The Worthy Hope
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
Welcome everyone!
We are so excited to be here at our first ever snowglobe event!
Snowglobe was born from the desire to have a high school event.
By now we would have already had Snowblast, where we go up to Wisconsin and hangout for three days and enjoy time together, worship and talk about relationship stuff.
But this year was different.
I don’t need to remind you as we all know that 2020 was strange and it took a lot of stuff away from us.
But it also gave us a lot as well.
In England neighbors went outside to sang and dance in the rain— each in their own driveways but together none the less.
Space X launched two astronauts into space for the first time in nearly a decade.
Shouts of we did it rang through our television sets.
We saw the resilience of a 103 year veteran survive Covid 19 and saw a 102 year woman survive the virus not once but twice.
We saw people banding together- As a Kansas farmer sent an N95 mask to the NY Governor and ask him to give it to a doctor or nurse in need of it.
We all watched in amazement of the Netflix series Tiger King.
We followed along as LeVar Burton from “Reading Rainbow” read to those who were quarantined.
We saw athletics leave the sports world behind to serve on the front lines of Covid-19 Aid.
We witnessed a record number of Americans vote this year, even if the choices were not very good.
People were allowed to let their voices be heard in a time where many are silenced.
Those around us began to have honest talks about the race divide in our nation- and we began to heal.
TikTok blew up more than it already had, because now bored parents and grandparents joined in.
Puzzles and board games became cool again and offered something we all need— a break from our screens.
Working from home is now possible and easier than ever.
DA DA DA DAAA- One Word: Hamilton— entered into our homes and has as singing about 1776 in our dreams
John Krasinski brought some good news into our lives and we loved every second of it.
We celebrated graduation, weddings, and birthdays virtually, or by driving by.
We hunkered down and spent more time with our families.
The fast pace life that we were used to living slowed down and brought us closer.
YOU see life in 2020 was not soooo bad.
Was there loss— yep— did we grieve— yep— did we curse the pandemic— if you didn’t you are a lair.
But in reality I would say we didn’t have a terrible year.
I saw students muster up the courage to get in front of camera and share a daily devo— with their friends, families and the rest of the world.
I saw students crave more of Jesus durning this last year than anytime before.
I saw growth in many of you.
For that I am thankful.
So sure we can go back and recount all the bad that happened in 2020— but I refuse to do that.
“If you go looking for the negative in anything you will certainly find it.”
So I refuse to go searching for it.
Instead I choose to Rejoice
This weekend I hope you do as well.
I hope that you choice to rejoice.
I have no idea what happened 15 min before you were dropped off.
But I know from this moment forward only you can decide what this weekend will mean to you.
I hope that you will join us as we have decided to rejoice.
Welcome to Snowglobe- The year where everything was canceled, be we celebrated anyway.
Let’s start this weekend off with a little dancing!
Then we will play a couple of games.
SnowGlobe Session 1
SnowGlobe Session 1
Man how good is our worship team!
They are incredible!
Hope
Rejoice in Hope.
This idea is found in Romans 12:12 and this will be our guide this weekend.
As it says:
Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.
ASK: Let’s start with asking what are some things that we put hope in or what are things we hope for?
Is having Hope good? Or is it bad?
There is a saying in the english premiere league— you know soccer, that says it is the hope that kills you.
I can personally say that I have been let down by hope.
Seahawks Goal line Interception
But I have also been hopeful and have seen it through till the end.
Cubs wining the 2016 World Series.
While those are sports teams— I think we get the idea of what hope looks like.
Hope says in the future this is our desire.
So as Paul is writing this letter to Rome he states that we are to rejoice in hope.
Who is hope, what is hope, why do we hope?
The who of our hope is pretty easy to understand.
Our hope is Jesus.
Maybe tonight you do not have your hope built on Jesus.
I am really glad you are here.
We love it that you are here.
Be ready for your life to be changed this weekend… at least that is what I am praying for.
While the idea is that Our hope is in Jesus
For many we can put our hope in other things.
We run to boys or girls, we give into drugs or alcohol, we fool around in other areas of sin, because it seems like the bigger the sin the greater you feel- at least at first you do.
Then you have to keep going back to that well over and over again.
To keep reaching in to fill a hole with fake hope that will keep leaving you empty.
While tonight this may be you right now.
You may not be putting your full hope in Christ.
maybe you are putting it in something or someone else.
Or maybe right now tonight you are in a different camp.
Maybe you are in a place that is you are neither struggling nor on fire.
Rather you are feeling good and life is continuing on just fine.
You feel good and life isn’t so bad.
Yet, right now something is missing.
You can’t place your finger on it but you because you have been taught that something is off.
But because life is good— and you are not in need of anything everything feel fine.
I mean sure you are not communicating to God— well maybe you are at every meal.
You are reading scripture, going to chruch, attending youth group.
Yet all of these things just feel like one big long checklist.
And over the years you realize that until things go a little wonky— you don’t even notice your need for a savior.
Hercules never swooped in to save the Damsel who was just fine reading a books no he swooped in to save the Damsel in distress.
I mean who needs recusing when you are not in danger.
But man when something comes along like praying for protection over a family member— we go to our God shaped vending machine and plea for God to listen to do His thing.
And whenever things go back and the threat is over— we go back to our normal live
To then only return to this half life checklist that you have told yourself is fine.
You have all this head knowledge but what you lack is passion, devotion, joy and hope.
Maybe that is where you are at.
No matter where you are at tonight— you are all asking the same question is God worthy of our praise.
Is He Worthy?
Is He worthy to follow with your life?
Is He worthy to put your hope in?
Is He worthy to praise in the bad as well as the good?
I believe that we have to answer these questions because we could just say be happy and carry on and go to God more often that is rejoicing in hope!
There you go have a great night.
But that is not going to be beneficial for us at all.
I think we need to understand why we rejoice in the hope that is Jesus.
We have to prove that He is worthy to devote our lives too.
We have to know that in the valleys that He is worthy for us to cling too.
We have to know that even if life is amazing and it may seem like we don’t need Him— We see that He is worthy of our praise and affection.
So begin by looking at what makes God worthy to follow.
He is worthy because of His Love.
He is worthy because of His Love.
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Every single person here is loved.
No matter if you feel that way or not.
I have no idea how you came into the room tonight but I do know without a shadow of a doubt that you are loved.
You are loved by the creator of the universe.
The one who holds life together.
The one who keeps the earth spinning- the one who told the stars were to be, the one who hold gravity at bay so we are not smashed.
The creator of everything.
HE LOVE YOU.
EVERYONE is this room tonight needs to know that truth.
No matter where you have been, no matter the past, no matter the junk currently in your life— you are so loved.
IN this passage in 1 John— the author John is talking about how we know that God loves us.
God showed us His love by send Jesus to this earth to live a perfect life and then to take our place on the cross.
The death that Jesus paid over 2000 years ago was meant for you.
It was meant for me.
Jesus paid the ultimate price so we would be forgiven.
God had send HIs son to the earth.
Because we, you and I— we, were separated from the Father.
I have know some of your home lives and some I do not know.
No matter what your earth father has done for you or not done for you— God is the best Father you could ask for.
If we were to build our perfect father— it would God every-time.
A father who listens as we talk to Him.
A father who shares His wisdom through His word.
A father who Forgives instantly and never hurts us with our past.
A father who keeps opening up his arms no matter how often we hurt him with our selfishness.
A father who sees us in the distance and runs to meet us.
A father who is worthy of that title- dad.
A father who sees that you need saving.
A father who is willing to send His own son to pay a debt that you owe.
A father willing to hurt so you can be free.
A father willing to die so that you can live.
There is only one way to describe everything that was just said— Love.
God loves you.
He is crazy about you.
The question from this now is- not if God is worthy? because as we have explained He is.
He is worthy because of the love he displayed for us.
Can you hope in Him?
Is his love enough for you?
Illustration:
If you had someone in your life who claimed they loved you but never showed it would you believe them?
Maybe you would at first, but if they consistently let you down over and over again my guess is that you would not believe them over time.
Right you I would like to assume that you have placed yourself in the place of the one who keeps being hurt.
But what if the truth is that we are the ones who keep saying God I love you— to only keep hurting Him, ignoring Him and treating Him like a dead-beat dad rather then the great Father He is.
CS Lewis wrote about this in this book; Mere Christianity: On the whole, God's love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him.
It is safer to think about the Love God as for us.
Because if we truly thought about the way we treat our savior— i don’t know if loving is the word we would use.
Application:
However, be thankful that God forgives.
He displayed his love for us, not so that we would feel obligated to repay our debt.
That would be impossible— He loves us even though we have nothing to offer back.
And for some of us that is a hard pill too shallow.
We want to be able too— because then we feel like we did something to appease God.
That we did something that will earn us favor.
BUT we can’t because not only is God worthy because of his Love but also because of his grace.
He is worthy because of His Grace
He is worthy because of His Grace
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
As Christ went and died for our sins— paying a debt that we owed.
One would think that we would need to pay this back.
That a gift this extravagant cannot just be for free.
It must cost us something.
But the truth tonight loved ones is that it cost you nothing but it cost GOD EVERYTHING.
You can’t earn it— you can’t work for it— you can’t pay it back.
It is a gift that is the best gift you could every receive.
This is the Gospel.
Grace is something given to us that we do not deserve.
Illustration
Let me illustrate what grace looks like.
When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day's pay for his time, that is a wage.
When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize.
When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award.
But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award--yet receives such a gift anyway--that is a good picture of God's unmerited favor.
This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.
Application
Yet, loved one we continue to walk around pretending like our fate was not death— I think we have lost our appreciation for the grace that we were given.
I don’t think we walk around as victims or are sobbing puddles of tears, yet I do not think we ignore this free gift, instead we live everyday— good or bad thankful for a father who loves us and showed his grace to us.
He is worthy because of His promises.
He is worthy because of His promises.
For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in him. Therefore, through him we also say “Amen” to the glory of God.
Everyone one of God’s promises are held up.
He is never changing.
He is worthy to rejoice in because of the promises he has made and has kept.
Here are some promises:
Do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
I am with you- I will help you
That simple promises speaks volumes.
If you feel alone and you need help— God is there for you.
The Lord is the one who will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
We have no need to fear for our God not only is with us but he goes before us!
Haunted House
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
Tomorrow we are going to be tackling the hard parts of life, but now that when Jesus walked out of that tomb he conquered the world.
You can have peace by trusting in Him.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
If you are hurting, if you have some burdens— dem burdens you have someone that you can put them on!
And when you do Jesus says have a rest
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”
Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
In our weaknesses, God shows His glory.
God promises that His grace will never let you down!
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
This promises is one that we must cling too— As it was by the wounds suffered on the cross by Christ that our brokenness was made right.
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
I am not much of a fighter but I do not have to be, and thank the good Lord for that.
For He will fight for me.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Now this promise here folks means exactly what it says.
If anyone here tonight wants to take hold of one of the greatest promises of God, all they have to do is confess with their mouth and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead— YOU WILL BE SAVED!
Saved from an eternity that is absent from the one who is Worthy of our praise, our worship, our love, and affection.
Illustration:
Earlier this week I had this question running through my mind.
Is God Worthy of my praise, devotion, love, and passion?
I had a hard time answering that.
Because all the head knowledge— yeah I got it.
I grew up in the church— I can give you the right answer and I can behave the way I know that I should.
But this came out of left field.
And I felt like I was just in a fog, which is very different for me.
But if I can be honest— I was struggling.
That was just like two days ago.
And it was my wife actually who helped me to get to the root of what I was dealing with.
You I was treating God like a vending machine.
I was trying to do everything myself.
You see when things are going well, I tend not think I really need God.
And to admit that is scary.
But guys I am so tired of living as if God is not worthy.
I am so tired of my worship being half-hearted.
I am so tired of not giving God my very best.
I am so tired of living like I’m not in need of a savior.
Because the truth is— God is worthy of all my praise, my love, my joy, my passion, my devotion, and my hope.
If God is not worthy of those things then no one is.
He is the only one we can rejoice in.
He is the only one we can put our faith in.
Look I maybe the only one here who feels this way, but I would venture to guess that I am not.
Because I have seen how you worship the Father
So when Romans 12:12 says to Rejoice in Hope.
We look to the savior as our hope.
The one who went to the cross for you and for me.
The one who gave up his throne so that you could see it one day.
The one who lived perfectly.
The one who defeated death!
The one who concurred the tomb!
The one who loved you before you were a thought.
IS HE WORTHY?
YES HE IS!
This is why we rejoice— because he is worthy.
He is worthy because of his love, his grace and his promises.
This weekend is a celebration of God.
And that means that we are going to sing our hearts out, We are going to dance for His glory, We are going to speak His words, we are going to fall to our knees in humble adoration, WE ARE GOING TO DO IT ALL BECAUSE NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS HERE ON THIS EARTH— WE STILL WORSHIP THE KING— HE IS OUR HOPE— FOR HE IS WORTHY!
So tonight, tomorrow, the next day, and the following day and the day after that and so forth— will you celebrate God?
On the good days will you raise your hands to sky and thank God for life— and on the bad days that just have knocked you down— will you stay there for a couple more minutes to thank God for the blessing you do have.
I am going to invite the worship team up.
And if you have some stuff you need to give up to God— there is no better time then right now.
Maybe you need to air out some sin in your life.
Maybe you need to pray with someone next to you.
Maybe life is really hard and you just need someone to pray over you— we got leaders all over the place this weekend who would love to pray with you.
Maybe you decided to follow Jesus tonight— man wouldn’t that we a great way to start 2021 with a new self!
Maybe you just need to sit,
Or maybe you need to stand and sing,
Or get on your knees and come to the alter--
We can do all of those things right now— but no one in here is going to force you to do that.
Only you can decide how you will rejoice in hope and I can assure you it is not nothing.
Let’s pray and then the worship team will take over for a bit.
I want to invite the Holy Spirit into our mist this weekend.
Pray
Illustration
Recently I heard the phrase “It is the hope that kills you.”
This phrase is very popular in the game of futbol.
Not American football but futbol.
And this phrase is said because “it means that having no expectations or hopes may be better as your dreams may not be destroyed in a cruel manner.”
That is what “rejoicing in hope” is: being satisfied with all that God is, and will be, for us in Christ.- John Piper
But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him. -C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity
