Transcript: Finding Peace in God's Word: Uplifting Scripture and Christian Music

Thank you. In John chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus tells us as Christians living in this world that we will face many uncomfortable trials. He said, I have told you these things so that in me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration. But be of good cheer, take courage, be confident, certain, undaunted. For I have overcome the world. I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you. Jesus was our prime representative of one who suffered. He set the example for us and provided the ultimate and eventual way out for all faith-filled believers whose hope lies not in this world, but in the unseen world above, called our eternal hope. Yes, we will face many troubles in this life, but it is by this way that our faith will grow and blossom. Our faith grows by being exercised, and the challenges of life are meant to produce fruit in the vineyard of our souls. 1 Peter 1, verse 6 In this you greatly rejoice Though now for a little while If need be You have been grieved by various trials That the genuineness of your faith Being much more precious than gold that perishes Though it is tested by fire May be found to praise, honor, and glory At the revelation of Jesus Christ Whom having not seen you love Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. There is nothing like the precious word of God to bring comfort, hope and peace to our spirits and souls when we are going through trials and troubles and distress of any kind. We personally know many people who do not know Jesus Christ's soothing comfort or his embracing love and living hope. As they go through their dark times, they have no hope of the promises that God pledges to his beloved children who obey and trust in him in all of life's difficulties. These promises are guaranteed to bring us through every dark veil if we will only trust in God. Prayer is our fuel and prayer is our lifeline to heaven. Faith is our hope of those things not yet seen. Our hope is our anchor, which gives us stability in the midst of every storm. Hope is the outcome or result of faith. Paul's Epistle in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 17-18 says, For our life affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceedingly and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. To have hope means to have a lively expectation of those things that you have longed for. Hopefully, our main goal in life and our greatest expectancy will be in the final realization of the promise of eternal life. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 12 through 13 declares fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life to which you are also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses In Isaiah chapter 55 verse 9, the Lord tells us, So shall my word that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me void, without producing any effect useless. but it shall accomplish that which I please in purpose and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For the word of God is living, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even unto the division of the soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God's promises are sure and trustworthy. What He says in His Word will come to pass if you will just believe. Listen as the following scriptures on hope are recited. And remember, every scripture is God-breathed, given by His inspiration, profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin. for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will, in thought, purpose, and action, so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3, verses 16-17 May the Lord give you renewed hope as you listen to his encouraging words. For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by our steadfast and patient endurance and the encouragement drawn from the scriptures, we might hold fast to and cherish hope. Romans chapter 15 verse 4 Genesis 50 21 declares Now therefore do not be afraid. I will provide and support you and your little ones. And he comforted them, imparting cheer and hope and strength. And he spoke to their hearts kindly. The book of Job tells us, The poor have hope, and iniquity shuts her mouth. Happy and fortunate is the man whom God reproves. So do not despise or reject the correction of the Almighty, subjugating you to trial and suffering. For he wounds, but he binds up. He smites, but his hand heals. He will rescue you in six troubles In seven, nothing that is evil for you will touch you In famine he will redeem you from death And in war from the power of the sword You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue Neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes At destruction and famine you shall laugh Neither shall you be afraid of the living creatures of the earth Job, chapter 5, verses 16 through 22. He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with nobles and inherit the throne of glory. for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. He will guard the feet of his godly ones but the wicked shall be silenced and perish in darkness for by strength shall no man prevail. 1 Samuel 2, verses 8 and 9 But on the contrary, as the scripture says, what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared, made, and keeps ready for those who love him, who hold him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying him, and gratefully recognizing the benefits he has bestowed. Paul's Epistle, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9 For the needy shall not be forgotten, and the expectation and hope of the meek and the poor shall not perish forever. Psalms, chapter 9, verse 18 Return to the stronghold of security and prosperity, you prisoners of hope. Even today I do declare that I will restore double your former prosperity to you. Zechariah 9.12 For God himself has said I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support I will not. I will not. I will not in any degree leave you helpless, nor forsake, nor let you down, or relax my hold on you, assuredly not. So take comfort and encourage and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my helper. I will not be seized with alarm. I will not fear or dread or be terrified. What can man do to me? Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5 through 6 He drew me out of a horrible pit. a pit of tumult and destruction, out of the miry clay, froth and slime, and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings. Psalms, chapter 40, verse 2. You will be secure, because there is hope. You will look about you and take your rest in safety. You will lie down with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. Job chapter 11, verses 18 through 19. For in this hope we were saved, but hope the object of which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees? But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure. Paul's Epistle, Romans chapter 8, verses 24 through 25. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. In you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame. Psalms, chapter 25, verses 1 through 3. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalms, chapter 27, verse 14. There is a story of an old woman who lay in a hospital bed dying. The doctor told the nurse she'll not live a day. Concerned, the nurse tried to be a friend to the dying woman, and after a few hours, she won her confidence. The old woman said sorrowfully, I have traveled all the way from California by myself, stopping at every city of importance between San Francisco and Boston. In every city, I visited two places, the police station and the hospital. You see, my boy ran away from home, and I have no idea where he is. I've got to find him. The mother's eyes seemed to flash a ray of hope as she added, Someday, he may even come into this very hospital. and if he does, please promise me you'll tell him his two best friends never gave up on him. Bending over the dying mother, the nurse whispered softly, Tell me the names of those two friends so I can tell your son if I see him. With trembling lips and her eyes filled with tears, the mother responded, Tell him those two friends. were God and his mother, and she closed her eyes and died. Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and one was lost. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? And when you found it, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders rejoicing, and when you got home, call in your friends and neighbors, saying celebrate with me, I have found my lost sheep. Count on it, there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue. This mother had never given up hope of seeing her precious son redeemed and saved by the helping hand of her great shepherd, Jesus Christ. For all of you who have loved ones, who are unsaved, keep praying and have faith and hope that Jesus Christ will go after the very last one of your relatives to bring them into his fold. Remember, nothing is impossible for God. David writes, I am still confident of this. I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalms, chapter 27, verses 13 and 14. In you, O Lord, do I put my trust and seek refuge. Never let me be put to shame, or have my hope in you disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. Psalms, chapter 31, verses 1 through 5. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and gave us everlasting consolation and encouragement and well-founded hope through His grace, unmerited favor, comfort and encourage your hearts and strengthen them. Make them steadfast and keep them unswerving in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 16-17 Be strong, and let your heart take courage. all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord. Psalms chapter 31, verse 24 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him, who revere and worship Him with awe, who hope for Him and hope in His mercy and lovingkindness. to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. Our inner selves wait earnestly for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted, relied on, been confident in His holy name. Let Your mercy and loving kindness, O Lord, be upon us in proportion to our waiting and hoping for you. Psalms chapter 33 verses 18 through 22. Amen. may also be able to comfort, console, and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble or distress with the comfort and consolation and encouragement with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as Christ's own suffering fall to our lot as they overflow upon his disciples, and we share and experience them. So, through Christ's comfort, is also shared and experienced abundantly by us. 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3-5 And now Lord what do I wait for and expect My hope and expectation are in you Deliver me from my transgressions. Make me not the scorn and reproach of the self-confident fool. Psalms chapter 39, verses 7 through 8. Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my help and my God. Psalms, chapter 42, verse 5. It is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 6 There was a small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains who had built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot they would not be able to use the new sanctuary. Unfortunately, the church with its undersized parking lot had used every inch of their land except for the mountain against which it had been built. In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the backyard. Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all members who had mountain-moving fame. They would hold a prayer session, asking God to remove the mountain from the backyard and to somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following week. At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300 members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. At 10 o'clock the pastor said the final amen We'll open next Sunday as scheduled He assured everyone God has never let us down before And I believe he will be faithful this time too The next morning As he was working in his study There came a loud knock at his door And when he called Come in A rough-looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered. He said, excuse me, Reverend, I'm from the Acme Construction Company over in the next county. We're building a huge new shopping mall over there, and we need some filled dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We'll pay you for the dirt we remove And pave all of the exposed area free of charge If we can have it right away We can't do anything else Until we get the fill dirt in And allow it to settle properly The little church was dedicated the next Sunday As originally planned And there were far more members With mountain moving faith On opening Sunday than there had been the previous week. This pastor had faith enough to believe that God would come through for them. Less than 10% of the congregation took the time to pray with the believing pastor who knew that God would make straight their paths and would not fail them. Their hope and belief in God's faithfulness was vibrant and alive. Jesus said to his disciples, who came to him asking why they could not drive out a demon of an epileptic boy. Jesus said to them, because of the littleness of your faith, that is your lack of firm, relying trust. For truly I say to you, if you have faith that is living like a grain of mustard seed, You can say to this mountain, move from here to yonder place and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you. Matthew chapter 17 verse 20 The word of the Lord declares, lean on, trust in, be confident in the Lord with all of your heart and mind, and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways, know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain. Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6 If you live in me, abide vitally united to me and my words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts. Ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you. John, chapter 15, verse 7. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong, confident, and take good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua, chapter 1, verses 5 through 9. You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. For you send blessings of good things to meet him. Psalms, chapter 21, verses 2 and 3. May He grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all of your plans. Psalms 20, verse 4 Trust, lean on, rely on and be confident in the Lord and do good. So shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on his faithfulness and truly you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the Lord and he will give you the desires and the secret petitions of your heart. Commit your ways to the Lord Roll and repose each care of your load on Him Trust, lean on, rely on and be confident also in Him And He will bring it to pass And He will make your righteousness and right standing with God Go forth as the light and your justice And right as the shining sun of the noonday Psalms 37, verses 3-6 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Jeremiah chapter 32 verses 26 through 27 I will heal their faithfulness. I will love them freely for my anger is turned away from Israel Hosea chapter 14 verse 2 O Lord my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me. Psalms, chapter 30, verse 2. Amen. Two. A woman many years ago writes, When I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz, who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her five-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat that illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying Yes, I'll do it if it will save her As the transfusion progressed he lay in the bed next to his sister and smiled as we all did seeing the color returning to her cheeks Then his face grew pale and his smile faded He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, Will I start to die right away? Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor. He thought he was going to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her. You see, understanding and attitude, after all, is everything. take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. This little boy was willing to give all because of the selfless love that he had for his older sister, no matter what it cost him, even his own life. For you are my hope, O Lord God. You are my trust for my youth and the source of my confidence. Upon you I have leaned and relied from birth. You are He who took me from my mother's womb, and you have been my benefactor from that day. My praise is continually of you. Psalms, chapter 71, verse 5. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8.25 Jesus made it very clear that eternal life only comes to those who make a total commitment to Him. This commitment will require complete obedience to His every command, not out of duty, but because we love Him. Our precious Savior gives his faithful followers encouragement and hope when he said, Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may also be and where I go you know and the way you know John's Gospel chapter 14 verses 1 through 4 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus, chapter 2, verses 11 through 13. We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1.5-27 Jesus gives us many promises. These promises are for those who are steadfast in their faith towards God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ They have made the Lord their fortress and comfort Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father Who loved us and gave us everlasting consolation and encouragement and well-founded hope through His grace and unmerited favor. Comfort and encourage your hearts and strengthen them. Make them steadfast and keep them unswerving in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 16-17 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, my fortress, my God. On Him I lean and rely, and in Him I confidently trust. For then He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. Then He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge. His truth and his faithfulness are a shield and a buckler You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night Nor of the arrow, the evil plots and slanders of the wickedness that flies by day There shall be no evil befall you Nor any plague or calamity come near your tent For he will give his angels special charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways of obedience and service. Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high because he knows and understands my name, has personal knowledge of my mercy, love, and kindness, trusts and relies on me, knowing I will never forsake him, no never. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy and show him my salvation. Psalms, chapter 91, verses 2-5 and verses 10 through 16. 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 23 and 24 and may the God of peace himself sanctify you through and through, separate you from profane things, make you pure and holy, consecrated to God, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete and be found blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Faithful is he who is calling you to himself and utterly trustworthy. And he also will do it. Fulfill his call by hallowing and keeping you. Hallelujah. Praise be the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In him is all hope. Thank you.