07-07-2013_am_Nick Nicholson - There is always hope

Nick Nicholson "There is always hope" 7 July 2013 I imagine that many of us here have individual journeys, or perhaps journeys with others which, over the years, has produced highs and lows, great peaks and deep troughs, triumphs and disappointments, hurts and wounds inflicted by others and have had great love expressed to us by others. Despite all of life's experiences - whether they are good or bad, we have a sure promise from God that He intimately and deeply loves us, cares for us and ultimately demonstrated this by Jesus taking upon Himself ....... 'a living and dying, and rising again' demonstration of His love and affection for us. This is a tangible, to be experienced, resurrection power of God that is played out with our cooperation in the restoring of our lives - our hopes, our dreams, our emotions, our state of mind, our relationships, our opinion of ourselves, how we live our lives. In the most difficult of times, and in the darkest places and dark seasons in our lives, even when there seems to be no hope, when it seems that hope has finally been extinguished and buried under a weight of disappointment, there is always hope! God is a God of hope! Hope resides within Him. He is the most hopeful being or person that there could possibly be! All hope comes from God. What we experience as hope has its origin in God Himself. We are all made in His image, and hope is part of the image. His plans for us are to prosper us and to cause us to flourish Jeremiah 29v11 1 Cor 13 v 13 Hope can arise in our hearts because God loves us..... unconditionally.....no matter what we have done or haven't done.... no matter how well we have performed or how badly we have performed.....no matter how well we have loved or how badly we have loved. Please don't measure God's love towards you by the standard of how others have loved you because such a measure is flawed. Hope is something that is birthed in us like a seed. A seed planted in a good culture of soil and water germinates and matures to become a beautiful plant like a sunflower - full of glory. So hope that is planted in the culture of God's love matures in us to produce faith. The Bible records Jesus telling the parable of the sower who sows seed (Mark 4). Some fell on the path and the birds.... some germinated but chocked by weeds.... some in good soil and produced a crop up to 100 times that which was sown. A key component of good soil is knowing that God loves me and wants the best for me. Ps 23 He restores my soul. There is always hope! Second chance is God's heart. Third chance is God's heart. Fourth chance is God's heart. He never gives up on us - nothing throws Him off His intention to cause us to prosper and flourish and to cause us to live lives full of well-being. God is a truly an excellent restorer of broken, smashed and dysfunctional lives, relationships and families, and a master craftsman at moulding beautiful, healed people in their place. It takes courage to square up to the challenge of being transformed and then becoming a transformer. It's often easy to settle for the status quo in our lives and not to ruffle feathers of failed relationships, either with people or with God. When we have messed up, or in turn others have messed us up, God's invitation for Him to heal us is a doorway to hope. And if we hold on tight during the journey of restoration, sometimes through gritted teeth and tears, He does not disappoint. There are eventually's in your destiny - in your journey with God. Make pleasing and honouring God your highest priority - this is like a magnet to God and He comes with His favour. In the process, God says to us " go and work with my power to partner with me in transforming the lives of those in your neighbourhoods, communities, workplaces, schools, touching with God's love those who we once were, and are probably still in the process of coming out of - hurt, disappointed and hopeless people". The best motivation for helping such people is to have experienced that yourself, and to be coming out the other end with fresh hope, vision and purpose. What so often really qualifies us is our own experiences of coming through a crisis of life in one piece, stronger and restored Is 61v1-7 We are being restored by God to His original best that was completely good. The Church of Jesus Christ is being restored to be the community of the King that will ultimately, when Jesus returns for us all, become His Bride - perfect in every way - and we will know Him completely. Let's press on together, not loose heart, encourage one another on the journey using the gifts that Jesus has and is giving us to achieve His great purpose. We are shaping the future with God.