A Message of Hope

 The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him;
 though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
Psalm 37: 23,24
When was the last time you fell and hurt yourself?  We stumble and fall. Sometimes we catch ourselves, and at others times, the ground catches us.  What was the proximate cause of our falling?  Clumsiness?  Obstacles in our path?  Were we in too big of a hurry?  As Christians we often fall for the same reasons.  We forget who is in control and go clumsily charging off on our own into the obstacles of life.  We forget what elements of our faith are critical to God.  Sometimes we lose sight of what He thinks is important as opposed to what we think is.
David’s verse above from psalm 37, reminds us that if we delight in God, he will keep us from falling.  Evidently David saw a difference between stumbling and falling.  We may often stumble in this life, but if we are walking with our Father, we will not fall.  Peter addresses this issue in his second letter.  In fact, Peter says if we work on maturing our faith, we will “never stumble.” (2 Peter 1: 10)  So what are the things Peter tells us to work on?     
Peter gives us building blocks to our faith that enable us to fall toward God.  He first tells us to add to our faith goodness. (vs 5)   We need to be good people, because God is good to us.  He then says to add knowledge to our walk. (vs 5)  We obtain knowledge as we study God’s Word.  Peter next says add self-control to our lives. (vs 6)  God expects us to govern ourselves in order for Him to help keep us from falling.  Perseverance is added to our walk because sometimes we may have to overcome some obstacles in life.  God promises to help us not make our walk easy. Godliness is the next thing Peter tells us to add to our lives. (vs 6)  We walk with and like God.  As Jesus tells us, we are the lights of the world.   Next, Peter says add mutual affection to our faith.  (vs 7)  The Greek word for this is philadelphia which we know as family love.  Peter is telling us that we need to love each other like our own family members.  We are in God’s family and we are to love each other that way.  Finally, Peter tells us to add agape to our walk.  This is love that is an unconditional and sacrificial love that also refers to who God is, how He loves us, and what He gives us.  Agape love is the epitome of our Christian faith and is what should keep us falling back to God.
Scripture:  2 Peter 1: 3-11
 

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. John 12:46
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but what was it like?  In Genesis 1:2, we are told that it was “formless and empty” with “darkness over the deep.”  Literally this means there was there was a big, black nothingness.  Darkness is defined as the absence of light.  To give light meaning, God created darkness first.  There are some cave creatures on earth that never experience light (until researchers find them).  They live their whole lives without ever seeing anything.  Imagine an existence without light.
God created light in this world so that we can see and experience life more fully.  Light is energy.  Light is life.  Spiritually, Jesus came into this world to do the same thing.  In John 8:12, Jesus tells us he is the “light of the world” and that if we follow him we will have the “light of life.”  What is this light of life and how are we using it?
The light is the gospel message and we should be using it to walk in this world.  John 12:46 continues the analogy by Jesus saying that we can exit darkness by believing in His power to save us.  That is the gospel message.  We can be saved.  Paul was told to take the light to the Gentiles in order to bring salvation to “the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:47)  God’s light is eternal and is available to everyone.
So how do we use the gospel to walk in our lives?  In 1 John 1, we are told to “walk in the light as he is in the light.” (vs 7)  If we walk this way, we have fellowship with each other and the “blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”  So again we have a choice.  We can choose to walk in the way of Jesus and the gospel of salvation in the light or continue to stumble in the darkness of life without hope.  Let’s all choose to walk in the light of forgiveness.
Scripture:  1 John 1: 5-7
 

As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.  James 5: 11

When was the last time you had a Job experience?  Where was it?  At home, work, church?  Job was not just a good guy.  He is identified as “blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.”  (Job 1: 1)  Additionally, because of his wealth and wisdom, he was “the greatest man among all the people of the East.” (Job 1:3)  Job was not some poor schmuck whose life Satan destroyed.  He was a great, Godly man who trusted the Lord.  There was no one on earth like him. (Job 1:
We know the story of Job.  The patience of Job is legendary…but is it?  Was Job patient?  Job was perseverant.  There is a difference.  God is patient with us as we strive to get back to Him.  He waits for us in hopes that we will return to His grace.  But we have to persevere in life.  We must undergo trials and testing in order to become mature Christians.  According to James, we should look with joy at the trials that our testing in life brings because that leads us to maturity.  (James 1: 2-4)  Our perseverance leads to success in this life and an eternal reward in heaven. (James 1:12)
The story of Job however is really about God.  As James concludes his letter, he returns to the idea of perseverance in referencing Job.  In all of the trials of Job, God protected him.  When all of life was falling down around him, when his friends and wife were telling him to curse God and die, Job felt the loving hand of God protecting him.  Even as Job was questioning God, he was protected from the storm of God’s justice.  James concludes this idea by telling us that God “is full of compassion and mercy.” (James 5: 11) 
So what about our Job experiences?  Have we been given opportunities to persevere?  Are we ready to move on toward perfection?  Isn’t it interesting the letter from James starts with the idea of perseverance and returns to that idea at the end of the letter?  We need to joyfully seek and look for Job experiences in our lives in order to become mature and complete Christians fully prepared to take the good news of the gospel out into the world.
Scripture:  James 1: 2-4
 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Hebrews 12:1

Congratulations, God entered you in a race.  It is the most important race you will ever run.  It is the race that leads to eternal life.  Come on and get your spiritual shoes on and start running.
The idea of running a race is used several times in the New Testament to describe our Christian lives here on earth.  Paul tells the Ephesians in Acts 20: 24 that he just wants to finish the race.  In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul uses the analogy in chapter 9 to help us understand why we are running and that we run with purpose.  In Galatians 2:2, Paul says he didn’t want to run his race in vain.  He echoes this sentiment in the letter to the Philippians in saying he wanted to run with purpose.  Paul tells Timothy he finished the race.  So how do we do that successfully?
Have you ever heard life referred to as a rat race?  We run back and forth, going here and there, with little or no meaning in our lives.  We survive without purpose.  Death is the only way we will finish the rat race and then what do we have?
The Hebrew writer tells us that we have a race marked out for us as Christians.  Paul referred to it constantly as he describes our Christian lives.  Our race is living for God.  We run where God sends us.  We must progress in our race otherwise we will never successfully finish as Paul did.
So what slows us down?  The imagery the Hebrew writer uses is things in life that slow us down and keep us from really running for God.  Sin entangles us and we are easily led astray.  One of the worst thing that can happen to a runner in a distance race is to get lost.  Take a wrong turn here or there and we may never find the course again.  We should be running in a pack so we can help each other stay on the path.  We should be encouraging each other to stay in the race.  We are all working out our salvation on the course.
Perseverance is key.  It is a distance race and not a sprint.  The difference is in how we run.  Sprinters start low and fast, run quick, and finish in a seconds.  One misstep and the race is over.  Distance runners start slow.  They pace themselves.  Their race is won by extensive training and successful execution.  Distance runners can stumble and recover.  We are on God’s track team.  Let’s work together to run the good race and finish it as winners.
Scripture:  1 Corinthians 9: 24-27

²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  Galatians 3: 26, 27

Who are God’s children?  Isn’t every person on earth a child of God?  In some ways yes, but in others no.  Every person is a creation of God that he loves.  God wants everyone to return to Him and repent from our sinful ways (2 Peter 3:9).  But not everyone chooses to return.  Not everyone comes back to God.  Not everyone wants to be a child of God.
In Genesis 15, God takes Abram outside to look at the stars.  He tells Abram to count them because his offspring will like them.  Who are these innumerable children of Abraham?  Are they the children of Israel known as God’s people?  Genesis 15: 6 says Abraham believed God and it was “credited to him as righteousness.”  Abraham believed the Lord would do what He said and was considered righteous for that belief.  This lesson applies to us today.
Last week we saw that God comes near to us when we come near to him (James 4:8).  We also see in John 1 that the belief in Jesus gives us the “right to become children of God…born of God.” (12, 13)  So how does our faith in Jesus relate to Abraham’s faith in God? 
Paul tells us in Romans 4, that just as Abraham believed God and put his faith in God’s power to deliver on his promises, we also have a promise for our faith.  In fact, Paul tells us that the words “it was credited to him” were written for us. (23,24)  We are considered righteous for standing firm in our belief that God can raise us to life just as He raised His own son to life for our justification. (24,25)  We need to be just like Abraham and not waver in our faith.  When we know our God has the power to do what He promises, then we become true children of God.

Scripture:  Galatians 3: 26-29