HOPE is the answer

Welcome

Hello and welcome to Hope Online - please say hello in the chat and let us know you are here and where you are joining us from today

I’m Mark, one of the lead pastors at Hope Church and today I have a message called Hope is the Answer - I pray it will be an answer for you - whatever is going on in your life this week.

I was in two minds about that dodgy doggie brownie skit earlier - but I gave into the temptation because it made me chuckle I hope you will see how it links to our message today as we go along

Jacob Story

It’s exciting times in the Faithfull household this month as our son Jake and Rifka have announced their engagement.

I overheard an interesting conversation the other day between Lydia and Jake, a sweet mother and son moment, and Lydia was suggesting in her subtle way that perhaps Jake needed to get on with organising some aspects of the wedding otherwise things would not happen in the way he and Rifka wanted.

And before I tell you what he replied, let me tell you a couple of stories about Jake - stories that have helped define this young man and his quiet faith and trust in God

The first one involves him and his sister Beth - and a toilet.

Jake was about 8 and one day we heard some quiet crying coming from the toilet… After some coaxing Jake merged and through his tears explained that his beloved Nintendo DS had fallen into the toilet and was ruined.

In case you ever wondered what little boys got up to in the toilet … Video games!

Anyway - Jakes beloved Nintendo was dead and he was distraught

After calming down a bit off he went with his sister Beth and being the lovely girl of faith she is, she decided to fix the problem

What could she do? Well there was a competition in her Beano that week - deeply intellectual was 12 year old Beth - Beano reader -

Anyway - there was a competition in that weeks Beano and the prize - a brand new Nintendo DS game console… So beth thought - problem solved I’ll just win jake a new nintendo Ds.

Ah the innocent faith of children thought lydia and I....

And then three weeks later a parcel arrived in the post… A brand new beano branded nintendo DS that Beth had won in the competition and given to her little brother

You see Beth was modelling a faith which would deeply shape her little brother’s view of the world

Fast forward a few years - Jake is at university in wales - out little boy has left home and is studying in a foreign country!

Wales is dangerous, they have storms and floods and sheep!

On the day in question, a storm was forecast so Jake left uni early in order to catch the train home to his flat in cardiff. Unfortunately, he got on the wrong train which took him to Cwbran not cardiff and then there was an announcement that the train line was flooded and there would be no more trains to cardiff today.

There were a couple of others people on the train all trying to get to Cardiff - people jake had never met - but they decided to get together in a taxi and saw jake standing there looking lost and invited him to ride in the taxi with them back to cardiff - yes please he said and when they got to cardiff they refused to accept any money towards the taxi fare

When Jake told us about his amazing adventures, he didn’t seem quite so amazed by the turn of events as lydia and I did… But we later discovered that this was simply how Jake saw the world - one mini-miracle after another - things always work out for me he says. You see he understands what it means to live under God’s favour - things always work out for me.

The apostle Paul would call that Hope - a confident expectation of Good as the amplified bible puts it. And I can’t think of a better short description of Jake’s outlook than that - he is someone who always has a confident expectation of Good

On boxing day last year - Jake sent an email to someone about a job he saw advertised - but the reply was that he wasn’t an ideal fit, he didn’t have the experience they were looking for but he pursued the job, engaged with the business owner - because things always work out for Jake - and sure enough, he’s now been working there three months now and loves it.

When you have a confident expectation of Good - when you have Hope - it changes your life for the better

On more than one occasion as Jake was growing up, going to college and later to Uni, renting flats in Cardiff and even organising a wedding I will admit to having the odd concern that he was a bit... careless… I mean he didn’t look like he bothered to plan and organise anything and then it struck me just last week when I heard him declaring that things always work out for me

He’s not careless… but he does have less cares than most people I know… why? Because he lives with a confident expectation of Good.

Today I want to spend a moment exploring what it means to live with a confident expectation of good...

When you have a confident expectation of good - when you live in alignment with the truth that God has good plans for your life, when your Hope is based on god’s good promises not your own bad imaginations of what might go wrong

This is what God says to you today...

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

there is much less temptation to try to take shortcuts or compromise in order to get what you want when you live in Hope that God will do what he said he will do - when you live with a confident expectation of Good

The biggest temptation we face in life is the temptation to give up what we want most for what we want now - and the temptation is there because - if you are honest with yourself - you doubt that what you want most will really ever happen - so you settle for second best… for example:

Wrong relationship

Wrong job

Wrong entertainment

The temptations that we face, are no different from those which have faced all people since the days of the Garden of Eden...

Last week we looked at the story of Adam and Eve - and their story revolves around the temptations they gave in to...

There is the desires and needs of the body … The fruit of the tree was good for food

The insecurity that craves power and affirmation … The desire to be like God and gain knowledge

The rebellious heart … Did God really say… you don’t have to do what you are told, you can choose for yourself

This is part 24 of our series The Promise & The Purpose - a slow walk through the Gospel of Luke and Acts

Last week we finished working our way through the family tree of Jesus

Luke continues his narrative, ending the family tree of Jesus with Adam, the son of God - the camera scene now shifts from the Garden of Eden back to the river Jordan where Jesus has just been baptised by John and the spirit of God descends on Jesus like a dove and a voice from heaven declares this is my son

And then - just as everything looks like it is going right… Jesus faces the biggest trial of his life so far...

Scripture

Luke 4:1–13 NLT

Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’” Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me.” Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ” Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.

You would be wrong to assume - like we so often do assume - that facing a difficult trial is a sign that God is displeased - that somehow our sin gives the devil an ‘in road’ into our life and if only we were better we would be spared these kinds of difficulties

Jesus, the perfect son of God faced temptations - if he did, then we will

Lets take a look at how Jesus dealt with the temptations - because how he did, we can too

turn to someone and say - if Jesus did, I can too

That’s right - because the same spirit of power that filled Jesus and raised him from the dead lives in you - if he did, I can too

Luke 4:1 NLT

1 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,

Step one in how to deal with temptation is to be already full of the Holy Spirit and allow yourself to be Spirit led

In Ephesians 5 we are told to be filled continually with the Holy Spirit - it’s not a one off event but an ongoing way of life… And the result is the ability to be led by the Spirit - that on going relationship with the holy spirit, familiarity with the spirit of God helps you become more sensitive to His still small voice and follow His prompting - and this comes through prayer, through worship, through reading the word of God

It’s not rocket surgery - read the bible and learn about God, pray and speak to God, remind yourself who God is and what he has done through worshipping God - this is the secret formula for a holy spirit filled and spirit led life. Jesus did it, and we can too.

Being spirit led does not mean we will never face temptation - but it will mean we are equipped to deal with it if and when it comes

Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert - he was hungry, he would have been cold a night, hot in the day - alone for more than a month…

I remember the advice I was given at youth camp as a teenager - watch-out when you are Hurt Angry Lonely or Tired - or Hungry Angry Lonely or Tired - HALT - don’t make a big decision, when you should HALT - temptation is hardest to resist when you are HALT - so HALT what you about to do...

And Jesus, would have been Hungry Lonely and Tired for sure after 40 days in the desert

And along comes the tempter, the accuser of the brethren, the serpent from Eden and he questions...

Like in Eden He said - Did God really say....

To Jesus the tempter says If you are are the Son of God… If… Prove it…

to the hungry man the tempter says - get yourself some bread… If you can

On the face of it - what is said looks reasonable - if you are hungry, eat something - if God has given you the power to do miracles, you should use it… Test it out here where no-one is watching then you can be sure that you really are the Son of god… And not just suffering a delusion caused by heat stroke and hunger...

But here is the thing - the thing you are tempted to do is rarely the point of issue - the devil the father of lies, is a master of misdirection.

The devil said - the temptation was framed as how to sooth the pain of hunger in the Jesus’ body

But Jesus sees the real issue - the thing behind the thing - this temptation it’s not really about hunger - it’s about trust and hope - a confident expectation of good

The devil is saying - you’re hungry so fix it for yourself

Jesus says - I’m trusting what God says in scripture...

Luke 4:3–4 NLT

3 Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’”

The devil says - what is important is how you feel - if you feel hungry then fix it

Jesus’ response is no - what the scripture says is what is important - not how I feel

We fight with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God - which is why reading the bible- becoming familiar with it - is essential to living a spirit led life. You have to get to know your weapon - how to handle the sword of the spirit

When they were making the Lord of the Rings movies, Vigo Mortensen who played Aragorn would carry his characters big sword around with him all the time and was often found practicing with it on his days off. He said he needed to become familiar with it so it became second nature how to walk, sit or ride a horse with the sword attached to his belt.

Wielding the sword of the spirit - the words of scripture - needs to become second nature to us - and that comes only through familiarity

The first class of temptation is the kind that serve the needs or desires of our body - whether that is hunger or the desire for drink, or drugs or sex or things - or anything else the flesh desires.

The lie is that what you FEEL is so important that you need to do anything you can in order to FEEL better and AVOID feeling bad...

Jesus exposes the lie and says there is something more important than what the flesh desires - the word of God -

What does the bible say about the situation you are facing? What are you going to trust more - how you feel or what God says?

The devil doesn't give up - he tries again with a different tactic - instead of tempting the flesh, next he goes after the ego, the mind, the emotions - the insecurity that can affect us all and the desire for power to be in control of our own destiny

The devil takes Jesus up high and shows him all the nations of the world and says - all this is mine, delivered to me and I will give it to you if you worship me

Notice Jesus doesn’t challenge the devil’s claim, in this present evil age the world does indeed lie under the sway of the wicked one...

But Jesus does deny the choice offered - he denies the terms offered in the deal

The right thing gained the wrong way, is wrong

The ends do not justify the means - the means corrupt the ends

Jesus will not compromise and offer the devil worship in order to reclaim and save the world

spoiler: Jesus will end up reclaiming the earth - it happens in Revelation when the 7th trumpet sounds - but he will do it on God’s terms, he wont make a deal with the devil in order to make it come to pass early or more easily

Luke 4:8 NLT

8 Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

So that’s Jesus 2, Devil nil so far

First The devil tempted Jesus to let the desires of his flesh rule him - and Jesus said no - I will let the word of God rule me

Then the devil tried again this time going after Jesus’ ego...

You could rule over all this world - you could make the world a better place - imagine how many babies wouldn’t die of starvation if you were ruling down here instead of me....

All you need to do is worship me… Take what is God’s alone, and offer it to me… says the devil

But Jesus won’t have it - only God deserves worship and Jesus will only serve God - the ends do not justify the means

So third and final try - the devil goes after Jesus’ trust in scripture in order to try to disarm him. Jesus has been using scripture to refuse the devil’s temptations, so the devil tries to use scripture against Jesus

Quoting Psalm 91 the devil says - well the scripture says angles will catch you if you jump - so jump of the roof of the temple and prove you really can trust scripture

so how does Jesus react - the scripture does indeed appear to say what the devil is claiming it says

But here is the thing to remember - all of scripture is true at the same time - taking one verse in isolation and ignoring the rest of scripture is how people get themselves into a mess and cults start

You see, the bible does indeed say the angels will keep you and bear you up so that you wont even stub your toe… But it also says do not test God - and both verses of scripture are equally true -

We hold the truths in tension - and this is the answer Jesus comes to… While yes the scripture does say angels will guard you, it also says don’t test God - so jumping off a building to see if angels really will catch you purely for the purpose of seeing if the scripture is true or not is testing God - so don’t do it

In fact, there is only one place in scripture that I can think of where God actually says we should test a promise of scripture, and it is in relation to how we trust God with our money - our tithes and offerings...

Malachi 3:10–11 NLT

10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

The temptation to try to twist the scriptures to say what we want them to say is a temptation most christians face at some point - whether we realise that is what we are doing at the time or not. And the easiest way to fall into the trap is when we take verse out of context or try to apply it while ignoring the rest of scripture.

When I speak with people who are stumbling or struggling in their faith, it is usually - almost always even - the root cause of the struggles in their faith is because they have fallen into the trap of twisting scripture. Usually they don’t do it on purpose - perhaps they have just been taught wrong, maybe finding something on youtube or the internet which sounds plausible but is really mis-representing what the bible says - but the effect is the same - if you are trusting in something that the bible does not say, you are trusting in a lie and it will eventually let you down.

If you play with a sword carelessly you will cut yourself and get hurt -

Hebrews 4:12 NLT

12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

If you use the word of God carelessly you can get hurt too - it deserves respect - diligence and care - and regular practice!

We face all kinds of temptations - and each one of us finds certain things harder to resist, and other things easier to resist - we are not tempted at all by those things. Leave your sprouts on the table - I am not tempted to eat those. But leave your battenburg cake next to a pot of tea… I am tempted to have a second or third slice!

But I know this to be true - I don’t know much, but this much I do...

1 Corinthians 10:12–13 NLT

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Jesus said to pray - lead us not into temptation - it is better to avoid temptation than to endure it - but even if we do end up facing temptation - perhaps we put ourselves into the situation or someone else puts the temptation in front of us - God is faithful and he will show us an escape route, a way out. Our choice is do we take the emergency exit or not?

Sometimes we give into temptation because we are angry with God - we think if we do this thing that we know He does not like we somehow can hurt him in retaliation for the situation we find ourselves in - thinking God caused it because he wanted to hurt us.

I don’t think God ever wants to hurt us in a vindictive way … His desire is that none would perish, that everyone would be saved - but how hard God needs to push to get my attention is down to me...

You can often see that temptations are really an attempt to shortcut… The temptation presented to Jesus, to be given authority over the earth if he would worship the devil - that’s a temptation to shortcut the cross

The temptation to cheat on an exam or tax return is shortcutting doing the work or paying the price that is really due

The temptation to pursue an unhealthy relationship is shortcutting God’s plan for your life and his blueprint for a healthy and happy marriage

Why do we feel the need to take the shortcuts.... Is it because we don’t have a confident expectation of Good, and so we need to take the shortcut to try to make it happen ourselves rather than trusting in God?

When it comes to defeating temptation, we have all we need:

Hope in God - the confident expectation that He will do you Good - this defuses the temptation to take shortcuts

The word of God, the Bible, the sharp sword that disarms the devils words of temptation

The spirit of God, that leads us away from temptation if we chose to listen and stirs our conscience to warn us when we stray off the narrow path that leads to salvation

Restoration

God’s mercies are new every morning - which is another way of saying that today is a new day

It doesn’t matter that yesterday you gave in to temptation - or last week, or even this morning during the countdown before the service...

1 John 1:9 NLT

9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Whether you have walked with Jesus for 50 years or today you want to start for the very first time, pray this prayer with me and receive God’s forgiveness and strength to resist temptation and the blessing that gives you a confident expectation of Good every single day

Heavenly Father

I confess that I have made my own choices to do things that have hurt and offended you and others - things that are sinful and wrong in your eyes. I have sinned in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do.

I am sorry and I ask for forgiveness in Jesus’ name.

I commit my life to you from this moment forward, please fill me with your Holy Spirit and a passion for the words of scripture.

Lead me away from temptation, deliver me from evil and help me see the means of escape you provide in every place of temptation

I confess I am a child of God, that your faithfulness is great and your mercies are new every morning - I am free from every temptation and sin that held power over me before now.

Help me, every day, to enjoy a confident expectation of Good

This I pray in Jesus name

Amen

Blessing

Thank you for joining us today at Hope Church Online - we’re going to be here every week until the doors re-open of our churches

We’re going to close this part of the service now, but the chat rooms will remain open if you would like to pray or speak with one of our team just click the Request Prayer button

We will continue to pray for you through the weeks ahead - thank you for your prayers for us, thank you for your financial support that makes this possible - God sees your sacrifice and the seeds you sow will yield a harvest.

Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Our midweek events are on Facebook and YouTube

Communion on the couch with Me and Lydia on Monday at 7:30pm

words of hope - a bible study with the ladies who lead is taking a break this week as Sue & Dave are on holiday - but they will return next week

Walk with God this week with a Confident Expectation of Good

Be good, be happy, be healthy and be holy - and we’ll see you soon