hope
Exerpts from:
HOW TO SING THE BLUES
Sermon #2
Funky Presbyterian
Scripture: Lamentations 3:1-33
...Christians are people who's hope is in the Lord. our treasure is with Him. and it is safe. our treasure is safer when it is with Him because it is Him. our hope is not just in the Lord, it is the Lord. the Lord doesn't just hold our treasure the Lord is our treasure. the Lord doesn't just secure our hope, the Lord is our hope. the Lord doesn't just give us peace, He is our peace...
...where is your hope? from were do you derive your confident expectation that all will be well? the amount of money in your bank account? is it the job security you have? is it a loved one, your spouse, your children, parents? is it the circumstances of your life which shift and change or is it the Lord?...
...Look, is it any wonder that so many of us experience despair and depression if we are putting our hope in circumstances which change? I know that some of you, there have been moments in your life where you've just wanted to lay down and die..and you didn't see any purpose in going on. your strength is gone, but the strength of God's love continues on. it does not cease. it does not end, it will not fail. in the morning when we want to crawl back into bed and hid, the mercy of God is there for us...
...the Lord doesn't change even when your circumstances do. the Lord does not change even when your feelings change. but sometimes we're depressed and we don't even know why...there's no reason, there's no bad circumstance, we just feel like CRAP! and there is no good reason why. in those times we have to preach to ourselves that God's love endures. His mercy continues on. when all hope seems lost, all hope is not lost because God is our hope, he is our confident expectation for good things in the future. it's based on the very character of God Himself. every other religion in the world will base it's hope on "my ability" and "my character" and "my ability to carry out" the demands of some god or some religious system. "and if i have good character and i can do it, then it will go well with me". but in Christianity, our hope is based on the character of God Himself. He's our portion, He is steadfast, He is enduring in His love and His mercy when we cannot endure.
His mercy is new every day because every day we need new mercy. and the very pinnacle of the character of God, the very pinnacle of His enduring love, is seen in what? in the cross of Jesus Christ...
Can't...type...any...more........ask FP for a copy!
HOW TO SING THE BLUES
Sermon #2
Funky Presbyterian
Scripture: Lamentations 3:1-33
...Christians are people who's hope is in the Lord. our treasure is with Him. and it is safe. our treasure is safer when it is with Him because it is Him. our hope is not just in the Lord, it is the Lord. the Lord doesn't just hold our treasure the Lord is our treasure. the Lord doesn't just secure our hope, the Lord is our hope. the Lord doesn't just give us peace, He is our peace...
...where is your hope? from were do you derive your confident expectation that all will be well? the amount of money in your bank account? is it the job security you have? is it a loved one, your spouse, your children, parents? is it the circumstances of your life which shift and change or is it the Lord?...
...Look, is it any wonder that so many of us experience despair and depression if we are putting our hope in circumstances which change? I know that some of you, there have been moments in your life where you've just wanted to lay down and die..and you didn't see any purpose in going on. your strength is gone, but the strength of God's love continues on. it does not cease. it does not end, it will not fail. in the morning when we want to crawl back into bed and hid, the mercy of God is there for us...
...the Lord doesn't change even when your circumstances do. the Lord does not change even when your feelings change. but sometimes we're depressed and we don't even know why...there's no reason, there's no bad circumstance, we just feel like CRAP! and there is no good reason why. in those times we have to preach to ourselves that God's love endures. His mercy continues on. when all hope seems lost, all hope is not lost because God is our hope, he is our confident expectation for good things in the future. it's based on the very character of God Himself. every other religion in the world will base it's hope on "my ability" and "my character" and "my ability to carry out" the demands of some god or some religious system. "and if i have good character and i can do it, then it will go well with me". but in Christianity, our hope is based on the character of God Himself. He's our portion, He is steadfast, He is enduring in His love and His mercy when we cannot endure.
His mercy is new every day because every day we need new mercy. and the very pinnacle of the character of God, the very pinnacle of His enduring love, is seen in what? in the cross of Jesus Christ...
Can't...type...any...more........ask FP for a copy!
posted by m. at 1/09/2006
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