MCC Podcasts
We Had Hoped
I'm really excited to be here. I really do like I love your pastor He is one of my go-to guys when I'm struggling with things and I Trust him and I am like amazingly excited about your building project Like that is very very very cool And you know I this isn't my my church and all that stuff But like I encourage you guys to write big big checks if that's what you're doing right cuz like But but don't just do that when you come back in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 months sometimes I into next year when you come back to this place come back celebrating and then sign up to volunteer and make this Place the kind of place that when people drive by they wonder what's going on Like and I encourage you to do that because like my sense here is this is a wonderful church and you guys are privileged to be here my wife Bonnie is It's right there. You want to just stand up and wave? I know you don't but you don't have to even I Just asked if you wanted to and I knew you wouldn't want to but okay I met her in 10th grade. I watched her walk down the hall a little bit and thought wow She's beautiful. Okay. It's nothing to do with my message Let me just pray and then I'm gonna watch we're gonna start in gospel of John chapter 5 And if you have a Bible with you the gospel of John is the fourth book in the New Testament It's one of the biographies of Jesus and so we're gonna start and I want to go through two stories And this first one is one of those ones. Let me let me tell you a quick story before I pray. I was Art mentioned I had a minor heart attack a couple weeks ago and it was it was very mild, right? but the Thursday before that or Tuesday before that I was I was walking in our church and Some of the ladies were there for Bible study and they asked if they could pray for me because they knew I was going in for a stress test And so they're praying for me and one of these ladies pray it prayed this prayer God we know that you heal everyone that encounters you and I'm on my knees and I'm like greasy and I'm thinking no No, that's not true God you we know that you healed everyone that encountered you so please heal pastor Paul And I didn't want to argue with the prayer because like I wanted to healing and I wanted all that and I'm thinking Okay, if there's some wrong because I didn't know yet if there's some wrong So if there's something wrong, God go ahead heal me Poof me so that everything's okay, right and I wish Jesus would do that to all of us right there Just go and make everybody okay, but my understanding of life and my understanding of scriptures is he doesn't Like some of us have ongoing issues But we have ongoing things with sin we have ongoing things with health we have ongoing things with our marriages that are broken and messed up and wrecked And wouldn't it be cool if just everybody who came into the presence of Christ He made it all okay But he doesn't and For those of us who sit in the midst of God doing really wonderful amazing poof kind of projects in other people's lives But that can be painful And so I want to just open up this story for a moment It's in gospel of John chapter 5 and I'm gonna just touch on this and then I'm gonna switch over to gospel of Luke and And do another story I want to talk about how to deal with hope when it's just an echo When it's not really there working in your life and when when you when you have this desire, but like for whatever reason Jesus doesn't do it and You wish he wouldn't you pray that he would and you go home at night and you say God Wish my marriage was like so-and-so's Father I pray that you'd fill this house with your presence God that you just pour your presence in here not just to poof us But give us the strength that even when it's not going well to walk with you And to trust you God I pray for this hillside I pray that you would shine light in the middle of the darkness That this church would be failed to the fullness of your glory And the people who are hurting people who are broken people who are doing wonderful Would be drawn here to experience you Not just the building father But to your church these people I feel us I pray that you'd speak today In Jesus name Amen So it says to the gospel of John chapter 5 verse 1 some time later Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Jews now there is in Jerusalem near the sheep gate a pool Which in Aramaic is called Bethesda And which is surrounded by five covered colonnades here a great number of disabled people used to lie the blind the lame the paralyzed One who was there had been there for 38 years When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been there in this condition for a long time He asked him do you want to get well I love that question like do you want to get well? No, just duh I'm laying here waiting in this spot where according to tradition that the water would every once while stir It would I don't know it doesn't explain what it would do a bubble or or some of your translations actually have verse 4 in there This is in the niv it doesn't have verse 4 verse 4 was taken up because it was believed that just someone added in to explain what happened If verse verse 4 says an angel would come down and stir the water and I don't know really what happened But what would happen according to the scriptures is that the water which stir in the first one end wins and got healed Right it was like this this this disabled race of people and trying to get into the water because the first one on what? I don't know if it happened one time or a hundred times or or twelve times or seven and a half times I don't know how many times but somewhere along the line people who got into bubbling water were healed and In this guy's standard. There's no one to help him. He's so crippled that he can't get into the water by himself And Jesus asked him do you want to get well? Sir the invalid replied. I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred Well, I'm trying to get in someone else goes ahead of me Then Jesus said to him get up Pick up your mat and walk at once the man was cured and picked up his mat and walked and I love that I Actually believe God does that today That that that that Jesus will somehow prove people and make them well like that But I hope we didn't miss this part back up Let go back to verse two if you would because I think maybe the most one of the most significant things for me this morning Is in verse two and three? Says now there is in the Jerusalem near the sheep gate a pool which in Aramaic is called Bethesda Let me just touch on that for a second that you know for years people didn't believe that pool actually existed And that's one of the reason I love the Bible because you can actually trust it in in since the 19th century late 19th century Since Israel was settled they uncovered that pool right Bible people would say ah John just made that story up There's no pool no five colonnights. We've never found it and they dug it up. They dug it up and they say Bibles right right and so they go on but he says and which is surrounded by these five covered colonnades here a great number of disabled people used to lie The blind and the lame and the paralyzed If I read that right it means Jesus Jesus walked through a crowd of people who were blind and lame and paralyzed People who were hurting people whose lives were messed up people who were physically wrecked And he walked through them and I don't want to be disrespectful, but like stepping excuse me excuse me and he picked this one guy And he looks at that one guy and says do you want to get well? And I'm just thinking in my head how about all of these other people said I do I do I Do and Jesus says to this one guy pick up your mat and walk and then he walks out from that crowd And he doesn't stop and say hey you guys. I'm just allotted one one healing today, and he got it I'm sorry. He doesn't say you know, but he just he just walks out and I'm thinking Matter of fact, how many of you how about the guy right next to the guy that Jesus healed? Like what about him where he's sitting there watching and he wants to get excited for what's going on He wants to say oh my goodness. God healed my my my guy next to me No, he didn't heal me. He didn't say anything to me How many do you feel like that guy next to the guy that was healed sometimes? right anybody Like like you go home and you've heard these stories of people whose marriages are all put back together and You go home and your wife's just as Just as unput together she was when you left Right and you're in your kids you hear about people whose kids were wandering and now they're falling at the feet of Jesus Singing songs and praising his name and your kids Your kids are still wandering Still doing things you've been praying their whole life. They wouldn't do You hear about I'll do a pastor thing you hear about pastors who like get promoted whatever that means It ended a better ministry that you wished you would have Or you think that That your personal finances would have turned on We'll turn around by now and it could go on and on and on and so many times I feel like many of us wonder God where are you? I was visiting with one of our junior high kids the other day and she tears streaming down her face and she said, you know I'm not a Christian yet. I've been sitting in this class We have confirmation class and she said I've been sitting in here for two years and I'm not a Christian I want to be but I'm not because God never talks to me I Get that You hear about all of these wonderful things and you wonder how do I do this? How do I exist where it doesn't seem like God's touching me the way I've expected him to or the way I've prayed for him to do or the way I've begged him to Turn it turn with me to the gospel of Luke Right at the end the gospel Luke is the book right before the gospel of John And We're gonna look at chapter 24 and I want to start verse 13 This is a story about two people who were on their way out of Jerusalem after the resurrection of Jesus Christ And I want you to hear that they were on their way out of Jerusalem after the resurrection of Jesus Christ And you're gonna hear that they were downcast they were broken they're discussing back and forth all of the hopes They had put in Jesus that were failed now because it was also after the crucifixion of Christ Verse 13 now that same day two of them were going to a village called Imeas about seven miles from Jerusalem They were talking with each other about everything that happened as they talked and discussed these things as they bantered back and forth Jesus came up and walked along with them How cool would that have been? Like you're walking along with your buddies you're talking about well, you're tight You're talking about how disappointed you are with Jesus And he shows up But but they were kept from recognizing him He asked them what are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still their faces downcast One of them named Cleopus asked him Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days? What things Jesus asked about Jesus of Nazareth they replied he was a prophet I love that phrase there because that's so honest Because probably a day or two days before that they would have said he's the Messiah He's the one who's come to fix everything. He's the one who's come to to change us. He's the one to come make everything better now He's just a prophet But he's still good still powerful, but he's not the one we had hoped he was Do you ever feel like that? Like in your head because Jesus doesn't match what you wish he would have done. He is demoted You have this expectation this desire this hope this dream And then maybe a very honest real thing that is a real need and Jesus for whatever reason doesn't measure up He Was a prophet powerful and word indeed before God and all the people the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him But we had hoped that he was gonna be the one who redeemed Israel We had hoped he was the one I Love going into our Sunday school department in the all these little kids you asked them almost any question, right? Like who loves you? Right who's the one that's gonna have Jesus Right and you get everything's Jesus, and it's so encouraging exciting and fun But a lot of us know Or we think we know that that's just a little kid answer Let me just take a couple of moments and kind of open this up I'm not gonna read the rest of the passage. We'll kind of read it as we go But but I want to ask the question what do we do when we had hoped for something It doesn't come around how do we hang on? How do we address that how do we how do we not lose hope when when hope is just something that's echoing in our mind and heart anymore? It's not alive, and it's not real. It's not powerful When it's just a memory the hope that we had here. Here's one of the things I notice in this passage and you notice it too is that Jesus was there Right Jesus say here Here's what I want to say trust in the promise of Jesus presence when you feel like you're losing hope when Jesus hasn't lived in your Expectation trust in the promise of Jesus presence. I get it. I get it. I get he's not like visible to you necessarily But you can still trust these there even if you don't recognize him even if you don't see him if the Bible's true Which I believe it is with all my heart Jesus says to all of us who have him as our savior that he is present with us all the time forever Whether you feel him whether you see him whether you smell him whether you hear him or not He is still there he I will never leave you or forsake you it says in Hebrews chapter 13 And then I get I get it that sometimes we don't feel like he's there sometimes we feel like he's a bend in this Personally because maybe we've put this expectation on how he is supposed to perform for us And he he doesn't necessarily do that Pastor Paul God heals everybody who he encounters nah Jesus Well, yes, but maybe not in the way that you were forcing him into I Think it's amazing that it says they were kept from recognizing him I've been wondering about that way by whom Like why would what what would how would someone be walking right with Jesus and not notice him Recently I was in one of those worship services in our church where where people were talking It was like one of those moments where all of a sudden you you just You sense the power of God coming into the Roman and you could feel him right it doesn't happen all the time But and I don't know how to explain that other than I Could sense his presence and and there's some of us on the worship team and we were in the green room We were talking about that and and one of the other person who I didn't notice that You keep me he was like so thick and Some people Me more often than I want to admit are in the very presence of Jesus Christ And we don't notice Okay, here's what I want to say That's okay That's okay. It's not about our feelings whether we feel like he's there or not It's not about whether he gives us this exciting flutter in our heart or not. He said he promises to be there and Sometimes work kept from recognizing him because we want him to perform in a certain way for us And he's doing it a different way over here because he gets to do that being God in all Right, and we we've said that you've got to do with this because this is the thing I want you to do Sometimes honestly we're kept from recognizing Jesus because of sin We harbor these things in our heart and mind and we have these little secret things that are going on on the side of our life And we wonder why don't I experience the presence of Christ and we've got like a drain hole in our heart We're wondering well, why doesn't God fill me and because you're leaking And maybe there's issues maybe there's things that you that they the start of your Refabrication of your life the renovation of your life the church would be to fill the hole With forgiveness and grace and mercy And it may be for some of us, it's really about disbelief We've chosen that for whatever reason we're not going to believe certain things about Jesus That's really what these guys were or this guy in this lady. We don't know who they were necessary But maybe that's what's going on here because it says that they had heard about the resurrection from the women and they still left Jerusalem They had heard that Jesus rose from the dead And they still left Because maybe like some of us they just wanted to wallow in their stuff They they just really liked being wounded and really liked being sick and really liked being discouraged and really because it gave him something to talk about But here's the deal Jesus was walking with them And I'm not sure what you're going through in this moment in this day But he promises that if you put your life in his hands He's there He's there. Let me let me show it another thing. This is this is in verse. I think it's 25 Says and he said to them How foolish you are oh, let me start at verse 24 because that one's kind of fun, too Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it was just Just as the women had said but him they did not see see the women had told them and he said to them How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe? All the prophets had spoken did not Christ have to suffer these things and then enter into his glory and Beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them what was said in the scriptures concerning himself Sometimes when when we had hoped Is only an echo in your life that the best thing to do is let Jesus speak hope through the scriptures Right the instinctive thing for us when darkness veils us It's just closed the book and stop walking with it And what Jesus promised what God promises is that the Holy Spirit will bring this alive and and bring it to fruition And how amazing for those people to have Jesus actually teach them and says in the scriptures that their hearts were warm And he started with Moses and he began to explain that you know when when our people were in Israel and they were slaves I came and set them free When our people were at the edge of the Red Sea I came and part of the waters when the people were thirsty I brought forth water And he began to make the scriptures come alive and here's what happens with some of us is is we close the book and we say I'm so discouraged so lost. I've lost so much hope that I just can't read any more and That's what I beg you don't close the book when your hope is wavering Let Jesus speak it and I'll be honest with you And maybe some of you can help each other like how many of you read passes the scripture and it's like nothing Does that happen to you? Right and you're hoping again. You're hoping that God would warm your heart They get let just do that again How many of you have experienced where you read the Bible and nothing goes on in your heart? Okay, some of you are like amazing because you don't experience that Like okay, so let me tell you what it's like right now in my yard My my yards in North Dakota, right? We had snow two days ago still It's not funny Wow, just cuz you're California How art what's that all about? No, wait, no, I'm not kidding. It's me. I don't know who did the calendar this year But we're having snow, right? I have this beautiful garden in my backyard kind of it'll be beautiful sometime in August And but but I have a perennial garden and there it there's nothing showing right now And it's there and right under the soil. It's alive and eventually as it warms up in July or whatever the plants are gonna start spoking out of the ground and pretty soon they're gonna They're gonna bloom and I get these gorgeous flowers, but they're already there I just don't see them and that's what the Word of God is like you're it's like planting seeds in your heart and you may be dry You may be waiting for God to bring forth water from the rock Don't stop Let him plant those seeds because he promises that the Word of God that goes in will not return void that he'll bring it to fruition It is living and active and able to do things that in his timing So here's what I beg you let God warm your heart with his scriptures even if it feels cold Because eventually he will make this come alive and and what we can do is we can look at we can look at the passage of scriptures and say oh God Well for them you did it Thank you for doing it for them and help me hang on through. Let me just show you something that I don't know if you've read Psalm 13 lately This is like an amazing passage of scripture because it speaks of what so often many of us feel This is the psalm of King David this amazing worshiper and lover of God He starts out how long oh Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face for me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemies triumph over me? Look on me an answer oh Lord my God give light to my eyes or I'll sleep in death My enemy will say I've overcome him and my foes will rejoice when I fall, but I trust In your unfailing love my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord For he has been good to me. I Think the juxtaposition of it the way he said it I will sing Because you have been good to me It doesn't feel like it's all real good right now But you have been and you're not obligated to be good just to me But you are and you will be again and so I'm gonna sing It's a discipline of our hearts to let scripture speak to us to remember that even though we don't feel him He's present with us even though we're just trusting in something we remember Let me let me do one more piece back out of the gospel of Luke As they approached the village to which they were going Jesus acted as if he were going farther But they urged him strongly stay with us For his nearly evening the day is almost over so when he went to stay with them and began to Give to them wait. I'm sorry So he went to stay with them and when he was at the table with them He took Brad and gave thanks and broke it began to give it to them And their eyes were opened It's when we feel like hope's gone. It's trusting in the promise of his presence not necessarily the feeling of his presence It's letting him continue to to breathe life into a through the scripture or to plant the seeds of life coming And then it's to anticipate to anticipate his redefinition of things in our life that God has this power to take seasons of brokenness and woundedness and loss and hurt and and sin and When they're in his hands to redefine them and to transform them into something beautiful And so in the moments of God. I wish you were changing this in my life Anticipate that someday he will Right live in the expectation that this isn't gonna last forever and I'll be honest with you Some of us it will end the moment you get to heaven But don't discount that But that God has this power to redefine things I was talking to one of the young men in our church who's been a follower of Christ for about six months and And he said in this group this our men's group at Burger King on Thursday mornings at six, which is a ridiculous thing And and we're eating sausage Not Egg McMuffins, whatever they were eating those and and we were talking he goes, you know what? I want trade anything in my past He said I would do it all over again. I looked at him. I said are you serious He goes, yes, because God's using everything. I say okay time out just second. You've done some really ugly things He goes, I know I won't change a bit. I say okay It's because I thought he had taken this God transforming things too far Right because he was saying like I would do it all over again and you know what God's not like All excited about your sin Right, it's not like he says don't go out and sin so I can change things Don't misunderstand that he can take the ugly things and the broken things and the wicked things in our past and the hurtful things And he can transform but he's not looking for us to wallow in them and he doesn't want to highlight them He wants to be highlighted himself, but that's what he does. That's what he does He takes these things that are ordinary and makes them extraordinary He takes these things and broken and makes them beautiful He takes these things that are racked and makes them wonderful and that's what we can anticipate in these moments of our own Darkness our own disappointment our own sadness our own loss of hope that God will someday use this time this season this moment And he'll transform its meaning in your life So that he'd be given glory. He does that with bread You know, he broke bread with these guys and and Okay So every time you touch bread We this is what the plan of Scripture. This is what Jesus taught that every time we would touch bread We would say Jesus died for me God took the most ugly horrendous form of death on the face of the earth and He made it into something beautiful. Do you think he can do that with our lives? And he uses this ordinary thing this ordinary thing to remind us of his death and the wonders of his resurrection So that every time you put bread to your mouth you are reminded that Jesus Christ the Son of God was sacrificed so that you could be set free So forever In God's people's lives Bread is changed and so forever in God's people's lives are Struggles are changed forever in God's people's lives. Our brokenness is changed So what I'd say to you to what I encourage you anticipate It's someday Someday this dark time We'll be redefined by the king So hang on He promises to be there he hasn't left Your kid your kids may be wondering he hasn't left Your finances may not be changing immediately God hasn't left He still promises to provide we can remember that in his word and someday He'll redefine it And you look back And you'll say oh God Thank you Thank you He loves you so much He hasn't left you maybe don't recognize him He's still there [BLANK_AUDIO]