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God’s Gift of Hope Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007
Preachers: Jeff Jeff Children’s Story: Jeff Jeff Media Person: Joel Joel
Sermon Series Title: “God’s Unspeakable Gifts” Main Text: Mt. 24:36-44 Secondary Text: Ro. 13:11-14 Theme: Hope in Christ
Summary of Message: Jesus himself warned his followers to be diligent for the coming again of the “Son of Man.” Paul told his early church, “the night is far gone, the day is near.” Our problem in America is, we have exchanged this spiritual readiness for a complacency with the world and our daily lives. But if we put our lives into a global perspective, our comfort level decreases. Putting our lives in the context of Jesus’ warning gives us true readiness for the coming of our Lord. This is hope at its best. We only need hope when we experience trouble. Hope in Christ promises an end to the world’s troubles.
Our spiritual desire for meaning for our future: bringing hope to others.
For all to exchange their hope in the world to hope in Christ’s coming again.
A Dawning Sun
Additional Concerns / Input: A Family will read a passage from the psalm and light the first candle of the advent wreath. 8:30 is Wayne and Frances Ketch; 10:50 is Len and Pat Fuller
An Urgent Appeal: Romans 13:11-14 11Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. The Necessity for Watchfulness 36“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
God’s Gift of Hope This is the advent of the Christian year. Today marks the start of a season where hope is our focus; hope for a hurting, dangerous world. And Today’s bible readings are a little scary, to say the least. Paul speaks of works of darkness all around us, and the strength of the flesh. Jesus warns of the time when the mysterious “Son of Man” will return, using a well known term to refer to himself as the Savior. IN that day, he says, it will be like the days of Noah, when the floods sweep away all who would not listen, suddenly and with no chance for saving. IN that day, he says, there will be two in the field working and one will be taken to heaven. IN that day, he says, two women will grind at the wheel and one will be taken and the other left behind. The great warning: KEEP AWAKE!
And friends, Christians, I am here to say YOU are the hope of the world!
Central Park United Methodist
Church in St. Paul, Minnestoa, is one of only about six churches in the country
dedicated chiefly to recovery. Paul writes to the Roman church, chapter 5:3 …we boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
We have just finished a sermon series on the ROAD TO RECOVERY, and outlined the new ministry beginning in our church in the New Year. Celebrate Recovery will change the way we do evangelism in Bath. It will change the way we view ourselves as a church. It will change the vision and purposes we outline for ourselves into the next decade. Why? Because when we get real, get honest, and tell God the truth, we find we are all in recovery from some kind of addiction, some kind of desire, some kind of sin that hurts us and keeps us from doing God’s will, and that we need help from each other! I Pe. 3: Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. You may never take part in this Friday night program of worship and testimony, but it will affect the way you do church. All because Jesus is telling us we are the hope of the world, through him! When Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes of a little boy to feed 20,000 + people on the lawn, he did not carry any bread or fish to the people. He simply gave instructions to the disciples and they carried out HIS miracle. Hello! Through Jesus Christ, you are the hope of the world, get it? Let me ask you today, church, what is the hope that is within you? Here is a piece of prose from Anonymous:
I have a new
coat, it was designed by God and given to me by Jesus Christ. == I Pe. 1: 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In Peter’s letter we have a great inventory of the inheritance of the Christian. He describes it first as a Living Hope. We know all about dying hopes, about hopes that wither, but there is a living hope. At one time California had a higher percentage of suicides than any other state. Seems strange, with all the beautiful scenery, the blue skies, wonderful mountains, ocean beaches, bright sunlight. The reason given for that high number is too many come to see California as their last hope, for health or fortune or happiness. When this hope fails them, life holds nothing else for them. But Peter says we (Christians) have been given a new birth into a LIVING HOPE. What a blessing to have hope that is not dependent on happiness alone, and finds its ultimate happiness in God! Psalm 9: 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever. Lucy was saved. Lucy’s husband came to me, iron welder, tough guy, man among men, and broke down and cried in my home office. His wife he always chided, kidded with, loved dearly, was in a rehab center in the city. She had finally decided enough was enough and she needed to give up the drink. “Would I consider visiting her?” Nearly a 2 hour drive, into a part of the city I had never been to, rising the challenge of visiting someone in a situation I had never dealt with, I was scared. I had only my Bible and some sketchy directions scrawled on a scrap of paper. Would she be ok with me visiting? I knew her from a service club in town. Would she be embarrassed? Would she be in group session and would the place even allow me to visit her? I was not long out of seminary. I had not done this kind of thing before. I am not a natural evangelist. Hey, I brought my Bible. As the rehab center welcomed me in, they pulled Lucy out of the group support session she was in to see me. We walked to her “room” and talked. Lucy was happy. She was so amazed anyone would drive all that way for a few minutes of talking with her. She was so open to change. I shared with her a few Bible passages and she affirmed her faith in God. I went out on a limb and offered her faith in Jesus Christ. She immediately said yes, as though she were agreeing to order toast for breakfast. Her eyes were beaming, her heart was full, and her mind was open to a new life. Can it be this easy? So we bowed in prayer and she accepted the Jesus she had learned about as a little girl, the Jesus she knew little about as an adult, and the Jesus who simply offered her forgiveness and new life. It was that simple. Lucy joined the church, lived as an example to others in church and in her family shop. And Lucy, in a few years more, became our chief evangelist for the church for new people. She was a great spokesperson and she was a great leader. Lucy became hope for those without hope. And Lucy had an adult son. I am not making this up. This is true. I first met Douglas to talk with, at the shop he worked at welding things. I had a car with a gas tank leak. He looked underneath it, ordered to by his mother, and as he moved the trouble light under there, the dripping gas hit the light bulb and blew it out, right there inside his shop. Douglas later shared with me that it had to be God’s help that we both did not blow up that day! Douglas began coming to church. A smoker, and a drinker, and with blackened mechanic’s hands, he came as he was. Not slinking in and sitting toward the back, not avoiding people during the greeting, but sitting right up front and joining the choir the second week there! Fast Forward a couple years. Douglas the drinker, Douglas the smoker, Douglas the mechanic, Douglas the Christian. His problems did not all go away once he joined up! Jesus was his friend. Picking up his girlfriend’s daughter from childcare one December evening, Douglas first stopped at a bar to wet his whistle. He then picked her up and drove over the ice – covered winding road back to town. Around a curve and with smooth summer tires, he slid and wrapped that little car around a telephone pole, on the side of the car that little girl was riding. She was airlifted to Rochester and in grave condition. Douglas was taken straight to jail. I got the call from his mother Lucy, in hysterics. The visits, the calls, the prayer chains, the anger. It was all right before Christmas. Ro. 8: 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. FF two nights. To Christmas eve. Full church, snow outside, chill in the air, and the visitors to church lining every row. Candles all aglow. And a little girl, with probably brain damage, barely holding on to life in a city hospital. Douglas in jail. Guilty. Lucy: should I bail him out? He feels awful; he is suffering, he needs help. 7:00 p.m., greeting and call to worship with mixed feelings. Dry mouth. Anger at him. Fear for that girl. Opening hymn, sang by most as if no one knew, no one remembered, and only Jesus was on our minds. In the back of the church there was a commotion. Someone was busting in the doors, someone had no place to sit in the back, (we are on the last verse now) someone was looking for a seat half way up, someone was walking right up the center aisle to sit with his mother Lucy. It was Douglas. He was disrupting things. He was sprung out of jail. The little girl might die. I might die. He was walking right toward… me! The last verse was almost done. I don’t know why, but I walked down from the pulpit and down the 4 steps and down to the level of this drunk, this killer, this choir member, this sinner, and in a moment of grace, somehow gave him a hug. And he held on as if for dear life. And he would not let go of me. And God moved in the life of that church that night. And Jesus’ forgiveness became real to me and to him. We only need hope when we experience trouble. Hope in Christ promises an end to the world’s troubles, but that is only going to happen through you and through me! Ps. 119: 114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.
44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
Jesus himself warned his followers to be diligent for the coming again of the “Son of Man.” Paul told his early church, “the night is far gone, the day is near.” Our problem in America is, we have exchanged this spiritual readiness for a complacency with the world and our daily lives. But if we put our lives into a global perspective, our comfort level decreases. Putting our lives in the context of Jesus’ warning gives us true readiness for the coming of our Lord. This is hope at its best.
Benediction from Romans 15:13:
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