{"id":2962,"date":"2019-07-28T14:48:11","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T04:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2962"},"modified":"2019-07-28T14:48:11","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T04:48:11","slug":"hope-prayer-promise-28-07-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2962","title":{"rendered":"Hope, Prayer & Promise 28-07-2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hope,<\/i> Prayer & Pro<\/i>mise. <\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm 85;\u00a0 <\/span>Luke 11: 1 – 13<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Is\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life,\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

stated Emil Brunner a significant 20th<\/sup> Century German theologian and pastor.\u00a0 <\/span>We cannot live without oxygen and life without hope is meaningless. Hope is as important to us as oxygen.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s quite a claim, but the secularist and the religious agree that without hope there is despair.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course we all understand what hope is \u2013 that is, until we have to define it. There is hope and there is hope. I want to talk a little about hope but not at the level that \u2018Bill\u2019 and \u2018Sam\u2019 were speaking of hope.\u00a0 <\/span>Bill asked Sam, \u201cHave you ever realized any of your childhood hopes?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Sam responded, \u201cYes, when my mother used to comb my hair, I often wished I didn\u2019t have any.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

How full of hope those first disciples were. There they were travelling around with this exciting preacher who carried the presence and wisdom of God with him. They sat at his feet and asked, \u201cLord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples<\/i>.\u201d [Lk 11: 1; Mt 6:7]\u00a0 <\/span>No doubt Jesus\u2019 praying inspired them.\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus did teach them to pray. He gave them a simple prayer that captures all for which we ever need to pray. I once read that the Lord\u2019s Prayer, as we call it, is the prayer we should first pray or the prayer we should finally pray. It is appropriate to use it either as a blue print for our prayers or the prayer that we use at the end to ensure that we have covered all things. We could say so much about the Lord\u2019s Prayer but this sermon is not about it.\u00a0 <\/span>It is about the relationship of hope to prayer and the relationship of prayer and hope to God\u2019s promises.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Now it is not clear what comes first \u2013 hope, promises or prayer. It doesn\u2019t really matter. But we can be clear about the fact that hope, prayer and God\u2019s promises are inter-connected in our life\u2019s journey.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Firstly, let us talk about \u2018Hope\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>Hope is a very important ingredient in being human. Nothing can be achieved without hope. Though not all psychologists agree that hope is an emotion it is very much like an emotion [James Averill 1990].\u00a0 <\/span>Hope affects the way we perceive things, the way we behave, and it motivates our responses to events, especially in the case of adversity. It seems that all humans have a degree of hope and the level of hope has much to do with our early nurture and experiences. Andrew Fuller wrote; \u2018Hope is one of the principal springs that keep humankind in motion<\/i>\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Christianity has seen hope as one of the three theological virtues: faith, hope and love. However we want to understand the nature of hope and what its source may be, but we cannot deny its presence for all of us.\u00a0 <\/span>Emil Brunner spoke of hope as one of the ways in which what is merely future and potential is made vividly present and actual to us. Hope is the positive, as anxiety is the negative, mode of awaiting the future<\/i>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly, what is the relationship of hope to prayer? Is there a connection between hope and prayer? Hope is the belief, that there is a better way, a more positive outcome and that God wants the best for us.\u00a0 <\/span>Prayer is practicing our hope. Prayer springs out of a hope that there is more to life. Simply put, prayer is asking God for something; and, hope is the faith that God will answer. Hope is the confidence we have in God\u2019s promises.\u00a0 <\/span>Prayer is the conversation between God and us. When we are in sync with God\u2019s principals and commandments, our prayers become aligned with God\u2019s purposes. It is important to align our desires with God\u2019s will. Thus prayer is more than voicing our wishes and requests \u2013 it\u2019s about developing our relationship with God.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thirdly, our hope and prayers rest upon the foundation of God\u2019s promises. The prophet Jeremiah expresses this truth in chapter 29 verse 11 where he writes; For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope<\/i>. \u00a0 <\/span>In Hebrews 10:23 we read; Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful<\/i>. \u00a0 <\/span>We can now say that the ground of our hope is what God has done through Christ Jesus and the evidence for our hope is the Spirit confirming in our hearts that we are God\u2019s children.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If we turn to our reading we will see how hope, prayer and promise work together.\u00a0 <\/span>The disciples in hope request a lesson on prayer. Jesus teaches them what prayer is. The Lord\u2019s Prayer is the classic model for prayer. It covers all that is needed. It begins\u00a0 <\/span>– \u201cOur Father<\/i>, your will be done, forgive us our sins as we forgive others and give us our daily bread<\/i>\u201d.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Luke tells that Jesus after teaching the prayer encourages his disciples to pray persistently.\u00a0 <\/span>The importance of persevering in prayer is that we develop an understanding of what we are asking and of God\u2019s will.\u00a0 <\/span>The point is that we often ask for things that are not necessarily the best for us.\u00a0 <\/span>Through persistence in prayer we develop our relationship with and understanding of God. We learn what God\u2019s will is and pray accordingly.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Luke makes the point that God intends us to have the best as Jeremiah suggested when he said God has plans for our welfare and future<\/i>.\u00a0 <\/span>But Luke adds something very significant.\u00a0 <\/span>God, Luke says, will give us good things just as a parent wishes to give their children good things. But Luke makes it clear what is best for us. God will give us the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s a \u2018wow\u2019 thing.\u00a0 <\/span>God wants us to have far more than what we ask. God wants us to have the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and thereby we will be empowered and strengthened.\u00a0 <\/span>Remember that we\u2019re in a relationship with God and God\u2019s Spirit is essential to building up that relationship. It is not so much about God giving us what we want, but God giving us God\u2019s\u2013self.\u00a0 <\/span>You know it is more important about having someone who loves you through thick and thin, than someone who likes you and gives you things. No wonder Paul could say that the Spirit helps<\/i> us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words<\/i>. And again says; it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts<\/i> [Rom 8; 2 Cor 3].\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally a story of how hope sets us free from the things of this world.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In 79 AD, the city of Pompeii in southern Italy was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Less well known is another town, Herculaneum, which was also destroyed. This town was a popular first century resort until that day Mount Vesuvius exploded and buried it under sixty-five feet of solidified mud and lava.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Excavations of Herculaneum have revealed a wealthy town and like all towns had smaller blocks of tenement houses for the workers. In one of the smaller houses in a back room was found a cross that appears to have been hidden.\u00a0 <\/span>There are three nail prints that suggest the cross was covered.\u00a0 <\/span>We also know that there were persecutions in Italy. It is probable that the people of this home held a house church here in this ordinary house.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It tells us a story. The archeologist sees this cross and knows that Christians lived in this home. They were poor and possibly isolated from the pagan community. So the cross is of some general interest as it is part of the first archaeological evidence of Christianity in Rome before AD 79. The Christian sees this cross and begins to understand a great deal about this room and its occupants. There was hope in this tiny room; hope in the midst of what must have been a very meagre existence. There was hope that raised the hope of the few who lived or gathered there. There was freedom from the gods<\/i> that filled the lives of so many people with superstition and fear.\u00a0 <\/span>The cross symbolised the knowledge that one is loved. These were people who believed that the ultimate meaning of the universe is life-nourishing love. They believed they were not alone. They believed that there was a future with God. They lived in hope that gave them an inner strength to rise above the superstition, fear and drudgery of the common life.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC:\u00a0 <\/span>28\/07\/2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

pcwhitaker@icloud.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hope, Prayer & Promise. \u00a0 Psalm 85;\u00a0 Luke 11: 1 – 13 Is\u00a0 \u201cWhat oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life,\u201d stated Emil Brunner a significant 20th Century German theologian and pastor.\u00a0 We cannot live without oxygen and life without hope is meaningless. Hope is as important to us as oxygen.\u00a0 That\u2019s quite a claim, but the secularist and the religious agree that without hope there is despair.\u00a0 Of course we all understand what hope is \u2013 that is, until we have to define it. There is hope and there is hope. I want to talk a little about hope but not at the level that \u2018Bill\u2019 and \u2018Sam\u2019 were speaking of hope.\u00a0 Bill asked Sam, \u201cHave you ever realized any of your childhood hopes?\u201d\u00a0 Sam responded, \u201cYes, when my mother used to comb my hair, I often wished I didn\u2019t have any.\u201d How full of hope those first disciples were. There they were travelling around with this exciting preacher who carried the presence and wisdom of God with him. They sat at his feet and asked, \u201cLord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.\u201d [Lk 11: 1; Mt 6:7]\u00a0 No doubt Jesus\u2019 praying inspired them.\u00a0 Jesus did teach them to pray. He gave them a simple prayer that captures all for which we ever need to pray. I once read that the Lord\u2019s Prayer, as we call it, is the prayer we should first pray or the prayer we should finally pray. It is appropriate to use it either as a blue print for our prayers or the prayer that we use at the end to ensure that we have covered all things. We could say so much about the Lord\u2019s Prayer but this sermon is not about it.\u00a0 It is about the relationship of hope to prayer and the relationship of prayer and hope to God\u2019s promises. Now it is not clear what comes first \u2013 hope, promises or prayer. It doesn\u2019t really matter. But we can be clear about the fact that hope, prayer and God\u2019s promises are inter-connected in our life\u2019s journey. Firstly, let us talk about \u2018Hope\u2019.\u00a0 Hope is a very important ingredient in being human. Nothing can be achieved without hope. Though not all psychologists agree that hope is an emotion it is very much like an emotion [James Averill 1990].\u00a0 Hope affects the way we perceive things, the way we behave, and it motivates our responses to events, especially in the case of adversity. It seems that all humans have a degree of hope and the level of hope has much to do with our early nurture and experiences. Andrew Fuller wrote; \u2018Hope is one of the principal springs that keep humankind in motion\u2019. \u00a0 \u00a0 Christianity has seen hope as one of the three theological virtues: faith, hope and love. However we want to understand the nature of hope and what its source may be, but we cannot deny its presence for all of us.\u00a0 Emil Brunner spoke of hope as one of the ways in which what is merely future and potential is made vividly present and actual to us. Hope is the positive, as anxiety is the negative, mode of awaiting the future. \u00a0 Secondly, what is the relationship of hope to prayer? Is there a connection between hope and prayer? Hope is the belief, that there is a better way, a more positive outcome and that God wants the best for us.\u00a0 Prayer is practicing our hope. Prayer springs out of a hope that there is more to life. Simply put, prayer is asking God for something; and, hope is the faith that God will answer. Hope is the confidence we have in God\u2019s promises.\u00a0 Prayer is the conversation between God and us. When we are in sync with God\u2019s principals and commandments, our prayers become aligned with God\u2019s purposes. It is important to align our desires with God\u2019s will. Thus prayer is more than voicing our wishes and requests \u2013 it\u2019s about developing our relationship with God.\u00a0 Thirdly, our hope and prayers rest upon the foundation of God\u2019s promises. The prophet Jeremiah expresses this truth in chapter 29 verse 11 where he writes; For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. \u00a0 In Hebrews 10:23 we read; Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. \u00a0 We can now say that the ground of our hope is what God has done through Christ Jesus and the evidence for our hope is the Spirit confirming in our hearts that we are God\u2019s children. If we turn to our reading we will see how hope, prayer and promise work together.\u00a0 The disciples in hope request a lesson on prayer. Jesus teaches them what prayer is. The Lord\u2019s Prayer is the classic model for prayer. It covers all that is needed. It begins\u00a0 – \u201cOur Father, your will be done, forgive us our sins as we forgive others and give us our daily bread\u201d. Luke tells that Jesus after teaching the prayer encourages his disciples to pray persistently.\u00a0 The importance of persevering in prayer is that we develop an understanding of what we are asking and of God\u2019s will.\u00a0 The point is that we often ask for things that are not necessarily the best for us.\u00a0 Through persistence in prayer we develop our relationship with and understanding of God. We learn what God\u2019s will is and pray accordingly. Luke makes the point that God intends us to have the best as Jeremiah suggested when he said God has plans for our welfare and future.\u00a0 But Luke adds something very significant.\u00a0 God, Luke says, will give us good things just as a parent wishes to give their children good things. But Luke makes it clear what is best for us. God will<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Leighmoor.Master","author_link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/author\/leighmoor-master"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Sermons<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Hope, Prayer & Promise. \u00a0 Psalm 85;\u00a0 Luke 11: 1 – 13 Is\u00a0 \u201cWhat oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life,\u201d stated Emil Brunner a significant 20th Century German theologian and pastor.\u00a0 We cannot live without oxygen and life without hope is meaningless. Hope is as important to us…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2963,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions\/2963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}