CRCF\u201d\u201d2\/6\/11<\/p>\n
Introduction–
\nDo you ever talk to yourself?
\n[Cartoon Slide and PhotoShop Slide]
\nLloyd-Jones
\nHave you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?
\n23 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders.
\n62 percent of evangelical Christians say they are worried about the future.
\nLord save us all from… a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms. ~Mark Twain
\n\u201cIn contrast to a freaked-out world, [we can] be people of joyful hope!\u201d (Rene Schlaepfer).
\nRene Schlaepfer
\nOur hope level is directly effected by my view of God.
\nHow do you view God? Is your view of God true? Do you see him like the gods of Roman and Greek mythology, always waiting to zap us humans in our sin and show us who the boss is? Or do you see Him as the Bible, as Jesus Himself, says He is? Do you see God as a loving Father?
\nHoping in the Source
\nPsalm 42
\nHope comes when we remind ourselves that God is our loving Father.
\nJohn Piper
\nThe psalms are instruction, and the psalms are songs. And Jesus taught that they were inspired by God. They intend to shape what the mind thinks, and they intend to shape what the heart feels. When we immerse ourselves in them, we are \u201cthinking and feeling with God.\u201d
\nPsalm 42 (NLT)
\n1 As the deer longs for streams of water,
\nso I long for you, O God.
\n2 I thirst for God, the living God.
\nWhen can I go and stand before him?
\n3 Day and night I have only tears for food,
\nwhile my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
\n\u201cWhere is this God of yours?\u201d
\n4 My heart is breaking
\nas I remember how it used to be:
\nI walked among the crowds of worshipers,
\nleading a great procession to the house of God,
\nsinging for joy and giving thanks
\namid the sound of a great celebration!
\n5 Why am I discouraged?
\nWhy is my heart so sad?
\nI will put my hope in God!
\nI will praise him again\u201d\u201d
\nmy Savior and 6 my God!
\nNow I am deeply discouraged,
\nbut I will remember you\u201d\u201d
\neven from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
\nfrom the land of Mount Mizar.
\n7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
\nas your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
\n8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me,
\nand through each night I sing his songs,
\npraying to God who gives me life.
\n9 \u201cO God my rock,\u201d I cry,
\n\u201cWhy have you forgotten me?
\nWhy must I wander around in grief,
\noppressed by my enemies?\u201d
\n10 Their taunts break my bones.
\nThey scoff, \u201cWhere is this God of yours?\u201d
\n11 Why am I discouraged?
\nWhy is my heart so sad?
\nI will put my hope in God!
\nI will praise him again\u201d\u201d
\nmy Savior and my God!
\nHope comes when we remind ourselves that God is our loving Father.<\/p>\n
Lloyd-Jones
\nHave you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man\u201d\u2122s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. \u201cWhy art thou cast down, O my soul?\u201d he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says,: \u201cSelf, listen for moment, I will speak to you.\u201d (Spiritual Depression, 20-21)
\nHope comes when we remind ourselves that God is our loving Father.
\nI want to show you just how the psalmist thinks and talks to God, and to himself.
\nJohn Piper
\nHis external circumstances are oppressing. His internal emotional condition is depressed and full of turmoil. But he is fighting for hope.<\/p>\n
1. He Questions God
\n9 \u201cO God my rock,\u201d I cry,
\n\u201cWhy have you forgotten me?
\nWhy must I wander around in grief,
\noppressed by my enemies?\u201d
\n10 Their taunts break my bones.
\nThey scoff, \u201cWhere is this God of yours?\u201d
\nGod is not intimidated by our questions! In fact, we can\u201d\u2122t handle our own questions! But, HE can handle our questions, our doubts, our fears! So take your questions to God! That kind of questioning is an act of faith!
\n2. He Thirsts for God
\n1 As the deer longs for streams of water,
\nso I long for you, O God.
\n2 I thirst for God, the living God.
\nWhen can I go and stand before him?<\/p>\n
The psalmist knew a little secret about his own heart\u201d\u201dand it\u201d\u2122s true about OUR hearts as well\u201d\u00a6a lack of hope is the flip side of the coin of thirsting for God.
\nIn other words, when we lack hope, what we need\u201d\u201dwhether we realize it or not\u201d\u201dis a long drink from the spring of our God! What we need is a refreshing draw from the living waters of Jesus Himself!
\nAnd one place we uniquely get that drink is when we come together to worship, to drink from the Fountain of Living Water as a family!
\n3. He Reminds Himself that God is His Loving Father
\n5 Why am I discouraged?
\nWhy is my heart so sad?
\nI will put my hope in God!
\nI will praise him again\u201d\u201d
\nmy Savior and 6 my God!
\nNow I am deeply discouraged,
\nbut I will remember you\u201d\u201d
\neven from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
\nfrom the land of Mount Mizar.
\n7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
\nas your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
\n8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me,
\nand through each night I sing his songs,
\npraying to God who gives me life.
\n11 Why am I discouraged?
\nWhy is my heart so sad?
\nI will put my hope in God!
\nI will praise him again\u201d\u201d
\nmy Savior and my God!
\nJohn Piper
\nAnd the really remarkable thing is that at the end of the psalm, he is still fighting but not yet where he wants to be. The last words of the psalm\u201d\u201dand the last words of the next psalm\u201d\u201dare \u201cWhy are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.\u201d He leaves us still fighting for the joyful experience of hope and freedom from turmoil. He is not yet praising the way he wants to.
\nHope comes when we remind ourselves that God is our loving Father.
\nZephaniah 3:17 (NLT)
\nFor the LORD your God is living among you.
\nHe is a mighty savior.
\nHe will take delight in you with gladness.
\nWith his love, he will calm all your fears.
\nHe will rejoice over you with joyful songs.\u201d
\nHope comes when we remind ourselves that God is our loving Father.
\nPsalm 103 (NLT)
\n1 Let all that I am praise the LORD;
\nwith my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
\n2 Let all that I am praise the LORD;
\nmay I never forget the good things he does for me.
\n3 He forgives all my sins
\nand heals all my diseases.
\n4 He redeems me from death
\nand crowns me with love and tender mercies.
\n5 He fills my life with good things.
\nMy youth is renewed like the eagle\u201d\u2122s!
\n6 The LORD gives righteousness
\nand justice to all who are treated unfairly.
\n7 He revealed his character to Moses
\nand his deeds to the people of Israel.
\n8 The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
\nslow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
\n9 He will not constantly accuse us,
\nnor remain angry forever.
\n10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
\nhe does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
\n11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
\nis as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
\n12 He has removed our sins as far from us
\nas the east is from the west.
\n13 The LORD is like a father to his children,
\ntender and compassionate to those who fear him.
\n14 For he knows how weak we are;
\nhe remembers we are only dust.<\/p>\n
Hope comes when we remind ourselves that God is our loving Father.
\nRomans 8:15 (NLT)
\n15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God\u201d\u2122s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, \u201cAbba, Father.\u201d
\nHope comes when we remind ourselves that God is our loving Father.<\/p>\n
Conclusion
\nKevin
\nHe doesn’t know what it means to be discontent. His life is simple. He will never know the entanglements of wealth of power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be. His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it. He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax. He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure. He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue. Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God. Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to Christ, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God – to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an ‘educated’ person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion.
\nIn my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith. It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions. It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap. I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances – they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God’s care. Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God.
\nAnd one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I’ll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.
\nKevin won’t be surprised at all!<\/p>\n
Sadly, most of us have to work hard\u201d\u201dmuch harder than Kevin–to remember the simple truth that God is our loving Father.
\nHope comes when we remind ourselves that God is our loving Father.
\nPsalm 33:22 (NLT)
\n22 Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD,
\nfor our hope is in you alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CRCF\u201d\u201d2\/6\/11 Introduction– Do you ever talk to yourself? [Cartoon Slide and PhotoShop Slide] Lloyd-Jones Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? … Continue reading