Happy are the Youth Whose Hope is in the Lord
Psalm 146:5 “Happy is the man/youth whose hope is in the Lord.”
For you that are older, do you remember how you felt when you graduated from High school? Did you experience excitement and hope for the future? Or did you feel hopeless about your future?
When I graduated from Sterling High School in Sterling, Kansas I didn’t have a lot of confidence about my future. I was more confused than self-assured about the future. I knew my next step was to attend Central Christian College of Kansas and take basic college courses. I was a young Christian, but as yet had not really yielded totally to God’s will for my life. I was searching but not really seriously thinking about the future. Growing up in a divided home where my mother was a Christian and my father was not a Christian so attending a Christian college helped me get grounded in my Faith.
God’s Word is Clear “Happy are the Youth whose hope is in the Lord.”
My prayer for youth and all of us here this morning that we will leave this worship service with a renewal of hope in our heart and life.
We all need a super blessing of hope in our life. Hope is what gets us through the darkest night. Hope is the belief that we are not permanently boxed in. Anything minus hope equals nothing.
To all youth I would suggest several conditions for you to embrace hope in your life.
Surrendering to God’s Will Gives You Hope
James 4:13-15 can be summarized this way, “Your tomorrows are wrapped up in complete surrender to God’s will.” “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why do you not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will we will live and do this or that.”
God has promised to guide you step by step. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (or will direct your paths).”
You don’t have to be fearful about the future? Give your future to God. Live one day at a time completely surrendered to God’s will. God usually guides you one step at a time. You don’t get the entire book for your life where you can look at the ending chapter and know exactly what you will be doing. It’s like unrolling a scroll one event at a time. We do know and have the assurance that our life is in God’s hand and whatever happens we will have the victory and be with Jesus.
• God reveals His will as you trust and obey Him day by day. It’s like walking in the dark with a flashlight. As you walk forward the light reveals what is ahead for a short distance.
• God directs your steps much like a GPS, Global Positioning System. There are 24 satellites 11,000 miles up that connect to your GPS. You punch in your ending address and you are guided street by street and turn by turn. Dwayne Yount our Director of Outreach often goes with me and we punch in the address in his GPS and the signal guides us to our destination. Proverbs 16:9 says “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” (NLT)
God’s Word is your GPS for your life. Psalm 25:4-5
Without out a roadmap for life you wander aimlessly from one experience to another. Without talking the hand of Jesus and walking with him you stumble and fall and have no one to pick you up. With Jesus by your side you are constantly being picked up and encouraged to keep going to fulfill you God given mission in life. Because Jesus lives you can face tomorrow.
#A man approached a little league baseball player during a game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, “Eighteen to nothing---we’re behind.” “Boy,” said the spectator, “I’ll bet you’re discouraged.” “Why should I be discouraged?” replied the little boy. We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!”
• Following God’s will is an adventure. Serving the Lord does not mean a pain free life or a life free of frustration but when you are in the will of God all is well with your soul and in spite of pain and challenges of life you find fulfillment and hope.
• God wants you to know His will. There is no greater joy or satisfaction than being in the center of God’s will. Jim Elliott, missionary to the Auca Indians, was killed by the very people he was trying to love. He wrote in his diary, “I have great joy in doing God’s will.” He also wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
• Jeremiah 29:11 has this good word for you as you plan for the future: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
• God will match your gifts and skills with His calling. It is a false assumption that if you want to do something it must not be God’s will. The Psalmist said in Psalm 34:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord; and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
• My prayer for each of you young people is that you might feel as I do after many years of serving the Lord. I have no regrets. I have enjoyed the blessing of the Lord many times more than I deserve.
• The best time to start doing God’s will is now. God will give you many opportunities to do His will. It is a false view to believe that if you have deliberately disobeyed the Lord you are doomed and will never have another chance to be in the center of God’s will. God not only forgives he forgets. Throughout Biblical history from King David to the Apostle Peter, men and women have stumbled and God has lifted them up and given them a new beginning.
It is God’s will for you to live a life of integrity. I have a couple verses for you to high-light in your Bible. Follow this verse and you will be saved of much grief. Titus 2:11-12 – “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” As Christ followers we say “No” to unrighteousness and anti-Christ attitudes in the world. This means when you go the internet and an alluring pop-up flashes before your eyes you immediately hit spam. Temptation starts with a glance and then a fantasy and then a worldly passion and addiction.
Determine to live a life of integrity and purity. Save your self for the person you marry and spend your life with. Build a life-long trust in your relationships. Say no to unrighteousness and live a life of no regrets. Character counts with the Lord.
As You Walk With Jesus You Have Hope.
As you walk with Jesus at your side you have hope and with Jesus there are no hopeless situations. In the time of the Apostle Paul bad things were happening to people, evil seemed to be overcoming good, Satan appeared to have the upper hand, but Paul proclaims to Christians in Corinth: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” 2 Corinthians 2:14
In our march through life following Jesus our life serves as an influence of joy like fragrance to a world filled with darkness and gloom. The joy of the Lord is our strength.
The Apostle John in the Book of Revelation preaches hope during times of tribulation and dark days. Christ followers were suffering persecution for their faith and under the cruel and merciless Roman government. The Revelation of Jesus Christ came as hope for Christians during the cruel reign of Nero and the Roman government. Jesus is presented as the ultimate reigning King on earth, king of kings and Lord of lords. Rev. 19:16
The vision of John in Revelation gives strength to the weak.
Faith to the doubting,
Courage to the timid,
Peace to the fearful,
Victory to the defeated,
Hope to the hopeless.
I want you to know that as you face your future you are not alone. Jesus has promised to be with you. You have the assurance that Jesus is for you when…
You are in situations over your head—
When you are cornered with no way out –
When you are up against a brick wall –
When you facing the Red Sea in front of you –
The desert is on each side of you the Egyptian army is closing in on you.
Like the Apostle John in Revelation you can refuse to let yourself become preoccupied with problems. John turned to Jesus and His Word. John was so preoccupied with the risen Christ that he didn’t have time to dwell on his own problems.
Remember God is your refuge in times of trouble. He cares for all Christ followers. If you are in the will of God, then nothing else matters. If you are in the will of God, then whatever else happens to you does matter to God. And God is your refuge and strength.
Don’t allow worry, fear, and anxiety to choke out your hope.
In Luke chapter 13 Jesus was approached by a woman with a hopeless condition. Luke 13:10-11, “On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.”
Here is a description of a person without hope, bent almost double with burdens that were compounded day by day. She may have been in the synagogue searching for comfort and acceptance. In the outside world she was probably despised and rejected without any friends. This woman represents many people that paste on smiles for public appearances, but live quiet lives of desperation. These people never quite connect with excitement and the joy of living. They muddle through their days crippled by constant cares, irritable more often than pleased, fearful more than courageous, apprehensive more than calm.
Jesus saw the woman and called her forward to him and said, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then Jesus put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” Luke 13:12-13
Can you imagine the feelings felt and expressed by the woman. For the first time in 18 years she can look at life around her and not stare at the ground. Luke says, “She straightened up and praised God.” She was no longer hopelessly locked into her present situation. She was set free. That’s a picture of hope. Hope is the untiring conviction that we are not permanently locked into our various predicaments.
Have you felt hopeless feelings? Have you had experiences in life weighting you down so you are bent almost double with undue stress, uncontrolled anger, worry, discouragements? Jesus is available to touch you and set you free from your afflictions…you can stand tall for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because of Jesus you Have Hope for the Future to Live an Abundant Life.
Jesus said in John 10:10, “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.”
Jesus doesn’t come into your life to take away but to add. More than a minus Jesus is a plus sign. When Jesus guides your steps you can accomplish the impossible. Jesus gives meaning and purpose to your life.
#On September 24, 2000, Laura Wilkinson achieved what had looked to be impossible: she won the coveted gold medal on her high dive in the Olympics in Sydney, Australia. And she did it with a broken foot.
Laura broke three bones in her foot during a routine dry-land training session only twelve weeks before the team trials. She thought her Olympic goals were crushed as well, but before she knew it she was in Sydney as a member of the U.S. Olympic diving team. With her foot in a cast, Laura couldn’t train in the pool. Instead, her coach critiqued her as she stood on the diving board, made arm motions, and went through the dives in her head.
Laura had this to say about her training, “When I broke my foot, I lost my focus. I wanted to be back in the water. But ‘pretend diving’ helped me remember how much I loved what I did.” Laura, her doctor, and her coach together designed a special shoe for her to wear when climbing the high-dive ladder. Before every dive and practice, Laura recited her favorite Bible verse, “I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 This verse had been her theme through her growing up years. In eighth grade she had even “lived” in a shirt with that verse printed on it.
In her final rounds of her Olympic competition Laura rose from eighth place. In the fourth round, she suddenly faced overwhelming fear! Her coach said to her, “Laura, do this dive for Hilliary,” a close friend who had been killed in a car accident. Laura took the focus off her-self and decided, “This is for God. This is for all my friends. Suddenly it wasn’t so scary anymore. She limped in pain to the top of the ladder, where she took off her “handicapped” shoe and threw it down to her coach. She balanced on the ball of her broken foot, prayed her silent prayer, then jumped and completed the dive that won the first U.S. gold medal in over thirty years in the ten-meter platform dive in Women’s Olympic competitions.
Her first words to a reporter after she won were the words from Philippians that had kept her so focused: “I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me.”
As a Christian your hope is not dependent on what the world does to you. Your hope is dependent on what you do in the world as you live in response to God’s great love.
I encourage you to become dispensers of hope. Remember Psalm 146:5, “Happy is the Youth whose hope is in the Lord.” And Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Your future is a bright as the promises of God.
