Tag Archive | "HOPE"

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Thankful for a hope that will not disappoint

Posted on 21 November 2019 by LeslieM

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, proven character, and hope; and this hope does not disappoint us, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 5:3-5)

This being the Thanksgiving season, I would like to help prepare our hearts with a message rooted in a hope that will not disappoint us . . . not ever!

Because we live in a fallen, broken world, as fallen and broken people, there is nothing we have ever been involved in that did not, at some time or another, deal us some kind of disappointment. Whether it was a job we hoped to get, a relationship we deeply desired or something we longed for and maybe even saved to purchase, that hope eventually failed to deliver on the happiness it seemed to promise us. But when we think through this sad reality, we realize that disappointment was the only thing it could deliver.

Take just a cursory glance at the evening news, and virtually any hope we are hanging onto seems to be dashed against the rocks by the unending waves of challenge that keep washing over our world. Virtually every story reinforces the notions that crime really does pay, honesty is not the best policy, and, as a 1980s song lamented, “The rats keep winning the rat race.” And, when all that dust settles, if we are still a bit hopeful, we find enough disappointment within ourselves to last two lifetimes. Speaking personally for a moment, I can testify that all too often, even when I am right about something, I deliver the message in the wrong way, feelings are hurt, and the hope that people placed in me is doused by disillusionment.

So what is the way forward when life seems to be continually marked by one step forward and two steps back? We must reevaluate where we have placed our hope. When we place our hope in anything of this world, we will inevitably be disappointed. And yet, even in the hope that disappoints us, we still have reason to be thankful, because God is working in us through the grace of disappointment. You see, if the things of this life actually could provide a hope that did not disappoint, we would grow into only a fraction of the person God is calling us to be, and we would become cold and distant in our relationship with Him.

The key that unlocks the door leading to a hope that does not disappoint is not to place our hope in something, but in Someone . . . and His name is Jesus Christ. At this level of living, we have a hope that simply cannot disappoint, because it is rooted in the One who cannot and will not disappoint us in any way.

As you ready yourself for Thanksgiving, would this not be a good time to prayerfully consider just how thankful you truly are for this hope that cannot and will not disappoint? Remember, “the certainty of this hope that promises the blessings of God comes through the presence of the promised Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:8). And if this message finds you in a season of storm winds and challenges, remember the ultimate hope: the return of Christ, who will wipe every tear from our eyes and who promises us an eternity with no more pain, no more sorrow, and no more death. Oh, what a glorious hope we have, a hope that cannot disappoint, because our hope is in Jesus!

Have a hope-filled Thanksgiving.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. Never forget that . . . Amen!

Tommy Boland is the pastor for Cross Community Church located at 841 SE 2 Ct. in Deerfield Beach. For more information, call 954-427-3045 or visit www.thecrosscc.org.

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CLERGY CORNER: The Power of Hope

Posted on 26 July 2018 by LeslieM

An experiment was once undertaken by researchers seeking to determine the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. They used lab rats for the project and divided them into two groups that were placed into two separate tubs of water. One group was left in the water and within an hour had all perished. The other group was taken out of the water for short periods of time and then returned. They were able to last for over 24 hours. The researchers determined that it wasn’t the periodic rest but the hope of rescue from the water that kept the second group of rats swimming longer.

The same power that hope holds for unthinking rodents is found to be present in the lives of cognitive humanity. If there is one faint flicker of hope in the greatest of challenges, we will fight to survive and more than likely emerge victorious. Someone once declared that “hope is the poor man’s bread.” It is what keeps us living and longing for a better day. Life and experience have proven the veracity of the maxim that “where there is a will there is a way,” and there are many persons whose lives are a testament to the invincible power of hope.

Famed Austrian psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl had studied the theories of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. He followed in their footsteps, examining life and human behavior. His experience in Hitler’s concentration camps led him to postulate his own ideas about the basic drive in human beings. Having lived through and survived the terror of the camps, he rejected Freud’s pleasure principle. Victims faced an abundance of pain and suffering in the camps but never any pleasure. He similarly rejected Adler’s idea that power was man’s basic need. In the camps, they were victims of the cruelest behavior, and the idea of power was inconceivable.

Frankl surmised that what had enabled people to survive the concentration camps was hope. They believed that life had meaning, and that one day their difficulties would end allowing them to live purposeful lives. We can lose many things in life and still find a way to live and the strength to go on, but, if robbed of hope, we lose the very will to exist. Death inevitably steals our loved ones, but we persevere. Money and material things are fleeting, and we learn to hold them loosely. Illness diminishes our health as we grow older, but we manage to survive nonetheless. To live without hope though, is to live in an unending nightmare unable to awaken to a more calming reality.

Psalm 27:13 (KJV) records King David’s conclusion about his life and experience with God. “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” It is a powerful proclamation made from the perspective of review and relief. David is convinced that had he not possessed hope when facing an unnamed crisis, the outcome would have been disastrous.

He offers us encouragement to similarly entrust our lives to God’s oversight and intervention. We will all face fainting circumstances, the kinds which bring fear and claw away at our confidence and security. But powerless though we may be in the face of adversity, we have an all-powerful ally who responds to faith in those who look to Him.

Hope cannot exist in a vacuum, it does not thrive in an empty space. It is inextricably linked to the knowledge of possibility and the awareness of help. The lesson of the lab rats and the concentration camp survivors is that hope must be placed in someone or something greater than the individual and more powerful than the difficulty.

David identifies whom our hope and expectations should be placed upon. May we never lose our hope, for God is always available.

Bishop Patrick L. Kelly is the pastor of Cathedral Church of God, 365 S. Dixie Hwy., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. 954-427-0302.

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CLERGY CORNER: Hope for the future

Posted on 27 October 2016 by LeslieM

What the future holds has always piqued our interest as human beings. We have experiences and memories of the past, and are fully acquainted with the events of the present, but we have no guarantees concerning the future. Consequently, some have claimed to be able to predict the future and speak confidently about what is to come. Crystal balls, horoscopes, cards, psychics and fortune tellers are some of the things and people that many consult for information about their personal future. No one has all the answers, however, and many prognosticators have been proven false or deceptive.

When it comes to the future of the world or society, there seems to be a common feeling that things will be worse than they are right now. Every generation has probably had doomsayers who saw and predicted the decline of society or the end of the world. George Orwell’s classic, 1984 envisioned a world that had devolved into a “negative utopia” and even though that year has come and gone, many are convinced we are still headed in that direction. The Y2K scare of 1999 had many expecting a major disruption of life as we know it once 2000 arrived, and a misreading of the famed Mayan Calendar predicted that the world would come to an end on December 21, 2012.

In his much touted television series, The Story of God, Morgan Freeman traveled the world examining the beliefs of various religions. One episode on the Apocalypse reviewed how differing faith traditions viewed the end of days. In the Bible (Matthew 24:6-7), Jesus predicted specific signs of the end. “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” In 2 Timothy 3:1-4, the Apostle Paul adds, “But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

The evening news and our daily experiences confirm that those predictions are coming true in our time. These do appear to be the last days; however, believers in every generation for the last 2,000 years have perceived that theirs would be the last. No one knows when the end will come, only that it will all come to an end someday.

But how do we then face the future? Are we to be fearful and anxious? Are we to ignore the signs of societal deterioration and live as if all is well? Thankfully, both Jesus and Paul offer hope along with their predictions. Believers are encouraged to be faithful to the truth, and to prayerfully take note of the unfolding signs. Jesus promises a reward and eternal life for the faithful and believing.

The point is this: regardless of the unknown, and even with indications of difficult times ahead, believers can face them with hope. A life oriented around God has a sure foundation on which to stand when things get shaky. Consider Psalm 46:1-3, 7. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging…The Lord Almighty is with us the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Bishop Patrick L. Kelly is the pastor of Cathedral Church of God, 365 S. Dixie Hwy., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. 954-427-0302.

 

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