PUT YOUR HOPE IN THE LORD GOD AND HIS UNFAILING LOVE

Proclamation:

“Israel, put your hope in The Lord, for with The Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption.  He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”  Psalm 130:7-8 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this psalm were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  The name of the human author of this psalm of ascent is unknown, however, some Bible scholars attribute it to King David.  The psalmist began by stating that when he was deep in distress he cried out unto The Lord. (Psalm 130:1-2)  He knows that The Lord can forgive him and he is waiting on The Lord. (Psalm 130:4-6)  Here, he encourages all of Israel to also put their hope in The Lord and wait on Him. (Psalm 130:7-8)  The Lord God is full of grace and mercy and only He can forgive their sins and redeem them.

Application:                                            

At one time or another, all of us have been deep in trouble, in way over our heads.  We may not have been literally in very deep water as Jonah was, (Jonah 2:1-3) but figuratively we were so deep in trouble that we could not see our way out.   Those are the times when The Lord God made a way out of no way and He carried us through whatever it was.  As we look back over our lives, looking back over “the footprints of time in the sand”, those times when we see only one set of footprints are the times when He was carrying us instead of walking beside us.  Whatever He brings us to, He can bring us through.  We just need to put our faith and trust in Him, ask Him to forgive us and have mercy on us.  Then we need to wait upon Him to answer our prayer and redeem us.

THE WORD OF GOD GIVES US HOPE

Proclamation:

“Remember Your word to Your servant, for You have given me hope.  My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”  Psalm 119:49-50 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this psalm were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by King David.  This is the seventh part, Zayin, of this twenty-two part psalm.  Here David is asking The Lord God to remember His promise to him. (1 Chronicles 17:23-27)  Although he is suffering at that time, he knows that he has a promised blessing which he has yet to receive and that gives him hope.

Application:

The Word of God contains His promises to us.  There are promises to the afflicted, to the children, to the orphans, to the widows, to the penitent, to the righteous, and to those who seek Him.  There are also promises of blessings, comfort, and compassion.  Believers know that The Lord God is true to His word and He keeps His promises. 

PURPOSES FOR THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD

Proclamation:

"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of The Scriptures we might have hope."  Romans 15:4 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written in a letter to the believers in The Church at Rome by the Apostle Paul under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Paul told them that The Holy Scriptures were written to teach them, to encourage them, and to give them hope.

Application:
The same is true for us today, The Word of God was written to educate, edify, and enlighten us in addition to being there to comfort, console, and encourage us, and to give us hope for the future.  As Paul told Timothy, The Word of God is good for learning basic fundamental Christian principals, for instruction, and for correction of wrong doing and thinking with respect to being Christ-like and righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)  Often The Word of God must be explained to us, as Jesus had to explain His words (Matthew 13:36 and 15:15) and The Scriptures (Luke 24:45) to His disciples.  An important function of preachers today is to proclaim and explain The Word of God to the people, saved and unsaved, to teach us, correct us, encourage us, and to provide us with hope that is needed for the future so that we can carry on and go forth.  We could also help ourselves with our situations if we would read and study The Word of God more for ourselves. 

Love One Another

"Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart."  1 Peter 1:21-22 (NIV)

Under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, the Apostle Peter wrote to the believers and told them now that they were followers of Christ, and have their faith and hope in God, they should sincerely love one another.

Today, believers in Jesus, The Christ, know that we must obey The Word of God. (John 14:15)  Jesus said that we must love one another as He loved us. (John 15:12)  In fact, the only way that we know that we are saved, is by the fact that we love our fellow believers. (1 John 3:14)  The world will know that we are believers in Christ by the way in which we show love to one another. (John 13:35)  Jesus said, how can we love one whom we have not seen if we cannot love our brothers whom we see daily. (1 John 4:20)  If we truly believe, then we must love one another.