Hope

What is your hope in? What do you hope for? Hope for peace and rest from anxiety? Hope for health for yourself and your family? Hope for money or a promotion or that car you've had your eye on? What dominates your thoughts when it comes to hope? Maybe not just one thing, maybe many. The problem with hoping for all these things, is once you get them, you hope they will stay. You hope you don't get stressed out and anxious, you hope you don't get sick, you hope the stock market doesn't crash, or the recession doesn't cause you to lose your job, and you hope that car doesn't get totalled or keyed or stolen. You are guaranteed to have that hope at some point in some way crushed. Sooner or later you will be stressed, you and your family will get sick, some of them will die as will you, money will always be lost or diminished in one form or another, and that car even if it makes it without major damage will become old and break down and the paint will fade. This world and all that is in it is passing away, as are you. Hope in all of these things is hope in nothing for they will all come to nothing.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5)

God causes those who "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" (Joh 20:31 ESV) to be born again and guaranteed an inheritance in heaven that will never fade and never perish. The reason it is a living hope is because those who believe are being guarded through faith by God's power. God ensures that we obtain that which we hope in. Thats the kind of hope we need. The hope that is guaranteed by God alone - not by our works or our confession of faith or our 'pretty good life'. The hope that we have, the ONLY hope that we have, is to throw ourselves on the mercy of God and be saved by His power alone, apart from ourselves.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

(Joh 3:16-18 ESV)

"Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

Christless Christianity?

Using God and His Son as the springboard to a better life is not Christianity. If you call yourself a Christian it is important to evaluate what Jesus is to you. Is he simply a means to avoid judgement? Simply a way to beat your addictions and bad habits? Approximately two years ago I was sitting in the back of a buddy's car after using cocaine and drinking all nite. I was down at the bottom and couldn't see my way out, had been pulling money off my credit cards for months and spending it on drugs and at the bar. I was helpless. I prayed to God to get me out of it all, because I knew I was in trouble. But what did I really want? Did I want God? Did I want fellowship with Jesus? No. I wanted to be off drugs and live a normal lifestyle. I wanted to be free from my bad habits and filthy lifestyle. Praise God that He didn't stop there. God got me off drugs, got me married, gave me babies. And He gave me his Son. His Son to save me from hell, his Son to give me the power to conquer sin, but most importantly - He gave me Himself. I can talk to God, and God is working in me. I fail, God lifts me up. I am weak, He is strong. He changed my motivations, changed my will. I don't know why God decided to do this for me. Why God from His own free will wanted to pull me out of the darkness and into eternal life. But He did. My experience testifies along with the Bible that I was "born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." (Joh 1:13 ESV) I didn't even want what God offers us all, but God broke me down, convicted me of my true condition, and gave me life to the uttermost anyway. It's all of God. None of me. And if you are truly a Christian, saved by the blood of Christ, you will not be able to escape that truth. Trust in God, and God alone, because you will fail yourself every time. Repent of your unbelief, repent of your self-reliance. God is the only one who can provide all you need.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me....

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught...

my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear...

the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...

we have already come.

T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...

and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...

His word my hope secures.

He will my shield and portion be...

as long as life endures.

When we've been here ten thousand years...

bright shining as the sun.

We've no less days to sing God's praise...

then when we've first begun.

Paul Washer...

Say what you want about Paul Washer, sure he has his faults, but who doesn't? This sermon's worth a listen, he preached it at some youth conference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncEhCvrVgQ&feature=fvsr

Shakes me up in totally good ways every time I listen to it. Worth the hour of your time.

Missing the point...

My life is an excercise in missing the point. Missing the point of life, missing the point of the universe, missing the point of stuff I read. For example -

Matthew 19:16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The primary point of this it seems to me now, is NOT that you must sell everything and get rid of all your possessions etc. (Not that I'm trying to discourage that kind of behaviour if correctly motivated.) But that we can't do anything to be saved. The rich guy asks Jesus what good deed he must do to be saved. It's impossible. We can't do it. Camel through the eye of a needle. The disciples get it - “Who then can be saved?” - they see the futility in the whole thing. Unless God does something, we haven't got a shot. No hope. Nothing. I'm sure the rest of you that've read this probably didn't have this problem. I'm an idiot, thanks be to God that he straightens me out.

My favorite chunk of scripture for today:

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Its so obvious...

Reading...

"Christ says, 'Give me ALL. I don't want just this much of your time and this much of your money and this much of your work-so that your natural self can have the rest. I want you. Not your things. I have come not to torture your natural self...I will give you a new self instead. Hand over the whole natural self-ALL the desires, not just the ones you think wicked but the ones you think innocent the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead.'" - - - C.S. Lewis

It's easy. And hard.

Inability.

I am incapable of being the father that I should be. I am incapable of being the husband I should be. I will fail miserably for the rest of my life. But God has begun a work in me, and He will be glorified in my life and in my family. One way or another. I do not have to be stressed about the way I raise my kids, or anxious about how to provide for them because God is ultimately in control, and His will is being done. My future and the future of my offspring is in the hands of the Almighty. Praise God for that.



"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isa 64:6 KJV)


"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
(Gal 2:20-21 KJV)

The worst of sinners...

Sometimes I am guilty of heinous unbelief. Sometimes I wonder for a moment if its all a lie, and if it's worth the risk. Should I give up the things that used to make me happy (or a version of happy) in favor of things that would seem boring? Is reading my Bible, going to Church and meeting with unbelievers worth it? And then God steps in and gives me a night like tonite where the fellowship is so sweet, and I get the opportunity to bask in the wonders of Christ and what He has done with other believers. Same thing goes for Sunday mornings - should I sleep in? Would it be more enjoyable to spend my morning on the couch than with God's people? And then I go, because God's word tell's me to go and it is worth it. Every time. If you are a Christian, meet with believers, come together to hear the truth proclaimed, and study the scripture. It's worth it. And if it's not enjoyable for you, if it's not a blessing to your heart, then you have big problems. Ask God to make Him your priority. Ask Him to make his glory your priority and a reality. Only God can do this, you can't, I can't. I can't affect my affections. They are what they are. God changes them, and when they are changed it creates the kind of joy that nothing else in the world can give you. The kind that makes you feel like your heart wants to rip itself from your chest and sing. I don't know how else to describe it.


"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
(Heb 10:23-25 ESV)

He is faithful. I know this for a fact. It's real guys. It's really, really real.