Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW200041S
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:08 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Family Worship. 01:12 It's Sabbath. 01:13 It's Sabbath. 01:15 This is Shelley Quinn. 01:16 I'm JD Quinn, this is absolutely great 01:18 to be able to spend this time together. 01:21 We have some wonderful friends of ours. 01:23 We got our precious Dee over here. 01:25 And I have our precious Brian over here. 01:28 And then here's my precious wife. 01:30 There you go. Amen. 01:32 We have all of our wonderful viewers, 01:35 those who are listening to us on the radio as well. 01:37 We are so glad that you are joining us. 01:42 And tonight, we hope, 01:46 hope to bring you hope. 01:49 Let me explain something. 01:51 Tonight we will, our topic is hope bubbling over. 01:55 But it's interesting. 01:57 When you say hope in English, there's uncertainty, 02:01 we hope to, will we bring you hope? 02:04 We don't know. We hope to. 02:07 Amen. That's English. 02:09 But in the Greek, there is absolutely. 02:14 The Bible, the language of the New Testament, 02:17 there is no uncertainty in the word hope. 02:22 When you say hope in the Greek, 02:25 it meant eager expectation of something that is certain, 02:31 just not yet realized. 02:34 So tonight we will talk about biblical hope. 02:40 Amen. 02:41 Honey, you want to have a prayer? 02:42 Most certainly. 02:44 Father, as we come together this Sabbath, 02:45 we just want to thank you, Lord, 02:47 for the time that You give each one of us look. 02:49 We know that we're living in trying times. 02:51 But, Father, we're dedicating this time to You. 02:54 And we're just asking through the aid of the Holy Spirit 02:56 that You will impress our minds, our hearts. 02:58 And then what we have to share 03:00 Lord will touch people's hearts. 03:02 We love You, we thank You in the name of Jesus, amen. 03:04 Amen. Amen. 03:08 Would you all agree that we have just been through 03:12 one of the most difficult years of our lives? 03:17 Ryan, how did this past year affect you? 03:22 In many ways... 03:24 but I think the most notable thing about 2020 for me 03:27 is it drew me closer to the Lord. 03:31 You know, considering 03:32 that this year will go down in history as one of the most 03:37 the notorious years in human history 03:39 being that the pandemic had set in 03:40 and it just launched our side society in chaos. 03:47 People sadly losing lives, 03:48 you know, people getting sick and all those things. 03:50 And so, I think for me and many other people, 03:53 I think what it made us do, it made us go back 03:55 to the drawing board and do some self inventory. 03:58 And to do some soul searching 04:01 and what it did, it put me on my knees many times, 04:03 because you have to during tough times like that, 04:06 you're completely dependent on the Lord. 04:07 And so for me, it drew me closer 04:09 into a more in depth relationship with my Savior. 04:12 Looking forward to the hope 04:14 that I have in knowing that He's going to come back 04:16 and He's going to do away with all the sickness, 04:18 and all the pain, 04:19 and all the sorrow, and the death, 04:21 and all that we're having to deal with 04:22 in this lifetime now. 04:24 Well, you know, how fortunate we are to know the Lord, 04:26 but I want to read something to you at home from Psalm 42. 04:30 You know this psalm very well. 04:33 "Oh, as deer pants for the water, 04:35 so my soul pants for you." 04:38 But let me ask you a question. 04:40 Have you ever felt like God has forsaken you? 04:43 You know, in the midst of all the drama 04:46 that we've been through. 04:47 Have you ever felt like you're just so overwhelmed? 04:51 Actually the psalmist is feeling this way as well. 04:53 He's talking to himself. 04:55 Listen to Psalm 42:3, he says, 04:58 "My tears have been my food day and night. 05:04 While they continually say to me, 'Where is your God?" 05:08 ' And then verse 6, he says, "Oh my God, 05:11 my soul is cast down within me." 05:15 He is a depressed dude. 05:17 He's having a tough time of some sort. 05:21 But then he comes to verse 9. 05:24 And he says, "I will say to God, 05:27 my Rock, why have You forgotten me?" 05:32 So we see that he's working through some emotions here. 05:37 And we know he is a believer, 05:38 because if you back up a little bit 05:40 in the midst of this, he says, it's like, 05:45 he's talking to himself, and it's down. 05:47 And then all of a sudden, he says, "Oh, 05:49 but the Lord will command his loving kindness 05:52 in the daytime, in the night, his song shall be with me." 05:57 And then he gets back down. 05:58 So he's kind of on this emotional roller coaster. 06:02 And I know a lot of people 06:04 who've been on that roller coaster this year. 06:06 But listen, how he concludes in verse 11, JD, Psalm 42-11. 06:12 Forty two eleven, 06:14 And here he's starting off by asking that question again. 06:16 Why are you downcast, oh, my soul? 06:19 And why are you disquieted within me, hope and God, 06:24 for I shall pray yet for I shall yet praise Him, 06:28 the help of my countenance, and my God. 06:31 So it's kind of like, here's the wake-up call. 06:35 And I, you know, my year started off 06:40 four months before COVID hit, I had two major surgeries, 06:44 and everything was going insane in my life, because I couldn't. 06:48 And there were times that, to be honest, 06:51 you did need to feeling down 06:53 when you're in really serious pain. 06:55 And there were times that it was like, 06:58 these words were coming out of my mouth. 07:00 It's kind of like, wake-up, Shelley, 07:03 why are you feeling downcast? 07:06 I can hope in the Lord. 07:08 And so why do you feel at this point? 07:13 What brought him out of his depression? 07:19 How did he have that wake-up call? 07:22 Don't you think it's just that 07:25 he recognizes that God is his Savior? 07:29 And if God is your Savior... 07:33 Well, I know I know one thing, and it says in a few psalms, 07:38 a few chapters before in Psalms 31:24. 07:42 And I can only imagine that he perhaps 07:44 might be saying something like this, 07:46 "Be of good courage, and he, 07:49 God shall strengthen your heart, 07:51 all of you who hope in the Lord." 07:53 Amen. 07:54 No, that is absolute. 07:56 That will turn you around. 07:58 If you have this relationship with Lord, 08:00 we should call out to Him. 08:02 See that's why it's so important 08:03 that we feed ourselves 08:05 because human beings do have ups and downs, 08:09 things happen to us. 08:10 We get blindsided and things go on, 08:13 and if we're not, 08:14 if we do not have the word fed into us, 08:17 so that we can pull it out, then you just stay down there. 08:23 But what was happening here is what he knows 08:26 what he has learned, what is this relationship 08:29 you're talking about? 08:31 It keeps bubbling up. 08:33 So when you get down, if you have that hope in you, 08:39 you will choose to let it bubble up. 08:42 And you have to keep reminding yourselves. 08:45 I am a daughter of God. 08:49 This last year is like my trust, 08:53 my trust and living moment by moment, 08:56 I did not try to think about 08:59 what am I going to be doing in a month or next week even 09:04 is like I'm living in the here and now. 09:07 And I've got to continually 09:09 trust on the Lord and lean on to him because I was, 09:13 I'm not a person who will live in fear. 09:17 So love, God's love cast out the fear, 09:21 it doesn't have to cast out common sense. 09:24 I'm still going to do what I need to do, 09:28 what the Lord gave me common sense to do, 09:30 so I did everything this last year 09:32 that I thought I was supposed to do. 09:33 But I didn't walk around in fear. 09:35 I didn't lock myself up. 09:37 But I trusted. 09:40 I leaned into my trust in him on a moment by moment basis. 09:44 But have you ever been at a place 09:47 where you can honestly say you were hopeless, 09:50 when you were not even hoping in the Lord? 09:52 Have you ever anybody ever been? 09:53 I know the black hole. 09:55 So what was your black hole experience? 09:59 I just... 10:01 When you're in depression or suicidal, 10:05 in me, there was just this black hole. 10:07 And if I fell into it, I would never be able to get out of it. 10:10 Okay. 10:11 So I had to do whatever I had to do not to fall into it. 10:15 But this was before I had the Lord. 10:19 I may have seen the black hole after I surrendered, 10:24 but I never thought I would fall into it 10:26 because I am a very positive type person. 10:31 So if I get depressed, or I see things that 10:36 that are not going right, I'm going to... 10:41 I'm going to decide that I'm going to trust in the Lord, 10:45 that this will get better. 10:48 The one thing you can count on in life 10:50 that things are going to change. 10:52 And even this is what I've held on to during this time, 10:57 things will change now. 10:59 So you had hope? 11:00 Unfortunately, 11:01 I think things are going to change for the worse, 11:04 but my hope, 11:06 my hope is built on the rock of Jesus Christ. 11:09 So I don't, it doesn't matter 11:12 what's going to happen in the future, 11:15 God will walk me through it, 11:17 no matter how bad it gets. 11:19 I'm going to hang on to Him even if it's by a thread. 11:22 I'm going to hang on to Him 11:23 because I have the certainty of that hope 11:29 that not as human hope, 11:30 that as God's hope that there is another side. 11:36 Ryan, have you ever been hopeless? 11:39 I have, I think many times in a sense. 11:41 First of all, we have to understood that, 11:43 you know, the feeling 11:44 or the reality of hopelessness... 11:50 is not necessarily just an unbeliever thing. 11:54 It's true. 11:56 I mean, we're reading right now a psalm by someone 11:59 who was full of the Holy Spirit when they wrote the song. 12:01 Yes. 12:02 But yet they're expressing their feelings of emotions. 12:05 While God doesn't want us to be led by our emotions, 12:07 make decisions by our emotions. 12:09 God is a God of emotion, He created emotion. 12:12 And so, these psalmists here is pouring out their heart 12:15 as to how they're feeling 12:17 this kind of roller coaster effect. 12:18 I have felt that in times, even in ministry. 12:22 In fact, not without going into too much detail, 12:24 I have felt that sense of hopelessness, 12:27 lack of hope, not knowing what the future holds, 12:30 because it looked like every door in front of me 12:33 seemed to be slowly shutting in ministry, 12:35 when I'm sitting there going, Lord, 12:38 either you called me or you didn't call me. 12:39 But, Lord, there's so much evidence 12:41 that You called me to do this. 12:42 But yet, it seems like the door that I thought that 12:45 You were opening, now it's shutting. 12:47 And it seemed like there was nothing there. 12:50 But speaking of the hope that we have in Jesus, 12:53 another great synonym or a word for hope 12:55 is what she used, trust. 12:57 Amen. 12:58 You're trusting, you put your trust in the Lord 12:59 even without really knowing. 13:02 You know, you can't see two feet in front of you, 13:04 Lord, I don't know what's beyond this. 13:06 I don't know what the future holds. 13:08 But, Lord, I trust in You 13:09 because You're the only one I can trust. 13:11 I can't trust myself. 13:12 I can't trust anyone around me. 13:14 I don't know what my future holds. 13:15 I don't know what the next moment 13:16 or tomorrow holds. 13:18 But, Lord, right now, I'm walking through the... 13:20 It seems like I'm walking through the valley 13:22 of the shadow of death. 13:23 And what have you said, 13:25 "Fear no evil, because I'm with you. 13:27 I'm your shepherd. 13:28 And I will lead you through this." 13:29 But it doesn't mean that in those moments, 13:31 we cannot, you know, be subject 13:34 to those emotional feelings of fear of hopelessness. 13:38 Or it feels like the walls are closing in on us, 13:40 where it feels like there is no hope. 13:43 But yet the Lord is quick to show up and to remind us, 13:46 you know what, I'm here. 13:48 Go ahead. 13:49 Well, I was just going to go back 13:50 to something that David said, 13:52 you know, do you want to go say some verse? 13:54 Yeah, let me just say one thing before 13:55 you get into that scripture 13:57 is that my moment of hopelessness came 14:00 when I had had 24/7 vertigo 14:06 for eight months. 14:08 I was nauseated all the time, couldn't walk. 14:11 I was so drunk with it. 14:13 There never, 14:14 there was no position I could get in, 14:16 it never let up. 14:19 I just lost everything in my world. 14:22 And I couldn't read, my pupils were very constricted. 14:26 I couldn't read the Bible. 14:27 I couldn't watch TV. 14:29 I mean, and in the midst of this, 14:31 I'm trying to take care 14:33 of my mother-in-law and father-in-law 14:34 in a farmhouse, 14:36 and I remember getting in bed one night, 14:38 and I actually wrote about this in exalting his work, 14:41 but I got in bed, and I said, 14:45 "Now I know why you did it, Mama." 14:47 Because my mother had attempted suicide several times. 14:53 I wasn't at the point of thinking of killing myself. 14:58 But the point I had reached 15:00 was an emotional understanding of why people do it. 15:07 And the reason why people consider suicide 15:13 is because they've lost all hope. 15:16 You can get someone and this has happened 15:18 so many times that be standing on the bridge ready to go over. 15:23 And if they can intervene, intercept that act, 15:29 they'll say that within 24 hours, 15:31 that thought of suicide is gone because they've gotten somebody 15:34 to come in and talk to them, their hope is restored. 15:37 So when someone considers suicide 15:41 or even attempt suicide, it's because they're hopeless. 15:46 But now, Honey, 15:47 why, when, the Psalm that you read while ago 15:52 about God strengthens our heart. 15:55 Why? 15:57 How does God strengthen our heart? 15:59 Well, I love and following this. 16:03 Let me say this first, boy, 16:04 every time you throw something out, boy, 16:06 here comes a thought, here comes a thought. 16:09 And you said something while ago, 16:11 Ryan, that was just... 16:14 I think it's real life. 16:16 It got foggy. 16:18 I think a lot of people have fog 16:21 that they can't see beyond, 16:23 so there's where that they may misstep or something. 16:28 And this is where... 16:31 I've experienced this myself. 16:34 Lord, increase my faith, increase my wisdom, 16:36 increase my humility, increase, just increase, 16:39 Lord, I need help, my courage. 16:43 And the Lord impresses upon me, whenever you say, 16:47 increase my wisdom, it's kind of like... 16:51 I can't quite see far enough to be able to make a decision. 16:55 And whenever you catch yourself in a situation like that, 16:59 my suggestion, Lord, increase my wisdom 17:01 and that fog seems like it goes away. 17:04 Now, how come that fall goes away? 17:06 Has nothing to do with us. 17:09 That's an enemy just sneak it in there, 17:11 you know, throw you curveball. 17:12 Here it tells us in Psalms 38. 17:15 Behold, remember now... 17:17 Psalm 38 or... 17:18 Sorry, 33. 17:20 Psalm 33:18. 17:21 Yes. Okay. 17:23 It's foggy. 17:24 That's right. 17:25 "Behold, the Lord's eyes are upon those who fear Him." 17:29 So in other words, wait a minute here. 17:31 I'm not alone. 17:33 Behold, the Lord's eye is upon those who fear Him." 17:36 In other words, the Amplified, "Who bear, 17:39 worship Him with all, 17:41 who wait on Him, who hope in His mercy, 17:46 which is trust, which is expectation, 17:49 which is confidence 17:51 in His mercy and loving kindness." 17:54 So God is there at all times, 17:57 keeping close watch over His babies. 18:00 That's right. 18:02 And so... 18:03 Go ahead. 18:05 But if you lose sight of that. Yes. 18:07 See, hopelessness comes from when you are in so much pain, 18:11 you can't see beyond the pain, 18:13 either physical, emotional, or mentally. 18:16 When you see nothing ever changing, 18:18 you had been in vertigo for so long, 18:20 you didn't think it was ever going to end. 18:22 You couldn't even imagine not having it anymore. 18:25 Oh, I've been to every doctor in the world and NASA doctors. 18:28 Yeah. 18:29 And they wanted to clip my ears and make me deaf, I mean... 18:32 So you're in a situation 18:34 where you see no hope of change. 18:36 Yeah. 18:37 You can't continue on the way you are. 18:40 And you feel alone 18:42 because you no longer feel the presence of the Lord. 18:46 Yes. 18:47 And this is what puts you in this hopelessness. 18:50 That's where the word comes in, 18:52 where you have to just step out and say, "Father, 18:56 I claim your promise that you are here with me, 18:59 even if I can't feel you, you are here." 19:02 And that's when you start. 19:05 When you start pulling the word out, 19:07 when you can block out this hopelessness 19:11 where you are and say, wait a minute, 19:13 God, the Word says, you're next to me, 19:15 you are here with me. 19:17 Father, I praise Your name, please give me wisdom, 19:20 help me part the fog. 19:22 You have to make a decision. 19:24 Right. 19:25 You're in this place that is untenable. 19:28 It cannot continue this way. 19:30 You can't survive this way any longer. 19:32 So then you make a decision to end it one way or another. 19:38 You either end it, 19:40 you end it by just surrendering and letting go, 19:43 or you surrender to the Lord and reach out a hand to Him 19:47 and sometimes you're so hopeless, 19:49 you can't reach out a hand, 19:50 you just lay there and go, help. 19:52 And you know, this is the point like you said, 19:54 you can be a Christian and meek. 19:56 I was a Christian, but I reached that point 19:59 and you know what the Lord said to me, 20:00 I mean, that night scared me so badly. 20:03 The next morning I got up. 20:05 And if you can't read the Bible, it's pretty bad. 20:08 But you know what the Lord said to me when I cried out to Him. 20:12 He said... 20:13 "My Word is life to you, choose life." 20:18 God directed me to get into His Word. 20:21 And as the psalmist says in Psalm 130:5, 20:26 he said, "I wait for the Lord, 20:28 my soul does wait in His Word do I hope." 20:34 Here I am, where I can't read no concordance. 20:39 And I'm trying to look up scriptures, 20:41 God instructed, look up scriptures on healing. 20:44 And I'm like this. 20:45 I mean, this was bad. 20:48 But it is about putting your trust in the Word of God. 20:54 Why can we trust the Word of God? 20:56 You know, I want to interject something here. 20:58 This is why it's so critical. 20:59 We don't know, we can't look at someone and say, 21:03 "Oh, they're in that hopeless place." 21:05 That's why it's so critical of what we say to other people. 21:09 We cannot know that someone is drowning. 21:13 And we can either feed words in them 21:15 that push them deeper under 21:17 or we can feed words in them that 21:19 might give them a lifeline that they can grab on to. 21:22 So it's very critical how we treat or act 21:25 and say to other people, 21:28 when we don't know what their situation is. 21:32 Ryan's got a thought. 21:33 No, just everything that she said earlier 21:35 that she just said that you just said 21:38 and what we're talking about here, 21:40 I think it's important not to forget 21:41 that there's been no one to fall deeper 21:43 into that hopeless state than Christ. 21:45 Amen. Oh, that's good, yes. 21:48 Perfect example, 21:50 here He in the Garden of Gethsemane, 21:52 and the sin of the world is bearing upon Him. 21:56 But yet He still seems to be in that right mind to go, 21:59 Father, you know, if it's possible... 22:02 you can see that, that trust there, 22:04 He's still trusting in His Father, even though 22:06 the sin of the world is pressing upon Him, 22:08 He can feel this change overcoming Him. 22:12 But yet, in less than 12 hours later, 22:15 He's hanging on a cross. 22:17 And you read Psalm 22. 22:18 And tell me if that's the same person 22:20 that you were reading about just a few hours before that. 22:23 Well, He's hanging on the cross. 22:24 And He's saying, you know, God... 22:26 It's even recorded in the gospels, 22:28 you know, God, My Father, My Father, 22:29 why have You forsaken Me? I am a worm, and no man. 22:32 Wait a second, hold on. 22:33 That's, that's a hopeless state. 22:35 At that moment hanging on the cross, 22:36 even the humanity of Christ 22:39 fell into a hopeless state, 22:41 because the sin of the world had brought Him, 22:43 His surroundings, as He's describing in Psalm 22, 22:46 that my enemies are about me there. 22:49 And he goes into this very detailed description 22:51 of what they're doing to Him. 22:53 But yet, and it's almost as if Christ is experiencing 22:56 and without saying this in a disrespectful way, 22:58 but it's almost somewhat true. 23:00 It's almost as if He's experiencing 23:02 a sense of spiritual bipolar, 23:04 where in one moment He's Lord, 23:06 He's like this, the next moment, 23:08 He's like, oh, you know, 23:09 that's exactly what day that goes through. 23:10 That's what we go through, right? 23:12 And so it gives you hope 23:15 to look at the master of the universe 23:17 and see in His humanity, 23:20 He experienced this. 23:21 So it's fair to say He was depressed. 23:23 Absolutely. 23:24 And so, oh, please, Lord... 23:26 But yet where was He brought back to? 23:27 Yeah, but hang on one second. Let me make this point. 23:30 There's somebody who's watching 23:31 because somebody doesn't know this. 23:34 Please understand depression is not a sin. 23:38 Our Savior was depressed by circumstances. 23:42 But He held on to the love of God, 23:46 and to the Word of God. 23:49 JD, you had something to say? 23:51 I was pointing toward Ryan, because I thought he is... 23:54 About the bless verse. Yes. 23:56 No, no, I'm just saying what you brought out there 23:59 is even through the anxiety that Christ is experiencing, 24:02 even through depression. 24:04 Let me tell you something. 24:05 You have an experience, 24:06 and I'm not playing this down at all. 24:08 We have real problems to deal with in this life. 24:10 And there's people watching home 24:12 that may be dealing with anxiety, 24:13 may be dealing with depression, 24:14 may be dealing with mental illness, 24:16 or whatever other kind of illness you're dealing with, 24:18 and that each situation is real. 24:20 But we have to stop and realize 24:22 there's no one that has dealt with that 24:23 more on a stronger level than Christ Himself. 24:26 And even through all of that, through all of that depression, 24:30 through all of that anxiety, through all of that, 24:32 that hopelessness that he was experiencing. 24:35 Still at the end of the day hanging on a cross 24:38 about to give up His last breath. 24:40 He calls back out to His Father, 24:42 Father forgive them for they know not what they do. 24:46 It's powerful, 24:48 His hope was still in the end in His Father's, it's powerful. 24:51 Amen. 24:52 Amen. 24:53 I want to just, JD, 24:56 why don't you read... 24:59 the Psalm or Numbers 23:19. 25:02 I love this scripture, Numbers 23:19. 25:07 "God is not a man, that He should lie, 25:10 nor a son of man that he should change his mind. 25:15 Does he speak and then not act? 25:17 Does he promise and not fulfill? 25:19 Go ahead and read 1 Kings 8:56 because that's a great. 25:23 Amen. 25:25 "Blessed be the Lord according to all that He promised. 25:28 Not one word has failed of all of His good promise, 25:32 which He promised." 25:33 All right. 25:35 So this goes back, I had a thought I want to add 25:39 to Dee's point while ago. 25:41 It is the Word, we can trust in the Word of God. 25:47 God is not a man that He can lie. 25:50 God doesn't promise and then change His mind. 25:53 He says, "I am the Lord, I change not." 25:55 Jesus Christ was the same yesterday, today and forever. 26:00 The Word of God is powerful and active. 26:04 It's sharper than any two-edged sword. 26:07 But don't use the Word of God 26:11 in a flippant manner, let me say this. 26:15 When... 26:17 sometimes when you are, or someone you love, say, 26:21 let's say someone you love a friend or family member 26:24 is at their worst, 26:26 they're down, they're depressed. 26:28 And you... 26:31 just flip off a scripture and say this to him. 26:33 Like, for example, I was preaching in England. 26:39 And I got to Romans 8:28, 26:42 "That all things work together for good 26:44 for those who love the Lord 26:45 and are called according to His purpose." 26:48 And I made a comment. 26:49 You remember, I made a comment. 26:52 What would you do... 26:55 if you've just lost your husband and your children 26:59 and somebody comes up in church and says, 27:02 don't worry, Honey, 27:03 all things work together for good 27:05 for those who love the Lord. 27:07 When you want to hit him, I want to suck him. 27:11 But I said you can't, you can't separate 27:15 Romans 8:28 from Romans 8:29, 27:18 because he explains 27:20 what this good is that He's going to work out. 27:23 It's not that the situation was good. 27:25 But he says, for those he before new, 27:28 he predestined to be transformed 27:33 into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. 27:35 He's gonna, so no matter what happens, 27:37 he can make us a little bit more like Jesus. 27:40 But my point is, there are some people 27:43 who are so Pollyanna positive thinking, 27:48 don't say anything negative. 27:51 It's like if you tell a true report, they go, 27:53 "Oh, don't think like that. 27:55 Don't say that, you know," and they throw out a scripture. 27:58 And you know what that is? 28:00 I call it positivity, toxicity. 28:04 You hurt people, 28:07 when they are wounded and hurting, 28:09 and you just shoot off scripture like an arrow. 28:14 Yeah, that's a good point. 28:15 It's not you've got to... 28:17 come to somebody that's feeling hopeless. 28:19 Sympathize with them. 28:20 You have to sympathize. 28:22 You have to listen, 28:24 then it's okay after that to say, 28:28 you know, I'm so sorry for what you're going through. 28:30 One thing that gives me great hope for you 28:34 is what the Lord says in wherever it is. 28:38 Proverbs 3:5-6, 28:39 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." 28:41 But we can't just shoot it off. 28:45 And I bet happened a lot 28:47 when I went through my surgeries, 28:51 that people would say, how are you feeling? 28:53 And if I wrote, told him how I was, Oh, 28:55 don't talk like that, you know, and you feel... 29:00 invalidated. 29:01 Does that make sense? 29:03 Right. Okay. 29:04 Why can we put our trust, 29:06 I mean, yes, this is God's Word. 29:09 But why can't we put our trust in God's Word? 29:16 Because if you've have a relationship with Him, 29:19 He has proved Himself over and over in the better times. 29:24 I hang on to remembering my history with the Lord, 29:30 my past with the Lord. 29:31 So when I get into a situation 29:35 where I may be down or depressed, 29:38 or I'm not sure how something's going to work out, 29:40 I have to think the verse how He's led us, 29:44 I look at how He's led in the past. 29:48 He's not going to lead you 29:50 to the edge of the Promised Land, 29:52 and then dump you off a cliff. 29:54 Even if you can't see, 29:56 even if you're standing on a cliff... 30:00 if you step off, not jump off, but if you step off, 30:05 the Lord is going to carry you across whatever it is. 30:08 It may not be a pleasant experience. 30:12 We sometimes don't always know why we're going through 30:15 what we're going through. 30:16 We don't know if it's Satan, or if God's allowing it, 30:19 if He's trying to teach us something, 30:21 if somebody else is going to benefit from it. 30:23 We don't know the why so many times. 30:26 And I actually don't try to ask the Lord, 30:29 why, I'm gonna ask Him why later, 30:32 when He can answer me and I'll understand the answer. 30:35 Even if He explained it to me right now, 30:37 I may not understand it or get it. 30:38 It's like what? 30:40 So I try not to ask why. 30:42 I try to ask more like, 30:44 how, what am I supposed to be doing? 30:47 And if you reach out to Him, 30:49 and you say, just help me through this. 30:54 I hope, I know there's another side there. 30:57 But I depend on what He did for me in the past. 31:00 So like I said before, 31:03 you depend on the Lord on how He's led in the past. 31:05 You know, He's gonna get you through this 31:07 because He did it before. 31:09 Amen. 31:10 And that really segues into 31:11 what Paul was saying in 2 Corinthians, 31:14 for no matter how many promises God have made, 31:17 they are what? 31:19 Yes. They're always yes in Christ. 31:21 And so we need to remember that. 31:22 All right. 31:24 So when you say 2 Corinthians 1:20. 31:27 What that makes me feel 31:30 is that or what the point that we need to make 31:34 is that all of these beautiful promises, 31:38 Old Testament, 31:40 the New Testament, salvation, sanctification, peace, love, 31:44 joy, forgiveness, 31:46 all of these beautiful promises are trustworthy. 31:51 But they only belong to us how? 31:54 2 Corinthians 1:20, if we are... 31:57 Yes. 31:59 What? In Christ. 32:00 In Christ. 32:02 Even if we're in Christ so, 32:04 it's also when do the promises become fulfilled? 32:08 Oh, and I mean, that's part of hope is that it's... 32:11 We know that they're going to get. 32:13 You ask, how can we trust this? 32:15 How can we know we can trust in this? 32:16 Yeah. 32:18 God has the perfect track record. 32:19 There's no one else that has a more perfect 32:20 track record than Him. 32:22 He's the only person that didn't have to prove Himself, 32:25 but yet He did. 32:26 And so, we see right out in Genesis 3, 32:29 the devil's trying to convince even humanity 32:31 that God is untrustworthy, 32:32 He's restrictive, He can't be trusted. 32:34 He's in it for Himself. 32:35 But the cross disproved that. 32:37 His track record with Israel through that disprove that. 32:40 Since the cross He has disproved that lie. 32:44 And so when I read what you just read earlier, 32:47 we just read it from 1 Kings, and also Numbers 23, 32:50 God cannot lie. 32:52 That's a God I can trust. That's someone worthy of trust. 32:54 Every word and no word has failed. 32:56 Absolutely. 32:57 1 John 4 tells us that God is love. 33:01 In 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love never fails. 33:05 And so, God cannot lie. 33:08 He never fails. 33:09 He is perfect. He is trustworthy. 33:11 That's why I can trust in His Word. 33:12 And if we are in Christ, 33:14 all of God's promises are fulfilled 33:19 because of what Christ did for us. 33:21 So, Ryan, speak to someone who needs hope, 33:26 because maybe they've lost a loved one, 33:30 or hope because they're not certain of their salvation. 33:35 Sure. Or someone out there. 33:38 You may be watching this and saying, 33:39 "Well, I'm not in Christ. 33:42 How do I? 33:44 How can I find hope in God, if I'm not in Christ? 33:49 Speak to some of those situations. 33:50 You know, hopelessness. 33:52 You know, we're talking about 33:53 hope in contrast to hopelessness. 33:54 Hopelessness comes from the enemy. 33:56 The spirit of the enemy is the one who wants to plant 33:58 that seed of doubt in your mind. 34:00 And, you know, just to illustrate it really quickly 34:02 before I give these texts here. 34:04 You know, when my mom died last year, 34:06 I had thousands of people praying for her. 34:10 Thousands of God's remnant people praying for her. 34:14 You could not convince me before she officially passed 34:18 that God was not hearing those prayers 34:20 which I know He was. 34:21 And you couldn't convince me at that moment 34:23 that He wasn't going to pull her through 34:25 because I had 100% complete hope 34:28 that God was hearing these 34:29 thousands of wonderful prayers going up, 34:32 you know, save Mrs. Day, save Mrs. Day, 34:34 Lord, bless her through. 34:35 And here I am on my knees in the hospital, 34:39 in the chapel and in the waiting rooms, 34:41 you know, God save my mom. 34:42 And there's just surge of hope, 34:44 like, yeah, He's gonna hear these prayers. 34:45 He's gonna pull it through. 34:47 And then she didn't and here comes the enemy. 34:50 Amen. 34:52 Let me pause before you go to the next one 34:53 'cause here's a point. 34:54 I love that you brought this up. 34:58 We can have hope in what God has promised. 35:03 God never promised us perfect health. 35:06 He never promised us healing. 35:08 And I want to give you a scripture 35:09 because a lot of people say, 35:11 yeah, God wants us to be perfectly healed and healthy. 35:15 Of course, he loved for us to be but listen to this. 35:18 You know that Paul in Acts, he talks about, Paul had... 35:24 The Lord used him off and to heal, 35:26 even with a hankie. 35:28 Paul touched the handkerchief. 35:30 They take it out to the villages 35:32 and people would be healed. 35:36 You know, some people say, "Oh, that's the gift of healing." 35:39 Yes, it's not a permanent thing, obviously. 35:41 Because listen to 2 Timothy, this is Chapter 4 and verse 20. 35:47 This St. Paul... 35:49 whose hankies were 35:50 so powerfully anointed for healing. 35:53 He's writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:20. 35:57 He says, "Erastus stayed in Corinth, 36:01 but Trophimus I have left in Miletus sick." 36:08 So don't you know that Paul, 36:10 just, I'm sure that Paul was praying for Trophimus. 36:14 I'm sure that many others were praying for Trophimus 36:18 and sometimes our expectation, 36:22 you were expecting something God didn't told us? 36:24 Did you get mad at God? 36:26 You know, not really mad, it was more or less, 36:29 I fell into that really quickly, short moment. 36:33 But the devil swoops in and he can easily say... 36:40 you know, who is God that 36:41 He didn't hear all those prayers. 36:43 I thought He heard, I thought 36:44 He listens to His people's prayers. 36:46 That's the God you serve. 36:47 Don't you serve Him, 36:49 and you have all these ministers 36:50 and people within the remnant church, 36:52 praying for your mother, God, and ignored those prayers. 36:54 And then it can, it can easily slip you, 36:57 if you will feast on that too long. 37:00 It can slip you into a state 37:01 where not only do you begin to challenge God's plan, 37:05 but you begin to challenge His goodness. 37:07 And when you begin to challenge who He is as the good God 37:10 that He is, it can turn into something else 37:12 where you completely begin to distrust in who He is 37:14 and His Word. 37:16 I praise the Lord. 37:17 I'm not gonna say I didn't allow that to happen. 37:18 But praise God, He didn't let go of me. 37:20 And He helped bring me through that. 37:22 There may be someone right now that has dealt with that. 37:25 You said, you know what? I've asked. 37:26 And that's one of the questions I've gotten in pastoral. 37:29 You know, I've lost a loved one. 37:30 Why God didn't save my mom, who, you know, we're praying 37:34 for healing and praying 37:35 for healing and God's not healing us? 37:37 Why not? 37:38 Why is He not hearing our prayers? 37:39 But at the end of the day, my friends, 37:41 there is hope in loss. 37:42 We have hope in Christ Jesus. 37:44 And as Shelley brought out beautifully, just in, 37:47 you know, God didn't necessarily promise us 37:49 that He would just save us the way 37:51 we would want to be saved. 37:52 God knows things that we don't, 37:54 you know, I know, one day, I'm going to get to heaven, 37:56 and God's gonna explain to me, 37:58 here's why I had to take your mom. 37:59 And it's going to make perfect sense instead of me, 38:02 you know, falling into this state of depression 38:04 and in this state of distrust 38:06 and just shaking the fist at God 38:08 because He took my loving mom, whom I love very much. 38:11 I know, when I get to heaven, He's gonna say, 38:12 let me peel back the curtain and show you 38:14 what you couldn't see 38:16 that was going on behind the scenes. 38:17 And let me show you the future of what would have happened 38:19 if I would have allowed her to be healed. 38:21 See, we don't know God sees things. 38:24 He didn't take her, 38:25 He just did intervene to heal her. 38:26 That's right. 38:28 Absolutely, absolutely, 38:29 so, you know, we have hope in Scripture, 38:31 we've been talking about how we can trust 38:32 in the Word of God. 38:33 I think of Titus Chapter 2:11-14. 38:37 I'm gonna read all of these verses, 38:38 but I love how it brings us to that blessed hope 38:41 that we have when Christ goes back, 38:43 He's going to make all things new. 38:45 It' says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation 38:47 has appeared to all men." 38:49 Verse 13, says, 38:50 "Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing 38:53 of our God and Savior Jesus Christ 38:55 who gave Himself for us, 38:56 that He might redeem us from every lawless deed 38:58 and purify for Himself 39:00 His own special people's zealous for good works." 39:02 We have the whole knowing that in times of loss, 39:05 we can look forward to Christ who is that blessed hope. 39:08 He is coming is that blessed hope, 39:10 and then tie that with John 11:25-26. 39:13 You got to read it. 39:14 Jesus says to one of, some of the most powerful words 39:17 pertaining to death. 39:19 Jesus said to her, speaking of Martha, 39:21 He says, "I am the resurrection and the life, 39:24 he who believes in Me, though he may die, 39:27 he shall live and whoever lives 39:28 and believes in Me shall never die." 39:31 And He asked, "Do you believe this? 39:33 Do you believe this?" Do we believe this? 39:35 And there is hope in the Word of God 39:37 that we can look forward to a time 39:39 when Jesus is going to make all things new. 39:41 And that goes for just about every... 39:43 I could spend more time, 39:44 I don't want to take up all the time. 39:45 But people who are, 39:47 you know, they may be oppressed 39:48 in some type of injustice 39:50 or something that they're going through in life. 39:53 You know, there are beautiful promises in the Word of God. 39:55 I'm thinking of Romans 12:19, 39:57 "Beloved, never avenge yourself, 39:59 but leave it to the wrath of God, 40:01 for it is written vengeance is mine." 40:03 You may be going through something right now, 40:04 where someone has done you wrong, 40:06 you're being oppressed, 40:07 you're being some injustice has been done against you, 40:10 and you're looking and going, 40:11 I feel hopeless, it feels like every, 40:13 all of my enemies, 40:14 like David spent more than half of his life 40:16 with his enemies, just, you know, at his throat. 40:19 But yet God says, hang on, I'm gonna get you through this, 40:23 there is light at the end of the tunnel, 40:25 and don't take vengeance for yourself, 40:27 because vengeance is mine. 40:28 I'm going to repay those who have done you wrong 40:31 and who have not repented for their evil deeds. 40:34 You know, two things that you said 40:36 that I want to come in on. 40:38 Sure. 40:39 First of all, you obviously 40:43 had faith to believe for healing. 40:47 See, I just want to say... 40:50 when a loved one is not healed, 40:53 it isn't because of your lack of faith. 40:55 No. 40:56 That's, that's not the way. 40:58 You know, some people... 41:00 Now, I'm going to try to explain this. 41:01 You tell me if I'm doing it well. 41:04 Some people have faith in faith. 41:09 It's like, oh, if we can just have enough faith, 41:12 if you can just have enough faith, 41:14 it's kind of like God's got to do what He promised. 41:17 And if it doesn't happen, they say, 41:19 "Oh, you didn't have enough faith." 41:20 You didn't have the faith and trust enough. 41:21 I've got a friend who has horrific disease, 41:26 and it's multiple sclerosis. 41:28 And people will say to her, you don't have enough faith. 41:31 That's why you're not healed. 41:33 And it's like, what? 41:35 But then, I want to show you something here 41:37 because you were reading in John 11, about Martha. 41:41 You know, what's beautiful about this? 41:44 Here's Martha, and when he says, 41:46 "I'm the resurrection and the life," 41:47 and she says, "Oh, Yes, Lord, 41:49 I know you are to show total faith in Jesus. 41:54 But then Jesus says, 41:56 oh, you know her brother has been 41:59 in the grave four days. 42:01 And now Jesus says, "Well, roll back the stone." 42:04 Here's a woman that's got 42:05 complete faith in Christ as Messiah. 42:08 When He says, "Roll back the stone." 42:09 What does she say? 42:11 Oh, Lord, he's stinking by now. 42:13 I mean, she didn't have faith for a miracle, 42:18 yet a miracle still happened. 42:21 See, you said it. 42:23 God knows the end from the beginning. 42:27 Sometimes He, I mean, 42:29 always He knows when it's best to intervene. 42:32 He says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord 42:36 is the death of His saints." 42:39 Isaiah 57:1 says, 42:41 "That God... 42:44 lets some of the righteous go to sleep." 42:46 And people wonder why and they don't realize 42:49 He's taking them from evil. 42:51 So we have to trust if, 42:56 if we're putting our hope in God, 42:59 it's the eager expectation of what He has promised to do 43:05 when He's promised to do it. 43:07 I lost David. 43:09 We had been praying for healing. 43:12 And the thing is, we didn't get the healing we were praying for 43:17 because we were praying for healing to save his life. 43:21 But maybe we did get that healing, 43:23 because I know that David went to sleep safe in the Lord. 43:28 But I also saw other miracles of healing, 43:32 that was not the healing of the cancer. 43:36 But there was other healings going on. 43:39 And I don't know. 43:40 You mean like spiritual healing? 43:42 Spiritual healing, even physical healing. 43:43 Okay. 43:45 There was a couple of times where in our ignorance, 43:48 we prayed for healing and didn't know that 43:51 it was just side effects that you had to put up 43:53 with and God miraculously, I had just a split second, 43:58 I watched the Lord heal David from something instantaneous. 44:03 And it was because later we found out that 44:06 was just a normal side effect 44:07 that you had to go through for two or three days. 44:09 Well, David didn't go through it at all. 44:11 So we saw, we saw healing... 44:15 through our prayers, and we saw spiritual healing. 44:20 But we didn't get the healing I wanted and I'm like you, 44:24 it never occurred to me that I was going to lose David 44:27 till about a week or two before I lost him. 44:30 But God had a plan for my life. 44:33 And I chose to, to embrace whatever plan He had 44:39 and to accept His wisdom and decision 44:44 of what was going on in my life, 44:46 even if it caused me pain. 44:49 And once you lose someone, that pain is always there. 44:53 It doesn't heal, 44:55 the loss is with you till the end of time. 44:59 But God's power is stronger, God's hope is stronger. 45:05 And He heals me from that. 45:08 You know, there's real quickly here, 45:10 I want to mention this. 45:12 There, the Bible is flooded with examples of people 45:15 whom God used in a mighty way who fell into hopeless states. 45:19 Oh, yeah. 45:20 I mean, we could sit here and write a book on, I mean, 45:23 chronology of the book. 45:25 You know, I'm thinking of Daniel. 45:28 What did Daniel deserve to be in the lions' den? 45:30 What did he do to deserve to be to be treated 45:33 with the injustice that he treated? 45:35 You could imagine that as he, the humanity part of him, 45:39 there was probably a temptation there to go. 45:42 Lord, I've served you, and I pray three days to you. 45:45 It's not stuff that I just feel like I have to do, 45:47 I do it because I want to, I serve you, Lord, 45:49 and I stand for you. 45:50 But yet this is where you've brought me, 45:52 I'm sure that that temptation was there. 45:54 But yet the story tells the truth in the sense 45:56 that he never gave hope on Lord, 45:58 that in a hopeless situation, 46:00 he never lost hope for the Lord. 46:02 I'm thinking of Joseph. 46:04 Joseph spent years in prison for what? 46:09 Oppressed by his own family 46:11 and done wrongly by his own family 46:13 and the people around them. 46:14 And, of course, I can use all, you know, John the Baptist. 46:16 Could you imagine the hope 46:19 that John the Baptist is sitting in that prison cell. 46:22 Christ has already declared him 46:23 the greatest of all the prophets. 46:25 This brother is full of the Holy Spirit, 46:28 He sends his men to confirm just to confirm 46:30 that this is the real Christ, and they go, 46:32 you know, hey, John sends this message. 46:34 Are you the real guy? 46:35 Go back and tell him that I'm doing this, 46:37 this, this and this, that I'm the real guy, he goes back. 46:39 You can imagine all those days after he heard that, yes. 46:42 You know, him looking toward that cell door any moment 46:44 Jesus is gonna show up. 46:46 Jesus is gonna show up for His brethren, 46:47 and He's gonna, He's gonna 46:49 bring him out of this hopeless situation. 46:50 He had hope. 46:52 I have to believe that he had hope 46:53 that Jesus was going to show up. 46:54 But what did he get? He got silence. 46:58 But yet all the way he still ended up losing his life. 47:01 So there's moments where we find, 47:03 we find many examples of people in the Bible 47:04 who fell into horrendous hopeless situation, 47:08 Jesus being the greatest of all. 47:10 But yet these are brothers and sisters 47:12 who, even in those hopeless situations, 47:16 what seemed to be impossible situations, 47:19 still found themselves looking into their God and saying, 47:23 "Not my will, but Yours be done." 47:24 Amen. 47:26 Why is hope? 47:28 And let's remind ourselves, the definition of hope. 47:33 In the Greek hope is eager anticipation 47:38 of something that is certain, 47:41 but it's just not yet been realized. 47:45 Why is hope so important? 47:49 Hebrews 6:19 gives us the answer. 47:54 "This hope we have as an anchor for us." 47:59 So, Honey, what does an anchor do? 48:01 It stabilizes. 48:03 It stabilizes. 48:04 It holds you steady in the midst of the storm. 48:09 It keeps you from drifting. 48:11 And this is what he says, 48:13 this hope we have as an anchor 48:17 for our soul both sure and steadfast. 48:23 So when you're in the times of trouble and turmoil, 48:27 and you know, we've touched a lot on death and sickness. 48:31 We haven't talked about people who are at home, 48:35 you get a lot of phone calls like this. 48:38 People who don't know 48:40 where their next meal is coming from. 48:42 They've lost their job. 48:43 They don't know where to find a job 48:45 in the midst of all of this. 48:47 A single mom with children or a father with children, 48:51 family that's not knowing 48:52 how, not being able to take care of them. 48:54 Yeah. 48:55 What does that do to you? 48:57 What I found is that, 48:58 first of all, they want to be heard. 49:01 They're aching, 49:02 and they don't have a whole lot of people to share with 49:05 and so they in their own minds 49:09 they've rehearsed what they've got to say, 49:12 but they haven't had time to really articulate it. 49:16 That's right. That's where we fit in. 49:18 You being in pastoral department. 49:19 Pastoral department, tell me what's going on. 49:22 And then they rehearse this 1000 times. 49:26 But they haven't really heard it come from their mouth. 49:29 And so here, we're there for them to share with. 49:33 And it keeps going back to this. 49:35 I mean, this is about as simple as you're going to get. 49:39 But God's hope as we've gone through here is yes, yes, yes. 49:45 But Proverbs 3:5-6. 49:48 You know, Proverbs 3:5-6, 49:53 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 49:56 lean not on your own understanding... 50:01 but in all your ways, acknowledge Him." 50:06 And then be prepared because then He's going to direct you. 50:10 That's right. 50:11 Now there's pure faith 50:12 right there if you're paying attention. 50:14 Absolutely. 50:15 So as the people call in, their hearts are breaking. 50:18 Every one of our... 50:20 I challenge everybody, there's so many hurting people, 50:22 especially today. 50:24 Number one, just listen. 50:28 Just listen to what they have to say. 50:30 It's very important. 50:32 None of us have any idea. 50:34 The difference is just listening 50:35 can make in someone's life. 50:37 That's right. 50:38 You know, we just read 50:40 where it says hope is the anchor for the soul. 50:41 Some people place their hope in something other than Christ. 50:45 They have hope, but they put it in something other than Christ. 50:48 You know, my... 50:49 That results in disaster. 50:50 My brother and I go fishing. 50:52 You know, when it's a little warmer, 50:53 we would deal with fishing, and we were in the boat 50:55 this past summer, and we threw out our anchor. 50:58 What's that anchor supposed to do? 51:00 Oh, just steady. 51:03 Well, we're just casting away, casting away, 51:05 few minutes goes by and we look over and we see 51:07 we've done drifted, I don't know, several, 51:10 several dozens and dozens of feet away 51:12 from where we threw the anchor. 51:14 The anchor didn't hold. 51:15 There was an anchor there, it was a bad anchor. 51:19 Place your and probably that too. 51:23 Place your hope in Jesus Christ, 51:25 He is the true anchor. 51:27 The hope that we have in Christ is the true anchor. 51:30 And I love Romans 8:24-25, 51:33 "For we were saved in this hope, 51:37 but hope that is seen is not hope, 51:40 for why does one still hope for what he sees. 51:43 But if we hope for what we do not see, 51:46 we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." 51:49 It leads us to truly trust in that which we cannot see. 51:53 Christ said too, I think it was, was it Thomas? 51:55 I think it was Thomas or Philip, 51:57 might have been Thomas, 51:58 when Thomas, you know, wanted to touch Him. 51:59 And He said, you know what? 52:01 "Hey, no, there's gonna come a time if you believe in Me 52:03 because you've seen Me, but blessed are those 52:05 who come to who have not seen Me." 52:07 There's gonna come a time. 52:08 We're living in that time. 52:09 I have not visually seen Jesus Christ with my own eyes. 52:13 But I believe and I trust and I hope, 52:16 because I've experienced them. 52:18 I know He's there. 52:20 And I've seen the track record. 52:21 I've experienced the track record 52:23 of what He's done in my life. 52:24 And there's no other. You know what? 52:26 What you just said, you, something just hit me. 52:30 Someone at home... 52:32 is listening to us right now and you don't know the Lord. 52:37 And you believe maybe what we're saying. 52:41 But you're saying, I don't know if it's for me? 52:45 How can God forgive me? 52:46 You know, put your hope in 1 John 1:9. 52:50 1 John 1:9 says, "If you confess your sins, 52:54 God is faithful and just 52:57 not only to forgive you of all your sins, 53:01 but to have cleansed you of all unrighteousness." 53:04 You can go to the Lord and even, 53:07 let's say that you're saying I'm not sure 53:10 that what they're saying is true. 53:13 But I wish it were. 53:15 If you've got that desire in you, 53:17 and you're not sure, then tonight, 53:20 when you're laying there in bed, 53:22 or you wake up what do you tell people to do? 53:24 Just Lord, if you're for real, 53:26 just manifest Yourself to me some way or the other. 53:29 Pray for the Holy Spirit. 53:31 Say, Lord just touch me by Your Holy Spirit. 53:33 Because, and maybe you've been going to church all your life. 53:40 Maybe you're there every time the door opens, 53:43 but you have no assurance of salvation. 53:47 Read 1 John 5:10-12 and it says, 53:52 "This is the testimony, 53:54 those who are in Christ have eternal life." 53:58 That's right. Period, the end. 54:00 If you are in Christ, if you are abiding in Christ, 54:05 you have to abide in His Word, to abide in Him, 54:09 but if you're looking to Jesus 54:11 and if He is the source of your hope, 54:14 if He is the one you're trusting. 54:17 And by the way, you know that word trust, 54:20 it's in the Greek, it's real, I mean, 54:23 or in the Hebrew, it's to rely on. 54:26 It's like you're using leaning on a crutch, 54:30 when you're trusting in the Lord. 54:31 This is God's whole plan of salvation, 54:36 is that we would be totally, 54:39 completely dependent upon Him. 54:44 That was His plan of salvation in the Old Testament, 54:47 and in the new. 54:48 And Philippians 2:12 says or 2:13 say, 54:52 "That God will work in us 54:56 to will and to do His good pleasure." 55:00 It doesn't mean that we don't have a part in it. 55:04 But the power comes from God. 55:07 All right. 55:09 I just want you to have hope and eternal salvation. 55:13 That's right. 55:14 To have hope and salvation to call out to God and say, 55:18 oh, Lord, save me a sinner, forgive my sins. 55:22 Put your hope in God. 55:24 And if you don't have, you don't know 55:29 how you're going to feed your kids. 55:31 You just call out to God and say, "I need your help. 55:35 And I trust you'll help me." 55:36 And guess what? He does. 55:38 That's right. Well. 55:39 He has ears to hear. 55:41 I think people don't realize that. 55:42 They're hard to respond. 55:43 Yes. Amen. 55:46 I want to read one final scripture. 55:50 It is probably one of my favorite scriptures. 55:54 Whenever I send Christmas cards out, 55:57 which I haven't since we moved up here, was too busy. 56:01 But this was always my go to scripture. 56:04 And it's one that I text my friends 56:07 their Christmas greeting nowadays. 56:10 I'm gonna read it to you from the Amplified. 56:13 I love this scripture. 56:14 Which scripture is that? Romans... 56:16 Oh, okay. 56:18 She's anticipated what is it? 56:21 Eager anticipation, Romans. 56:23 Let me find out if it's Romans. 56:24 Romans 15:13. 56:29 And here's how it reads, 56:32 "May the God of your hope... 56:37 Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, 56:40 Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah God, 56:43 may this Jehovah Rapha, may this God of your hope, 56:48 " those are some of the names of God in the Old Testament, " 56:52 so fill you... 56:55 with all joy and peace in believing, 57:00 may he just pour into you through 57:02 the experience of your faith and believing in Him. 57:05 So fill you with all joy and peace in believing 57:10 that by the power of the Holy Spirit, 57:14 you may abound and be overflowing, 57:19 bubbling over with hope. 57:22 God is our source 57:26 of eternal hope, of eternal life, 57:30 of eternal salvation." 57:32 Let Him be the object of your faith. 57:35 God bless. |
Revised 2021-02-05