July 26, 2020
Psalm 38:15
INTRODUCTION
Susanville is a small but important town in the northeast of California. Dianne and I lived there ten years, as pastors and prison chaplain. It breaks our heart that the Hogg wildfire is threatening the safety of our friends, and the town as a whole.
At the same time, the coronavirus is hitting the local prisons, and from there, is spreading into the community. People are scared of what is happening.
It is a tough time for Susanville.
But it is a hard time for much of the country as well! People are angry because of centuries of racial injustice, anxious about the possibility of contracting a tiny but deadly virus, worried about financial survival, depression is on the rise, suicides are up, and people are in pain!
Is there hope for the future?
Today we are going to see that there is indeed! There is hope!
BODY
First of all, what do we mean by hope?
Faith and hope are closely aligned. Perhaps we could say that hope is a longing for something or some event. And that faith adds substance to that longing in the form of confidence that the anticipated event will definitely occur.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." - Proverbs 13:12
There are three forms of hope that can change our entire perspective on what is going on around us.
Hope for positive change
God is in the restoration business.
God's intention for us is that we experience good! Jesus tells us, "The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." - John 10:10
When Jesus started his ministry he quoted from Isaiah to outline his mission, his manifesto: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel (good news) to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." - Luke 4:18-19
Jesus's ministry was characterized by preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, that a new day was dawning, and that those who believed could experience change, even in this life.
He brought healing to the broken hearted, those enduring suffering and mental anguish, those going through grief and depression, anxiety and emotional pain.
He preached deliverance to the captives, those in held in chains of suffering by the enemy, Satan. He commanded demons to leave, he declared freedom in people's lives, he broke the powers of darkness over suffering individuals.
Jesus preached or decreed recovery of sight to the blind. He did not just heal blind people, but all manner of sicknesses (Matthew 4:23). Sickness was not God's intention for his creation, it came as a result of the Fall. When people turn to him, he offers healing in the physical realm.
"Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up …" - James 5:14-15
He sets at liberty those that are bruised. People with emotional wounds need healing. We have a nation of walking wounded. People who have been betrayed, abused, taken advantage of. People who have seen things no human was meant to see. People who have witnessed the atrocities of war. The pain of seeing a loved one die of cancer, an inch at a time. The pain of being violated as children. The trauma of witnessing death and suffering in our hospital wards and on the roads, and as a first responder, the horror of finding charred bodies in the wake of a wildfire. Jesus says he provides healing for the bruised among us.
And he says he never changes. He healed in the past, he heals today (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8)
Hope for life after death
Many of us have experienced the pain of loss of a loved one. It leaves an indelible mark on us, as we experience walking alone where our journey has heretofore been shared. This pain can feel overwhelming, like a part of you has been ripped out, like a cloud of painful darkness all around us.
Yes, we have lost the most precious person in our life. They have gone, and we must now find our way to continue our journey. But we have hope that we will see them again. Here are some verses.
"If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change comes." - Job 14:14
"But i would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, like others which have no hope. … For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christian shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 16-18
There is hope for life after death, we will be reunited with our loved ones!
There is another hope we have as well, if we are honest with ourselves.
Hope for relationship
"As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
"There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband." - Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p. 26.
There is an emptiness in the human soul. Man was created with a deep inner need for God. We have attempted to satisfy this hunger with toys, with drugs, with sexual addiction, with money with power and control.
Unfortunately, each of these is only a pale, anemic, temporary substitute for the one thing that will truly satisfy our need. What we need is a dynamic relationship with our Creator, resulting in peace, knowing we are right with him.
How can we insignificant people even dare to seek such an audacious relationship?
That relationship has already been initiated by our Creator! John tells us, "We love him, because he first loved us" - 1 John 4:19. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16
God invites us into a no holds barred relationship! He adopts us as his children (Romans 8:15, 1 John 3:1-2), with all the selfless love that goes along with that! He sent Jesus to die, to remove the barrier of sin between him and us. Wow! And he stands ready to welcome us (Luke 15:20). Through Jesus, we have hope for relationship with our Creator.
So how do we reciprocate? It comes down to this: we surrender our life to him. Without him, we are empty. But when he comes, he imparts fresh life!
Thank Jesus for making this relationship possible. Ask him to forgive your sins. Ask him to be your personal Lord and Savior. Determine to follow him, the rest of your life!
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9
Jesus tells you, "... Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out." - John 6:37
"Come unto me, all year that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28
"Lord, I come to you and I surrender my life to you. Please forgive me for all my sins. Thank you for dying on a cross, paying the price on my behalf. I welcome you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus name, amen."
If you just prayed this prayer from your heart, you now have a relationship with your Creator! You now have hope for the future, a hope that carries you through all the good times and bad times, knowing that there are better times ahead, in this life, and in the eternity beyond.
Walking the journey with you. Have a blessed day!
Pastor Gerry
PS: If you have any comments to make on this service, or if you made a decision for Jesus today, please feel free to write to us at healingshepherd@yahoo.com. If you have anything you would like us to pray for, please email us. We commit to bring your requests before the Lord who loves you, more than you can imagine! Love you!
Way Maker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26jEkcGtFlM
