THE LIVING WORD TRANSCRIPT
Program Air Date - 8-1-04
LESSON TITLE: "PRIVILEGED TO BE IN GOD'S FAMILY:
GOD'S FAMILY HAS HOPE THROUGH HIM"
WELCOME
"I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good," Oh, what glorious words the Psalmist proclaimed here as one who loved and cherished His God! Isn't it wonderful to come together this morning for the very same purpose, "to praise Him," our God, "for His name is good!" Thank you for joining us today for this time of Worship to our Creator.
I am glad you are with us this morning and thank God you have made the right decision to give this time to your God. I look forward to our time spent together today as we sing praises to the Almighty and as we study from His matchless Word! This Morning, I know we will all be edified through our time spent together. So let's all do our part to make this time profitable before God, and furthermore may we use it as a great encouragement one to another!
At this time, let's approach our Father's throne in prayer:
(PRAYER)
As most of you already know, this work of our Lord is made possible through the love and support of many area churches of Christ. With this in mind, I wanted to take just a moment this morning to welcome a new supporter of this work! We welcome the Lincoln Church of Christ in Lincoln Missouri. This fine congregation meets regularly to worship God and we would like to encourage any in that area to assemble with these brethren as soon as possible. Even this morning this congregation will be coming together at 9:30 for a Bible Study period, this will be followed by a Worship assembly at 10:30 a.m. As well on Sunday evening they offer another service to God at 6:00 p.m. A mid-week study is also organized for further growth in the things of God, this service begins at 7:30, on Wednesdays.
Let me again encourage you all to visit with this congregation in order to come before God's throne and to learn more about His precious Will. If you have any question or need further information about this congregation, please contact their minister, Charles Rose, at (660)547-3523. We again thank these brethren for their help!
Now it is time to join in our first song of the morning. So, won't you participate with the congregation at this time as we sing together, "Bring Christ Your Broken Life!"
(SONG # 1)
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS
A beautiful song which we sing says, "Were part of the family, that's been born again, part of the family, who's love knows no end, for Jesus has saved us and made us His own, were part of the family that's on it's way home." Isn't if great to be in the family of God? To have a Father like we do who loves us and cares so much. To have a king, brother and friend in Jesus Christ, who is also referred to as the husband of His Bride, the church. And you guessed it, as His followers we are the church and thus those who are under this loving savior. And then in the family we have each other, our fellow brethren. Can you imagine how lonely life and death would be with our earthly brethren?
I also love the chorus of the song mentioned above, as it goes on to say, "And sometimes we laugh together, sometimes we cry, sometimes we share together, heartaches and sighs, sometimes we dream together, of how it will be, when we all get to heaven, God's Family." Are you in this most precious of families? The family of God!
In just a few minutes it will be time to begin our main study of the day. Our topic of study will again focus on our, "Privileged to Be In God's Family." Our specific lesson of the morning is entitled, "God's Family Has Hope Through Him."
To lead us in these thoughts today, we are happy to have brother Ivie Powell with us. Brother Powell is the minister for the Curry Street Church of Christ, in West Plains, Missouri. We are excited to have this brother with us and we look forward to him leading us in God's word in just a few minutes.
But for now, let's join together in our next song of the morning. The name of this hymn, "Because He Lives."
(SONG # 2)
LESSON
Speaker: Ivie Powell
Thank you brother Ray, I appreciate very much the opportunity of being back on The Living Word program. We would like to encourage all of you folks that are in the West Plains area to be with us for Bible Study this morning at 9:30. The morning assembly will be at 10:30. We will meet, the Lord willing, this afternoon at 6:00 for the evening service, and then Wednesday evening, we have services at 7:00 p.m.
The subject before us is a subject that all of us are interested in, hope, particularly the Christian hope. The world lives in view of hope everyday. Hope for a better job. Hope for a better world. Hope for a better marriage. Hope for a better home life with children. Hope for better employment. And when we look at Christian hope, we find that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly the hope that is for the world. 1 Timothy 1, verse 1 speaks of the Lord being the hope. And so my friend, the world is in a state of sin. "All that come short," all that sin that is, "and come short of the glory of God," Romans 3 and verse 23.
We find that Jesus Christ is the only hope that the world has. The Lord said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh into the Father but by me," John 14:6. There is no other way to God other than through Jesus Christ. He is not a way among many ways. He is the only way. He is the only hope that the world has. Christians live in view of hope.
For what do we hope? Well of course, we hope for the appearing of our Lord in the clouds. When you look at Acts chapter 1, you will find that the apostles were standing there, as they were gazing up, Jesus was going up into heaven and two men stood by them in white apparel and ask them, "Why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which you saw go into heaven will come in like manner." And so for 2,000 years, the 2nd coming of Christ has been preached by faithful gospel preachers. We do not know when our Lord will return. So my friend, He will return. We live in hope of the return of our Lord in the air. And then we also live in hope of the resurrection. "All that are in the graves," as we are told, "are going to come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation," John 5:28-29. Adolph Hitler is going to be resurrected. Adam & Eve will be resurrected. All are going to be resurrected.
If, in this life, only we have hope. Paul says, "We are of all men most miserable or pitiful. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 29. And so my friend, there is hope for life beyond this life.
Robert (inaudible), a well-known atheist, some say he was an agnostic, looked into the empty grave of his brother and said, "Oh God, if there be a God." You see, there is no hope for the atheist. When 9/11 occurred, no one said, "Let's get on the phone and call atheists and agnostics and see what words of comfort they can give us." Atheists and agnostics have no words of comfort. They have no hope. But "the Christian has the hope of the appearing of our Lord in the air, in the clouds," 1 Thessalonians verse 16 and following. We have the hope of the resurrection. We have the hope of being like our Lord.
Look at 1 John 3 and verse 2, "Beloved now we are the sons of God and it has not yet appeared what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." We will have a new body. Paul discusses that in 1 Corinthians the 15th chapter. Now we don't know what it's going to look like, but it will be a body that cannot be destroyed.
We also live in hope of being with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, as well as the saved of all the ages. "There'll be no tears in heaven. There'll be no sad farewells. There'll be no temptations." Isn't that wonderful? John discusses many of these things that I've mentioned in Revelation the 21st chapter. Now, how are Christians able to have this hope? Because of that simple fact. They are Christians. They are children of God. To the Ephesians, Paul reminded them before their conversion that, "they were dead in trespasses and sin," Ephesians 2, verse 1. My friend, if you are not a Christian, you too are dead in trespasses and sin. One of the greatest sad notes to behold is the millions and millions of people that think they are children of God but are not. They are lost in sin, though they do not know they are lost in sin. And like these Ephesians, they are according to verse 12, "without God, without Christ, without hope in this world." And so my friend, if one is outside of Christ, he has absolutely no hope. No hope at all. There should be a great sense of urgency in the heart of every person to obey the gospel and if an unfaithful child of the Lord to restore to their first love.
When we turn to the Bible, and the Bible says, "And to you who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels and flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." And so my friend, when we look at what the Christian has to look forward to, the world does not.
The Bible says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him," Hebrews 11 and verse 6.
What is hope? It is the desire that we expect to be fulfilled and so we live in hope of God keeping His promise. "God cannot lie," Titus 1, verse 3. And so the Lord has given us assurance that these things that we have mentioned will come to pass. Hope is really the anchor of the soul. It is so interesting that the Hebrew writer tells us in the 6th chapter that "God cannot lie." He mentions this in the 18th verse. And you will notice, he says, "And by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold," now notice it, "upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast and which entereth into that within the veil." Yes, my friend, hope is the anchor of the soul.
The Roman epistle has this to say in chapter 8, verse 24-25. "But we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then we do with patience wait for it." And so the Christians hope is a rich hope. It is a hope that motivates them to be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:58 again is that reference.
My friend, for what do you hope? Are you a Christian? Have you put Christ on in baptism for the remission of your sins? Are you a member of the New Testament church? If you have done those things and are a member of the Lord's church, are you a faithful member of the Lord's church? We encourage all that are in the audience to make your calling an election sure.
The world has hope of a better tomorrow if it will live according to the principles and teachings of our Lord.
I want to take the time this morning to mention that August 3rd is election day. There are two important issues that are coming forth for the folk in the state of Missouri. One has to do with a gambling issue and I hope that you will vote against that gambling issue for a great number of reasons. And the other that I hope you will see fit to vote against is the same sex marriage. My friends, our nation is built upon the principles found upon, within the Word of God. We should not hope for a better world if we start bringing in laws that go against the very teaching of our Lord that will destroy the fiber of this nation. So we hope for a better tomorrow based upon the Word of God and living according to teaching therein.
For what do you hope for your children? What do you hope for the world that they will be living in when you are gone from this world? Yes, we live in view of hope. We desire better things. We expect better things in this world. We depend upon God and God is depending upon us to do what we can to make this a better world. I remind every child of God that according to Matthew chapter 5, verses 13-16 that the world must look to Christians for it's light and it's savory salt. Of course, we follow the light and the salt of all, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. If we're not letting our light shine, if we're not living to bring glory to God, then really there is no hope for the world that we live in. If it were not for the prayers of the saints, where would this world be?
So I call upon every child of God. All those who believe in the teaching found in the Word of God regarding man and woman being God's designated ones for marriage that they vote against this same-sex marriage law, and that you would look at the horrors of gambling, that you would lay aside all the hype and the propaganda that is put forth on television and realize that that's really all that it is. What they are trying to bring into our state is not going to make it a better state, but it will bring forth many, many problems that they have not told you about.
And so yes, the Christians lives in a world that is full of sin, but we hope for a better day, the appearing of our Lord, the resurrection from those from the grave. When you look at Titus the 2nd chapter, Paul says in the 13th verse, "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. One day, God will send forth His son. The son will be in the clouds. Every eye is going to see our Lord," Revelation 1, verse 7. "He will come in all of His glory with His holy angels with Him," Matthew tells us in Matthew 25 and verse 31. And then my friend, we will see Christ face to face. We will be able to see the one that died for our sins. We'll be able to see Him who loved us so much that He was willing to die. "Taste death," the Hebrew writer says in chapter 2, verse 9, "for every man." And the greatest words that all of us will hear will be the welcome words from our Lord, "Enter thou into the joy prepared for you from the foundation of the world." That my friend, is what we are living for. We hope for eternal life with God.
Again, I ask you the question: "Do you live in hope of eternity with God?" If today were the last day you were to be upon the face of this earth, where would you spend eternity? These are serious words. I hope you will think about them seriously.
Be with us, and until next time, we bid you a good day.
(SONG # 3 - "God Is Calling The Prodigal!")
CLOSING COMMENTS
Let me thank you again for choosing to be with us today. I hope our time together has been an encouragement and blessing to us all. We invite you to join us every First day of the week, at 7:30, as we commit ourselves to this time of Worship before God!
But for now, let me ask if you have any questions or comments about today's lesson? Maybe, you would like a free transcript or a cassette tape of this program? Possibly, we could assist you with free Bible materials or correspondence courses? No matter what your need is, please contact us at the following address:
The Living Word
2540 N. Kansas Expressway
Springfield, Mo. 65803
Many of these items are also available on our web page, that address: www.thelivingwordprogram.com
Or if you prefer, you may call us at:
(417)869-2284
Isn't it great to know that we have hope in this life and in the life to come, because of the precious promises of God? Are you living today, so that your hopes of tomorrow will come to pass as God has Willed?
(Program closing)