FAITH AND HOPE AND TINEKE Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance (hypostasis – the abiding basic reality) of things (pragma – work and business of God) hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.  Faith is abiding in the supernatural work of God doing his will for us in the world of the unseen in the things we hope for - and the assurance of his perfect will coming to pass. In that faith we surrender our will for us to his will for us.Faith is completed in observing the event that comes to pass in God’s sovereign will.When we observe the event we give thanks, and we receive more understanding of who God is.But what we pray to happen may not happen in the way we had first hoped it would.Jesus said ‘If there be any other way, take this cup of suffering from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done’Hope is the ongoing trust in the eventuality of God’s perfect will being accomplished in his way and in his time for our prayer. It sits in the middle of our desire and God’s will and his timing. Tineke and I lived in that hope. The Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit when we receive his gift of faith and it bears witness to our spirit for our hope. We had a witness of hope.Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. The bible speaks of the people of faith in Hebrews 11 who died with the testimony of faith without receiving the promise.The completion of faith is the event of a promise. the completion of hope is the eventuality of a promise. The promise is always the perfect will of God for which we give thanks.We just read that the first experience of faith that God offers to us is about his creation of the world through his word. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of GodThe word for ‘understand’ in that verse is noe?? which means to observe and comprehend and be assured of that event. Most people observe and are in awe of the order and beauty of the universe and they attribute that wonder to a theory called evolution, but some receive a revelation by faith and observe and are in awe of the order and beauty of the universe that has been uttered into existence by God’s Word.  I wont be speaking at the funeral of course so I’d like to share some things about Tneke and me now. The way I came to have that faith in God’s creation was a long and winding road. It started when I met Tineke when she was a university student working as an assistant in a pharmacy during the holidays, and the owner of the pharmacy asked me to come and do a locum for him so he could go skiing. It happened that I was also at the same university as her, having gone back to uni to study medicine and so we continued the relationship from that time on, and then I was introduced to her family and I became a semi-permanent fixture at her home. I also decided to forget about doing medicine – another future had walked into my life.Tineke’s mother Martha was a devoted Christian, and Martha was wary of this catholic university student who believed in evolution, which you had to do to pass the exams, and it was inconsequential to me at that time. But I remember the day years later, after I received a revelation of who Jesus was as my saviour and I read that verse about understanding that the worlds were framed by the word of God and it was a total and complete reality to me and I wondered what I had been thinking all my life. Martha and I got to love one another and lo and behold I ended up becoming her pastor at our church, Northern beaches Christian Centre. I was now living by faith – the faith that said that God was always working his will into our lives for our good in the world of the unseen. Then I realised that my faith was nothing but the abiding under the supernatural work of God for everything I could ever h