Introduction

Good morning, dear friends. As we gather here today, it's a joy to see your familiar faces and to share in this sacred space of fellowship and faith. We're here to delve into the deep well of God's Word, to seek wisdom and understanding, to find comfort and strength. And today, we turn our hearts and minds to a poignant passage from the Gospel of Luke, a passage that whispers hope into the hollows of hardship, that echoes with the promise of healing and help from heaven, and that holds out the hand of God for us to grasp.

In the 19th century, the "Prince of Preachers," Charles Spurgeon, once said, "Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity." Adversity, friends, is a night that we all must walk through. But as we do, we're not alone. We have the star of hope to guide us, a hope that is not just wishful thinking, but a hope that is anchored in the reality of God's love and power.

Let us now turn to the Scripture passage for today. It's from Luke 7:11-16: "Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, 'Don’t cry.' Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, 'Young man, I say to you, get up!' The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. 'A great prophet has appeared among us,' they said. 'God has come to help his people.'"

What an amazing passage! It's a passage that invites us to wrestle with the reality of hardship, but also to bask in the promise of divine help and healing. It's a passage that challenges us to hold onto God's hand, even when the storms of life threaten to pull us under.

Harnessing Hope in Hardship

In the midst of life's trials and tribulations, it can often feel as though we are alone, adrift on a stormy sea with no land in sight. But the passage from Luke that we've just read offers us a beacon of hope in the darkness. It tells us of a woman, a widow, who had lost her only son. Her heart was heavy with grief, her future uncertain. But then, Jesus stepped into her world, into her pain. He saw her, He had compassion on her, and He reached out to her in her time of need.

This is the first glimmer of hope that we see in this passage. Jesus sees us in our pain. He knows our struggles, our fears, our doubts. He understands our heartache and our despair. And He doesn't turn away. Instead, He draws near. He steps into our world, into our pain. He reaches out to us in our time of need. This is the hope that we can hold onto in the midst of hardship.

But this hope is not just something that we wait for, something that we hope will come to us. No, this hope is something that we can actively pursue, something that we can actively harness in the midst of hardship. And how do we do this? By turning our eyes to Jesus, by reaching out to Him in our pain, by clinging to His promises, by trusting in His love and power.

Next, Jesus doesn't just see us in our pain. He also acts. He steps in and brings healing and help. He brings life where there was death, hope where there was despair. And He can do the same for us. No matter what we're going through, no matter how dark the night, Jesus can bring healing and help. He can bring life and hope. This is the hope that we can actively harness in the midst of hardship.

But this hope is not just for us. It's also for those around us. When Jesus raised the widow's son from the dead, the people around them were filled with awe. They praised God. They recognized that God had come to help His people. And this is the third glimmer of hope that we see in this passage. Our hope in Jesus, our trust in His love and power, can be a beacon of hope for those around us. It can point them to Jesus. It can encourage them to turn to Him in their own times of need.

Finally, this hope is not just for the here and now. It's also for eternity. When Jesus raised the widow's son from the dead, He was giving a foretaste of the resurrection to come. He was pointing forward to the day when He will wipe away every tear, when death will be no more, when all things will be made new. This is the ultimate hope that we can hold onto, the ultimate hope that we can harness in the midst of hardship.

Healing and Help from Heaven

Amid our struggles, it's natural to feel alone, to feel as though we're facing our battles by ourselves ... View this full PRO sermon free with PRO