I had dinner Monday night with my parents; my dad was leaving afterwards for a meeting. He was making a life choice to end a habit, which had gripped him for most of his life. He was giving up smoking, proving in your seventies you can change.
I sat with him that afternoon, as he was finishing up on his last pack. My mother, after a heart attack several years ago, out of necessity quit smoking so my parents have a designated smoking area in their home, a place of retreat for dad downstairs. Most of my sisters and I have not picked up the habit…were just addicted to second hand smoke…we sit in the booths in the no smoking section right next to the smokers seating.
We talked about the upcoming life change, how he truly desired to be freed from the addiction of smoking. It is hard to change something, which has become a way of life, even when you can see the benefits of change. We talked about the recent tax increase, 60 more cents a pack, a hefty increase for multi-pack smokers, and as time passed, he puffed on those final cigarettes drawing him closer to the potential time of freedom. With that one question in his mind, Will I be able to do it? Hopeful in the outcome.
I want to talk with you about building a bridge. A bridge which will take us from our circumstance of today into tomorrow. A bridge build one plank at a time with each plank having special meaning. Today, building a bridge of hope.
My dad is no different than you or I when it comes to building a bridge of hope. All of us in this room have something we are hopeful for. It is a hope which will take us from where we are into something better tomorrow. Without hope, we would live lives of despair. What is it you are hoping for? What is it you would like to accomplish, to see changed, to be different in your circumstances of living which could only be done when you begin to lay down the plank of hope in the bridge of your life?
I want to help you to engineer your bridge with the words of the Bible, the truths taught by Jesus Christ, and the practical application of bridge building in your life. Then, over this next month, we are going to walk across the bridge and experience a dynamic difference in our lives. Do you want that for yourself? Do you want it for others you impact with your life? I do…
Lets take a moment to pray…
Lord, it is a struggle to break free from the addictions and co-dependencies of life. It is a struggle in situations were there seems to be darkness, and the walls appear to be closing in and the oxygen of life is just being sucked out. We need your help in building a bridge of hope. I pray for each one of us that you will help us, and most importantly bring us that hope in the midst of our situations so we can have a brighter tomorrow. May Your Holy Spirit speak to us and bring us that hope as we yield our lives to You. In Jesus name I pray…Amen.
I want to share with you from the Message how Jesus brought hope to a woman in what seemed to be a hopeless situation and it brought to her a bridge to tomorrow.
The story comes from John 8:1-11. I have an acrostic for the word Hope.
Hear what is being said.
Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. The religious scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?”
Hope only begins with an understanding of the underlying problem. Daniel 2:21 states He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
Wisdom comes to the wise and knowledge to the discerning, so we need to be able to hear what is being said and discern how to handle that knowledge in making wise decisions in life.
Jesus heard with discerning ears what was being said. Adultery is an act committed by more than one party. Moses said you are to stone the parties involved. This woman was in a hopeless situation. Stood naked before those gathered, rushed out of the bed where she was committing a capital offense, standing there alone.
How often do we rush to judgment? The law says, so lets do it. The good ole boy has been left to dress and slip away from the scene. It almost smells of a set-up…bringing her before the people to entrap Jesus, to set him up so as to say what he was teaching, a message of love, acceptance and forgiveness was contrary to the Law of Moses. But is it?
Operate with discernment
The passage states the obvious They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.
How discerning are you? Hope evaporates when we don’t have discernment for our situation and the situations of others. A misplaced word, a hastily spoken thought, a slip, a spill, a tumble snowball us down the slippery slope of hopelessness.
John Forbes Nash Jr. in the 1950’s came up with an original mathematical formula early in his life. He also had delusional thinking following the pregnancy of his wife, and was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. Having been in and out of mental hospitals, and his wife with the ability to commit him once again he told her, “If I go I will never come back again.” Alicia had to make a decision saying, “I need to believe something extraordinary is possible.” As a result of her decision, on October 11, 1994, John Nash was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science for his pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games. Her discernment of his condition, portrayed in the movie, A Beautiful Mind, brought hope and has influenced modern science. The door to hope is opened when we discern the time.
Push past the Negative
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote more in the dirt.
Wouldn’t you like to know what he was writing? When you push past the nay Sayers it opens the way for hope to come it. It goes on to say, Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest.
Finally…
Enter into the Truth.
The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her, “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?” “No one, Master.” “Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”
Jesus said, when you leave here, you have the ability to be changed. There is hope for you, take advantage, don’t go back to that lifestyle of the past but pursue the good, build a bridge into tomorrow with planks of right living today.
There will always be negative people who will try to suppress you, to tell you, “You can’t”. They will try to have you committed as a paranoid schizophrenic in your thinking. Learn the lessons of hope and press beyond.
What are the obstacles blocking your hope. What is holding you back from crossing that bridge into the future?
It has been almost a week. Dad is smoke free. His, “I hope I can make it.” Is pushing forward, and I am hoping with him
What can I hope with you? The best way to build a life of fulfilled hope is to know the hope giver, Jesus Christ.
I want to take a few moments to tell you about Him and the hope He will bring into your circumstances, to give you a moment to process the information so you can make an informed decision, then I want to pray for those of you who want to decide to allow Him to come alongside as you build the bridge of hope together….
Salvation
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