https://youtu.be/5Af4eW1mfKo
For today’s message title, I almost used: Left Our Sin & Found; A Path for Life! But that almost sounds too much like it is us doing it all. I may use it at some point down the road, but I want to focus on our Lord and what He does for and with us on this Sunday after Easter. Then I thought, maybe: Giving Up & Dying, Easy. Trying & Living? But that sounded too Clint Eastwood-ish for today. And again, today is all about our Lord’s resurrection, and our being given a new life by the Lord, and us living our faith. Hence; Fellowship of Hope by; Living in & With Him!
The title not only fits on the sign out front, it conveys some thoughts I have had about this incredible and special thing we hold together. For we not only have a fellowship or a bond of connection that clings us to a common hope for the future… Indeed, that hope has a solid foundation that is nurtured constantly by our lives in and with our Lord, Savoir, and God.
In a world that is constantly busy with illusions of what has value, the importance of the latest in-thing, or what are the new words that we must adhere to, accompanied by the diction, rhetoric, and language we must never repeat to remain in the good graces of an ever woke, gatekeeper class of no accounts. A world preoccupied with chasing itself only to find disappointment, mediocrity, and idiocy, looking for something better but not certain of what it is in search of… We have Good News.
Our Good News… We have discovered that value is not really found in more stuff. It’s not a house at the top of the hill, or expensive cars, vacation, cash, or clothes. Wealth, valuable wealth, real wealth, are the relationships that you have. The deep associations that you have been able to sustain in spite of in spite of yourself, are what true riches desire at the end of the day!
Relationships, with your Lord, with other people, and associated other people in your community, that you have learned to pour your selves into, are the items that you get to take into eternity. I believe, that is what our Fellowship of Hope is all about. For we have learned the basics about being in God’s incredible family. We have learned that our future lies in our God and the people He puts in our lives. We remember our Lord’s instruction from the Gospel (Good News), about what our priorities are. Please let me read a very basic idea from our Lord. Reading from Matthew 16:25-26;
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
In short, our world has a lot of bling and faux (or fake) value in its shinny stuff. In fishing terms it’s called a lure (or bait). That’s all it is! A distraction from what is important. God! To take it one step further, its ok to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation, there is plenty to love. But we must not trade any of it in for loving, praising, magnifying, and amplifying our Lord in our hearts.
As we begin to apply the teachings of our Fellowship of Hope by being; Real Christians of the Working Day, we begin to actually trust in our Lord that He will do what He says He will do in our own lives. The words of God’s scripture begin to take on new and added meaning each time we revisit our Bibles, and even today’s Call to Worship a Psalm from David that Al read earlier takes on deeper meaning. Reading again from Psalm 16;
1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
*Please let me interrupt David to say; David’s words teach us who God is, and what we are not, but what we can have together as the Body of Christ, God’s family, in whom we delight in the nobility of each other. Verse 4;
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
**Cutting in to say; We will always have people who go their own way, and we must pray for them to hear God’s words, not our own demands! Continuing now at verse 5;
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
***Cutting in once more to say; I can’t help but think how Paul compliments this passage in Romans 8:31-32;
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Our Lord God is consistent in His love for us in any time, any land, and for people, we all belong to Him! Verse 9;
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
We are at the right hand of God, because Christ sits at the right Hand of God. Earlier, I quoted “God at my right hand” in verse 8, and that’s what a real… intimate… one on one relationship is all about, and we are in Christ. In fact, we are the Body of Christ forever. Amen! & Amen! Or, wow & wow again! David knew it, and now today so do you! For in time, you will be able to say as David just did in verse 11; “You make known to me the path of life…”
Your path of life, Faithwalk, our Fellowship of Hope, has left all that junk of the world behind, or at least we are leaving it behind… as we are all works in progress and salvation is a process. Even so, what a beautiful thing to behold, my beloved family!
This new life, this life founded on the belief that we can indeed hope in our Lord, and hope never puts us to shame because of God’s love, His very hope has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. This very sentiment is confirmed and reinforced by Peter’s instruction to the early church, who two thousand years ago had the same hopes for the future resurrection, and questions about life as you and I do today. Reading from 1 Peter 1:3-9;
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
*Interrupting Peter to say; Scripture and God are very consistent on this truth:Our “Fellowship of Hope” is based on this inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. Picking up at verse 4;
This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Although we have not seen the Lord, we believe in Him! Our Fellowship is full of joy, and we are seeing the fruits of our faith when we are moved to do service for others that we would not have thought of doing before when we were thinking of only ourselves. This is a end result of our faith, which is indeed leads to our salvation with and in Him!
And even though we have not seen Jesus personally, we have the record of His resurrection depicted in the Gospel and recited in today’s Message Reading. As I read this passage in John again, please try to put yourself in the position of those that were present for our Lord’s reappearance. Can you see how it would be easy to doubt or be confused. It’s important for all Christians to have empathy when we are dealing with other people, because we could easily be in their place. There by the grace of God go… you and me…
Additionally, the Lord will give the Disciples, the Church, you and I instruction on how to share the Gospel with the world. Reading now from John 20:19-31;
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
*Interrupting to say; My thought, and that’s what it is. You are charged with studying, praying, and thinking for yourself with God! My thought in John the state of sin is considered the state of not knowing the Lord. When we forgive, we are sharing the understanding of the Lord with others. If people do not accept the Lord… then we have left them where they were in a state of sin. We are not keeping people out of Heaven or determining judgment but simply, we are not able to bring in another person into the family of God. It does not mean that we are deciding for God who is in or out, only the Lord can do that.
In a larger sense, I believe we, all of us, as Christians have the ability to forgive sin. This ability is not confined to Priests, or Church leaders. We in “The Fellowship of Hope”, all must forgive in healthy (non-codependent or non-enabling of sin) ways, based on our knowledge that God forgives. This falls directly under the instruction of Micah 6:8; acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God! Verse 24;
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
**Just saying; Better late than never, but…
The Purpose of John’s Gospel
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
The Gospel is written by God through man to give you and me life eternal in our Lord’s name! Leading you and I, all of God’s family to a; Fellowship of Hope by; Living in & With Him!
My hope and prayer for each of you my family in God, as you live your beautiful lives this next week, that you will have an opportunity to:
- Be in prayer with your God.
- Pray in gratitude for all that you have been given.
- Pray for empathy (understanding and caring) of others.
- Ask Him for forgiveness (you know what for)
- Have a chance to forgive others, even that one person…
- Then thank God again and again and again!!!
Amen!
Benediction; Romans 5:1-5;
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.