How God Meets Our Deepest Needs I, Where To Find Hope

Your outlines out of your notes, I encourage you all to do that. You're going to want to be reading the scriptures with me today. There's quite a few of the scriptures. Even if you're one of those folks that just refuses to fill in the blanks, that's okay. I still love you. I just want you to be able to see the scriptures, though, and read along with me as we look at those. And while you're getting that out, may I just say one word? I was asked by a number of people via communicator this week to just comment on one little courtesy item. I don't know where this is because I sit up in the front and I'm focused on what's going on under the platform, but I understand that some folks take a little extra liberty in their conversation during the message and other parts of the service, for that matter. I'm going to encourage you not to do that. You may want to comment, but it's very distracting when someone's trying to concentrate and they hear someone whispering back and forth. And I'm sure that what you have to say is probably important, but it's best safe for after the service. That's why we have a fellowship time. You're welcome to stay as long as you want to, but let's be considerate during the message and not distract others with that kind of stuff. It's probably the kind of thing where something spontaneous comes out and you just want to talk about it, but it's best safe for a little bit later. Let's look at the notes now. And I want to talk about the subject, a subject that never goes out of importance in our lives. And that is the subject of hope, the need for hope. Some years ago, near the end of World War II, the United States submarine was damaged while in combat and was limping its way back to Newport News, Virginia, close to where Carol grew up, my wife. And just outside the harbor, the ship finally lost power and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Divers were dispatched to see if anything could be done to rescue the sailors and as one of the divers approached, he could hear a faint tapping and hear a desperate and rather inventive sailor was tapping on the side of the hull in Morse code. Is there any hope? Is there any hope? And you know, that question gets asked thousands of times in thousands of different ways every single day. Here in this auditorium today, some of you are asking that question. Is there any hope? Is there any hope for my marriage? Is there any hope for that guy that I love that has no interest at all in the things that interest me? Is there any hope for my kid who the principal said, if they get in trouble one more time, he's going to be out of school? Is there any hope for this physical condition that keeps pulling me down and discouraging me? Is there any hope for the financial mess I've created for myself? Is there any hope? It's a question that I believe near to the heart of every single person that's here today, if not for you, for someone that you care about. We can go 40 days without food, friends. We can go three days without water. We can go seven minutes without air. But we can't last but a couple of seconds without hope. Hope is necessary for life. You need hope to cope in life. Dr. Harold Wolfe, a professor at the Cornell Medical School, did a study of 25,000 POWs, quite an extensive study, trying to see what it was, what common denominator united these men in their ability to survive, the ones that did. These were men who endured unbelievable conditions, as I'm sure some of you have read and heard. But here's what he drew as a final conclusion. He said, when a man has hope, he is capable of enduring incredible burdens, cruel punishment, and unimaginable torture. But when hope is gone, he falls apart, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Friends, some of us know that's true, and we're even afraid to hope because of the risk that's involved. Just a few years ago, a rather engaging movie by the name of The Shawshank Redemption was released. It's the story of a couple of prisoners and their struggle to survive within the context of a prison. We're going to show you a little clip of this up here on this screen. Tim Robbins plays one of the prisoners. He's just been drawn out of the hole, the prison, the solitary confinement where he suffered for two weeks because he had snuck into the warden's office and played some operatic music that just in the previous part of the movie, the whole entire prison had heard this music and people were mesmerized by the sound of somebody's beautiful voice. And he was thrown into the hole for two weeks as a result of that, and now he's sitting down at the table to engage his friends once again. Here's what he has to say. You couldn't play something good, huh? Hank Williams or something? They broke the door down before I could take requests. Was it worth it, two weeks in the hole? Easiest time I ever did. There's no such thing as easy time in the hole. I spent a week in the hole in like a year. Time Mr. Mozart to keep me company. So they let you tote that record player down there, huh? It was in here. In here. That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music? Well, I played the main harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it, though. Didn't make much sense in here. Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget. Forget? Forget that there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. That there's a... There's something inside that they can't get to. That they can't touch. It's yours. What are you talking about? Hope. Hope. Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You better get used to that idea. Morgan Freeman looks at him and says, Hope is a dangerous thing. Some people are afraid to hope. Because if they lose hope, if their hopes don't come to pass, then they lose their reason for living. How does God meet our deepest needs? Where do you go when you need to find hope? And I'm not just talking about hope for the basic things of life. I'm talking about the deep needs of our life. You know, increasingly in this culture, more and more people turn to things as superficial as, you know, the TV talk show type of things. Lots of folks are checking in with astrologers and palm readers. Do you know that the psychic hotline business is booming? Now today, chat rooms and cyberspace on the internet, lots of people looking for answers to life's questions. And you know what? They're walking away unsatisfied. There's not enough substance to those things to help answer the deep questions of life. In many cases, they come away worse off. And they're told, well, just hope in yourself. You can get through. And I want you to know something. Every one of us will face a situation in life where you won't be able to make it just on your own resources. You're going to need something beyond yourself. The only source of hope... Take a look at your outline. The only source of hope is found in the love of God. Look at the first verse. May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in Him. And then you will overflow with hope. You see, that's the source of hope that doesn't fail you. And then look at the next verse. In your name, I will hope, for your name is good. Psalm 52, 9. What does that mean? In the name of God, I will hope. Names meant an awful lot back then. And today, I mean, names... We kind of just go with the flow. And we make up names that we kind of like. Or at least the first names for our children. Our last names are interesting. We're kind of... We inherit those, whether we like them or not. The other day, in our family, we received a furniture delivery. And the guy was driving up and down. He said, I stopped at Passive and Hospital. I said, you didn't live there. You're right, I don't. This is our house. He said, that's too bad, because I was expecting a bigger tip. I said, well, you get what you get. This is it. And, you know, names meant an awful lot back then. Did you know that the name of God represented His character? That's why the Lord said in Exodus 3, 14, when Moses was standing before the Lord, and He says, now tell me your name, so that when I go back to the people, I can tell them your name, because then they'll know who you are. And what did Moses hear the Lord say? I am who I am. That is my name. I am who I am. I am who I am. It's called the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew, if you need to know. It's the most complex expression of the name of God in all the Bible. The mystery of God. I am who I am, and you're not going to ever figure me out. But then another 215 times, the Lord reveals Himself by different names. We've studied these many times over the years of North Way's journey as a church. One of our favorite names the Lord reveals Himself in the book of Ezekiel is Jehovah Shammah. Would you say that? Jehovah Shammah. That is the Lord who is there. The Lord who is always there. That's who the Lord is. Any place I go, any circumstance I find myself in, any time I need hope, I can know that the God who I love and serve is always there with me. Now, there are many great illustrations of this God who is present with us throughout Scripture, but perhaps one of the most exciting, I mean the most real to me, is in the life of Joseph. Now, most of you are familiar with that story. Joseph was born 11th of 12 children. I got that wrong in the first service, and some folks corrected me. I love that. Hold me honest here. He was the 11th of 12 children, and his older brothers did not like him. Why? Because God had revealed to him that He one day would rule over them, and He took great delight in letting them know that one day they were going to bow down. How many of you have little siblings? Could you imagine your little brother saying, hey, one day you're going to be bowing down to me, big guy. That just wouldn't sit real well, you know. So, one day on a trip, they took Joseph, and they wanted to kill him, and one of the brothers intervened and said, well, let's just dump him in this well, and they put him in the well. He was either going to die, or someone would find him. Well, some gypsies came by. They found Joseph, and these Midianite gypsies took him off to Egypt, and they sold him to Potiphar, who was the head of the guard of Pharaoh. This is a heavy hitter in Pharaoh's kingdom. And Joseph, here he is, this young boy, now a servant, a slave of Potiphar in the land of Egypt. Incredible destiny. And, no, he didn't deserve it. I mean, really, he didn't ask for it. He didn't understand it. He just experienced it. But the first thing that Joseph discovered when he faced adversity was this. Number one, God's presence watches over you. Put this down in your outline. If you're in adversity today, dear one, write this down. His presence is watching over you. Jehovah Shammah is with you. Deep in the heart of this foreign land, this no-count alien little kid had an advocate. Look at Genesis 39, too. The Bible says the Lord was with Joseph. You can read all about this, read it carefully if you'd like to, later on today. And he prospered. And so everything Joseph put his hand to was blessed. And Potiphar's household started to get blessed so much that Potiphar said, you know what? I don't need to worry about anything. I'll just turn the whole thing over to you. You run the thing. And everything about his household prospered. It was an amazing turn of events. You know, I want you to stop right now and think about something. When you're in adversity, when you're in a circumstance that you don't believe you should be in, when you're in a situation that seems difficult, I want you to remember this. God is with you where you are. And because God is with you where you are, everything you touch is going to be blessed. I want you to hear what I'm saying because I don't think too many people in this church believe that. God is going to be with you wherever you are. And because God is with you, everything you touch is going to be blessed. Well, I'm not sure I believe that, Pastor Jay. I mean, I'm no Joseph. Well, let me just do a little bit of deductive reasoning. Can I do that with you here? This is so important. I want to break the spiral of negative thinking that holds so many of us in a limited kind of understanding of what God wants to do with us. Did God not promise over 6,000 times in Scripture that he was going to provide and take care of you? There are over 6,000 promises in the Bible. Yes or no? Yes. Did he not say things like, I shall supply all of your needs according to my glorious resource of Christ Jesus? Yes or no? Did he say that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you? Yes or no? Did he say that his grace would be sufficient for you? Yes or no? Did he say that his power would be made perfect in your weakness? Did he say that thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ? Yes or no? Did he say he used to not spare his own son but gave him up? Will he not also give with him freely all things? Yes or no? Yes. How much time do you have? How many more verses do you want to hear? The Lord continues to say, time after time, the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in a time of trouble. Did he not also say, for no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ? He did say that, didn't he? So that means all the promises, I just quoted just six of them, but all of them are yes in Christ. And did he not also say that Christ now lives in your heart, if you've received him as your Lord and Savior? Yes or no? Are you following me? So all the promises of God are yes in Christ, and Christ is yes in you, and he's in your heart. That means where you are, God's promises are. That means you're walking around looking for a place to happen. You're not an accident looking for a place to happen, you're an answer looking for a place to happen. And when you get a hold of that, you're God's answer to prayer. For somebody, somewhere this week, you're God's answer. For some situation, some circumstance, you're God's messenger with the answer. And friends, we've got to believe that today. You can say amen. You've got to believe that today. So often we believe the opposite. We believe, you know, I'm just depressed. I'm just down. I mean, it's just so hard being a Christian. It's so difficult serving God out there in the marketplace. I mean, it's great here in this church, and it's just fine here and cushy, and we love the Lord, but you go out there in the real world, and it's really hard. You know what? If you go out there with that attitude, you're going to have a tough time. If you go out there and believe in every place that your foot shall tread, I have given it to you. You're the promise of God, and you need to believe that. Joseph believed it, and therefore, everything he touched prospered. Everything he touched. In fact, two years, several years later, we don't know how many exactly, Potiphar's wife, the Bible says that Joseph was handsome. He's good looking, and he had his act together, and so she tried to seduce him. And if you read it, it's a great story. She tries to seduce him, and he was a man of integrity, and he kept saying no. She caught him one day and grabbed his robe and pulled the robe off him, and he ran off naked. And she said to the rest of the guard, look, he tried to rape me. And Potiphar came home and threw Joseph into prison for something he didn't do. So now Joseph is not only a slave, but now he's a prisoner. And in prison, here's what the Bible says, everything he touched prospered. In fact, things prospered so much that the warden put him in charge of running the prison. What a dude, huh? I mean, he had his act together. He just, you know, he didn't complain, he didn't moan, he didn't call a small group leader and say, you know, there's something wrong with the pastors. He didn't do anything like that. God blessed him. It's all right there on your outline. And as a result of him being faithful and listening to God and just being God's person where he was assigned, the Bible says, two years later, Pharaoh had this troubling dream and he couldn't find anyone to interpret it. And someone said, hey, well, there's this guy in prison and he seems to know what dreams are about. The Pharaoh calls Joseph. He met Yul Brynner, he's calling him up. Come on. Joseph comes up out of the prison and he interprets the dream and Pharaoh says, I've never seen wisdom like that. He said, I'm going to put you in charge of all of Egypt, my entire kingdom. So he goes from being a slave to a prisoner to being number two in command of all of Egypt. Pharaoh said, next to me, you're number two. Everything of mine is yours except the throne on which I sit. And when I was studying that a couple of nights ago, the Lord impressed me to tell you this. And just as just a principle, if you're faithful when you're going through adversity, God will bless you and he'll make you faithful when he puts you in a place of authority. Hang on to it. If you're not faithful, if you complain and murmur and, you know, question God and turn away when you're in a time of adversity, don't expect to be in times of blessing. It just won't happen. God's using those times of adversity to test you, to see if he can trust you with great authority. As Joseph so clearly demonstrates. What an incredible story. Look at the next verse. Don't worry, the Lord says in Isaiah, because I am with you. Don't be afraid because I am your God. I will make you strong and will help you. I will support you. The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Psalm 32, 8. Friends, claim these words when you're going through a tough time. Claim them and believe them. The Lord is watching over you. But beyond that, turn your outline over, not only is he watching over you, his purpose is working in you. Number two, his purpose is working in you. Perhaps the thing that makes adversity so difficult for us is the sense of always having to know why. Why is this happening? And let me say, by the way, very often, we know why. We know that we didn't obey God and we're reaping the consequences of our disobedience. We overspent, so we're broke and now in bankruptcy. We didn't pray and listen to God, so we made bad decisions. We didn't communicate with our spouse, so we now have a problem. But, in some of the most difficult circumstances of life, honestly speaking, we don't know why. We don't know why the accident happened. We don't know why the child was taken. We don't know why the sickness came, and so on. Last Friday, I took the time to go down to Russ Bixler's funeral. Most of you know Russ Bixler, the founder and president of Cornerstone Television. He passed away last Sunday afternoon and went to be with the Lord. And the guest speaker for his funeral was Richard Roberts, son of Oral Roberts, who most of you, I'm sure, have heard his name. Richard Roberts is himself no stranger to adversity. And he told the story of holding his, is this enough, his 36-hour, 36-hour-old baby in his arms, with tens of thousands of people having been alerted through the media to pray for this little child who had some kind of genetic failure in his system. And the child was about to die. And Richard Roberts struggled with the question, and he said, he knew that he had to release the baby, and he wanted to ask why, and he said, but God whispered to my heart, I know something that you don't know. You don't need to know why. God knows something. I don't know. Say that with me. God knows something. I don't know. When you want to ask why, when you want to, I need to know why, just remember that statement. God knows something. You don't know. You don't need to always know why. And in fact, can I tell you that most of the people that try to find out why are never satisfied even when they do know why? It's human nature. Listen, if your earthly father wants to give you good gifts, how much more can you tell your heavenly father not to do something that won't be in your best interest? Luke 11. He loves you. He can even take the evil things that people do to us and turn them into good. Look how the Lord blessed Joseph. He blessed them so richly. I mean, his brothers some years later found out who he was, and they were scared to death when they showed up in front of him, and they said, uh-oh, we're history. And look what the Bible says. Joseph, third verse down, he says this, so then, he's talking to his brothers, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all of Egypt. You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Friends, we don't know what God is doing, but here's the foundational question that every one of us need to ask even today. Who is in control of your life? Is it you? Or is it God? And it is a battle that every one of us, if we're honest, we wage every single day. Who's gonna be in control today? Do I need to be in control? Or can I trust God with my life? That question only gets answered when you face the test of adversity. Tough times tell us who's really in control. The apostle Paul was no stranger to suffering either. You know, in his journey, I mean, he tells of the times that he was beaten and arrested. Listen to 2 Corinthians 6. As servants of God, he says, we commend ourselves in great endurance, troubles, hardships, distress, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger. Then he goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 11, he says, three times I was beaten with rods, I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I've been in danger from rivers, bandits, my own countrymen, the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the country, danger at sea. I've labored and toiled and have gone without sleep. I've known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I've been cold and naked. All of these things. Why? Because he was a servant of God and yet he never complained. In fact, to the contrary, look what he wrote. Look at the next verse. He wrote Romans 8, 28. We know that God causes all things, I want you to circle that, all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Now, this verse is so important, I want you to give me just two minutes to dissect it for you and to share with you. Look, first of all, what it doesn't say. It doesn't say all things turn out the way we want them to. Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't it be nice if everything turned out the way I wanted it to? I've thought about that. I remember the first person I wanted to marry. I said, Lord, let me marry that person. Looking back, my 25th high school reunion, I said, Lord, thank you that you had discernment. Sometimes God spares us by not answering what we think is definite prayer for us. It doesn't always have a happy ending. How many of you know that's true? There are some things, there are some people that we just wish would be healed, but they're not. There are some marriages that don't make it. There are some problems that don't get solved. But look what it does say. It says, number one, that we know, circle, we know. It doesn't say, we guess, we think, we believe. It says, we know, we're certain, we're confident that God causes, and I want you to see this, God is the master designer of the universe. God is unraveling things according to a plan. Listen, it's not about fate. It's not about chance. It's not luck. This is just a little tiny thing, but I hope that you'll work with me in sort of erasing the good luck greeting thing. You know, when someone's going off on a trip, say, good luck. You know, you're wasting your breath. Just say, God bless you on your trip. God bless works for good luck every time I can think about it. If you're going out to play a basketball game, God bless. Works a lot better than good luck. I'm not putting you down. I mean, I sometimes slip up and you don't know if the person will understand. You know, I've never had someone say, don't say God bless to me. God bless you. God bless you. Notice what it says. He works all things together for good. Now, he doesn't say all things are good. He says he works all things together for good. And he doesn't cause all things, by the way. And I heard some people, even this week, I think this is very important. Don't misunderstand this. God is not the cause of rape, or war, or poverty, or famine. He's not the cause of cancer. He's not the cause of airplanes falling out of the sky. Please don't attribute those kinds of things to God as if somehow he was randomly just, you know, all right, I'm going to just drop a little bit of this here and a little bit of that there and torment over here and pain over there. That's not how God works. He put us in a society, he put us in a culture, he put us in an environment where the free will that we exercise allows for things to happen. Sin has infested this world and we are under the curse of death and it's going to happen. But God does not point fingers and say, well, this one's going to get it and that one's not. That's not the way it works. But listen, here's the great news. He works all of that together. He takes the sickness and works it for good. He takes the failed marriage and divorce and works it for good. He takes the bankruptcies and the brokenheartedness and works them for good. He takes the pains of kids who walk away from their parents and don't even want to call them. He takes all that and if you trust him, he works it together for good. What an amazing God. I so love him for that. Because he even takes my stupid decisions and some of the things that I say that I wish I could take back. He even takes those things and works them together for good. It's an illustration I used a few years ago about making a cake. How many ladies still make cake from scratch? I don't see that very often. Can I see you right after the service, please? I'd like to talk to some of you. It takes flour and Crisco and sugar and vanilla and what else? Eggs. All those kinds of things. Just go ahead and try eating an egg by itself. Plop that rough thing down there and then take a scoop of flour. Chew on that for a while. How about a spoonful of Crisco? None of those things are very good by themselves. In fact, some of them are downright detestable. They make you almost sick to think about. But you put them all together and you stir them in the proper quantity and you put them in the right temperature and what do you have? You have that wonderful cake you're going to bring me. And it's delicious. Now listen, our life is just like that. Some of the individual things that happen to us in and of themselves are difficult to swallow. But when God weaves them together He makes something wonderful out of them. And I so want to encourage you. Don't just judge your life based on one situation or one circumstance and don't look at God based on one thing and say, well, that just proves that God doesn't care about me. Friend, that's just one thread of your life. And I've often seen my life as a tapestry. God looks down from heaven and He sees this beautiful thing He's weaving. We look up from earth. Have you ever looked up underneath a tapestry? What do you usually see if you're looking up underneath one? Yeah, you see threads that are kind of... They look kind of knotted together at times and the colors don't match and it doesn't make sense. But up above, looking down, it's beautiful. And that's what God is doing in your life. So trust Him in that. Romans 15.4 is a great encouragement to me. There's one more thing as this goes up here. Look what it says. 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. And I want you to meditate on that verse for just a second. It's very important that what you hear me say today doesn't go in one ear and out the other. Don't just say, well, that was a good message and I guess I need to remember. You need to remember that if you're going to hang on to hope this kind of stuff has to be in front of your mind all the time. One of the things that we do is we hear a message and we say, yeah, I got to go back there. And we walk out and then we just fill our mind all week long with secular music and all kinds of television and the internet and all that stuff and we forget what God said. And I want you to know you're not going to find hope in secular music and in television and on the internet. You're going to only find it in the Word of God. No, I'm not against those things. I'm not saying they're evil. I'm just saying we need to put God's Word first in our life. And hope will rise in your life. Because God with His Word and His Word never returns to Him. Boy. Third thing and finally you can count on God in a time of need. His presence is with you and therefore His provision is totally secure. Write that down. His provision is totally secure. Joseph promised his undeserving brothers that he would take care of them. Look at the next verse. Here's what he said to his brothers. His brothers thought, hey, we're history. He said, don't be afraid. I'm going to provide for you and your children. There's no better investment of one's trust, dear ones, than the kingdom of God. Now listen to me carefully. I'm going to say this as often as I think about it. If you want to know that your investment of life is secure the first place everyone say first place first place you need to invest is in the kingdom of God. You need to trust that your investments with God are totally secure. The stock market's a great place and so on. I know there's so much economy so much blessing on our economy right now that you can say well, any place I can go and make money. That's not the point. The point is what is going to be secure in the long run? I just want you to know if you learn to honor God first give Him the first fruits of your increase the first fruits of your time the first fruits of your ideas the first fruits of your resources He'll bless the rest. If you keep the first you'll curse the rest. It's as simple as that. And I want to encourage you honor God with what's first and His provision for you will be totally secure. Do we have 2 Corinthians 9.11? Do we have that verse? 2 Corinthians 9.11 You'll be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. That's what happens when you put Him first. But beyond that as we close look at this here's what the Lord says In an eternal sense you have an abiding hope because you trust in God now trust in me I'm going to prepare a place for you. Jesus is working on our eternal resting place. Look at the next verse. God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life. It is kept in heaven for you and God in His mighty power will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting Him. So be truly glad there is wonderful joy ahead even though the going is rough for a while down here. Friend it can be rough, can't it? It can be rough for a while but listen to me down here this is just the preparation time for what's coming. We can be confident about that. We can know that God is going to take care of us in the end. I've been to many many funerals in my day and I've seen the difference between a funeral where there's hope and a funeral where there's despair. Let me tell you a story about a person that's very dear to me. My daughter's mother-in-law my daughter Amy married two and a half years ago and three months before her wedding her mother-in-law contracted ovarian cancer. Doctors didn't know how long she would live and she's battled valiantly but just about a month ago doctors told her she just had a short while to live. So she went back home up to Erie two weeks ago. And this woman loves Christ and she is secure in her eternal salvation. And because of that hope that she has she's only 54 years old she's a vibrant person she's a teaching nurse at a major hospital up in Erie. She is using these last weeks of her life to tell people around her how much they mean to her. Just yesterday my wife Carol went up with some of her friends here at Nort