Responding To A World Of Despair

INTRO.- ILL.- A grandmother overheard her 5-year-old granddaughter playing "wedding." The wedding vows went like this: "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say may be held against you, you have the right to have an attorney present. Now you may kiss the bride."

ILL.- While enjoying an early morning breakfast in a northern Arizona cafe, four elderly ranchers were discussing everything from cattle, horses, and weather, to how things used to be in the "good old days."

Eventually the conversation moved on to their spouses. One gentleman turned to the fellow on his right and asked, "Roy, aren’t you and your bride celebrating your fiftieth wedding anniversary soon?" "Yup, we sure are," Roy replied.

"Well, are you gonna do anything special to celebrate?" another man asked.

The old gentleman pondered this for a moment, then replied, "For our twenty-fifth anniversary, I took Bea to Tucson. Maybe for our fiftieth, I’ll go down there and get her."

Some marriages don’t last for one reason or another. Many seemingly good marriages don’t last.

ILL.- In Clark County, Nev., — and therefore Las Vegas — a marriage license costs $55. There’s no waiting period or blood test, and the marriage bureau is open 24 hours on holidays and weekends (till midnight other days). Perhaps that’s what motivated Britney Spears to marry childhood pal Jason Alexander for all of 55 hours. It’s just too convenient!

The Little White Wedding Chapel has seen more than its share of short-duration celebrity weddings.

Past at-least-temporarily-happy couples at the LWWC include:

- Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow in 1966, divorced 1968

- Bruce Willis and Demi Moore in 1987, divorced 2000.

- “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and “Diva” Debra McMichael in 2000, divorced 2003.

Lovebirds Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie exchanged vows in 2000 at the Little Church of the West on the Strip. That marriage ended in 2003. Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford said “I do” in 1991 at the same church they split up in 1995.

Many seemingly good things don’t last. Marriages, families, relationships, jobs, lives, etc.

Our world is drowning. It’s drowning in sorrow and despair! The reason is because people are searching for something lasting and they haven’t found it!

ILL.- Early in 1989, when Donald Trump’s bank account was still bulging, a writer asked Trump the inevitable question about what horizons were left to conquer. “Right now, I’m genuinely enjoying myself,” Trump replied. “I work and I don’t worry.”

“What about death?” the writer asked. “Don’t you worry about dying?” Trump dealt his stock answer, one that appears in a lot of his interviews. “No,” he said. “I’m fatalistic and I protect myself as well as anybody can. I prepare for things.”

This time, however, as Trump started walking up the stairs to have dinner with his family, he hesitated for a moment. “No,” he said finally, “I don’t believe in reincarnation, heaven or hell—but we go someplace. ” Again a pause, “Do you know,” he added, “I cannot, for the life of me, figure out where.”

Trump’s words expose and express the sadness of the people of this world. All the people in Hollywood, all the people in politics, all the people with their big bank accounts don’t have the answer or a clue as to what really gives meaning to life.

BUT WE DO! We know that there is more to life than this life. We believe in a better life than the one that any person can experience here and now.

Matthew 6:19-20 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Luke 12:15 "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Most people have put ALL their stock in this world, but this world is not lasting. Everyone gets old. Everyone dies. Everything fades. Everyone loses everything eventually. Surely there is something more! There is!

I John 2:17 “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

There is life after death! There is a better life after death. There is something greater to live for. There is hope rather than despair.

PROP.- How do we respond to a world of despair? What do we do? What can we do?

1- Live your faith

2- Stand firm in your faith

3- Spread your faith

I. LIVE YOUR FAITH

II Cor. 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”