Tag Archives: Hope

Two Things

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We hear stories of people’s faith and think to ourselves, really? Really?

That can’t be true. There’s no way folks experience faith like that.

Not when our faith seems so dry. We so want to know the faith that others folks have. We want to experience that type of faith and belief that others folks know. We want that peace. We want that joy.  We want that hope.

We want to do more than just go through the motions.

It can happen. That type of faith and belief and life is actually there. It is possible to live a life a life of faith that impacts your life.  Listen to what Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:

For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes

It is real.  The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ actually happened.

For real.

You can trust it.  You can believe it.  You can have hope in it.  It can change your life.

But, the have that life that faith truly impacts, two things must happen. One is an action, one is a belief.

First , we must be faithful each day.  It’s one thing to talk about having faith. It’s another thing to live out that faith. The lives that faith truly impacts are not the lives that just talk about their faith. It’s the lives that seek to live out that faith.

Seek to live out today what you say you believe.

And second, just because you have faith, it doesn’t mean everything is easy. There are tough times. There will be tears. There will be troubles. God still loves you, in spite that.

You can believe that.  Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean that God has forgotten you.

Have faith.  Live it. Don’t lose hope. And in this, we will find the power of God.

 

A New Hope Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, November 28 is up on Asbury Church’s website. This is the first sermon in our Advent 2010 series “All Things New.” This is entitled “A New Hope” and the text is Colossians 1:27.  You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

Keep Running

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One of things that is tempting to do is just give up.

Sometimes we are tired. Sometimes we are stressed.  Sometimes we just feel like this is the Monday that we are not getting out of bed.

This is the day that we are just pulling the covers over our head and a not getting out.

We can look at our problems, look at our concerns, look at all the things that surround us and just want to check out.

Today, listen to these words from Hebrews:

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Don’t give up.

No matter what you are going through.

Don’t quit, no matter hard it may be.

Don’t stop, no matter how hard the road may look.

Don’t lose hope, no matter hard dark it may seem.

For, today, God is with you.  Jesus is pulling for you.  You are surrounded by a mighty cloud of witnesses that is pulling for you.

Saying, keep going!  Keep running!  Keep striving!

You can do it!

Today, don’t give us.  Today, keep running. Better things lie ahead.

Don’t give up. God is with you.

Heart’s Desire

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There’s a concept in scripture that we see a several times throughout the Bible, and it’s a powerful, powerful concept.

It’s something that can provide us great hope and great peace and joy.

It’s also a concept and passage that can be looked at the wrong way and provide us some problems.

We see this concept in one of today’s readings, from Psalm 37:

4 Take delight in the Lord, *
and he shall give you your heart’s desire.

Now, that sounds awesome, doesn’t it?

My heart desires lots of chocolate today. . . .

Or an Ole Miss victory over Arkansas this weekend. . . . .

Or a new computer. . . . . .

And, didn’t the scripture just say that God will give us our heart’s desire? So, doesn’t God want to give us these things?

I’ve heard that passage read in that way before. Some of us may be tempted to read it in that way today.

But, let’s look at what it says, – take delight in God and He will give us our heart desires.

When we delight in God, when we spend time with God when we grow closer to God, He changes our hearts.

And then, because our hearts are more like His heart, He gives us what our heart desires – more of Him.

Today, God wants to great you what your heart desires, or what your heart truly needs, more time with Him.

A deeper walk with Him.

More of His grace.

More of His mercy.

God wants you to know Him more and more and more.

God wants you to fall in love with Him today.  God wants you to have what you really need –  not stuff, not more, not power, not prestige, not any thing like this.

He wants you to have more of Him.

He is where life is found.  He is what is our hearts truly need.  He is what our hearts truly desire.

And He offers Himself to us today.

May we take Him up on His offer.

Restoration

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One of things we see in the prophets in judgement.

God stands before the people and says – you have worshiped idols.  You have done wrong. You have departed from my ways.

It is because of that, you have been punished. And it is because of that punishment is coming.

Your idolatry has caused terrible judgement to come.

We see that a lot in the prophets.

And it always gets me.

As I told my Small Group Connection here at Asbury Church last night, I understand how sinful I am, I understand the things that I do wrong, I understand how much I miss the mark.

And that keeps me from being too judgmental of others. I know right from wrong and I still choose wrong. So, how can I want grace for me and judgement for you?

That is why I love reading the prophets.  The notion of deserved judgement is there.  But, so is something else. We read this today in Micah 2:

12 “Someday, O Israel, I will gather you;
I will gather the remnant who are left.
I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in its pasture.
Yes, your land will again
be filled with noisy crowds!

God is a God of Hope. God is a God of restoration. God is a God of forgiveness and grace.

Do we deserve the grace, mercy, and hope He gives?  No.

Do we deserve the forgiveness He offers?  No.

Do we deserve any of this?  No.

The only thing we’ve earned is judgement.

Yet, time after time after time, He gives grace. He gives love.  He gives forgiveness.  He gives hope.

Today, hear the words of Micah. God longs to gather you up. God longs to love you.  God longs to restore you.

No matter what the past was.  No matter what has happened.  No matter what you’ve done.

You.  Are.  Loved.  Today.

No matter what.

God is a God of restoration.  God is a God of Hope.

God is a God of love.

Let Him restore you today.  Let Him bring you life today. Let Him bring you back home today.

You are His.  He won’t let go.  He loves you.  No matter what.

Help is on the Way

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I’m not a big fan of Westerns.  I don’t know why. I should love them.  My daddy loved them.  He loved the books.  He loved the movies.  I watched them a ton when I was a kid.

I should like them.

But, for some reason, I just don’t.

Except for Tombstone.  One of the greatest movies ever.

I’ll tell you what I do like though, in all the Westerns I’ve seen.

That moment when I looks bad. The guys in the black hats are going to win. It looks bad for the good guys. They are going to be defeated.  They are going to lose. Evil is going to triumph.

And then, from nowhere, here comes the Calvary! And the good guys win!

Help is one the way!

I thought of that as I read from Psalm 71 today:

14 But I shall always wait in patience, *
and shall praise you more and more.
15 My mouth shall recount your mighty acts
and saving deeds all day long; *
though I cannot know the number of them.

The Psalmist is waiting. Things are bad.  It doesn’t look good.  It looks like evil will win.

But, he recounts God’s saving acts in the past.  He recalls how God has been there.

How God has won before in the end.

And how God will win again the future.

It may look bad, but help is on the way.

It’s true for us today as well.  No matter what you are going through today, help is one the way.

Don’t worry.

God won in the past and God will win in the future. Don’t give up.

God will win.

Help in on the way.

Trust. Hope.  Believe.  God will win.  Help is on the way.

God’s Last Hope?

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I had a professor of mine in college that used to always remind us that we are not God’s last hope. God has more up His sleeve than any of us can imagine. God is always doing more than we can see.  He always has a great plan than our minds can fathom.

We need to be reminded of that. Sometimes we can feel like we are God’s last hope. That we are all He has.  No one is righteous, just us.  We are all that He has.

This can be a problem for a couple of reasons. First, we forget that God has a plan.  Do we honestly think that God is surprised by anything that happens?  That He is shocked?  That He thinks, wow, I didn’t see that coming.

Of course not. God is at work in all things that are happening in our life, and in our world.  God has not forgotten us, forgotten the world, forgotten His plan.  He is at work, even in the things that we feel like He can’t be.

Even in a bad economy.  Even in a fearful age.  Even when we are worried about all kinds of things.

God is at work.

The second reason we are not God’s last hope was driven home to me into day’s reading from Romans 11 where Paul writes this:

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.

It is not we that support the root, it is the root that supports us. We don’t support God, God supports us.

God does not need us.  He is God. He was here before us and will be here after us.  He doesn’t “need” us.

We need Him.  We need Him to live.  To serve. To be faithful. For all of us life.  We need Him for every breath, for every hope, for every dream.  We need Him.

Now, He wants to be in relationship with us.  He loves us.  He desires to know us.  He created us.  And He supports and loves us.

And we need Him.

So, don’t feel like you are God’s last hope today. Be faithful. Do good work. Love, support, pray, forgive.

But also know that God is a work in ways we can’t see. Trust in Him.  Rely on Him.  Know that the root supports you, not the other way around.

God is always at work, even today. Trust in His work, trust in His plan.

Mondays are Awesome!

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One of the things in life that is most disheartening, to me at least, is when folks feel like giving up.  When people feel like their is no hope. When we lose that sense that things can get better, can change, can be different.

In short, when people want to give up. When people think that there is no reason to hope.

We hear, oh, but things can change. Things can be different. It doesn’t have to be like that.

And, when we are broken, we say – impossible. That can’t happen.  It won’t change.

If that is where you are on this Monday morning, listen to the word of Jesus from Matthew 21:

21 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”

Things don’t have to be the same. They don’t have to be like they’ve always been.

I know it’s Monday, and we hate Mondays.

But this Monday, this Monday is a new day!  Each day is a new day. Each day, through faith, we get to start over. Each day is new. Full of new life, new hope, new grace.

This is a new day.  It does have to be like a aways. Things can change. Things can be different.  It isn’t impossible.

Now, through ourselves and our strength, yeah, nothing will change.

But, through God. Through faith. Through grace.  Through His life, things can change. Things can be different. There is hope. There is life. There is a change for a new start.

Today, through faith.

Today, yes even today. Even this morning. There is a chance for a fresh start.

Things can be different.  Things can change. Nothing is impossible.

Mondays are awesome!  Through God’s grace, each new day is awesome.

Go out and live a fresh, new, loved life.  For today is a new day.  Nothing is impossible for God.

Nothing!

There is Hope

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Today as I was reading and praying, I read these words from Matthew:

40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. 41 The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!

Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders and telling them that they must repent. They are asking Him for a sign earlier in the passage, but He says none will be given, for they have among the greatest sign – Himself.

And He gives reference to those in the Old Testament that have repented and received new life.  He says that those that turn receive new life, but they must be willing to turn and live.

There is no one beyond God’s grace. I believe that with every fiber of my being.  There is no one that can’t start again, today.  There is no one that can’t know God’s forgiveness.  No one is beyond the pale, if they are willing to turn back.

I’ve seen recently in some ways and in some lives the power of sin to destroy what is good.  Sin is a destructive force that seeks to take away all that is good.

And one of the things that sin takes away is hope. The hope that it can be different.  The hope that it can change.  The hope that life can begin again. The hope that today is a new day.

Sin beats us down.  It breaks us apart.  It robs us.

It wants us to think that change can’t happen. That there is no hope for things getting better.

That is not. Where there is repentance, there is forgiveness. Where there is grace, there is new life.

Where there is God, there is hope.

Today, no matter what sin and the devil whisper in your ear, there is hope.

This is a new day. Things can change.  You can be different.

God and goodness will win.  Sin will not.

Today, there is hope.  You can change.  You can life.

Through God’s grace. Today, there is hope.