A Crucified Life - - Answers The Call to Hope In The Lord

 

    Psalm 37:8,9

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself: it only leads to evil. For the evildoers will be cut off, but those who Hope in the LORD will inherit the land. 

    Hope. Some do not have any kind of hope. They struggle and fail, believing the lies of the devil, and remain in the darkness of their thoughts and hearts. Their eyes are blinded to the Light of Hope that is found in believing in the Name of Jesus Christ for their salvation. 

    Hope is for everyone, especially the Hope of Salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. God loves us so much He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. John 3:16-18. Jesus died for you and for me. We could not pay for our sins in a once and for all manner. But Jesus could and did. Hebrews 2:9-14. 

    Hope in the Lord. There is no hope outside of the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is our Hope. Hope in the Lord is ours by faith in the Name. How do I know this? Acts 4:12 "Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

    Hope in the Lord. That which we hope for is not yet seen by the physical eye: it is only seen by the eyes of faith. We Hope and we wait with great expectation to be united face to face with our Savior and King. Romans 8:23-25. 

    So we walk out this Hope that is birthed within us when we believe in the Name of The Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. We walk it in Faith. And we wait. 

    1 John 3:2,3

Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this HOPE in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.

    Jeremiah declares that God is the Hope of Israel and that all who deny God will be ashamed and remembered no more (dust). 

     Jeremiah 17:13

O LORD, The Hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, The Fountain of Living Water.

   David writes in Psalm 71 that only The Lord GOD is his Hope, his confidence/trust. 

     Psalm 71:5

For You are my Hope, O Lord GOD, my Confidence from my youth.

    We, too, can have this same Hope in The Lord that the ancients of Scripture have. All we have to do is repent of our sins and believe on the Name of The Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. The command is also to be baptized into Christ's Name. We pray The Lord lead you to the waters and the people to whom this command has also been issued and entrusted to follow. 

    Being briefly immersed fully in water is our public confession of faith. Acts 2:38  Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

CALLED TO HOPE

All My Hope Is In Jesus - Crowder

Glorious Day - Casting Crowns

Jireh - Elevation Worship & Maverick City

How He Loves Us - David Crowder Band

My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less 

Living Hope - Phil Wickham

Greater Is The Blood - Mark & Sarah Tillman

    

    

Cistern vs. Fountain

A man I deeply admire and respect, and yes, even love, went home to be with our Lord and Savior a few years back. But before God called him home, I was privileged to hear one of the last sermons he preached. And after re-studying it just now, I would like to share it with you here.

Cistern vs. Fountain

June 16, 2002

PM Service Rev. Barker, Full Gospel Ministry

[first we came together in prayer, in Scripture (Matthew 18:19 "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven"), and agreed that God's will be done concerning the pastorate at River of Life (the church I attended where his daughter and son-in-law then pastored]

     Jeremiah 2:13 "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters,and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." The clearest example is pictured in this verse. A fountain is filled from the deep and below. A cistern is built and holds only what is put into it. For instance, the woman at the well filled Jesus' request for water. John 4:6,7 Yet Jesus offered her water which would quench her thirst forever John 4:9-14

6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well:and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saithunto her, Give me to drink   9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me,which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesusanswered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Giveme to drink ; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 Thewoman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence thenhast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, anddrank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her,Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that Ishall give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of waterspringing up into everlasting life.

     Luke 24:13-21 The Road to Emmaus. 13 And, behold , two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened . 15 And it came to pass , that, while they communed together and reasoned , Jesus himself drew near , and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk , and are sad? 18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. These followers had become cisterns. They knew only the teachings which Jesus had put into them. At His death, they turned away to unbelief.

     Galatians 1:6, 7 6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert thegospel of Christ. An attempt at building cisterns. Turning away from the Gospel of Salvation through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ will create a broken cistern. It will hold nothing.

     John 7:38 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said , out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Rivers of living water flow out of the belly, which is deep within or below the heart. For what is in the heart will come out of the mouth. What is in the belly will come out in your life. Through your stomach you receive nourishment, that your body might be made strong and do the works that God has given you to do. 

     The choice is yours: Do you want to be a cistern? Or do you want to be a fountain?




*the reason Brother Barker chose Matthew 18:19 to pray together with is because he and I were the only two people who came to church that night. I think the pastor and family were on vacation that night. Perhaps other congregants believe there to be no church that evening. I am so glad I was there.*