the price, the Lord will wait until you are ready. You will be soaking until you are ready. Next week the Lord is going to offer you the same offer. The week that follows the same. Don't worry, he loves you and he's waiting for you. But if you just arrived, if you don't know me, even better for you, I think, you know what? Today the Lord is willing, if you sell your possessions, you go to the head of the queue, you are first.

Brothers, the moment you sell your junk you are going to feel a release, you are going to feel a joy, you are going to feel an anointing, you are going to fly. That thing was an anchor. Brothers, and we are seeing so many brothers flying, selling their possessions and one realizes because at the moment something arises in their lives.

Brothers, these brothers that you see arrived the other days, they are already in leadership, they are a blessing, many of you, how did that happen? Because something early in their relationship with the Lord they got serious and they sold their possessions.

And I don't know, brothers, speaking of paying the price, on October 24 the men of this church had a vigil and at 3 in the morning, as we were closing this, a brother approached me with this document. It is something that he wrote on a page of his diary and this brother who knows a little about legal documents put his date on it, and at the end that we do not see here, to protect his confidentiality, there was a space for some signatures and he told me, pastor Sammy, please sign this for me. It's 3 in the morning! I can barely read at that hour. What am I signing then? This is a contract that I made between God and myself. And the Lord is calling me to do this. Brethren, this may be your surrender prayer this morning.

Brothers, what we are talking about, October 24, 2008, this brother writes, and I, brothers, I find this document, a holy, sacred document. For me this is very special.

Lord, I want to thank you first of all for life, for all the blessings it has given me and for the opportunity to offer myself to you, Lord. I want to hear from you what you want us to do with the life you have given me, good Master, I want eternal life.

Then write, Lord, I give you with this letter everything you have given me including my life so that you can mold it and use this body, this soul, this heart and do your will. I adore you, Lord, and I remain willing to you.

Then he signs it and asked for the signature of two or three brothers there as witnesses. Something that he had done in his heart, but he wanted to do it in a graphic way.

Brothers, I ask that the musicians come up. Let's stand up. Brother, if you have not done it, the Lord has been telling you to do it for a long time, I am going to tell you about this process in advance, like a good doctor. If you have not sold all your possessions and there is something that is limiting you, that you experience the fullness of the Lord, first of all if you are taking it seriously and want you, you are ready to sign your own scroll with the Lord, the first thing I want you warn is this: this is gonna hurt. This is going to sink

This first injection of performance is Isaac, which you take, accompany with the firewood and fire to Mount Moriah, tie it to the altar, trusting that the Lord who asked you for it loves you, he gave it to you, because there is nothing that he ask of us that first he has not already given it to us and can take better care of it than you. You don't lose in this, don't worry about that thing, don't worry about those people, don't worry about your name, don't worry about your well-being, don't worry about your reputation, don't worry about your children, don't worry about hurry, the God who gave you your cover, your house, your life, takes you very seriously. Looking at him, the Lord loved him. Looking at him, the Lord loved him. Looking at him, the Lord loved him. The Lord loves you. The Lord wants to see you blessed, the Lord wants to see the year 2009 be unrecognizably blessed compared to previous years. But maybe there is a possession or two that the Lord is calling us to sell. Rely. Trust him. Trust him. Trust him, who loves you.

Lord, naked we came out of the womb of our mothers and to the Lord we will descend naked. We have nothing that you have not given us already. We have nothing that you have not already given us. Lord, we just want you to be our possession. I do not want a possession apart from you, I do not want an inheritance apart from you, I do not want a hope that is not born from you, I do not want anything that is not created by you, I do not want anything that does not correspond to me first by your mercy, your virtue because I want to eat from your table, I want to enjoy your presence, I want to call you down and that you adopt me, to be your servant, Lord, without anything that limits me, without anything that hinders me. Father, the enemy has no access to anything in my life because I transfer title to my life to you. The enemy cannot reach my name because I am dead with you, I die, Lord, and my name with me so that you may live.

Father, my house, Lord, you are the owner of the gold, of the silver. Lord, the cattle on a thousand coyados, isn't it yours? Father, my career, Lord. You have the course of my life. This mind with which I work, these hands, these imaginations, Lord, all of this is a shadow of your grace, I have nothing apart from that, my children, Father, the title I pass on to you. My loved ones I pass them on to you, the enemy has nothing to do with them, my loved ones are your possession, they are your possession, they are your possession. You will know how to care for them, you will know how to raise them, you will know how to dress them, you will know where their food will come from. Oh Lord, we lift our eyes to the mountains from where our help will come. Only give us to you, only give us to you, only give us to you of possession, Father, like the Levites and the priests. We renounce all possession, we renounce all land on this world. We renounce, Lord, this mind, this culture, Father, we renounce our possessions because one day in the courts of Jehovah is more beautiful than a thousand outside them, Lord. Nothing compares to you, nothing compares to you, nothing compares to you. Take it all, Lord, and instead take all that I am, all that I hope to be, all, all, all, all. Take it Lord, take it Lord, take it Lord. I am yours, all yours. I am yours, all yours, I am yours, all yours, Father. I receive your position as my owner, my master.

And if it is the first time, if you are not sure that you have said a prayer like this, you are looking for all this and you say, Lord, I do not want there to be a doubt, that my life belongs to you. If you're praying that, if that's your request, I ask you to raise your hand this morning, if it's the first time in particular. Amen.

Brothers, why not in a symbolic way bring your possessions to the Lord, bring them, if you raise your hand I invite you, come in, I invite you to come in, brother. This is a contract that we are signing, this has meaning in the kingdom of heaven, the angels are witnesses, the Lord is witness, the spirit of God is witness, the blood of the lamb is the ink we use to sign this contract and the Lord will take it into account.

Lord, I thank you because when you love us you lighten our load and that is what you are doing with my brothers. I declare a light load, the Lord tells you this morning, look, take my yoke, take my yoke, it is light, it is light and my load is light. My yoke is easy, my yoke is easy, my burden is light, and I will take you. I will take what you are offering, Lord, this morning, Lord, take it and if this is the first time, perhaps you are going through the altar and it is the first time that you are giving your life to the Lord, I invite you to share this prayer with me.

Lord Jesus, you have given me life and I return and give it to you, take it, you are my owner, you are my savior. Cover my life with the blood of the lamb. Holy Spirit I invite you to dwell in my life and I declare that everything I am, everything I hope to be is yours, and my name is written in the book of life. Lord, I declare that you are our security. Father, when the world speaks of tremors and anxieties, your children sleep peacefully, when there is pestilence in Egypt, your children are covered, when there is mortality you declare a blessing over your children, when there is confusion your children walk in the confidence that their Father Heavenly is in control and we enter, Master, we enter, I enter, Lord, with my brothers in the center Lord, of your zone of will and hope.