Hope At 7 - June 5 - God's Goodness

Hope At 7

Good evening everyone!

Thanks for being here again at another Hope at 7. These nights have been excellent for my soul over the last few months.

As most of you know my wife and I are wrapping up our time here in Sicamous. In fact 2 years ago today we landed in Canada to start our time here at the church.

I can tell you with all honesty that these last 2 years have been a blessing. It doesn’t mean that it hasn’t come with its own set of challenges and hard times. But over all our time here has been amazing.

As I was chatting about my time here with Bob today it really dawned on me that one of the biggest factors to our time here being so great is one, God’s goodness, which is what I’m going to talk about today. And two the people of the church here in Sicamous and in the town, which I believe is a factor of God’s goodness at work in the lives of people here, if that makes sense.

It has hit me that a huge reason why things were good here was that the church as well as the people we encountered in town treated us like we’d been here forever. We essentially jumped into this new place for us and we were accepted into the fold pretty quickly. I believe that is an incredible testament of the people’s hearts here in Sicamous.

A verse that speaks to this for me is James 1:17 which says, “17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.”

I’m not saying that the people here are perfect. But what I’m saying is that the acceptance that I felt, as an outsider, was something that I’d classify as good. And what I get from verses like James here is is that good things that happen to us, good things that we experience, good things that happen around us are all gifts from God.

As I think back over the last 2 years I’m overwhelmed with how people have cared for Bethany and I. How they have checked in on us, how we’ve been able to establish friendships with folks in the church. The things that we’ve been able to experience. The love that we’ve seen and been apart of during our time here. They have all been amazing things that we experienced through the church, through people, because of God. Because God has worked in the hearts and lives of people here. Because through his grace and mercy that he’s allowed folks here to experience they’ve been able to show that to the people around them.

Over my time at the church I’ve seen incredible generosity. Not just of money, but of time and energy. One of the first events that I experienced being here was SicaMouse. Man that blew my mind the organization, the energy, the selflessness that went into planning and preparing and event like that. And event with the express purpose of showing the town and the towns around Sicamous how much the church loved them. With that love coming from God. Its his goodness shown through his people. And you know what everyone loves it. Because God’s goodness is infectious. You can’t not be drawn to it.

One amazing story that I wanted to share from that SicaMouse, which will stay with me forever, is that as we were watching the weather leading up to SicaMouse it wasn’t looking great. There were showers expected. I remember the prep team standing in a circle praying on whether we should set up inside the Sicamous arena or outside as planned. After praying together the decision was to set up outside in faith. And you know what it might’ve sprinkled a little but the rain held up. Not only that but God provided this perfect zone around Sicamous that was rain free. We heard from folks coming that they had been driving through torrential rain getting to Sicamous. That’s God’s goodness folks. That’s those perfect gifts that are given to us by God.

And it didn’t just end with SicaMouse. I’ve seen it through camp over the summer, soccer camps, men’s nights, retreats, Cheese cake cafe’s, Superhero city, Sunday mornings. And that list can go on and on.

But what I also find is that because we are pressed with negativity so often it is pretty easy to not notice the good things that happen around us. Especially in a season like we find ourselves in right now. It’s so easy to dwell on the bad, the negative, the upsetting. Just look at the news. It’ll easily put you in that negative space. I think I told one of the first Hope at 7’s that I spoke at that at the beginning of all of this, inside I was panicking while getting to news of Covid19. It made me fearful, it drew me into this negative place that I don’t normally find myself in. I’m a pretty upbeat guy I think.

But I had to remember to stop and take a moment to look around to see the good things that have happened around us. At the beginning of Covid-19 it was amazing being able to see people make sure to check in on those around them. That they had what they needed. Hearing about families spending more time together. Hearing about folks being able to slow down a bit and take a break from the hustle and bustle of life. And the list can go on and on. I think it’s important to recognize the good things that we have and that we experience, because I truly believe that it helps us to recognize God’s goodness in our lives and I think it really draws us to Him.

Pricilla Shirer says this, “We can see hope in the midst of hopelessness. We can see peace in the midst of chaos. We have a hope that the world does not have. We can see clearly that all things work together for the good of them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.”

And this comes right out of Romans 8:28 which says, “28 And we know that God causes everything to work together* for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

As we heard from David Horita last night Covid-19 is not good. Let’s not get that twisted at all. This virus is terrible, it isn’t what we’d want. But what I think verses like this and what I’ve experienced is that we need to look out for the good stuff.

It’s Romans 8:29-30 that I want to end with tonight that I think draws us toward why we are naturally drawn to this goodness and the reason why we should seek it out. The verses say, “29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”

The main points of these verses is that God has called us into this. He knows our hearts in advance, what we experienced through the people of Sicamous and maybe what you experience with people around you that goodness was God’s work. And the reason for us is that as believers we are called to be more and more like Jesus.

Who came to this earth to draw people to his father and by this very life he was crucified on a cross for everyone. So that when we believe in Jesus, we’d be able to have right standing with God. That everything that we’ve done wrong would be cancelled out in God’s eyes. If that’s not good I don’t know what is.

And it is through this the verse tells us that God is calling us to himself. Through the cloud of negativity that is taking place around us God is calling us to himself. And when we can break through and say yes to him, to look for his goodness which draws us to himself, then the verse says that we have right standing with him. That we experience grace. And through that we experience God’s amazing glory.

And so I wanted to encourage you tonight with that. As a few rumblings of someone who is looking back at the goodness that has been experienced throughout my time here in Sicamous.

Let’s pray together before we bring Bob back.