Forgiven Once For All
Forgiven Once For All
EP 14 Hope for Today
Unpack the divine connection between faith, hope, and love from 1 Corinthians 13:13, and challenge the notion that hope is only for the distant future. Shannon argues passionately that Jesus came to bring us abundant life today, not just in some far-off time. By understanding God's steadfast love, we can find comfort and realize that hope is for now. Tune in for an inspiring journey that promises to renew your spirit, fill you with unwavering hope, and remind you that God's love has already fulfilled our deepest needs over 2,000 years ago.
Welcome to the Forgiven Once For All podcast. My name is Shannon Lee and I will be your host today. This week, we're going to talk about hope. See, we're living in a world without host today. This week, we're going to talk about hope. See, we're living in a world without hope today, a world of chaos and hatred, division, anger, strife. People are on edge. They're worried about the future, and this has even affected the church today, and this has even affected the church today.
Shannon:Let's read our scripture, proverbs 13, 12. I'm going to read it in the English Standard Version. It says Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. See, something happens to the human heart when it perceives that there is no hope. We feel trapped in a maze. Our hearts, they begin to melt, they begin to feel sick. We begin to feel trapped like there's no way out. It's like we're in a maze, and this is what's happened today. We've become trapped in our own false perception of hopelessness. We're living in a world where we see everything around us going in chaos and we begin to believe in our hearts that there is no hope, when that is not the case. Because I will tell you today that there is hope. As long as Jesus is alive, there is hope.
Shannon:Let's look at Psalms 42, verses 5 through 8. We're going to look at a Psalm of David Now. David is a man that knew what it was like to feel hopelessness. He knew what it was like to be down. He was hunted and pursued by Saul. He was rejected and he had a promise that he was going to be king, but yet he did not see how that was ever going to happen. As he's living in caves, as he's hiding out for his life, he begins to write these psalms. He says in verse 5, the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar, deep calls to deep, and the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have gone over me by day. The lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the god of my life, cast down as he puts it here. And he begins to speak with himself and he says why? Why are you so down? Why are you filled with hopelessness? Don't you know that, god? Why do you have turmoil? Hope in God. And he concludes this psalm by saying the Lord commands his steadfast love and at night his song. See, god has a promise and david, even though he was in an old covenant, a covenant of works, and he begins to understand the heart of god, and he begins to understand his security and a steadfast love and the surety of a promise from a God that never lies. And he begins to say why are you cast down? There's no reason to be cast down, there's no reason to be filled with hopelessness or anxiety, because God has promised, because God is love, because God is steadfast.
Shannon:Let's look at a New Testament verse here 1 Corinthians 13.13,. And now these three remain faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. See, these three are tied together, intricately together. Where there's faith, there's hope and love. Where there's love, there's hope and faith. And where there's hope, there's love and faith.
Shannon:He goes on to say but the greatest of these is love, because this is the answer, this is the key to the tree of life the hope that never ends. Hope for today, love, perfect love brings perfect hope. See, hope is for now and for tomorrow. Hope is for today. It's not entirely for some distant future where God takes us away from our misery. It's not for some time when God brings judgment to the enemies and rides in on a white horse and finally saves us from this misery. No, jesus came to give us abundant life today. Jesus came to give us hope for today. See, the Christian world has put all their hope in a future return of Jesus, instead of being comforted by the faith in the eternal hope that love has defined. That came over 2,000 years ago. Jesus came already.
Shannon:We have a wonderful promise for hope for now, for today, but somehow we convinced ourselves that the first time that Jesus come it wasn't enough, that he didn't finish the job. We're kind of like John the Baptist, where we begin to doubt and John starts declaring Jesus, he's come, the Lamb of God come to take away the sins of the world. And then later on he begins to doubt and he's like are you the one that we're to look for or another? And that's exactly where the church is today. We're looking for another Jesus to come, another Jesus to come and to put our enemies straight. But I tell you, jesus already came. He's here and he's never left.
Shannon:We have a wonderful promise of hope for now and for today, but the problem is is we don't see it. We've become sick in our hearts because we placed our eyes upon another. See, we have a promise of security. Jesus said I will never leave you nor forsake you. We have a promise of closeness with God. We are indwelt with the Holy Spirit and we are one with Christ and one with the Father. We have a promise of unconditional love.
Shannon:Here David says he commands his love and his song. This means that God has promised his love for us and in the daytime and in the evening time he sings over us. See, we have a wrong, false perception of God. We think that he's looking for our wrongs, when it's entirely opposite. He's looking for our rights and what's good and what's worthy. And he sings over us and he loves us and he brings us hope.
Shannon:See, it talks about a desire fulfilled. It says hope deferred makes the heart sick and we live there for too long. We've been sick, heart sick for too long as believers. But a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. See, when we begin to understand love, perfect love, love that's ours today then we begin to understand who we are, how we have God's promise of love, forgiveness, security, and we truly begin to live our best life. This is what Jesus meant when he said I've come to bring abundant life, I will give you abundant life. Out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. This living water comes from the tree of life. It comes from the knowledge and the hope of Jesus, his acceptance of the Father, of his love, and protection every day.
Shannon:For today, see, hope is not for some future event. It's not something that we're looking for. It's something that we have received. We have received hope. Hope is realizing that we've already been rescued, that we are in his almighty, loving arms and that we walk with Jesus every day. He experiences life with us as he lives in us. This is hope. This is abundant life. So ask yourself are you still looking for another Jesus? Are you still looking to be rescued? Are you still looking for love to come down? Then you need to stop and let your heart rest in the knowledge that God has never left you, that hope is eternal. Faith, hope and love these three are ours today. I hope this helped you, I hope you enjoy this and I hope you realize that God is madly in love with you. Until next time, thank you.