February 2nd, 2025

Summary

This service at the Central Church of Christ in Cleveland, TN, was filled with warmth, solemn reflection, and community announcements. The congregation celebrated new births and grieved recent losses, embodying a strong community spirit. The sermon focused on hope, particularly through the story of Job, emphasizing maintaining faith even amidst severe trials. The service concluded with songs of worship and prayers, reiterating the message of hope and faith that transcends life's challenges.

Highlights

• Celebration of new births in the church community showcased joy amidst life’s ongoing cycle. 🎉
• Reflections on recent losses reminded members of the importance of community support during tough times. 💔
• The sermon on hope emphasized holding steadfast faith during adversities, illustrated through Job's story. 📜
• Congregation engaged in worship and prayer, uplifting spirits with shared faith and devotion. 🎵
• Hope was central, serving as both a deeply personal assurance and a shared community value. 🦋

Key Takeaways

• Hope is a powerful force that sustains us, especially when life gets tough. 🌟
• Community announcements are a crucial way to stay connected and support each other. 🤝
• The story of Job teaches us resilience and trust in divine wisdom, even when we don't understand His plans. 📖
• Sometimes questioning God isn't just okay; it's part of a deep, honest relationship. 🙏
• Joy and peace are products of a hope-filled life, powered by the Holy Spirit. ✨

Overview

The Central Church of Christ in Cleveland, TN, gathered for a service filled with community spirit and a focus on both joyous and solemn occasions. From celebrating births to supporting those experiencing loss, the congregation was reminded of their shared journey in faith and life.

The sermon, centered around the story of Job, offered profound insights into maintaining hope and faith amid life’s fiercest storms. Job’s unwavering trust in God, despite immense personal suffering, served as a compelling reminder of spiritual resilience.

Concluding with praise and worship, the service left members uplifted, reinforcing the central theme of hope as a guiding light. Songs, prayers, and thoughtful reflections knitted the community closer, nurturing a warm, supportive environment.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction and Welcome The chapter 'Introduction and Welcome' serves as an opening segment, aiming to set the stage for the content that follows. It typically begins with greetings and expressions of welcome to the audience, providing an overview of what to expect. The section acts as a primer that introduces the main themes or topics and outlines the chapter's importance in the context of the entire work. Key messages often include the intention behind the creation of the content, who the intended audience is, and what the audience can anticipate learning or experiencing as they proceed. It is designed to engage listeners or readers, establishing a friendly and inviting atmosphere to encourage continued engagement with the material.
• 06:00 - 16:00: Announcements The chapter titled 'Announcements' appears to be explicitly titled, but no transcript content is available at the moment, titled 'here'. The summary cannot be generated without the actual transcript or context. Please provide additional details or content from the chapter for an accurate summary.
• 16:00 - 25:00: Scripture Reading and Prayer The chapter 'Scripture Reading and Prayer' discusses the challenges of finding quiet time for reflection and prayer. It emphasizes how real-life distractions can make it difficult to find peace and quiet for personal spiritual practices.
• 25:00 - 53:00: Sermon The transcript for the chapter titled 'Sermon' is incomplete, containing only the word 'the'. Therefore, a detailed summary cannot be provided based on the available information.
• 53:00 - 63:00: Hymns and Songs of Praise Chapter Title: Hymns and Songs of Praise Summary: The transcript for this chapter is currently incomplete, containing only the phrase 'she's still speak.' More context or complete content is needed to provide a full summary.
• 63:00 - 69:00: Communion and Offering The chapter titled 'Communion and Offering' appears to focus on the concept of communion and its associated rituals, likely from a cultural or religious context. Given that only 'get' is provided in the transcript, it might relate to an initiation or participation action within the communion. The text may explore themes such as unity, spiritual rituals, and the act of offering, which often accompanies religious ceremonies. Without additional context from the transcript, the specific details on how these themes are addressed remain speculative.
• 69:00 - 75:00: Closing Remarks and Prayer The closing remarks emphasize the significance of the gathered discussion, encouraging reflection on the key points covered. It acknowledges the contributions and engagement of all participants and expresses gratitude for their efforts. The speaker leads a prayer, invoking a sense of unity, hope, and strength, reinforcing the themes discussed in the gathering.
• 75:00 - 76:00: Closing Song In the chapter titled 'Closing Song', the transcript begins with a reflective tone, summarizing the key events and themes explored in prior sections. The narrative builds upon the emotional and thematic climaxes reached earlier, offering closure to various character arcs.

February 2nd, 2025 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 is
• 00:30 - 01:00 here
• 01:00 - 01:30 really not that quiet
• 01:30 - 02:00 the
• 02:00 - 02:30 she's still speak
• 02:30 - 03:00 get
• 03:00 - 03:30 I let you get in here
• 03:30 - 04:00 here
• 04:00 - 04:30 s
• 04:30 - 05:00 be nice yeah
• 05:00 - 05:30 yeah I got no see
• 05:30 - 06:00 I said that good I laugh out loud
• 06:00 - 06:30 good morning it's time to get started if we can take our seats
• 06:30 - 07:00 like to welcome you to Central Church of Christ excuse me we're glad you're here if you're a visitor there's cards in the pews in front of you if you could fill those out so we have a record of your attendance that would be great you can also scan the QR code
• 07:00 - 07:30 baby shower for Mikey and Kayla wongin I'm sorry I'm sorry I butchered that it's on uh February 9th from 2 to four excuse me none those pearls Valentine's bags are out in the forer for the ill shut in widows Etc
• 07:30 - 08:00 the bags will remain in the forer until Sunday February 19th and are to be delivered Friday February 14th it's twins congratulations to Cody and Brandy McCracken on their birth their Twins renley and Silas renley was born first and two minutes later Silas came out uh mark your calendars for our Classics February 13
• 08:00 - 08:30 at 5:30 in the new Fellowship Hall clothing Drive Sunday March 30th we are accepting gently used round clothing for giveaway and the cyc is February 21st to the 23rd cost is $40 per person um there's a signup sheet on the youth board
• 08:30 - 09:00 uh Gary everside brother Donnie will be having open heart surgery tomorrow he is in lexican Kentucky um the time is is supposedly early in the morning and I have a card here Central Church of Christ thank you for kindness mean so much at this this difficult time
• 09:00 - 09:30 God bless the family of Corine green there's a lot of things in this bulletin if you guys could grab one take it home pray for those on the prayer list be much appreciated now we'll have brother Jimmy come up and give us a prayer thank you
• 09:30 - 10:00 if you don't mind please stand for the scripture reading in prayer and remain standing for the song that follows brother Ryan has picked uh Romans chapter 15 verse 13 for the scripture this morning if you would like to follow along Romans 15 verse 13 now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that
• 10:00 - 10:30 you will abound in Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit please bow with me as we pray dear heavenly father we thank you so much for the opportunity that you've given us this morning to come here and study your word to offer up songs of praise to you to offer and lift up prayers and to hear a portion of your word
• 10:30 - 11:00 father we're mindful of the the many that are sick here at our local congregation and their family members and father we ask you to be with the the doctors and the treatments that they are taking that their health will be returned to them [Music] Father father we we offer up sympathy and and ask that each one of us pray for the family of Karen ler a tragedy that happened in our community this past week
• 11:00 - 11:30 and we lift up prayers for her her parents and then her children as they try to deal and make some sense of that tragedy father we also would like to keep Rhonda Morgan in our prayers and the passing of her mother Mary Burns and the Goble family in the passing of Ted those of us that attended the celebration of life yesterday that was a beautiful service and father we we
• 11:30 - 12:00 thank you for allowing us to to know Ted and all of us we know that are blessed by by knowing them Father father we pray that through the service today that each one of us will be edified strengthened and encouraged and in closing father we thank you for loving us loving us enough to send your son to this earth and die on our behalf in this in his name that we pray
• 12:00 - 12:30 amen good morning let's praise God together this morning there is beyond the the world with his
• 12:30 - 13:00 great there is a God God
• 13:00 - 13:30 Our God free is a God is God he is he is
• 13:30 - 14:00 and we from the is our God please be seated
• 14:00 - 14:30 Al last did my [Music] and for at the cross at the cross where I first all and the of my
• 14:30 - 15:00 heart it I reive my and now I am Happ all but of dear Lord I give
• 15:00 - 15:30 myself all that I at the cross the cross where I first and the of My Heart by I receive my now I am happy all the
• 15:30 - 16:00 day you'll please stand as we sing this next song and all those uh the children for the children's church can be dismissed during this song I Love the Lord Cal your
• 16:00 - 16:30 freus his life from s you set me free no greater love than
• 16:30 - 17:00 ever I love the because he first me I love the Lord ande he us be to be like him and compassion
• 17:00 - 17:30 freely bless his name we love good to he gave his from to set me free no greater than this could ever be
• 17:30 - 18:00 I love the Lord because he [Music] first family I uh decided I'd wear spring colors this morning because it's supposed to be really hot today um I even got a matching stripe over here in black marker from my grand
• 18:00 - 18:30 it's awesome little sethy boy uh now I wanted to give a few other announcements that did not uh make our bulletin and uh as Jimmy said you know many of us attended our brother Ted's celebration of a life well lived yesterday and uh certainly there were some tears shed but also a lots of smiling uh because we know where he is um you've probably heard the phrase Giants of Faith or Giants of the faith um well brother Ted was certainly a giant of Faith uh now he
• 18:30 - 19:00 would not like me saying that because he was a humble and quiet man when it comes to accolades about himself but he was a giant nonetheless um I want to just ask everybody to continue to pray for sister Judy and the family for sure um but again like I said I want to bring to your attention a few others that we need to announce um many of you know Terry mcnall it's Jennifer's husband U his father passed away yesterday morning um
• 19:00 - 19:30 this has been a very difficult time for the family um his mom's health is not good either so I just ask that you would pray for this family uh Terry is really hurting and could use some encouraging cards another one as many of you know uh Charlie cartright the father of Brian cartright and Laura cartright triplet um he passed away on the 31st as you know there's been a lot of lost recently in the tripet family and
• 19:30 - 20:00 now also in the cartright family we ask that you keep these families in our prayers as well U we received a call this morning uh that our sister uh Mildred Summers passed this morning around 1:45 a.m. um she and brother Jean were married for 70 years so no doubt he's going to miss her and I'm sure he would appreciate cards and visits as well a few of us got to go over there Friday night to be with him and them and uh his his home reminded me
• 20:00 - 20:30 of my Grandma and Grandpa's house a small room with lots of people and lots of love it was very evident that Mildred was loved um and as was already announced by Craig another add to our list is Gary evol's brother we went to remember his surgery coming up open heart surgery his name is Donnie and then uh we want to Rejoice um we have a new sister Lisa Kellerman she
• 20:30 - 21:00 is a league graduate she sits with the Hesters and Marrow Brian marrow baptized her this past Wednesday and um we have as I said a new sister in Christ please congratulate her for this wonderful commitment she has made as I mentioned before we've you know Giants um we've lost many Giants recently and so there are a lot of holes that are left um but that means it gives room for someone else to fill that hole um we want to be positive and as sports
• 21:00 - 21:30 teams like to say when one of their BL best players gets hurt next man up and that man has to be ready or lady well someone has to continue to carry the manle so to speak it may not look exactly the same and that's okay but someone has to step up and say as Isaiah said here am I send me I want to read just some quick scriptures to you for some encouragement uh Psalm 18:2 the
• 21:30 - 22:00 Lord is my rock and my Fortress and my deliverer my God my rock in whom I take refuge my shield and the Horn of my salvation my stronghold and then Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come my help comes from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth he will not let your foot be moved he who keeps you will not Slumber let's go ahead and pray for those that we've mentioned this morning
• 22:00 - 22:30 father we thank you so much for this opportunity to lift up some names before you we ask that you would be with the McDougall family father and uh Terry and Jennifer and the family just uh be with Terry father he's got a a big burden on him a heavy weight father we just pray that you would bless him in in many different ways so that he can get through this uh hard time that he will lift up his eyes to you father and know that you are there to help him that he can give the burden to you and so he
• 22:30 - 23:00 won't have to bear it any longer pray father for cartright family the triplet family as they've had another loss father we pray that you would bless this family and the loss of Charlie as I was told this week father is apparently another giant has been lost and we just pray that you would bless this family encourage them help us to be an encouragement to them as well uh be with the Summers family father uh with brother Jean there's no
• 23:00 - 23:30 doubt of there going to be a large ho for him as being together with one person for 70 years is a a long time and we just pray that you would he would find comfort in you that his family would continue to surround him with love and that we his church family would do so as well be with Gary's brother help his surgery to go well have no complications and and have a quick recovery father um and and we thank you so much for our new
• 23:30 - 24:00 Sister Lisa Kellerman I pray father that you would bless her a long life and service to you that she would continue to study and grow and uh always strive to make disciples other disciples father father as always we we always thank you so much for your son Jesus we just pray father that we would strive to be more like him and that we would be The Shining lights that we need to be thank you so much for for him in his name we pray
• 24:00 - 24:30 [Music] amen Lisa raise your hand that's her lot of people don't know who she is um and thank you you know Dell and Joyce and Diana uh every week they uh
• 24:30 - 25:00 inbr I you know too much credit gets to his head and no uh they really have discipled these students from Lee that come over and attend our our worship and uh so you know hats off to them for doing that and if you're a Lee student and you haven't met Brian Diana D and Joyce if you want a free lunch that's it every Sunday he's got a lot of money Brian does
• 25:00 - 25:30 so you know I would say that most of us go very few days without using the word hope right I hope we're not late I hope we're you know I hope it's a boy I hope it's a girl I hope they'll be okay I hope spring comes early right uh don't get your hopes up though uh you know or we it'ss a little more serious sometimes you know I hope they're not angry or you know I hope it's not cancer and I hope God hears me and I
• 25:30 - 26:00 hope God loves me I think from the smallest concerns to the greatest hope always shapes directs motivates and even frustrates our lives and the thing about Hope is that everyone hopes everyone hopes and everyone hangs their hope they they hang it on something or they hang it on someone and and I don't think anybody purposely hopes in what's they know is
• 26:00 - 26:30 hopeless so We crave it and and and we wake up every morning either motivated by some kind of hope and so that's what sort of gets us out of bed and gets us to work or uh you know whatever it is you might do every day but or sometimes hope is what we wake up with and it's we're Paralyzed by it because there's a hopelessness that we feel to our lives hoping is I think so natural and we do it so frequently and we use the
• 26:30 - 27:00 word so frequently that I think sometimes we lose really how significant it is Hope is cherishing a desire with anticipation to to want something to happen or to want something to be true it's to Desire with the expectation of obtaining or fulfilling it to expect it with confidence and so what hope represents is it represents a positive outlook for the future that we are anticipating favorable outcomes now for the Christian right for the
• 27:00 - 27:30 disciple for the child of God hope sustains Us in the deepest valleys and it it keeps our head above water right when we're we're we're down in those dark moments of life and we know that our hope the Christian hope is much different than hope that the world offers because worldly worldly hope lacks certainty right it it lacks promise Jesus would say in Matthew 7 it's like a house that is directly on
• 27:30 - 28:00 the sand little Tucker's first service and he heard me speak and he just gets mad I'm glad some of you just biked your tongue but Christian Hope Christian hope is so much different Christian hope is this Spirit-filled virtue that enables us to joyfully expect what God has promised through Jesus so for the next few minutes what I want to do is I want to share a story from the Old Testament it's a story that most of us are familiar with uh even if
• 28:00 - 28:30 not you've heard of job right everybody's heard of job whether You' grew up reading the Bible or grew up going to church or not um you've heard the story of job and often we hear uh his name tied to to patience right tied to suffering and tied to hope so job was was the uh the most patient and violently attacked man in history apart from Jesus and perhaps no human has ever lost more than job and so I just want to walk through his story and at the end I
• 28:30 - 29:00 I want to notice a statement that he makes um and I believe this statement is one of the main reasons we have the account we have the story we have the life of Job recorded for us so job was a righteous man he was uh a man that feared God he was a man that intentionally avoided evil he was a man of great wealth had seven sons and three daughters and he was always concerned about the well-being uh of their of his
• 29:00 - 29:30 children in fact every day he would go in to make da these sacrifices and he would also make sacrifices for the potential sins of his children like the the Justin cases that's how much he loved righteousness and how much he wanted that for his children well in heaven at the same time in Heaven There is a courtroom scene where the angels are before God right including Satan uh and and they are sort of giving an account for their actions and so God as Satan you know what have you been up to
• 29:30 - 30:00 lately where have you been and Satan replies well I've been roaming the Earth and it's like Satan it seems that Satan is challenging God and he's sort of joyfully right gleefully asserting that that people are rebelling against their creator people are rebelling against you right and it sort of makes me happy like less and less people are are on your side and God says okay well have you considered my servant Joe job loves me job serves me like it is
• 30:00 - 30:30 very evident in his life and Satan counters and said well of course job loves you right you look at him he's got everything he's got Health he's got wealth he's got a family he you've got this wall of protection around him of course he he's going to love you but I challenge you if you take away all those possessions oh he'll curse you take away everything he has begin to take it away one by one and he'll curse you God says okay well I'm going to lower the hedge of protection without
• 30:30 - 31:00 completely removing it because I don't want you to touch him you're not allowed to touch him but do your worst and Satan did it started with his livestock his way of living his servants were killed the house that his children were in collapsed and and it killed them and Satan was again doing his wors and maybe sometimes that's the way life feels for us that Satan is just doing his
• 31:00 - 31:30 worst and Satan knows I believe how prone we are to turn to sin in our suffering and Satan prays on that weakness that's why Peter calls him a roaring lion he's seeking someone to devour but job then surprises Satan right and how he responds to this first bit of loss he sort of tears his clothes and he shaves his head and he falls to the ground and he says Naked I come from my mother's womb naked I will depart the lord gave the Lord has taken away May
• 31:30 - 32:00 the name of the Lord be praised Now sort of sounds sounds a little bit harsh right in verse 20 he talks about he's sort of tearing his clothes shaving his head he's falling to the ground but that was just a an appropriate way for for someone to mourn right in Old in Old Testament times and so he's doing what's appropriate and he's praising God and Satan says okay let's let's go even further so Satan then comes and he takes his
• 32:00 - 32:30 health he's got these painful sores from from head to toe and and job just sits in ashes and he and he scrapes himself with broken pieces of pottery and on top of that his wife says you know what job you can stop this just give up your integrity Curse God and die job says to his wife you're talking like a fool shall we accept good from God and not trouble and then to make matters
• 32:30 - 33:00 worse to make matters worse job sort of you know his friends arrive and they they sit with him silently for a week and after that job curses the day of his birth and it starts this long philosophical debate with his friends for 34 or 35 chapters and the debate revolves around Job saying that that he's innocent that God is wrong to me while his friends insist that you know you must have done something bad because they believe that God orders the
• 33:00 - 33:30 World by the principle of punitive Justice and what that means is like if you're good and you honor God then God is going to reward you with good outcomes but if you're bad you do bad things then God is just going to punish you with the harshest circumstances and so like most debates it gets messy and eventually after patiently and repeatedly defending his innocence he takes his complaints now directly to God so we're moving from the friends to God and keep in mind that job
• 33:30 - 34:00 is not patient in the sense that he's just smiling the whole way through it that he's just whistling you know all through the misery all through the Affliction instead he was patient because he did two things he hung on and he refused to curse God he hung on he refused to blame God now did job complain to God yes very loudly and when you pay attention when you're
• 34:00 - 34:30 reading the book of job and you see how he responds and you see how he questions you can really see the depth of his Agony the depth of his confusion and despair and you know he asked God a lot of questions but unlike his friends he always spoke rightly about God and then there's this friend one more friend comes along by the name of eliu and eliu assures job that listen God is Not punishing you and that God is using this suffering as as a warning he's using his suffering as as you know to build
• 34:30 - 35:00 character and although eliu says I'm not sure why you're suffering I'm sure of one thing job that you are not qualified to judge God you're not qualified to judge God now did job asked God why yes did job demand an explanation from God yes and God's going to give job really two responses towards the end of the book chapters 38-41 the first is this sort of virtual tour of the cosmos so
• 35:00 - 35:30 God says job when I was creating everything when I was laying the foundation for the world remind me where you were sort of reminding job how powerful God is how knowledgeable God is and the other again has to do with this retribution principle right the punitive justice so job 40: 10-2 God says if you think that I manag the world that way if
• 35:30 - 36:00 you think I manag the world from the standpoint of if people do good I'm going to bless them if they do bad I'm going to curse them with this harsh circumstances if you think that's the way I do the world then I tell you what job I'm going to let you you take over and I want you to try that try dealing with the world that way and what job finds out very clearly is that if you judge the world in that way if you operate based on that principle guess what there's going to be no more of humans Earth would be
• 36:00 - 36:30 empty and so God is trying to show job that the world isn't designed to prevent righteous people from loss the world is not designed to prevent righteous people from suffering to keep righteous people from Evil things is the world good yes right God's world is good is it perfect no not since the garden it's not safe the world and and most of
• 36:30 - 37:00 us have experienced this out in the world we see its beauty we see how God has designed this this beautiful ball we call Earth and the Majesty of it but the world is also wild and it's also dangerous and so in God's response to job as to why he suffers he doesn't really give him an explanation other than that you know we live in in an incredibly complex world and that it's not designed to prevent suffering and on top of that you don't
• 37:00 - 37:30 know everything in the universe you don't know everything that's happening behind the scenes and so what God is asking job among the pain among the suffering among the loss I just want you to trust me just trust me trust my wisdom trust my character and job does at the end job repents and humility and apologizes for accusing God of Injustice but but let me say this when the pain of Life comes your way it's okay to ask God
• 37:30 - 38:00 why sometimes we get the idea and sometimes people teach that you know don't question God you you don't ask God why no no no it's okay to ask God why that's the the beauty of our relationship with God right there is this openness and honesty and vulnerability in a relationship that always makes room for questions I don't begin to pretend to know why bad things happen I know that we live in a very unpredictable we live in a in a crazy world full of crazy people
• 38:00 - 38:30 amen that was a weak amen but we'll start there um I know that things are not the way that they should be Romans chapter 8 is a powerful chapter that is a testament to that right that the things that are happening right now aren't the way that they were designed to be they aren't the way they should be and so we have cancer and we have war and we have disease we
• 38:30 - 39:00 have death we have starvation we have human trafficking financial hardship difficult marriages and and and none of that is easy but I do know that we have a sovereign God who desires a loving relationship with us and that includes being able to ask him questions Moses did it habc did it Elijah did it King David did it job did it and you know what what even Jesus did it Jesus asked God
• 39:00 - 39:30 why you can ask God why but listen you don't ask him in a way that begins to question his character you ask him in a way that you understand and you acknowledge that his ways are above our ways we ask him in a way that says you know what I still I still trust you God I just don't understand and like job we learn to ask within the context of our relationship with him and and the acknowledgement that he is God and I am
• 39:30 - 40:00 not that in the middle of the pain in the middle of that loss that that I trust him that I'm going to continue to put my hope in him you see hope is is one of the major responses to the fact that someone greater than our circumstances remains in control and so when you keep your faith and when you keep your hope as you go through all of these difficult moments in life it testifies to the truth that I still believe in God and I still believe that God is in control of my life and that he is in control of this
• 40:00 - 40:30 world this is why job makes one of the most heroic statements a human being has ever uttered in the middle of his horrible misery he cries out though he slay me I will hope in him so he's lost everything right he's lost his children he's lost his his wealth his health his friends are not helping him his wife didn't support him and was in fact just telling him to get give up and so job feels that this is it life is just over
• 40:30 - 41:00 the only thing left for me to do is to just die and amid all of this he's struggling why is this happening to me God why me what have I done to deserve this and so in the end he says even if God kills me you know what I'm still going to trust him I will hope in him even if all this results in my death I'll continue to place my hope in him and so job says I will hope
• 41:00 - 41:30 fully you know it's hard to shake the faith of someone who is grounded in God's goodness it's hard to shake the faith of someone who is grounded in God's glory job doesn't understand why and so he ask ultimately whatever the reasons though that he knows that God is good God is loving God is trustworthy a handful of times it says in the scriptures that the just shall live by faith you know Faith and Hope are two
• 41:30 - 42:00 different but yet very closely related words in fact one really needs the other the writer of Hebrews says faith is the Assurance of things hope for the evidence or the conviction or the substance of things not seen so what this verse doesn't mean is that we just believe something that we don't really know if it's true like Blind Faith it means that the just the righteous
• 42:00 - 42:30 those that follow God they live here on this Earth and they trust him no matter what happens whether it's good whether it's bad because in the end we know how it's going to turn out that we will be resurrected physically to live out our reward in the presence of of the father for all of eternity that life is going to be the way that it was originally designed to be and we trust God in his promise of that and so yes this life is difficult this life is hard this life is full of
• 42:30 - 43:00 loss it's full of depression it's full of Despair it's full of anxiety but we trust God in his promise to work all things together for the good of those who love him and see hope stems from that Faith Hope stems from believing in that promise hope is gained because of our faith you don't have real hope without faith in God's promises right past present and future so what faith does is Faith sort of looks at the
• 43:00 - 43:30 present and it really looks back to what God has promised like this is what God has done this is what God is going to do and it's those things that have already occurred it's that person Jesus that's already occurred in which we put our hope so hope then is merely Faith looking forward so when you have faith and you have hope in the promises of God when you understand and when you confidently live in the promise that one day yes God is going to wipe away every tear amen
• 43:30 - 44:00 that one day God is going to get rid of death because that's the last greatest enemy one day there will be no more sadness no pain that God is going to restore all things and give them to his children you'll be able to do what Paul says in Romans 12:2 and that is you'll be able to rejoice in hope in fact the new living translations I like the way they put it it says to rejoice in your constant hope so it's something that you're being reminded of it's something that you're growing in and again Paul's not saying
• 44:00 - 44:30 just smile about everything right suck it up buttercup smile about everything and just whistle through it it'll be okay no he's saying I want you to have the right perspective in every situation you find yourself in through every Valley even through every Mountain you rejoice in the hope of who God is and what God has promised this is why the Bible calls hope and anchor something that holds you
• 44:30 - 45:00 down the writer says it's a strong that it's a a trustworthy anchor for our souls and most of us know what an anchor is right so you're in a boat and you throw it out and holds your position or and we know that the anchor does no good really when it's sitting in the boat right it's not being used to what it's designed to be used for now in the context I think it sort of play this this anchor analogy sort of plays
• 45:00 - 45:30 on what the writer in the context is talking about and what he's getting at is that while we are here on this Earth while we are living in the here and now while we are planted here for this short time our hope is not here our hope is what it's not what's seen but it's what's unseen so in Romans chapter 8 in the context Paul is talking about this future again that God has prepared for his children how you know we long to be set free our bodies are longing to be
• 45:30 - 46:00 set free that even creation longs to be set free um we we we long for things creation Longs for things that we cannot see yet and he says for this hope we were saved now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes what he sees but if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience so when you understand Hebrews 6 right the hope is an anchor for soul and when you understand what Paul is getting at in Romans chapter 8 what it means is that
• 46:00 - 46:30 our hope isn't here our hope is in heaven our hope is with God our hope is anchored to God because we know that he is in complete control despite what happens and when we lose that hope when you lose that stronghold to God guess what happens to life it always spirals out of control so Paul would go PA to say in Romans 15 that this that when this hope consumes Our Lives God will fill us with
• 46:30 - 47:00 more joy he will fill us with more peace than we could ever imagine so Paul is right it's more than just regular normal human hopefulness Paul says I am praying that you would have a holy spirit powered hopefulness I wonder how many times have we prayed that God would give us a holy Spirit powered
• 47:00 - 47:30 hopefulness maybe that's one of the reasons so many of us live without peace and live without ultimate Joy is because we haven't prayed lately for God to give us holy spirit powered hopefulness now you can learn many lessons from job's life um and I've got 15 more points I've got three um there's a lot of there's a lot you can learn from job and I of course
• 47:30 - 48:00 always encourage you to to read and to read that story maybe today um but there's many things that we can learn about suffering there's many things we can learn about Hope and I just want to again give you three of them three things that I hope that we see job do that I hope that will help us grow in Our Hope towards God number one under to worship I'm not talking about what we do here it's it's important that's vital we we need what we do here we need to come together it it should be just a a boost
• 48:00 - 48:30 of energy for our lives for for Spiritual lives to be reminded of who we are I'm not talking about that I'm talking about more than that so what do you do when life doesn't go the way it you planned it to go right it's it's what do you do when when you suffer and you experience loss what do you do when the you know the diagnosis isn't what you hoped for job's response to losing his possessions his children I
• 48:30 - 49:00 think is really fascinating right so he tears his clothes shaves his head and he falls to the ground and he worships that's the first thing he does he worships he's not talking about job went to a church building and job gathered with God's people and began to sing songs and worship no job falls to the ground where he's at by himself and he says I'm going to worship God I'm going to praise God and it's almost an inhuman response but yet it reminds us really this is what worship can do for your heart worship can take the focus off of
• 49:00 - 49:30 you and it can put it to where it always belongs and that is on God again it's hard to shake the faith of someone who is grounded in God's goodness who is grounded in God's glory number two be honest with God you know it's okay to be transparent in your suffering with God job says many good things and and you can tell when job is hurting because you can sort of read and the way he responds to God and the way he talks to
• 49:30 - 50:00 his friends so he makes statements in chapter 7 like you know I despise my life God why have you made me your target he asked God am I am I just a burden to you is this is this why everything is happening and again while job doesn't really give us a good explanation for suffering he shows us and he gives us permission to just be honest with God that's the main part of his book He's presenting his case before God and that's what prayer is Right prayer is
• 50:00 - 50:30 this honest communication from your heart to God and so it does no good to fake it it does no good to to say what you think God wants to hear I think we're guilty of that God wants to hear what you think he wants to hear what you feel not some manufactured religious response God won't be put off by your honesty even if like job even if you're upset with God even if you're arguing with god listen I promise you God can handle your
• 50:30 - 51:00 complaints God can handle your broken heart and God's the only one who can piece together your broken heart God loves happy conversations right God loves those but God always always always welcomes those that are hurt the upset the confused The Angry God loves the messy stuff and we're all messy number three trust God so after job and his three friends after they've talked a lot you know job is going to or God is going
• 51:00 - 51:30 to confront job with with questions that are really unal by any human being that's what we talked about the sort of the cosmos and and you know governing the world and job's inability to answer all those questions of God was meant to remind him of one great truth that God is still God and you're not and the truth is every single one of us including myself we would all make lousy Gods amen God is still God and I am not that's
• 51:30 - 52:00 important for us to remember and I hope it hasn't been too depressing I know sometimes it sounds like it but I promise you I don't mean for it to be I think in the end it always it ends up good because job uh God rebukes job's three friends and we get a couple of paragraphs detailing how God blessed the latter part of job's life way more than the first part of his life so I know though that if if hope is going to sustain us in this life it has to be real right it has to be authentic hope cannot be presented as it sometimes is
• 52:00 - 52:30 as some sort of fantasy of some sort of dream that we anticipate to come true real hope is only realized when we come to terms with the disturbing reality that we all face and that is life can be hard that life can bring unexpected circumstances life life can bring us so low that we sort of forget to um you know how to I think I'm clicking it too many times sorry don't sing yet there we
• 52:30 - 53:00 go life can really get us to where we're so low that we just forget how to get back up so we need hope we need a good steady solid anchor one that holds us firm to the truth one that keeps us safe that no matter how rough the Seas get it reminds us that hey God is still on his throne and God is still in control of this world I want to give you some
• 53:00 - 53:30 homework and you can bring it to me next week and I'll check it just kidding read 1 Peter 1 it's real simple anybody can do it read 1 Peter 1 listen to 1 Peter 1 that's what you want to do read it today listen to it today and in that chapter Peter shows us that because of the mercy because of the grace of God we have been born again and so he's talking about right when you're baptized into Christ when you died to your old self when you're raised to live
• 53:30 - 54:00 a new life God did that and because you've been born again we are in Christ and he says we live with a Living Hope one translation says we live with a hope that lives on the the new living says we live with great expectation now and what is that expectation Jesus it's always Jesus so if you haven't yet been born again to a living hope the way that Lisa
• 54:00 - 54:30 did if you haven't done that this morning we'd love to study with you we'd love to talk with you about that and if you're ready to make that decision this morning to give your life to Christ making him Lord making him savior if you're ready to be born again we'd love to help you with that just make it known as together we stand in we s
• 54:30 - 55:00 your holy I worship you in Sp I worship you in
• 55:00 - 55:30 TR make my life holy praise [Music] you with a broken heart before your holy throne as I upon
• 55:30 - 56:00 your mercy and your gra my make make my life ho sacri to you
• 56:00 - 56:30 song before the Lord's supper will be my hope is built on nothing less um and we'll focus on what Jesus sacrifice means for us and what we have to look forward to My Hope Is buil On
• 56:30 - 57:00 Jesus and not Jesus Christ sinking s all ground is sinking s [Music]
• 57:00 - 57:30 unchanging every other ground is sinking sand other ground is sinking
• 57:30 - 58:00 s when shall his right alone all stand theone on Christ the solid rock stand all ground is sinking all ground is
• 58:00 - 58:30 [Music] sing good morning morning we see in 1 Corinthians 11:28 we read we
• 58:30 - 59:00 should examine ourselves we are to dwell on Christ's sacrifice his resurrection our de to him the depth of his love shown in his sacrifice and the love we have through this act we should examine our lives and see where we can live better eliminate sin and self-examination should Mark this time the Lord's Supper is a time for deep appreciation and gratitude because he suffered we can have peace because he because he died we
• 59:00 - 59:30 can have eternal life and because he arose we can arise from sin a newness of life let us pray dear Lord thank you Jesus who sent who you sent down from heaven to sacrifice for our sin and the bread that represents his body that is broken for us so our sins can be forgiven in you Jesus name I pray amen
• 59:30 - 60:00 let us continue in prayer Lord Lord thank you for your son's blood who was shed for us that it may cleanse us for a hope of a future
• 60:00 - 60:30 with you Lord in Jesus name I pray amen
• 60:30 - 61:00 separate and apart from the Lord's Supper we are blessed with Earthly possessions and are asked to give back willingly and joyfully let us pray for that dear Lord thank you for all you have given to us thank you for helping us through life help help us to have a giving heart that we may be happy to give back to you in
• 61:00 - 61:30 Lord Jesus name I pray amen we please please stand as we sing Our closing song and please today is before you leave please encourage our young people it's so great to see them uh leading on Sunday mornings Wednesday night so please continue encouraging them walking
• 61:30 - 62:00 in proen my soul Glory hallelu I reing singing his
• 62:00 - 62:30 Praises Jesus let us pray Heavenly Father we truly thank you for this day for the blessings of life that we each one enjoy father we're thankful for this time that we've had to come together and sing songs of praise to you and we're
• 62:30 - 63:00 thankful for the lesson that Ryan brought us today on Hope and father we know that we each one have hope as long as we trust in you and father we're thankful again for the opportunity of being here and we pray that you'll be with us each day as we go through our lives that we will take an opportunity to talk those talk to those that around us and father we pray that you'll bring us back at our next appointed time in Christ's name amen
• 63:00 - 63:30 St no
• 63:30 - 64:00 I'm yeah