INTRODUCTION
OPENING SLIDE
- Today we continue on our journey together to learn how to love better.
- We are working on loving better so we can learn to love other Christians better as well as those in our community.
HOPE FLOATS SLIDE
- One thing I know is that if you have been paying attention to this series and allowing it to be a part of your life, you will be able to love it better.
BENEFITS SLIDE
- Loving better benefits others, and it benefits you.
- You will have more friends, a happier life, and people will want to be with you.
- Today we will dive into another aspect of loving better.
1 Corinthians 13:7 NET 2nd ed.
7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
- If we want to love better, we must hope all things.
- Hope is a powerful force.
POWER OF HOPE SLIDE
- Back in the 1950s, a well-known Johns Hopkins University scientist, Curt P. Richter, did a series of unorthodox experiments using buckets, water, and rats.
- These experiments, primarily conducted in the 1950s and published in papers like "On the Phenomenon of Sudden Death in Animals and Man," were designed to explore the factors influencing survival time in a stressful situation and, in particular, the concept of "hopelessness" and its physiological consequences.
- His initial experiments had no intervention.
- In some initial experiments, Richter observed that some rats, particularly wild rats, would struggle for a short period but then seem to "give up" relatively quickly, becoming passive and drowning within minutes (sometimes as little as 1-15 minutes).
- Domesticated rats often swam for much longer, sometimes for many hours (even up to 40-60 hours).
- Richter interpreted the quick giving up of some rats as a state of "hopelessness" in a situation against which they had no defense.
- In Richter’s follow-up experiments, Richter introduced a crucial variable: intervention.
- He would periodically pull the rats out of the water just as they were about to give up, hold them briefly, and then place them back in the water.
- The Impact of Hope.
- The results were dramatic.
- The rats that had experienced this intervention—being rescued and then placed back—swam for significantly, often astonishingly, longer periods when subsequently placed in the water continuously.
- They no longer showed the rapid "giving up" behavior observed in some of the initial groups.
- They would swim for many hours, demonstrating a remarkable increase in their endurance and will to survive.
- Richter concluded that the intervention of being temporarily rescued instilled a sense of "hope" in the rats.
- They learned that the situation was not entirely hopeless and that rescue was possible.
- This hope, he posited, counteracted the physiological and psychological state of despair that led to the rapid collapse and death in the non-intervened groups.
- Richter’s conclusion: Saving a rat from drowning—even temporarily—gave that rat hope.
- In other words, hope doesn’t sink. Hope floats!
- The word Paul uses for hope describes waiting with confidence, with an expectation that what has been promised will come to pass.
- This word is used over and over again to talk about someone who has the power to keep a promise he has made.
- For Christians, hope is waiting expectantly for God to do what He has promised because He loves us.
- When you put God and love and hope together, hope floats.
- From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He brought hope to people, hope that kept them afloat.
- Jesus gave hope to people that many thought not only didn’t have any reason to hope.
- He gave hope to people that some thought didn’t deserve hope, people whose reputations were far from good and worse than bad.
- To achieve that, He needed to be with people who lacked hope or didn't deserve it, and because of their reputations, the religious leaders didn’t like Him.
- Luke chapter 15 records an interaction between Jesus and those leaders.
- It says those same people were drawn to Jesus—because of that hope—and the religious leaders were complaining.
- They said, “Jesus is friendly with sinners, and he even eats with them.”
- Jesus presents three parables in Luke 15 that will help us love more effectively.
- Let’s turn to Luke 15 together.
Luke 15:3–7 NET 2nd ed.
3 So Jesus told them this parable:
4 “Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?
5 Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’
7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
SERMON
MAIN POINT 1 SLIDE
I. Hope floats with those who lost their way.
- I have spent some time around sheep.
- At one time my father-in-law had sheep on the farm.
- Sheep have a reputation for not being too intelligent; they tend to adhere to a herd mentality.
- If one sheep goes over the cliff, so do the rest of them.
- In Jesus’ first parable in Luke 15, a shepherd loses a sheep—or should we say a sheep loses his shepherd?
- With what we know about sheep, it seems safe to assume that the sheep in this story gets lost because of his own foolishness.
- We don't know why the sheep went missing; perhaps he was just not paying attention to his actions?
- Regardless, the sheep ended up not being where he was supposed to be.
- The shepherd then was so intent on finding the lost sheep that he left the ninety-nine other sheep in the open country to go and look for him.
- Whose responsibility is it to reach the 1 lost sheep?
- Jesus leaves the 99 in the open field.
- Why? They’re not lost!
- The 99 were safe because they were together.
- The one by itself was in danger, so the shepherd went looking for it.
- When you have lost sheep, it is your job to go after them for Jesus!
- When the shepherd in our parable went to find the lost sheep, he found him!
- When he finds the sheep, the shepherd places it on his shoulders and returns it to the flock!
- The shepherds of the east often carried on their backs the lost sheep of the flock; this could be done with less trouble than driving the sheep.
- Carrying the sheep back to the flock showed compassion and care for the lost sheep.
- The shepherd did not punish the sheep; he lovingly brought it back to safety.
- Have you ever ended up lost due to a foolish choice?
- I want you to know that, even if you’ve just lost your way, there is hope for you in Jesus Christ.
- Let’s move to verses 8-10
Luke 15:8–10 NET 2nd ed.
8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it?
9 Then when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
MAIN POINT SLIDE 2
II. Hope floats with those who have been neglected or abused.
- When we lose something important, it can cause us to panic and feel a sense of despair.
- Years ago, I used to get our paycheck from the company, and many of us would run to Gerbes during our dinner break to cash the check.
- On one occasion, I did that and lost my wallet at work, with my entire paycheck in cash in the wallet!
- I was in a panic.
- I searched high and low, hoping to find my wallet.
- I did find the wallet with everything still in the wallet in the bathroom.
- It had fallen out of my back pocket.
- In the second parable, we see a woman who lost one of her valuable silver coins.
- Each coin was worth about a day’s wages, not that much money and not very valuable to anyone but the woman.
- The coin was lost due in part to the neglect of the owner.
VALUE OF ONE SLIDE
- Desperate to find her coin, the woman lit a lamp, swept the house, and searched until she found it.
- She moved everything in the house to find that coin, and when she did, she was so happy that she called her friends and neighbors together and said, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin” (Luke 15:9).
- The coin was lost because it was neglected.
- Once the woman realizes she has lost her coin, she lights a candle and sweeps the house looking for the lost coin.
- Even though the woman had nine more, the one that was lost mattered!
- When you see the lost people in your life, what effort are you willing to expend to seek to find them and bring them to Jesus?
- A slew of people are spiritually lost due to neglect on our part.
- We have to be more careful.
- Do we have a sense of panic over all the lost people we have around us?
- Do we have a sense of urgency, a calling to try to reach them?
- Reaching lost people is not easy; it takes a lot of work and prayer.
- Who are you praying for and putting forth the effort to help bring them to Jesus?
- Churches die when they lose their passion for reaching the lost.
- When a church dies, it is not because Jesus killed it; it is because they lose their sense of mission in their comfort in doing things the way they have always done.
- Look around you today; how many folks under 40 do you see?
Luke 15:11-32
MAIN POINT 3 SLIDE
III. Hope floats with those who have willingly rebelled.
- I won't read this parable, but I suggest you do if you haven't.
- The gist of the story is a man had two sons.
- The younger son asked for his inheritance now!
- This young man was entitled to 1/3 of the father’s estate upon the father’s death, but this kid was so selfish he wanted it now.
THE PRODIGAL’S JOURNEY SLIDE
- The father gives it to him, and the young man wastes it away until he finds himself so poor he was feeding pigs and was longing to eat their food.
- The young man decides to head home and repent.
- What was the father doing while his rebellious son was living the wild life?
- He was praying, longing for his son to come home.
- When we are rebellious toward God, He longs for us to return!
CONCLUSION
CLOSING SLIDE
- In a widely reported story that was featured in People Magazine online on Thursday, July 8, 2021, Andrew Sherman and his son Jack went fishing, and what they caught was much different than what they expected.
- They began about 20 or more miles offshore, but after having no luck, they moved further out to sea, about 40 miles off the coast.
- The day was relatively normal until Andrew saw a small boat off in the distance.
- After watching it for a while, he realized that it was going to come close to them if it stayed on its current course.
- They had multiple fishing lines in the water and began to be concerned as the distant boat was heading straight for them.
- They radioed the vessel, but there was no response.
- As the boat came within a few hundred yards, they began to rapidly bring up all their lines and get ready to move.
- The oncoming boat was uncomfortably close when the last line came up, and Andrew fired up the boat’s engine.
- Andrew’s son, Jack, grabbed an airhorn and began to signal, blasting the approaching vessel.
- Yet there was no change of course.
- As the boat went by them—very closely—the frustrating incident became serious very quickly.
- There was no one on board the boat.
- Andrew sped up to try and come alongside the vessel for a closer inspection.
- More horn blasts and yelling got no response.
- So, Jack decided to make the dangerous jump from one boat to another.
- Once on board, he powered down the boat and began to search for anyone, but there was no one to be found.
- What they did find was more disturbing… a wallet with ID—a man from North Carolina, Sasha Scheller—and a life jacket.
- There was only one conclusion: man overboard.
- They immediately called the Coast Guard station at Wrightsville Beach and informed them of what they had found.
- They had no idea how long this person had been overboard or really where they were, but they were determined to start looking now.
- They were 40 miles off the coast.
- This wasn't going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
- This was going to be like looking for a needle in a farm full of haystacks.
- Onboard the vessel was a GPS unit.
- They quickly backtracked the data to see how long the boat had been traveling the way that it was.
- It had been going in a straight line for quite a distance, but before it started doing that, it was going in circles.
- They decided to navigate back to that location where the boat started traveling in a straight line.
- Andrew stayed on his boat, and Jack used the other.
- They went back to the point they had determined.
- Jack started searching in an ever-widening circle looking for anything that was moving, while Andrew started going back and forth over the straight line.
- Almost immediately, Jack saw something in the water.
- What he came alongside was a pair of boots.
- One might think that would be a foreboding sign, but Jack thought if he had fallen overboard and was wearing boots, he would've taken them off so that he could swim better.
- On the other boat, Andrew was going back and forth, and it crossed the line more than a few times when he saw something a couple hundred yards away.
- It was a splash!
- When he got within 100 yards, he saw an arm reach up.
- He pulled the boat alongside, shut off the engine, and Andrew Sherman pulled Sasha Scheller on board.
- With excitement and joy, Andrew radioed the Coast Guard station: “We found him! We found him!”
- After the incident, Sasha reflected on what had happened.
- He had put multiple lines in the water.
- He took his life jacket off to sit back and relax.
- He was standing on the edge of the boat when he turned, lost his balance, and fell overboard.
- By the time he came to the surface, the boat was already far away.
- He tried hard to swim back to the boat, but the boat was going too fast.
- While floating and swimming and floating and swimming, he saw a couple of boats.
- He yelled, but they soon turned away and vanished over the horizon.
- As he realized what he had done, he was mad at himself.
- He tearfully thought about his family, about how his kids would be without a father.
- He’d been swimming and treading water for some time when another boat started coming toward him.
- Then the boat turned away.
- And then the boat turned back toward him.
- That’s when he knew they were looking for him.
- He raised his hand up.
- He was lost—floating in the middle of the ocean.
- He was neglected—boats had come close but couldn’t hear him yelling.
- He was foolish—he took off his life jacket.
- Hope floats.
- I hope that your love is full of hope for what God can do for you and others.
Love Hopes All Things: Hope Floats
Jeffery Anselmi / General Adult
Love Better / Hope; Love / 1 Corinthians 13:7; Luke 15:3–32
We need hope to keep from drowning in life, hope floats.
INTRODUCTION
OPENING SLIDE
- Today we continue on our journey together to learn how to love better.
- We are working on loving better so we can learn to love other Christians better as well as those in our community.
HOPE FLOATS SLIDE
- One thing I know is that if you have been paying attention to this series and allowing it to be a part of your life, you will be able to love it better.
BENEFITS SLIDE
- Loving better benefits others, and it benefits you.
- You will have more friends, a happier life, and people will want to be with you.
- Today we will dive into another aspect of loving better.
1 Corinthians 13:7 NET 2nd ed.
7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
- If we want to love better, we must hope all things.
- Hope is a powerful force.
POWER OF HOPE SLIDE
- Back in the 1950s, a well-known Johns Hopkins University scientist, Curt P. Richter, did a series of unorthodox experiments using buckets, water, and rats.
- These experiments, primarily conducted in the 1950s and published in papers like "On the Phenomenon of Sudden Death in Animals and Man," were designed to explore the factors influencing survival time in a stressful situation and, in particular, the concept of "hopelessness" and its physiological consequences.
- His initial experiments had no intervention.
- In some initial experiments, Richter observed that some rats, particularly wild rats, would struggle for a short period but then seem to "give up" relatively quickly, becoming passive and drowning within minutes (sometimes as little as 1-15 minutes).
- Domesticated rats often swam for much longer, sometimes for many hours (even up to 40-60 hours).
- Richter interpreted the quick giving up of some rats as a state of "hopelessness" in a situation against which they had no defense.
- In Richter’s follow-up experiments, Richter introduced a crucial variable: intervention.
- He would periodically pull the rats out of the water just as they were about to give up, hold them briefly, and then place them back in the water.
- The Impact of Hope.
- The results were dramatic.
- The rats that had experienced this intervention—being rescued and then placed back—swam for significantly, often astonishingly, longer periods when subsequently placed in the water continuously.
- They no longer showed the rapid "giving up" behavior observed in some of the initial groups.
- They would swim for many hours, demonstrating a remarkable increase in their endurance and will to survive.
- Richter concluded that the intervention of being temporarily rescued instilled a sense of "hope" in the rats.
- They learned that the situation was not entirely hopeless and that rescue was possible.
- This hope, he posited, counteracted the physiological and psychological state of despair that led to the rapid collapse and death in the non-intervened groups.
- Richter’s conclusion: Saving a rat from drowning—even temporarily—gave that rat hope.
- In other words, hope doesn’t sink. Hope floats!
- The word Paul uses for hope describes waiting with confidence, with an expectation that what has been promised will come to pass.
- This word is used over and over again to talk about someone who has the power to keep a promise he has made.
- For Christians, hope is waiting expectantly for God to do what He has promised because He loves us.
- When you put God and love and hope together, hope floats.
- From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He brought hope to people, hope that kept them afloat.
- Jesus gave hope to people that many thought not only didn’t have any reason to hope.
- He gave hope to people that some thought didn’t deserve hope, people whose reputations were far from good and worse than bad.
- To achieve that, He needed to be with people who lacked hope or didn't deserve it, and because of their reputations, the religious leaders didn’t like Him.
- Luke chapter 15 records an interaction between Jesus and those leaders.
- It says those same people were drawn to Jesus—because of that hope—and the religious leaders were complaining.
- They said, “Jesus is friendly with sinners, and he even eats with them.”
- Jesus presents three parables in Luke 15 that will help us love more effectively.
- Let’s turn to Luke 15 together.
Luke 15:3–7 NET 2nd ed.
3 So Jesus told them this parable:
4 “Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?
5 Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’
7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
SERMON
MAIN POINT 1 SLIDE
I. Hope floats with those who lost their way.
- I have spent some time around sheep.
- At one time my father-in-law had sheep on the farm.
- Sheep have a reputation for not being too intelligent; they tend to adhere to a herd mentality.
- If one sheep goes over the cliff, so do the rest of them.
- In Jesus’ first parable in Luke 15, a shepherd loses a sheep—or should we say a sheep loses his shepherd?
- With what we know about sheep, it seems safe to assume that the sheep in this story gets lost because of his own foolishness.
- We don't know why the sheep went missing; perhaps he was just not paying attention to his actions?
- Regardless, the sheep ended up not being where he was supposed to be.
- The shepherd then was so intent on finding the lost sheep that he left the ninety-nine other sheep in the open country to go and look for him.
- Whose responsibility is it to reach the 1 lost sheep?
- Jesus leaves the 99 in the open field.
- Why? They’re not lost!
- The 99 were safe because they were together.
- The one by itself was in danger, so the shepherd went looking for it.
- When you have lost sheep, it is your job to go after them for Jesus!
- When the shepherd in our parable went to find the lost sheep, he found him!
- When he finds the sheep, the shepherd places it on his shoulders and returns it to the flock!
- The shepherds of the east often carried on their backs the lost sheep of the flock; this could be done with less trouble than driving the sheep.
- Carrying the sheep back to the flock showed compassion and care for the lost sheep.
- The shepherd did not punish the sheep; he lovingly brought it back to safety.
- Have you ever ended up lost due to a foolish choice?
- I want you to know that, even if you’ve just lost your way, there is hope for you in Jesus Christ.
- Let’s move to verses 8-10
Luke 15:8–10 NET 2nd ed.
8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it?
9 Then when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
MAIN POINT SLIDE 2
II. Hope floats with those who have been neglected or abused.
- When we lose something important, it can cause us to panic and feel a sense of despair.
- Years ago, I used to get our paycheck from the company, and many of us would run to Gerbes during our dinner break to cash the check.
- On one occasion, I did that and lost my wallet at work, with my entire paycheck in cash in the wallet!
- I was in a panic.
- I searched high and low, hoping to find my wallet.
- I did find the wallet with everything still in the wallet in the bathroom.
- It had fallen out of my back pocket.
- In the second parable, we see a woman who lost one of her valuable silver coins.
- Each coin was worth about a day’s wages, not that much money and not very valuable to anyone but the woman.
- The coin was lost due in part to the neglect of the owner.
VALUE OF ONE SLIDE
- Desperate to find her coin, the woman lit a lamp, swept the house, and searched until she found it.
- She moved everything in the house to find that coin, and when she did, she was so happy that she called her friends and neighbors together and said, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin” (Luke 15:9).
- The coin was lost because it was neglected.
- Once the woman realizes she has lost her coin, she lights a candle and sweeps the house looking for the lost coin.
- Even though the woman had nine more, the one that was lost mattered!
- When you see the lost people in your life, what effort are you willing to expend to seek to find them and bring them to Jesus?
- A slew of people are spiritually lost due to neglect on our part.
- We have to be more careful.
- Do we have a sense of panic over all the lost people we have around us?
- Do we have a sense of urgency, a calling to try to reach them?
- Reaching lost people is not easy; it takes a lot of work and prayer.
- Who are you praying for and putting forth the effort to help bring them to Jesus?
- Churches die when they lose their passion for reaching the lost.
- When a church dies, it is not because Jesus killed it; it is because they lose their sense of mission in their comfort in doing things the way they have always done.
- Look around you today; how many folks under 40 do you see?
Luke 15:11-32
MAIN POINT 3 SLIDE
III. Hope floats with those who have willingly rebelled.
- I won't read this parable, but I suggest you do if you haven't.
- The gist of the story is a man had two sons.
- The younger son asked for his inheritance now!
- This young man was entitled to 1/3 of the father’s estate upon the father’s death, but this kid was so selfish he wanted it now.
THE PRODIGAL’S JOURNEY SLIDE
- The father gives it to him, and the young man wastes it away until he finds himself so poor he was feeding pigs and was longing to eat their food.
- The young man decides to head home and repent.
- What was the father doing while his rebellious son was living the wild life?
- He was praying, longing for his son to come home.
- When we are rebellious toward God, He longs for us to return!
CONCLUSION
CLOSING SLIDE
- In a widely reported story that was featured in People Magazine online on Thursday, July 8, 2021, Andrew Sherman and his son Jack went fishing, and what they caught was much different than what they expected.
- They began about 20 or more miles offshore, but after having no luck, they moved further out to sea, about 40 miles off the coast.
- The day was relatively normal until Andrew saw a small boat off in the distance.
- After watching it for a while, he realized that it was going to come close to them if it stayed on its current course.
- They had multiple fishing lines in the water and began to be concerned as the distant boat was heading straight for them.
- They radioed the vessel, but there was no response.
- As the boat came within a few hundred yards, they began to rapidly bring up all their lines and get ready to move.
- The oncoming boat was uncomfortably close when the last line came up, and Andrew fired up the boat’s engine.
- Andrew’s son, Jack, grabbed an airhorn and began to signal, blasting the approaching vessel.
- Yet there was no change of course.
- As the boat went by them—very closely—the frustrating incident became serious very quickly.
- There was no one on board the boat.
- Andrew sped up to try and come alongside the vessel for a closer inspection.
- More horn blasts and yelling got no response.
- So, Jack decided to make the dangerous jump from one boat to another.
- Once on board, he powered down the boat and began to search for anyone, but there was no one to be found.
- What they did find was more disturbing… a wallet with ID—a man from North Carolina, Sasha Scheller—and a life jacket.
- There was only one conclusion: man overboard.
- They immediately called the Coast Guard station at Wrightsville Beach and informed them of what they had found.
- They had no idea how long this person had been overboard or really where they were, but they were determined to start looking now.
- They were 40 miles off the coast.
- This wasn't going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
- This was going to be like looking for a needle in a farm full of haystacks.
- Onboard the vessel was a GPS unit.
- They quickly backtracked the data to see how long the boat had been traveling the way that it was.
- It had been going in a straight line for quite a distance, but before it started doing that, it was going in circles.
- They decided to navigate back to that location where the boat started traveling in a straight line.
- Andrew stayed on his boat, and Jack used the other.
- They went back to the point they had determined.
- Jack started searching in an ever-widening circle looking for anything that was moving, while Andrew started going back and forth over the straight line.
- Almost immediately, Jack saw something in the water.
- What he came alongside was a pair of boots.
- One might think that would be a foreboding sign, but Jack thought if he had fallen overboard and was wearing boots, he would've taken them off so that he could swim better.
- On the other boat, Andrew was going back and forth, and it crossed the line more than a few times when he saw something a couple hundred yards away.
- It was a splash!
- When he got within 100 yards, he saw an arm reach up.
- He pulled the boat alongside, shut off the engine, and Andrew Sherman pulled Sasha Scheller on board.
- With excitement and joy, Andrew radioed the Coast Guard station: “We found him! We found him!”
- After the incident, Sasha reflected on what had happened.
- He had put multiple lines in the water.
- He took his life jacket off to sit back and relax.
- He was standing on the edge of the boat when he turned, lost his balance, and fell overboard.
- By the time he came to the surface, the boat was already far away.
- He tried hard to swim back to the boat, but the boat was going too fast.
- While floating and swimming and floating and swimming, he saw a couple of boats.
- He yelled, but they soon turned away and vanished over the horizon.
- As he realized what he had done, he was mad at himself.
- He tearfully thought about his family, about how his kids would be without a father.
- He’d been swimming and treading water for some time when another boat started coming toward him.
- Then the boat turned away.
- And then the boat turned back toward him.
- That’s when he knew they were looking for him.
- He raised his hand up.
- He was lost—floating in the middle of the ocean.
- He was neglected—boats had come close but couldn’t hear him yelling.
- He was foolish—he took off his life jacket.
- Hope floats.
- I hope that your love is full of hope for what God can do for you and others.
