Where to find hope

Where to find hope - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/where-to-find-hope/

 

Pastor Greg Laurie offers encouraging words for those facing major life troubles

 

Are you worried? Are you stressed? Are you under pressure? It only makes it more difficult when we can carry the world in a cell phone today. Our phones of today are like little computers.

 

Today, 70 percent of the world's population has a smartphone. In fact, 42 percent of Americans in 2010 said they couldn't live without their cell phones. Two-thirds of Americans sleep with their cell phones next to their beds. No wonder we are stressed out.

 

If you have a troubled heart, I want to share a solution with you. This solution is 2,000 years old, and it is from the Creator of the universe. These are the words of Jesus to his disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:1-3 NIV).

 

The disciples were stressed because Jesus had just revealed who his betrayer was: Judas Iscariot. Then Jesus told them that Simon Peter was going to deny him three times. Then he dropped the bombshell when he said we was going to leave them. Their world, as they know it, was ending. What they didn't understand was that Jesus was leaving them to die on a cross and bear their sin and our sin and then rise again from the dead.

 

So why shouldn't our hearts be troubled or afraid? Because we should believe what God says in his Word, the Bible. Jesus said, "Believe also in me." In the original language, this is a command. Everyone believes in someone or something. Even the people who say they are not believers are, in effect, believers. Maybe they believe in themselves, maybe they believe in money, maybe they believe in government, or maybe they believe in technology. But when that final day comes, those people or things won't save them.

 

Shortly before he died, Steve Jobs said, "I'm about fifty-fifty on believing in God. I like to think that something survives after you die. ... But, on the other hand, perhaps it's like an on-off switch. Click! And you're gone."

 

Is that what you believe? "Click! And you're gone"? Before I became a Christian, my mom was married and divorced seven times. She was a raging alcoholic. I was raised in an environment that no child should be raised in. I saw things that no little boy ever should see. As I grew up, I didn't really believe there was a God, for the most part. I just thought that when you died, you were gone. You stopped thinking. You stopped existing. I'll have to admit that, even as a young man, the thought kept me up at night.

 

But it isn't true. When you die, in one sense you are gone. Yes, your body is laid in the ground, but your soul lives on in the afterlife.

 

You might say, "That is good news, right?"

 

It all depends on what your destination is. I heard about a guy who was walking through a cemetery and saw a tombstone inscribed with these words: "Pause now, stranger, when you pass by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you shall be. So prepare for death and follow me."

 

The man was overheard to say, "To follow you is not my intent until I know which way you went."

 

Death knocks at every door. It is no respecter of persons. Everyone will die. The statistics on death are quite impressive: one out of every one person will die. The Bible says, "People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27 NIV).

 

You decide what you will do with this life. You decide where you will spend the afterlife. And there are only two choices: heaven and hell. The last thing God wants is for any person uniquely made in his image to spend eternity in the place called hell. Hell was not made for people. According to Jesus, it was made for the devil and his angels. God wants each of us in heaven. That is why he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins so we don't have to go to this place.

 

Jesus told his disciples, "Believe also in me." He was saying, "Take me at my word." I have taken God at his word. I took him at his word when I became a Christian at age 17. He came through for me, and he came into my life.

 

But then in 2008, our family experienced an unspeakable tragedy. Our oldest son, Christopher, was killed in an automobile accident at age 33. When I heard the news that our son had died, I felt as though I could have died right there on the spot. I couldn't even stand. It was a very dark day for me, the worst day of my life. I fell down and prayed, "God, if you have ever been there for me, you have to be there for me. You gave me this boy. I give him back to you. But God, help me."

 

It was not about getting through the week or getting through the day. It wasn't even about getting through the hour. It was about getting through the next 15 minutes. Though it was hard, and though it is still hard and we miss him each and every day, God came through for me in my darkest hour. If he had not come through for me, I would have given up preaching. But he did. And he does. And he will.

 

I put this teaching to the test. I have told others to trust in God when times are hard. Would God come through for me? He did. And he will come through for you, too. Jesus says, "Trust in me. Believe in my word."

 

I don't know where your life is right now. Maybe you've recently had a loved one die. Maybe you've recently received bad news from a doctor. Maybe you're facing struggles at home. Maybe your marriage is falling apart or your parents are divorcing. You feel helpless. You feel hopeless.

 

It has been said that man can live 40 days without food, three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only one second without hope. Have you lost hope today? I want you to know that you can find hope in a relationship with God.