Sermon Central
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Hope For The Hopeless Series
Contributed by Darren Ethier on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: 8 of 10 of the series, Supernatural Transformation. Jesus faced many difficult times in His ministry here on earth but probably none were more dark than the hour He was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet, in this experience we find that Jesus had
unfulfilled dreams
It wasn’t only the unanswered prayer, and the unbelievable betrayal that the observer might of noticed about this unfolding event. The witness might also comment on the appearance of the dream of Jesus’ being crushed! After all, hadn’t Jesus’ preached the coming of a great Kingdom? Hadn’t Jesus himself claimed He would free the captives? Was He not the Messiah?
And yet, here amongst the crowd who knew of Him there wasn’t one lifting a finger or voice in defense of Jesus and amongst the disciples who KNEW Him there wasn’t one who stood by His side! What would happen to the dream now? What would happen to the plan now? Where is this great kingdom? Where is the Messiah? Seemingly, the dream has been crushed!
So Jesus faced unbelievable betrayal, unanswered prayer, and unfulfilled dreams! Never has so much trash been dumped on one being. Perhaps you could comprehend the weight of this garbage if you stack all the disloyalties of deadbeat dads and cheating wives and prodigal kids and dishonest workers in one pile.
From a human point of view, Jesus’ world has collapsed. No answer from heaven, no loyalty from his friends, no one who has caught the vision. Neck deep in rubbish. Isn’t how most of us would initially describe this scene?
But that’s not how Jesus saw it. He saw something else entirely. He wasn’t oblivious to the trash; he just wasn’t limited to it. Somehow he was able to see something different then what we would see.God wants us to have not just a little, but all of Christ’s 20/20 vision! He wants us to see what Jesus sees when we look at the hopeless. He wants us to have hearts filled with hope, not void of it!
You and I live in a trashy world. Unwanted garbage comes our way on a regular basis. We, too, have unanswered prayers, unbelievable betrayals, and unfulfilled dreams don’t we? Have you ever been handed a trash sack of mishaps and heartaches? Sure you have. But the question is, what are you going to do with it?
Well you have several options. You could hide it. You could take the garbage and cram it under your coat or stick it under your dress and pretend it isn’t there. But you and I know that you wouldn’t fool anyone. Besides, sooner or later it will start to stink.
Or you could disguise it. Paint it green, put it on the front lawn, and tell everybody it’s a tree. Again, no one will be fooled, and the stench won’t be disguised. So what will you do?
If you follow the example of Christ, if you let God transform you supernaturally – you will learn to see tough times differently. Remember, God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to have a hope-filled heart…just like Jesus!
So what did Christ do with the garbage on that awful evening?
He found good in the bad
Most of us would agree that it would be hard to find someone worse than Judas. The Bible says that He was a thief. He stole from the money box that fed the poor and the disciples and Christ Himself (John 12:6). Somehow this crook was able to live in the presence of God and experience the miracles of Christ and remain unchanged.
