Hope Happens Here

Back to Church Sunday

Write Up: When life does not go according to our plans, it is easy to become discouraged. When we feel out of control, we have the tendency to lose hope. However, whenever we find ourselves feeling this way, we must remember that God has a plan for each and every one of our lives. His plan is to prosper us and not to harm us. His plan is to give us the strength to overcome. His plan is to hold us with His never-ending love. The Church is the place where we discover this plan for our lives. Hope happens here. We can’t do life alone.

Think: No matter how out of control my life may seem, I know God has a plan for me.

Sermon:

Back to Church! Why do we need such a day? It is always good when we can gather together with the church for encouragement and worship together. Yes, worship is about our Lord and Savior, but we are also an important part of this gathering. God is our audience when we worship, but we can be an encourager to others simply by being present - and we receive encouragement from others that have gathered with us. It is so good to be with you at church this morning! I also am thankful for those of you who are watching with us online. Did you know that today is National Back to Church Sunday? Today we welcome those who are visiting for the first time, those who are returning after an extended absence, and those who attend or watch online regularly! Everyone is welcome in the Father’s House.

This church, and every Bible-believing church, is here to help support you and your family’s spiritual needs. We are here to help you discover what the Bible says about God and His plan for your life. But honestly, the church is not a building; it is made up of the people inside—people like you—who are looking for purpose, authentic relationships, support, and hope.

Several years ago, we went through a name change here, and we decided then that Hope is what we have to offer to the world around us. Our hope and our faith is that God is alive and at work in our lives today. He loves you, and because of His love for you and me, we can have hope that things don’t have to remain the same tomorrow as they are today. We have hope in Jesus that broken people and broken relationships can be mended. Maybe this morning you have come here in need of some hope. Maybe the circumstances in your life are more than you can handle. We come to this place, to church, week after week because we have discovered that Hope Happens Here. When I saw that the theme for this year’s Back to Church Sunday was Hope Happens Here, I decided then and there that Beacon of Hope Community Church of the Nazarene needed to be a part of this effort.

STORY: Pastor Timothy George, in his sermon “Unseen Footprints,” recounts a story told to him by a professor during his time at Harvard Divinity School. He recalls the professor telling a story from when he was preaching in Louisiana during the Depression. Electricity was just coming into that part of the country. He was out in a rural church that had just one little lightbulb hanging from the ceiling to light up the whole sanctuary. He was preaching away when, in the middle of his sermon, the electricity went out. The building went pitch black and, being a young preacher, Dr. Taylor didn’t know what to say. So he stumbled around until one of the elderly deacons sitting in the back of the church cried out, “Preach on, preacher! We can still see Jesus in the dark.” Sometimes that’s when we see Him best—in the dark.

In the gospel of John, Jesus refers to himself as “the light of the world” (John 8:12). As the light of the world, He brings hope and light into our dark places, and He brings to light all that needs to be restored and all that needs to be changed in our lives. The illuminating and healing hope of Jesus can be found all throughout scripture. But today we’re going to look at three specific points together. First, God has a plan for your life. Second, He loves you with a never-ending love. And third, you can do anything through His strength.

POINT #1 – Hope In God’s Plan For Your Life

You were created by God. He made you with a purpose and an intention. He placed you uniquely in the family you have and equipped you with the gifts that you possess. The greatest questions in human history has always been: who am I, and why am I here? God offers us the answer to those questions, which give us hope.

We know Paul of the New Testament as the missionary to the Gentiles. He went around telling the world about Jesus and all that He could do in their lives. We know Paul as the author of much of the New Testament through his letters that he wrote to both churches and individuals. His name appears as author in 13 of the 27 New Testament books. That is usually the Paul we think about, but we have to remember the other side of the story, or as Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story.”

The rest of the story is that Paul was actively involved in punishing and persecuting the early church. He was a committed Pharisee - an Israelite who stood on the rules, regulations, and life as it was described in the Old Testament. As he was on his way to Damascus with orders to imprison the Christ followers that he found there, a bright light appeared which blinded him, and the voice of God spoke to him from within the light. He changed that day from one who persecuted the Christians to one that was called by God to spread the message of about Jesus.

Paul’s hope was not in who he had been before Jesus, his hope was in what God had done in his life since that day.

Let’s read what he said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:12-17

1 Timothy 1:12–17 NIV

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The change in Paul and his life came about because God is a God of hope - regardless of what we have done and how we have lived, He offers hope!

One of the most famous verses in all of scripture is found in the book of Jeremiah. The backdrop to this passage is that Israel had been conquered by Babylon, and many people were going to be taken into captivity. This was the period of Israel’s history known as the Exile. Many of God’s people had lost hope and believed that God had forgotten them.

I think sometimes that we in the church often feel that way today. We look around us at a world that we hardly even recognize after all we have been through. Just this week there was a study released that makes it sound as if the future of the church is bleak. we may wonder if God has forgotten about us and be tempted to lose hope. But one thing these kinds of studies fail to take into consideration is the power of God to change our future.

READ Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God gives His people hope in the midst of what seemed like a hopeless situation, and He is the same today! God was not done with them yet. He still had a plan to prosper them and not to harm them. God was working for a better future for Israel, and he had not forgotten about them.

A few verses later in chapter 32, God tells Jeremiah to purchase a piece of land. This instruction would hardly make sense since Israel was under siege. But God reminds Jeremiah that he is not done yet. There was hope for Israel’s return to its home because God had a plan.

God was asking Jeremiah to be faithful and plant himself even though there seemed to be zero chance of survival. God was working an even greater plan for the good of His people.

Paul could have looked at his life and all he was doing and felt like there was no way that God could use him. But God had a plan for his life such that even now, some 2,000 years later, he is known by his first name!

God had a plan for Paul, and God has a plan for your life. When you continually do the next right thing and live in obedience to God, you can rest assured that you will live into God’s purpose for your life and he will produce wonderful fruit in and through you.

POINT #2 – Hope In God’s Never-Ending Love

You are loved by God. No matter what you have done or how you have lived your life up until this day, you are loved by God! Love is the most powerful force on the face of the earth. The Apostle Paul says it was through God’s mercy and grace and through the faith and love that are in Jesus that his life was drastically changed.

And it was the same for those who lived in the early church. Paul says in Romans 8:37-39

Romans 8:37–39 NIV

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul tells them: you are conquerors. You are not defeated. No matter how bad things may seem or how hopeless your situation may appear, you are overcomers. That overcoming power doesn’t come from us - it comes from the love of God that lives within us.

Paul is convinced that nothing can separate God’s people from God’s love. Death can’t do it. Demons can’t do it. The depths of despair can’t do it. God’s love is so prevailing and so potent that it is ever present and never ending. God loves us no matter what. He loves us when we love him back, but He also loves us when we fail to love him in return.

STORY: Roger Zerbe, who was succumbing to early onset Alzheimer’s disease, journaled this to his wife after a particularly troubling bout of forgetfulness.

Honey,

Today fear is taking over. The day is coming when all my memories of this life we share will be gone. You and the boys will be gone from me. I will lose you even as I am surrounded by you and your love. I don’t want to leave you. I want to grow old in the warmth of memories. Forgive me for leaving so slowly and painfully.

Blinking back tears, his wife, Becky, wrote:

My sweet husband,

I will continue to go on loving you and caring for you, not because you know me or remember our life, but because I remember you. I will remember the man who proposed to me and told me he loved me, the look on his face when his children were born, the father he was, the way he loved our extended family. I’ll recall his love for riding, hiking, and reading; his tears at sentimental movies; the unexpected witty remarks; and how he held my hand while he prayed. I cherish the pleasure, obligation, commitment, and opportunity to care for you because I remember you.

(Becky Zerbe, “Penning a Marriage,” Marriage Partnership – spring 2008)

If humans are capable of such love, how much more is God able to love us through it all.

The Greek word used in the passage from Romans for the word love is the word agape. Agape literally means a selfless and sacrificial kind of love—the kind of love that gives without needing anything in return. God’s agape love for his people caused him to offer his one and only son on a cross as a sacrifice for our sin so that we might have new life. This sacrifice was once and for all and is available to everyone.

POINT #3 – Hope In God’s Strength

Living the Christian life is no easy task. Living counter culturally, loving our enemies, giving generously, serving faithfully, and avoiding sin obediently are all costly endeavors. The way of Jesus is not something we can do on our own. If we try, it will leave us exhausted and burned out. We must rely on God’s strength to do it.

In our passage from 1 Timothy, we see that even the giant of the early church known as Paul was only able to become the example to those who would come to believe in Jesus is because Jesus displayed patience, and molded him into what God wanted him to be.

When we become followers of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God actually takes up residence inside of us. The spirit dwells in us, and through Him, we are able to be faithful and obedient. We are unable to live the way He has called us to live without His power at work within us. So when we feel like we can’t forgive that person who hurt us, the spirit of God gives us strength to set them free. In doing so, we set ourselves free from bitterness and anger. When we want to defeat a sinful pattern in our lives, we don’t have to do it alone; we can rely on God’s strength. When we want to make a difference in the world by serving those around us, we can accomplish much, not because of our hard work, but because of the work God has done in and through us.

STORY: I recently read a story about A middle school boy who defeated a rare form of cancer. After his diagnosis, his church rallied around the family by providing meals and mowing the family’s yard. His pastor went to the house one day to pray with him, and was blown away by his calm nature and confidence. When he asked him how he was handling the news, he smiled and handed him a rubber bracelet that read: “I can do all things – Philippians 4:13.” He had hope because God was with him every step of the way. His faith carried him for the eight months of chemo and radiation he had to endure.

Hope happens when we come to realize that we don’t have the strength in and of ourselves to live the way of Jesus. Hope happens when we submit our lives to his leadership and allow him to empower us for his glory.

My prayer for each of us today is that we would be bursting with hope as we become more aware of God’s plan, love, and strength that is ours in Christ. I invite you to pray with me and ask God to fill you up with hope.