I Have A Reason To Hope | Built By Hope

today i'm starting a two-part series called built by hope built by hope and i just feel like i was praying and talking to pastor joe and i was just saying like what what's something that we i could help people with over the next two weeks and really feel like a lot of us are struggling when it comes to this idea of hope and so i was doing some research i was i was looking into a few things and actually uh in currently in in the in america the number one category for prescription medications is actually antidepressants we're all struggling the number one mental illness in america is anxiety and over 40 million people struggle with anxiety in june the cdc put out a survey and we can trust the cdc surveys and polls these are trustworthy things so they put out a survey and the survey the people responded and over 40 percent of americans said that they have a diagnosed mental illness or behavioral disorder 40 of americans and you get to spend the holidays with them if you didn't laugh at that anyway we're moving on you know what i'm saying i'm i'm building your hope today i'm not making fun of you but we all struggle this season i don't know about you but it started as like 10 days to slow the spread and now it's like two years to slow the spread it's just struggle with hope and it's struggled you know we're battling we don't know what the future holds and we don't know what's happening and what's going to happen and we're all struggling if we're honest we're struggling and we could all use some hope and so today and next week i want to talk to you this idea of how we can build a life that's built by hope because we all could we could all use them see uh the the world uh defines hope probably a little different than the bible would define it so you hope uh we we look at that word and we say like yeah i hope things go good for me i hope life is good i hope things are good but the biblical definition of hope is a joy-filled expectation of good when the bible talks about hope it's talking about a joy-filled expectation a confidence that good is coming not just a good outcome but a good god who controls our lives and holds our futures that we trust him and see there's a story in the bible i feel like just best helps and best illustrates how we can build our life on hope and it's the for those who know the bible well it's it's the woman with the issue of blood it's kind of a famous person in the bible because of what she did and how god worked in her life is just awesome to read and to know and to study and so so i'm going to walk you through that story and we're going to talk through some principles some things that can help you build your life on hope so let's start in mark chapter 5 and verse 25 it says there was a woman in the crowd and she had suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding so this woman has been sick and she's been sick for a long time she's been sick for 12 years and here's the deal before we build your hope the first thing we're going to have to do is deal with your doubt because if if we're honest with ourselves we're honest where we are we all have some doubts we all have some i don't know if god is going to i'm not sure if he cares i don't know if he he will i we struggle with doubt and this is what this woman was struggling with see in the in the world that she lived in she was what they would call unclean and unclean meant that she was isolated from people she had a disease and this disease caused her to be isolated she was kind of shunned and put off to the side she wasn't allowed to touch anyone because she was unclean and she potentially could spread the disease that she had so she wasn't allowed to touch her husband where he would become unclean she wasn't allowed to touch her children or they would become unclean if she went through a tragedy a friend couldn't hold her and hug her she was completely isolated completely alone she if she went out in public she was supposed to announce that she was coming so people could run away scared she was completely alone completely isolated and the society that the society that she lived in treated her like she had a plague that they could catch if they got near her it's kind of like you go to the grocery store and someone doesn't have a mask and their eyes are red their brow is sweating they're coughing all over everything that's how she was treated and i'm like calm down carry your monkey go home spring disease all over the world they have ubereats and instacart go home they will bring it to you it costs like three dollars it's fine stop making us all sick go home and that's how they treated her they treated her like i don't want what you have i can't be around you and she was shunned she was isolated she was alone and her life was filled with doubt i'm sure she wondered during the course of this 12 years is this ever going to change is this ever going to get any better is this ever am i ever going to be around people again am i ever going to have friends am i ever going to have a is this ever going to change and see her story was filled with doubt and there's another guy in the story just reminded of his story as i was thinking about this woman there's a guy named abraham and god his name was abram god changes his name to abraham he changes his name to abraham because god tells him when he's 75 years old god comes in and says hey i'm going to make you the father of many nations at 75 years old he gets this promise from god that i'm going to make you the father of many nations and i'm sure he's looking at god like i know you're god but i'm 75 years old i don't know how you're gonna give me a family that produces nations i'm 75 and the woman you gave me she's old i got it she's old i'm 75 i'm good she lord are you sure you got the right person and he's looking at god and he's questioning god are you sure you're going to help me are you sure you're going to work out the situation he's 75 years old and it says for from 75 to 100 he waits for his promise and in romans it kind of recaps some of his story in romans 4 and verse 18 it says talking about abraham says even when there was no reason for hope abraham kept hoping he looked at his body he looked at his wife he looked at the situation he's like it says there's no reason that he would hope but he kept hoping believing that he would become the father of many nations for god said to him that's how many descendants you will have i love verse 21 it says that he is he was fully convinced that god is able to do whatever he promised and i'm sure abraham's life he's he receives this promise from god and he's like i'm not sure and for 25 years it's this roller coaster of will i believe will i hope will i trust and a lot of us that's where we are we feel like we have a promise from god we feel like we have this this thing that we know we should do could do this desire that we have and we're trying to trust god but if we're honest with ourselves we're dealing with some doubt and we don't know how it's going to work out and what i find interesting about the story with abraham is that his promise was that he would be the father of many nations but all he ended up with was a son you ever think of it that way god says you're going to be the father of many nations abraham's like i'm not sure he's struggling with it finally he gets his answer his answer doesn't look like many nations his answer looks like a son eventually he becomes the nation of israel and god fulfills his promise but in his lifetime it looked a lot differently i'm sure than he would have expected and this happens in our life as well for some of you maybe you're believing that you're going to have a family and you're going to have children but maybe how god does that is through adoption maybe you're believing for for this awesome career that god has for you but maybe you're going to lose the one you have first maybe you're believing for your children to always serve god but maybe they're going to walk away from their faith for a little bit first may you're believing for this for to to be healed physically and maybe how god answers that is through surgery or maybe how god answers that is through eternity and here's my question is god less good if he does it differently than what you desire is he still not faithful if it just looks a little different than you thought is he less good because it looks differently than you thought i would say no see here's the struggle for many of us our faith in god is as deep as the outcome we desire our faith in god a lot of us is as deep as what i desire that god i believe and i trust you if you do exactly what i desire if you do exactly what i think if you do exactly what i want then i believe you but for many of us we've walked with the lord long enough to know that it doesn't always work out like we thought it doesn't always like god is not obligated to fulfill my every desire he's not a genie and i'm the master and he has to fulfill my wishes he's god almighty he doesn't have to do what i want him to do he's not obligated to obey me and that's that's a struggle for us we look at our situation we say i don't know and i don't and and a lot of us are our faith is as deep as the outcome we desire and when things don't work like we want i've seen many people it just derails their faith i thought god you were going to fill in the blank when it doesn't happen we struggle and what we find out in that moment is that god is god and we are not but here's what i know to be true even though if it doesn't work out like you thought you can trust an unknown future to a known god even if he decides to run your life differently than you thought he's still good even if you would have prescribed it a different way he's still good and you can still trust your future to the god that you know the second thing we're going to do so first we have to deal with your doubt the second thing we have to do is deal with your disappointment see this woman that says that she was sick and she was sick for 12 years in verse 26 it says she had suffered a great deal from many doctors and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them and she had gotten no better in fact she got much worse what we see with this woman again she's sick and she's sick for 12 years and what she does though is she goes she does what all of us would do you want to fix the problem she goes looking for solutions she goes from doctor to doctor to doctor to doctor to doctor only to be let down again she hears maybe she hears about a specialist in another city and she goes to the specialist she builds her hope and her hope comes crashing down because the specialist couldn't fix it maybe she hears about the a natural path and she tries some supplements and changes their diet and she puts her hope in that only to be let down again she signs up for the drug trial thinking that's going to fix it only to be let down again and for 12 years she's disappointed again and again and again god i thought you were going to heal me god i thought you were going to help me and she goes from disappointment to disappointment to disappointment and this is where we find her she's struggling with doubt and disappointment see whether you and i whether our story is this extreme we've all been in situations that didn't work out like we thought we've all been in situations that i i hoped one thing and something else happened i hoped i'd have this god honoring marriage but now i'm in divorce i thought i'd have this perfect family in this perfect career and it just isn't what i thought and you don't have to live life that long to know that life throws you some curveballs life hits you with some unexpected circumstances and tragedy happens to us all and if we're honest as christians of which i is one as christians we do a terrible job dealing with disappointment we're really bad at it we're bad at suffering we're bad at disappointment and and a lot of us we treat disappointment as if we caused it and it's a lack of faith that caused it a lot of us carry a lot of shame and guilt and say if i had enough faith then this never would have happened if i had enough faith if i was just good enough if i was just godly enough if i was just obedient enough god would have blessed my life and i never would have happened and i never would have had to walk through this tragedy this difficulty and this terrible circumstance and it's like we're all on a search for a formula to faith that allows us to never be disappointed it's like it's like we think if we get if if we could understand faith and all of its nuance then i could avoid all pain if i could get the right person to pray the right way then i could avoid all pain if i could send the tv preacher enough money then he can pray for me and he'll fix what i'm going through if i get on the right prayer chain and there's enough people praying then i can avoid the pain because god you know you got to hit a number with god if you don't get enough people praying he's not going to answer you and we're looking for a formula and we're looking for a formula that does not exist i wish i could quote a scripture and tell you something that you if you do this you will never have pain in your life i wish i could say that but i can't i wish i could tell you if you do this and this and this ah nothing bad will ever happen but that would contradict the very words of jesus because jesus said in this life you will have trouble i put it on the bathroom in my house and i just speak it over my life every day there is no formula to a life void of pain it doesn't exist but there is a relationship that you can have with god that you could walk through any circumstance and he will never leave you and he will never forsake you and that he will stick closer to you than a brother that you can have peace no matter what storm you face because of who you're with i can promise you that and i can also promise you that one day he will wipe away every tear one day he will heal every disease one day he will right every wrong one day sin will be erased one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth and he will rule and he will reign and he will reign eternal and supreme and i can trust that day even though i walk through tragedy on this side of that day i trust him with my future i think sometimes we forget about eternity because we don't want to deal with the pain of today in this life you're going to have trouble take heart i've overcome the world take heart he's with you he's for you he goes before you he stands beside you he follows you with goodness and mercy and here's the bottom line kind of issue that you and i have is we want to be god instead of trust god we want to control the future we want to decide the outcome and we just want a life free of pain but here's the truth god will not give you a life that does not require faith it says for without faith it's impossible to please god god will not give you a life that is unpleasing to him a life that pleases him is a life that's dependent upon him you're looking for something that you can't find this side of eternity but you can find the one who holds eternity and even if it looks different than what i desire even if it looks different than what i thought i know this that even if i can't see god's hand in my situation i can always trust his heart even if i can't see him working it out even if i can't see how he's going to do it even if i can't figure it out and make it happen and change it i can always trust his heart he's a good father who has good things for his children even if it looks differently than what i would have chosen he's still good even if it's different let's go back to the story mark chapter 5 verse 27 it says she heard about jesus and she comes up behind him through the crowd she touches his robe for she thought if i can just touch this robe i'll be healed i love the first part of this it says that she heard about jesus think of it this way if she was never in an environment where she heard about jesus if she was never in an environment where she heard god's word she never would have been healed this is why hebrews 10 25 says do not neglect meeting together as some people do but encourage one another even more so as you see that day approaching and let me tell you whether it's online or in person you and i have to meet together because when we hear the word of god it gives us the faith to believe that he is for us and he is not against us that he is working all things out together for our good that it's again it might be different than what i desire it might be different than what i thought but he's still good and i trust him and you have to prioritize environments where you hear god's word because here's the deal sunday is just not enough it's simply not enough if the only time you eat is on sunday you will be starving if the only time you eat is through someone else speaking you're starving it's the same way with the word of god if the you have to not just not just a little bit on sunday for 30 minutes 45 minutes if he's real long-winded and he better hurry up because i'm hungry if that's the only time you feed on god's word you are spiritually starving this is why life groups are important you need to be in environments where you hear god's word this is why sunday's important this is why reading your bible on your own is important this is why the relationships you have are important you should be kind of a junkie to god's word to where it's like i need to hear it continually because i know what i feed my mind with will produce the thoughts i believe and what i believe produces the life i live my thoughts matter because my beliefs matter my beliefs matter because it determines my future and if you only hear the word of god for 30 minutes on a sunday morning you are missing god's plan you are missing the the thing that god wants to do to get you where he wants you it's just not enough you weren't called by god to have a second-hand relationship with him you're his child and you should come boldly to the throne of grace for yourself it's not a second-hand relationship you're not the stepchild to god you are you are his child adopted into his family you have access to his throne and his grace and thank god for pastors who preach god's word that's why i love doing this i love it and you need that but if you only have it it's just not enough crack open the bible for yourself get the bible app read it let it read it to you however you do it get in environments where you hear god's word because if she never heard god's word she never would have been healed you will never access a promise you don't know exists if you don't know what god has said you'll never get what he said here's the reality if you hear a lie long enough you'll believe it and if you hear the truth long enough you'll believe it this is why faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god if you want to receive from god you've got to get in his word let's continue in this story in luke 8 44. so this story is in matthew mark and luke i i like how luke says that he says it this way he says she talking about the woman the issue blood comes up from behind him she touches the border of his garment and is immediately the flow of her blood is stopped she's totally healed and i'm going to be your bible nerd friend for a minute i love the bible i'm a big bible nerd read it talk about it study it think about it i just love the bible i'm a big nerd when it comes to the bible and when i read the bible i ask questions i say like why why is she touching that because if i'm her i'm tapping jesus on the shoulder like hey i've been sick for 12 years and i need you to pray for me and all your little followers they need to pray for me as well do you have some oil you can rub on me or something i need i need all the things i need all like hook hook and sister up because i've been disappointed too much and this is not the time to be disappointed again you need to pull out all the stops every one of your disciples need to pray for me everybody let's just stop this crowd right now and everybody pray for me everyone lift your hands reach reach your hands out to my sister here come on like that's what i'm i'm hoping for if i'm her i'm like jesus hello but she doesn't do that she doesn't touch his feet she doesn't touch his hands she doesn't tap on his shoulder why does she do that so i began to ask questions because i paused i've read that i was like why why the border of his garment so again i'm a bible nerd i read numbers chapter 15. it says this says speak to the children of israel and tell them to make tassels on the corners or the borders of their garments throughout all their generations and put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners and you shall have the tassel that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the lord and do them jesus is wearing what this verse is describing and it says speak to the children tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments tell them to put these tassels on the border of their garments why did she touch there instead of anywhere else it says this again it says remember put these borders on the garments so that you will remember everything i said see her touching the border of his garment is significant it's not random she's communicating three things by touching there instead of anywhere else and the first thing she's communicating she's she's communicating that she remembers god's word she hang on like the tassels on the garments are to remind us of all of god's commandments the tassels that she touched the border of the garment that she touched is saying that hang on a second he he has something that he said to us that she's remembering isaiah 53 5 that says that by his stripes i'm healed that she's remembering psalm 103 that says he forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases she's remembering exodus 15 26 and says that he's the lord god my healer she's remembering that he is the same yesterday today and forever that he is the lord and he doesn't change and has he not said it and will he not do it the grass withers the flower fades but god's word stands forever she's remembering god's word and she's saying hang on god has something to say about my situation god has something to say about what i'm going through and i trust his word above my circumstance i trust his word above my situation she's saying i trust him there's healing in the border of his garments because i'm remembering his word and his word is trustworthy his word is sure i can take it i can trust what he said heaven and earth will pass away his word will last forever i can trust his word she's proclaiming with this act just touching the border of his garment she's saying hey i trust your word i know what i see but i i know what you said i know 12 years of disappointment but this is the first time i bumped into the word made flesh dwelling among us because in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god that all things were made through him and nothing was made except that which was made through him in him was light and the light was the light of man the light shines in the darkness and the darkness could not comprehend it she's touching the light of the world in that moment why there because she's saying he has a whole lot to say about my situation and i trust him above it the second thing that she's communicating if you keep reading verse 40 says and that you may remember and do all my commandments and be holy for your god then verse 41 it says and i'm the lord your god who brought you out of egypt and i'm your god i brought you out of egypt i'm your god so she's remembering his word but she's also remembering his faithfulness she's saying hang on a second i know what you said and i trust your word but i also know who you are and i know what you've done in my life already for the nation of israel they were enslaved for 400 years and god set them free and gave them their own land their own nation and he's saying put the tassels on the garments to remember my faithfulness that i know you've been sick for 12 years but they were enslaved for 400 years and i told them i'd set them free and i set them free just like i said i would you can trust who i am you can trust what i said and she's remembering if he could if he could rescue my people from that situation surely she could he could rescue me she's remembering god's faithfulness in the past and is building her hope for the future she's saying if he did that surely he could help me she's remembering god's word she's remembering god's faithfulness and the last thing that's significant about the border of the garment is found in malachi chapter 4 and verse 2. it says this it says but you who fear my name the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings and you're like justin what does son of righteousness and wings have to do with this woman let me explain it to you i'm your bible nerd friend the son of righteousness was a prophetic title given to the messiah the son of the messiah when he comes he'll have healing in his wings that word wings is literally the exact same word as border garment corner exact it's the exact same hebrew word when you look it up so what this verse is saying and what she's communicating with her faith she's saying the messiah when he comes he will have healing in the border of his garments the messiah when he comes he will have healing in the in the border of his garments and she's communicating i believe that you are the messiah i believe that you're the son of god who takes away the sin of the world i believe that you are the savior of the world i believe that's who you are it's significant why she's touching there instead of anywhere else she's communicating who jesus is see she knew who jesus was and we know who jesus is see he's the author of life that put breath in adam's lungs he's the promised keeper who put a ram in a bush for abraham he's a provider who put a rainbow in the sky for noah he's the he's the deliverer whose hands held the red sea as the israelites go free he's the divine guidance to david slingshot of deliverance he's the healer inside of peter's shadow he's the voice that calmed every storm his disciples ever faced he is the very pearl of great price that is worth our very lives he is jesus the christ the son of the living god the one who was who is and who is to come and i trust him and i know who he is and i trust him with my circumstance and my situation i believe that he's good in spite of what i see and i know he's the one that promised to never leave me never forsake me he's the one that promised that he would put a table before me in the presence of my enemies that even though a thousand followed my side and ten thousand at my right hand it doesn't come near me i trust who he is in spite of the situation i see i trust him see she's communicating a whole lot with just the border of a garment it's significant she's saying i trust your word i remember your word i remember your faithfulness and i know who jesus is that's what she's communicating with a simple touch the bible is full of all kinds of neat things she's communicating all of that with an act of faith and that's why she's healed that was mark chapter 5. mark chapter 6 says this wherever he entered into villages cities in the country they laid the sick and marketplaces and they begged him they might touch the hem of his garment and as many as touched him were made well in mark chapter five there was a woman who was sick she'd been sick for 12 years she had a lot of doubt a lot of disappointment but she presses through the crowd she touches the border of jesus's garment she says i know your word i remember your faithfulness i know who jesus is she's completely and totally healed and then just one chapter later what one woman did that was unheard of now an entire city is doing and it's common her hope opened the door to their hope what was once impossible unheard of unthought of is now common normal ordinary what one woman did led to a city doing it and this is why god is saying to you this morning fight the good fight of faith lay hold of eternal life because your victory will lead to their victory your hope leads to their hope and god has a whole bunch of people in mind with you finding the thing that you desire see it's not just about you there's a whole bunch of people that need the hope that you found that need the healing that you have that need you to fight your fight so don't give up i know it's been long i know it's been hard i know you've fought some doubt you've dealt with some disappointment fight again scripture would say the righteous falls seven times but he gets back up my encouragement to you this morning keep fighting get back up i know it hurt i know it hurts but keep fighting because i don't know when i don't know how but i do know you can trust jesus with your situation in this life in the next i don't know but you can trust him he's worthy of your trust you

Channel: TwinRivers.Church

Views: 229

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: TRWC, Jesus, Church, Twin Rivers Worship Center, St. Louis

Id: Okt-Y1tG1A8

Length: 35min 32sec (2132 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 23 2020