On the other hand, when you see a purpose behind your problem it gives you enormous hope. It also gives you enormous power to endure it. And God says, I am working in your life and I have a purpose no matter what's happening. God is doing good things in my life even when the situation is bad, even when I don't feel it, even when it doesn't make sense, even when I have no understanding. When the situation is bad, He is still doing good things in my life. I want us to look at a couple of verses that we've looked at many times here at First Assembly of God. But we keep coming back to these verses because they're so profound, they really explain what life is all about. I hope by now if you've been a believer for some time that you've memorized Romans 8:28 "We know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose." This is such a significant verse I want us to look at it word by word. Notice first what it does not say. It doesn't say, "All things work out the way I want them to." We would like that and we'd like to interpret it that way but that's not what it says. It doesn't say, "All things work out the way I want them to." It does not say, "All things have a happy ending on earth." Because that is not true. All things do not have a happy ending on earth. Reality teaches us that not every patient gets well, that not every couple that gets married lives happily ever after. Reality teaches us that not every business decision makes a million bucks, not every problem is resolved. So we know that's not true. All children don't get straight A's and become captain of the football team. What does it say? Notice: It doesn't say, "all things are good." And it does not say God causes all things. God does not. God does not cause rape. God does not cause war. God does not cause famine and poverty. God does not cause leukemia and cancer. To attribute those things to God is to turn God into a monster. God is not a monster. God is incapable of sin. It doesn't say God causes all things. We bring a lot on ourselves. Pastor Rusty
No matter what's happening in my life – good, bad, or ugly – God's purpose is working in me. Whenever you have a problem where you can't understand the purpose, it becomes very difficult to handle. You know the most difficult kinds of questions of life are, "Why is this happening to me?" When the problem is there that's kind of a freak accident and it doesn't have any rhyme or reason to it. It just doesn't make sense. Those are the kind of situations that are the most difficult to handle.
What does "all things" include? Does that include illness? Yes. Does that include unemployment? Certainly. Does it include divorce? Some of you have a question about that one, but yes. Does it include a miscarriage? Does it include failure? Does it include freak accidents? Does it include the stupid decisions that I make and the mistakes I bring upon myself? Yes! Absolutely, yes! Everything fits into God's plan. The good, the bad, the indifferent. The things that I do, the things I don't do. The things that I control, the things I don't control. All things work together for good.
"God causes all things to work together for good." It's not by accident and it's not separate. They work together. It goes back to that illustration about baking a cake. When you're baking a cake you've got to have some flour and some raw eggs and some Crisco and some sugar and some salt and some vanilla. Any one of those things by itself doesn't really taste too good. Have you ever tasted flour? Crisco? Maybe the sugar some of you might say is ok. But none of those things on their own tastes good.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Romans 8:28-God is in Control!
Posted by Rusty L. Blann at 10:46 AM 6 comments
Thursday, October 11, 2007
HOPE, an Anchor for the Soul
Good morning! What a crowd we had at our Feast of Nations last night and the food was wonderful. Missionary Kerry Mauldin did a great job of ministering the Word with many stories of God's grace interspersed in his message. It was just a great night. Thank you to everyone that worked hard to make it so successful. Throughout most of the past week we have been discussing the importance of HOPE in our lives. Several people have told me that the Word has been ministering to them. After prayer, I feel impressed of the Lord to spend a little more time discussing HOPE. So let's get into it… Romans 15:13 (GWT) says, "May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in Him. Then you'll overflow with hope…" What does that mean? How do you put hope in a name? What's the big deal? You need to understand that names meant a lot more back in the past than they do today. Today, we choose names for the way that they sound. Tiffany, Amber – kind of sophisticated sounding names. You just like the way it falls off your tongue. But in ancient cultures, they would choose a name because of what it meant, because of what it described. In fact, your name was usually the definition of your character. You were given a name that matched who you were. When God chose to reveal Himself to the Hebrew nation, He used Hebrew terms to describe Himself. Did you know that God has a lot of different names? In the Bible, God calls Himself by many different Hebrew names. Each one of those names is a description of His character. Each one of those names is a promise to you. Each one of those names is a benefit that God says, I provide to man. For instance, one time God used the Hebrew name Jehovah Shalom. That means, "I am the God who gives you peace. And if you want real peace of mind you come to Me for it." In another place He uses the Hebrew term, I am Jehovah Jireh. That means, "I am the God who provides for all your needs. You can count on Me. You can come to Me." At the end of the book of Ezekiel 48:35, God gives one of His names. Ezekiel 48:35 [It was] round about eighteen thousand [measures]: and the name of the city from [that] day [shall be], The LORD [is] there. He says "I am Jehovah Shammah." In Hebrew that means, "I am the God who is always there." There is no place that God is not. There is no place you will go that God isn't. God has been in your past. He's in your present. He's going to be in your future. He's in the good times and the bad times. He's in the good places. He's in the evil places. He is everywhere. This has profound implications on where you find hope. If God is truly with me all the time, whether I feel it or not, if He's truly with me, then that means there are three avenues of hope that I can count on. There are a lot of things in life that I can't count on, a lot of things in life that are uncertain. These are three anchors of the soul as the Bible calls them – hope is the anchor of the soul – things that I can count on so that no matter what happens, I know that life is not hopeless. Hebrews 6:19 (AMP) [Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it--a hope] that reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil, [Lev. 16:2.] (NLT) This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary.
Then, Psalm 52:9 says, "In Your name I will hope, for Your name is good."
I. The first anchor is…. HIS PRESENCE IS WATCHING OVER ME.
The older I get the more I realize how much of my life is out of my control. The truth is, not only can I not control much of what's in the future, I don't even know much of what's in the future. Isaiah 41:10 "'Don't worry because I am with you,' says God. 'Don't be afraid,
because I am your God. I will make you strong and I will help you. I will support you.'" The good news is regardless of what happens; you and I don't have to go through it alone. Thank the Lord for our God who will be with us. He will be there with you. That is one of the certainties of life that I can hold on to. When I hold onto that certainty, I have hope.
There are a lot of uncertainties in life. One of the sad uncertainties of life is that people will leave you. Friends and family might move away. There will be people that you love that will die. There will be people that you love that will become ill and won't be themselves any more. There may even be those that you argue with and there's a separation that's painful. The sad truth of life is people leave us.
But the certainty of life is God will never leave you. That helps us to have hope because the fear of being abandoned is one of the greatest causes of hopelessness in all of our lives. This feeling that I'm going to be deserted, I'm going to be forsaken, I'm going to be left alone, I'm going to be overwhelmed and there's going to be no one to help. It's expressed in the two words, "What if…?" What if my husband/wife leave me and I'm left alone? What if my kids aren't there for me at the end of my life? What if these friends aren't there? What if…?
The truth is, God will never leave you.
As a pastor, I've stood at a lot of gravesites with people. After the funeral, many, many times I've seen in their eyes and I've heard the words, "I don't know how I'm going to make it. How am I going to make it to the next step?" I've heard oftentimes this sense of doubt and this, What if? In the voice of a spouse who has just been deserted or someone who has just lost their job or a parent who has just lost a child. This feeling of, "How am I going to go on?" Some of you are feeling that way today.
The answer is this: God will be with you.
Not only is He with us but the Bible says He watches over us. Not just watches us but watches over us and cares for us.
Psalm 32:8"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and will watch over you."
You and I, we don't know the future. We can't control the future. God does know the future. God can control the future. And that God who knows and can control the future is willing to guide and advise us. He's willing to show us the way. There's great hope in that.
For many of us, when we can't figure out why something's happening, there's real hopelessness in that. If we can figure out why we're having a problem, if we can figure out what the benefit of that problem is going to be, there's a little more hope. But when I can't figure it out, I feel hopeless. One of the great things that brings hope is realizing I don't have to figure it all out. I just have to trust the God who has it all figured out. He knows and He understands and He's willing to guide and advise me through life.
Lamentations 3:21-23 says "I have hope when I think of this: the Lord's love never ends. His mercies never stop. They are new every morning." That one verse has enough hope to get me at least through to the next week. It's all about hope. Nothing can ever make God stop loving me. Meditate for a few moments on this phrase, "God's mercies are new every morning." Many of us look back on our lives and say "I really blew it there. I wish I hadn't done that." We feel hopeless because we feel like we've already messed the thing up anyway. The Bible says that God gives us a new fresh start every morning. I need that. I need the hope of that. That God gives me a new start and a new day to live a new hope that He wants to give me.
That is anchor #1. We will look at #2 tomorrow.
Thank you for reading my blog today. My prayer is that you have a wonderful, HOPE-FILLED day in the Lord! Blessings!
Pastor Rusty
Posted by Rusty L. Blann at 9:30 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Faith is the DYNAMITE and Hope is the FUSE (#5)
Good morning! I woke up this morning, walked over to the weight scales, stepped on, and confirmed that I have lost 11 pounds since Kurt Kennedy and I began exercising together just 2 ½ weeks ago. I was EXCITED and ready to run some more! You see that is what HOPE does for you. It motivates you to keep on keeping on. It helps you get out of the rut that you find yourself in. In the Bible, it caused the woman with an issue of blood for twelve years, to get up out of her bed, and on the road to her miracle. Without hope, she would have just stayed in bed, and in the house, HOPELESS! Thank God for HOPE. We have been discussing hope the past few days. Faith is like dynamite but HOPE is like the fuse. The dynamite is ineffective without a fuse. Thus, faith is ineffective without HOPE. Paul writes in Romans 8:24-25: "But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, WE WAIT FOR IT PATIENTLY." Christian friend, who has given you permission to give up hope? Does God no longer hear your prayers? Does He no longer care? Of course He cares: Friends, hope on! Your victorious faith must begin with a patient hope! The noted commentator, Charles Barclay, once said: "The Christian hope is not simply a trembling hesitant hope that perhaps the promises of God may be true. It is a confident expectation that they cannot be anything else but true!" David therefore wrote in Psalms 42:11: "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why (are you) so disturbed within me? PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD...." I can almost see David shaking himself here. He is talking to his soul and giving it a tongue-lashing. He is rebuking the doubt and the despair that had crept into his heart. He then prescribes for himself the remedy --- hope in THE GOD OF HOPE! SO MY WORD TO YOU THIS MORNING IS, HAVE HOPE! In recounting his experiences as a political prisoner in Russia, Alexander Solzhenitsyn tells of a moment when he was on the verge of giving up all hope. He was forced to work 12 hours a day at hard labor while existing on a starvation diet, and he had become gravely ill. The doctors were predicting his death. One afternoon, while shoveling sand under a blazing sun, he simply stopped working. He did so even though he knew the guards would beat him severely -- perhaps to death. But he felt that he just couldn't go on. Then he saw another prisoner, a fellow Christian, moving toward him cautiously. With his cane the man quickly drew a cross in the sand and erased it. In that brief moment, Solzhenitsyn felt all of the hope of the gospel flood through his soul. It gave him courage to endure that difficult day and the months of imprisonment that followed. Ours is not a vain hope, a pretentious hope, or a presumptuous hope. No sir, ours is a hope that is grounded in the sure work of God through His Son on the cross two-thousand years ago. The song writer wrote, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." Yes, we have hope because our hope is in Christ! Whenever you are tempted to give up hope: Then too, please remember these words found in Jeremiah 29:11: "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." I want to close this morning's blog with a story that I have taken from the devotional magazine, OUR DAILY BREAD: "While attending college, I visited a psychiatric institution with a group of students to observe various types of mental illness. The experience proved to be very disturbing. I remember one man who was called 'No Hope Carter.' His was a tragic case. A victim of venereal disease, he was going through the final stages when the brain is affected. Before he began to lose his mind, this man was told by the doctors that there was no known cure for him. He begged for one ray of light in his darkness, but had been told that the disease would run its inevitable course and end in death. Gradually his brain deteriorated and he became more and more despondent. When I saw him in his small, barred room about two weeks before he died, he was pacing up and down in mental agony. His eyes stared blankly, and his face was drawn and ashen. Over and over he muttered these two forlorn and fateful words: 'No hope! No hope! No hope!' He said nothing else." How sad to be like "No Hope Carter", a person totally devoid of hope. The lost have so little to hope in. What hope and what assurance do they have beyond this very moment? Beyond the grave? Their plight is one that is sad indeed! No hope! No hope! No hope! Do you have hope? Do you know THE GOD OF HOPE? The world is asking, "Is there any hope?" Our answer is yes, there is ample hope in the God of Hope! Read again the words to song, "On Christ the Solid Rock"… My hope is built on nothing less Chorus Thank God that our HOPE is built on Christ the Solid Rock! I love you guys, and look forward to seeing you TONIGHT at 6:30 PM for our Feast of All Nations! Blessings! Rejoicing (and spinning) in this wonderful day! Pastor Rusty
than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholy lean on Jesus name
Chorus
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil
His oath, His covenant His blood,
support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
Posted by Rusty L. Blann at 9:32 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Faith is the DYNAMITE and hope is the FUSE (#4)
Good morning! I woke up to COOLER weather this morning! I love it. Fall is my favorite time of the year, because of two reasons: football and cooler weather. Well, I've been getting plenty of football, but not any cool weather, so it was nice, and I am looking forward to the next few days. We have been talking about HOPE the past few days, and I feel like we are supposed to stay there a few more days. Let's continue our look at how FAITH is the dynamite, but dynamite is ineffective without a fuse. HOPE is what makes faith effective…it is the fuse. Some time back a speaker stepped to the platform at Southwestern Assemblies of God Bible College. The school has chapel every morning. The students were half asleep when it came time to introduce the speaker. He was about 70 years old. He stood 5' 6" and weighed maybe 110 pounds. The gentleman didn't look too great or all that interesting. He was a congressman by the name of Willie Upshaw. He came to the pulpit and didn't say a word for quite some time. He simply stood there and stared at the students. He had been a politician for over 40 years. He knew how to get people's attention. As the fellow finally began to speak he said something that the students there that day say they have never forgotten. He said, "I was a cripple all of my life." By this time the speaker was moving all over the platform. He was a picture of health and energy. He continued on, "They never saw me come into congress except on a rolling cot, in a wheelchair, or on crutches." Then he reared his head back and screamed as loud as he could, "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!" Throughout his sermon that morning he would speak only a paragraph or two and then he would again shout as loud as he could---always in threes---"NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!" He was really quite dignified, and the yelling was somewhat out of character, nonetheless, he was trying ever so hard to get his message across to keep trying. He went on to explain that only two years before, while sitting crippled in a revival service, the preacher said to him, "Congressman, God now gives you the faith to be healed." Willie then told that "for the first time in my life, I stood to my feet and walked -- 68 years I was a cripple." And then he reared back his head, and shouted once more, "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP! GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE AND HE STILL HAS AN ANSWER FOR YOU." Friends, I echo the words of the congressman. God wants to put hope back into your heart today! Quit quitting! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP ON GOD! That is the message behind the story of Abraham. That is the message that the Bible wants to communicate with its account of Jonathan and his armor bearer. That is the story of Willie Upshaw. Have hope! Saints of God, have hope! Romans 15:4 declares that: "Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures WE MIGHT HAVE HOPE." Furthermore, Romans 15:13 adds: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may OVERFLOW WITH HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit." Who is the Scripture speaking of here? The GOD OF HOPE! Our God is not the god of doubt, He is not the god of despair, nor is He the god of gloom and doom. No, who is He? He is "THE GOD OF HOPE" and He wants you to "OVERFLOW IN HOPE BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT" that is at work within you this morning! We talk about the God of love, and we hear much about the God of power, but we don't hear near enough about the God of hope! Let me ask you a simple question. Which two books in the Bible allude to hope more than any others? Would you believe Psalms and Job? That's right. While the Psalms carries the word 30 times the book of Job has it 17 times. I can't help but believe that the secret to Job's success in his time of testing was hope! He refused to cave in, to quit, to give up. Job still had his hope. He knew that the trial had a purpose, and he also knew that in the end, he would come though the trial victorious--like pure and tested gold! He was not about to give up! The Psalmist wrote in Psalms 31:24: "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD." Psalms 71:5 likewise notes: "For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth." Psalms 146:5 then adds: "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God...." Are you getting the message? God wants His people to be optimists. He ever wants His children to look to Him in confident hope! Having said that, please notice with me that As you know, patience in not one of America's virtues. We seek instant gratification. Christian hope, on the other hand, is ready and able to wait. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 of "endurance (or patience) inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." As Christians: Hebrews 10:23 encourages us to So, on this beautiful Tuesday morning, regardless what you are facing…NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up! Why don't you GET YOUR HOPES UP today? I love you guys, and praying for you to have a HOPE-FILLED day! Blessings! Rejoicing (and spinning) in this wonderful (and cool) day, Pastor Rusty
THE BIBLE TEACHES US THAT A GODLY HOPE IS A PATIENT HOPE
"hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Don't give up your hope, He is saying. Wait! Hold on. "Never, never, never give up!"
Posted by Rusty L. Blann at 9:17 AM 1 comments
Monday, October 8, 2007
Faith is the DYNAMITE and Hope is the FUSE (#3)
Good afternoon! We had a great start to our mission's convention yesterday. We were honored to have both the Barbers and Burnett's as our guest, as well as Sandra Rodas. They all spoke into our lives and challenged us to become more aware of those around us that desperately need Jesus. A great big "thank you" goes out to each of these fine people. I would like to continue talking with you today about HOPE. We have discussed how faith is the DYNAMITE and HOPE is the fuse. I had someone this weekend make a comment to me about how that means LOVE would be the spark that lights the fuse. I like that, and believe it is true. Our love for God must be the driving force in our life, regardless what we find ourselves face to face with. The fuse, nor the dynamite does us any good without the spark of love! Now, let's continue our look at HOPE: In 1 Samuel 14, we find the Israelite army in a desperate situation. The Philistines had five times as many chariots as the Israelites had men. In addition, the enemy had captured all the Hebrew blacksmiths, which meant no new weapons could be made. The cold fact was that the Israelites were all waiting to die. King Saul was confused and had lost the faith and confidence of his men. Things could have been worse, but I don't know how. It is at this time that Jonathan, the king's son, steps to the forefront. Did he stand and rally the army with an impassioned speech full of faith? No. He could muster only a scrap of hope. He turned to one other person, his young armor bearer, and suggested that they go and check out the Philistine outpost. Why? The Bible in I Samuel 14:6 quotes him as saying (The Living Bible): "Yes, let's go across to those heathen, Perhaps the Lord will do a miracle for us. For it makes no difference to him how many enemy troops there are!'" Notice, he made no promises. No predictions. He just stated a fact: Victory was possible. In response to such hope, God gave the enemy over to Jonathan and the armor bearer. Before the day was over, Israel had won a stunning victory. People in trouble often say, "I don't want to get my hopes up." Well, friends, I want to challenge you to get your "hopes up" in the Lord! Hope is not silliness. Hope is the quiet whisper inside the Christian's heart that says as did Jonathan, "Perhaps the Lord...." I want to now make this message up close and personal. Some people reading this blog today have lost hope. They have given in to despair. I can see it in the face, I can hear it in the talk, I can recognize it in the spirit. These folks love God; love the church. They have simply given up hope in some area or areas of their lives. It is as if they have a secret little closet somewhere hidden in their hearts. That room is now reserved for matters of discarded faith. I have known people who have given up on divine healing. Oh they have seen others healed, it just has not worked for them. They have read all of the books on healing, have listened to all of the tapes on the subject as well as attended every healing service within five-hundred miles. Nonetheless, they are still sick. After some period of time, they simply opened up the door to their little closet and they tossed in any hope for healing. Others have given up on an unbelieving spouse or child coming to the Lord. Others have thrown in any hope of their marriage getting any better, any hope that they are going to bear a child, or that they are going to see some long-held dreams realized. On the outside of the door hangs a sign that declares, "IN THIS ROOM ARE STORED ALL OF THE THINGS THAT ARE JUST TOO HARD FOR GOD." Sad! Tragic! Dr. Charles L. Allen pastored the largest United Methodist Church in the world, the First United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas for many years. He once wrote: "When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God." What, if anything, have you tossed into your private little closet? What, if anything, have you given up on? Well, today, I believe that I have a Word from the Lord for each and every one of you: · God wants us to open that room up to His inspection. · He wants to go in there and clean out that smelly place of doubt and fear. · He yet wants to prove to you that He is God and as such, He is able to do "Exceeding and abundantly above all we are even able to ask for or to think of." · He wants to restore your hope. · He wants you to believe. · He wants you to be confidently expectant once more. 1 Thessalonians 2:16-17 declares: "May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and GOOD HOPE, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." The God of Hope is asking you to GET YOUR HOPES UP! I love you guys, and believe with you for a HOPE FILLED day in the Lord! Rejoicing (and spinning) in this wonderful day, Pastor Rusty
Posted by Rusty L. Blann at 1:31 PM 2 comments
Friday, October 5, 2007
Faith is the DYNAMITE and hope is the FUSE (#2)
Good afternoon! It has been a busy but productive day so far. I hope things are going well for you. I want to continue what we started yesterday discussing the importance of HOPE. Hebrews 11:1 says that "Faith is the substance of things HOPED FOR, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the DYNAMITE, and hope is the FUSE. You can have all of the dynamite in the world, but it will not do you any good without the fuse. The fuse is what IGNITES the dynamite. It is HOPE that ignites FAITH. Hope is that expectation and anticipation that something good is about to happen. There is truly a need for more faith in this world. However, faith is, according to Scripture, the substance of what? HOPE! We have to have hope before we can have faith. Many people today have lost faith because first they gave up hope. PEASE NOTICE WITH ME NOW THAT HOPE IS A MAJOR THEME OF SCRIPTURE. The word "hope" is found some 158 times in The New International Version of the Bible? · The Bible points out that we are saved in hope. · Hope is likewise tied to the second coming of Christ. · God the Father describes Himself as The God of Hope. · 1 Corinthians 13:13 then adds: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Again, hope finds itself in some pretty select company. Hope, along with love and faith, is truly one of the centerpieces of Christian truth! We are a people of hope! Having said that, I want to now share with you one of my favorite "hope" stories. It is the story of Abraham found in Genesis 12 – 21. While most people associate faith with this great man, I see him as also being a person who possessed great hope. The man was old. His wife was old. His animals, his tents, his clothes were old. Everything about Abraham had grown old. Something else marked him and his wife. They had never had a child. They were both old and barren. It was in such a hopeless situation that God came to Abraham and told him that he was to become a father; Sarah was to become a mother. Years passed. Five, ten, maybe fifteen years and then the Lord appeared to Abraham once again and repeated the promise. At this point, Abraham was 99 and his wife was 89. Nonetheless, within the year the promise was fulfilled and Isaac was born. Listen to these words found in Romans 4:18-21: "Against all HOPE, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations..., Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." Did you catch what was the foundation of Abraham's hope? IT WAS THE PROMISES OF GOD. GOD SAID IT THAT SETTLED THE ISSUE. We're talking serious business here, people! "SARAH, GET READY, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!" Hear me please. Sometimes all that we hope for is contrary to hope, is against hope, and simply defies us to have hope. That was Abraham. Notice Romans 4:18 now from several additional translations: "When hope was gone, he hoped on in faith...." "Who against hope believed in hope...." "Who past hope upon hope believed…." "Abraham, when hope was dead within him, went on hoping…." He had hope in God's word in spite of what he saw when he looked in the mirror or when he looked across the room at his wife Sarah! He had hope in God's Word in spite of what the calendar or the birth certificate said. He had hope in God's word REGARDLESS! That hope led to faith. That faith led to the promised blessing! The story of Abraham was put in the Bible to inspire HOPE in us! You do not have to doubt God or His great promises. He is true to His Word. Before I close today's blog, I want to share with you a quote from Max Lucado's great book, God Came Near. Lucado writes, "Hope is not what you expect; it is what you would never dream. It is a wild, improbable tale with a pinch-me-I'm-dreaming ending. It's Abraham adjusting his bifocals so he can see not his grandson, but his son. It's Moses standing in the Promised Land not with Aaron or Miriam at his side, but with Elijah and the transfigured Christ. It's Zechariah left speechless at the sight of his wife Elizabeth, gray-headed and pregnant. And it is the two Emmaus-bound pilgrims reaching out to take a piece of bread only to see that the hands from which it is offered are pierced. Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed; no, it is far greater than that. It is a zany, unpredictable dependence on a God who loves to surprise us out of our socks and be there in the flesh to see our reaction." My prayer for you is that you have a great, HOPE-FILLED weekend. I HOPE to see you Sunday! Blessings! Rejoicing (and spinning) in this wonderful day, Pastor Rusty
Posted by Rusty L. Blann at 1:34 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Faith is the DYNAMITE, Hope is the FUSE
Good afternoon! I hope you have been rejoicing in the goodness of God. I have had a good, but BUSY day. I am sore from my 11 am workout with Kurt Kennedy. I so appreciate him spurring me on and being patient with me. I enjoy how I feel AFTER I run, but not how I feel DURING my run. But I have high HOPES of the good that is going to come out of the discipline that I am developing. Speaking of HOPE, I was meeting with someone this afternoon in my office and they mentioned how Revelation 5 had ministered to them today. After this person left, I opened up my Bible to read what was mentioned to me. God began to speak to me about HOPE and how important it is to each of us. Let me share some thoughts with you. First of all, please read Revelation 5:1-4: Revelation 5:1-4 I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One Seated on the Throne. It was written on both sides, fastened with seven seals. (2) I also saw a powerful Angel, calling out in a voice like thunder, "Is there anyone who can open the scroll, who can break its seals?" (3) There was no one--no one in Heaven, no one on earth, no one from the underworld--able to break open the scroll and read it. (4) I wept and wept and wept that no one was found able to open the scroll, able to read it. John began to "weep and weep" because no one in heaven or earth was found to open the scroll. His weeping came from the desperate feeling of no HOPE. Have you ever been there before? Are you there now? Are you facing a situation where you have searched "heaven and earth" for the answer, but there just doesn't seem to be an answer? If you aren't careful, you will get in the same state of mind that John found himself in…HOPELESSNESS! Proverbs 13:12 (AMP) Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. (GNB) When hope is crushed, the heart is crushed, but a wish come true fills you with joy. (MSG) Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around.
God warns us in the above verse about what happens when hope is-deferred (put off), crushed, or unrelenting disappointments
keep coming our way-God tells us that the heart becomes sick and crushed.
Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
What is the difference between Faith and Hope:
- Faith deals with deity-Hope deals with details
- Faith is the education-(Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God) Hope is the emotion!
- Faith finds it's foundation in God's Word. Hope is a mental attitude!
- Faith is the channel from which we receive miracles from Jesus. Hope is the motivator that brings us to Jesus!
- Faith is related to miracles. Hope is related to morale
Webster defines hope as-"An expectation, and a desire, that a dream, goal,or purpose will be achieved! A feeling of excitement about what is getting ready to happen."
Many times our hope is destroyed. Faith is like dynamite! It explodes truth! Brings us from doubt to belief! From defeat to victory! From unseen to seen! Hope is the fuse!
Without a fuse, dynamite is worthless! Hope is that confidant anticipation of good things that are to come! Hope is the positive feeling that brings about a good work! Hope brings forth active Christians! No hope brings forth ineffective Christians! Satan's attack may not be so much against your faith, as it your hope! Why go through the trouble of messing with the dynamite, when you can remove the fuse? The devil is attacking hope in the day that we live in. It is easier for the devil to discourage us mentally than it is for him to defeat us spiritually (attack fuse rather than dynamite) It is easier for him to manipulate a circumstance, than to alter the will of God! Opposite of hope is hopelessness!
When you have no expectation you reach a place of despair that ends in giving up! Many people are at this place! They have given up on dreams, promises, purposes, and desires! We need to Get our hopes up! Let me say it once again, many people have given up! They have enough faith to turn the situation around! But they've lost their hope! They have enough dynamite, but their fuse has been tampered with! You can have enough dynamite to move mountains, but you must have a fuse! You must get your hopes up! A lot of churches have lost their hope! Their mental attitude of anticipation. People come into the doors of the church downcast, defeated, depressed! No anxious anticipation, they have LOST THEIR HOPE!
You can take from a person his wealth, and you HINDER him. You can take his purpose, and you SLOW HIM DOWN. But you take from a person his hope and you STOP HIM IN HIS TRACKS. He can go without wealth, and even without purpose for a while. But he will not go on without HOPE. Hope is like oxygen. You take oxygen away and death comes by suffocation. You take away hope and death comes by despair. We live on HOPE! When hope dies, a large part of us dies.
An eminent American cardiologist noted that "hope is the medicine I use more than any other. Hope can cure nearly anything." A noted minister wrote: "The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."
We MUST get our hopes up. How do we do that? We will discuss this in greater detail in tomorrows blog, but let me tell you this. Look back at our text:
Revelation 5:5 One of the Elders said, "Don't weep. Look--the Lion from Tribe Judah, the Root of David's Tree, has conquered. He can open the scroll, can rip through the seven seals."
John realized that just because his situation looked HOPELESS, didn't mean that it was. The LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH was on the scene to CONQUER the problem he was facing. My friend, Jesus is still the LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH, and He hasn't changed one bit. Look to Him this evening, and allow Him to reinstate your hope.
I love you guys, and look forward to posting further on the subject of hope in the morning! Blessings!
Pastor Rusty
Posted by Rusty L. Blann at 9:30 PM 0 comments
