Sister Teri Sunday School 11/17/13

Sister Teri Sunday School

We have been studying on the thought of hope and last week we started with the thought of hopelessness. 

I went through something that caused me to have a sense of hopelessness in a way that I had never had before.  I wanted so much to have hope it would have been easier for me to pin myself to something that would satisfy my desire rather than to focus on what was really true. 

My hope needs to be in God.  There is still hope in God.  God is love.  God loves each and every one of us.  We know that in any situation He is going to work for the good of us and of everyone else.  We can trust that. 

God will not force anything on anyone but leaves a certain degree of control in others hands.  Because of that some stay in hopelessness instead of following God’s plan.  Our desire will not remove them from hopelessness.  They need to yield to God.

Job encouraged himself in the fact that he knew that he was right with God.  He had a vision of eternity and his relationship with God that encouraged him and gave him hope to go through what he was going through. 
We need a hope that is beyond this life and in eternity.  God can help us to have that.  Much of what we go through in life is to teach us to yield to and trust God completely.

Hopelessness is really only dispelled by faith and trust in God’s promises.  If we place our hope in what we desire for someone, that is not the hope of the gospel.  The hope of the gospel is an expectation with confidence that something is going to come to pass.  It is not just a desire but something that we place our confidence in and have assurance that we know it will come to pass.  That is the hope of the gospel.

Hope in anything else will cause hopelessness and time and time again will fail.  This is why people lose faith in God.  Their religion causes them to place their hope in what is not of God.  Only the scriptures cause us to place our hope in what is dependable.

Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

God has given us something that we can count on.  When we have a hope that is dependable then we can have patience.  It might not be today or tomorrow but we know that it will be because the Word of God says.

Comfort: we have such a gentle savior that through our process of hoping and having patience we have a comfort through the scripture.  We are not going to go through anything without that comfort. 

Rom 4:3  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Rom 4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

In spite of the hopelessness of the situation he believed in the promise that God had given him.  His hope was not based on his desire for children but on the promise that God had given him.

Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

Rom 4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

He didn’t withdraw through lack of faith but was encouraged in his faith and conviction that God could and would do what He had promised and because of that he gave glory to God.

Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

This very confidence in God is what caused him to be accepted of God.  Not his head knowledge but his confidence in God that caused him to act on that confidence.

Rom 4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

Rom 4:24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

This wasn’t just a recognition of Abraham’s faith and righteousness or to lift him up but so that we would know that if we believe and respond in faith and obedience it will be counted us for righteousness.

What makes us righteous before God is that complete confidence toward God and His Word to the effect that we walk in the light that He shows on our path.  We have the attitude that we will let God lead us and be willing to leave everything behind based on our confidence in God. 

It needs to start in the right place and then continue to walk in the light that He shines on our path.

If we have a right attitude of heart, the attitude that Abraham had, it will show up in our life.  “I’ll follow Him with rejoicing.”  This song talks of following God and God leading us.  That is the hope that we have.  As we follow and He leads, we can follow with rejoicing have the confidence that He will lead us safely.

My children wrote a recipe book with the help of their teacher and I will read one of their recipes.  It is how to cook a turkey: “mommy put stuffing in it and then put it in a pan and cooked it for twenty minutes and took it to grandmas.” 

If someone follows this recipe they will be disappointed at grandma’s house.  The family will gather together and their hopes will be for nothing.  People today are doing something like this.  They are putting their hopes in what will fail.  

When you cook a turkey properly you begin to smell some things.  It is the same with hoping in God.  There will be something visible to show that we are on the right track.  If there is not that proof in our life that we are on the right track then we need to be concerned. 

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

If there is still sin in your life then you will not be able to enter there.  Sin is something that we know is wrong.  If we know that God says, “Don’t do this” or that God says, “Do this” and we don’t respond in faith and obedience then that is sin.

The first light that God shined on our path as sinners was to lead us to repentance.  If people don’t start with repentance then no amount of eternal hope will get us there.  The first hope is in repentance.  If we miss that part then no amount of eternal hope of getting to heaven will get us there.

In the book, “Rays of Hope”, the author gives an analogy of hope as a straw that a drowning man will grasp for as a last ray of hope.  Hope must be firmly grounded in truth or no amount of hope will be sufficient for us to make it.

We must walk in all the light that God gives us. 

The real salvation makes a change that fits us for heaven.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

We must do His commandments and not just good works.

Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

There is a doing, but it is not just following a bunch of rules.  It is believing God and His words and walking in that light.  As we walk in that light we obey and trust God that what He says is right and walk in that light. 

People miss it on one end or another.  They may say “It is faith and not works.”  Others say, “It is works.”  Yet they are still not walking in the light. 

It is walking in the light that God shows on our path.  If we desire that God lead us then we will be seeking in His Word and heeding the messages that are preached across the pulpit.  We will be heeding the warnings that the saints can give us. 

I am thankful for the warnings that the saints have given me.  Early on something came up that rubbed me wrong and I had a bad attitude.  I spoke with Sister Gayle Cornelison about it and she said that it sounded like I had a bad attitude. 

That rubbed me wrong too.  I went home and God worked with my heart to see that she was right.  The next time I saw her I thanked her.  She said, “I worried in the night that I shouldn’t have said that; thanks for telling me.”

When we were in Far Rockaway a brother spoke of how he appreciated how a brother had come to him and admonished him and told him that the saints felt he was not approachable.  He said he appreciated that.  The enemy had been drawing him away and putting him in a corner. 

The brother that gave a warning did right but put himself out there where he didn’t know how it would be received.  The brother that took the warning also did right by receiving the warning.

In whatever way that God uses to shine that Word on our path, whether in the Word, in prayer, across the pulpit, or a saint speaking up.  We need to receive the instruction and walk in the light and that is how we will receive instruction and walk in the light.