Hope

you would please. Titus chapter 3. It's great to see Easter from a child's perspective, but what is it from your perspective? I think the most important thing about Easter is Easter brings hope. Easter brings hope. In Titus chapter 3 and beginning with verse number four down through verse number seven, it says, "But after this that the kindness and love of God our savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the renewing of the by regeneration, washing, regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our savior.

That being justified by his grace, we should be made hes according to the hope of eternal life." What I want to talk today is about hope. Finding hope. As you watched in the videos earlier, finding hope in many places. For some of you, it may be like Tupu, finding hope in prison. The Bible says in Actsap 16:2, "And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them." Paul and Silas had been arrested for their faith, for preaching the word of God. They've been beaten and thrown into prison. And yet, they they praise God. Even in prison, they found hope. And maybe you're in prison today.

Maybe not a physical prison like Tupu was, but a prison of even your own making. In Psalm 7:15, it says, "He made a pit and digged it and has fallen into the ditch which he made." A lot of times we are the ones that create our own prisons. They're not jails with bars, but they're prisons that we have put ourselves into. We're prisoners of guilt. We're prisoners of depression. We're prisoners of bitterness. We're prisoners of anger or prisoners of lust. And we've built our own prison. Maybe that's the way you are today. Now, I I don't have a prison here, but what I do have is I have some handcuffs to use an illustration.

So, I'm going to ask Ricky if you'll come up here and help me out with this illustration. And uh going to go ahead and put these handcuffs on to Ricky. And so, Ricky, if you'd come up here and sometimes in our lives, we are handcuffed. We are in prison. All right. And you better never be arrested. You couldn't handle it. All right, there we are. All right, stay right over here, Ricky. And and sometimes we're we're handcuffed and we're in prison and and maybe it's a prison of guilt. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 3 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every one of us in this room is guilty of something.

You may say, "Well, I've never robbed a bank or I've never murdered anybody." But let me ask you a question. How many of you have ever been guilty of speeding? Come on, hands up. How many have ever been guilty of speeding? There's a bunch of liars in this room, too. You're guilty of lying. How many have ever been guilty of running a red light or running a stop sign, not fully stopping California stop? Raise your hand. Come on, be honest here. How many of you have ever been guilty of uh looking on your phone while you've been driving? Raise your hand. Come on, be honest. All right. Guilty. All of you.

All right. You see, we'd like to think that I'm not so bad. I I've never done this or I've never done that. But still, what we need to realize is that we are guilty of sin. The Bible says in James chapter 2 and verse number 10, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. And so, whatever you've done in your life, you are guilty. And that guilt handcuffs us. That guilt holds us and and keeps us from having victory and keeps us from being free because of the guilt that we have in our life because of our sins. And what we need is we need forgiveness. Tupu found forgiveness.

In 1 Timothy 1:es 14 and 15, it says, "The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." This is a faithful saying worthy of all expectations that Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners of whom I am cheap. to whose testimonies he got saved out of prison. And maybe you've never been in prison. Maybe you've never been arrested and put in jail. But you are still guilty before a holy God. And no matter whether you've been in prison or not, you still need forgiveness. You need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. You need to you need to be saved through Jesus Christ.

You see, Jesus' last words on the cross were this. Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them. And that's what God wants to do for you today. He wants to forgive you. Whatever your guilt is that's binding you and holding you back. He says, I forgive that guilt. I forgive that sin. In Romans chapter 4 and verses 7 and 8, it says ble saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. What that means is basically that God wants to bless you with forgiveness. No matter who you are today, you can be free from the guilt of sin.

You can be free from the prison of your sin by asking for forgiveness from God himself. See, he's the only one that can set you free. In John 8 verse number 36, it says, "If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." Wouldn't it be free from those handcuffs, Ricky? All right, come on up here. Let's say now you got to ask me. Can you please take it off? All right. Now, listen to what the Bible says in Romans chap 10:es 9 and 10. The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believed unto righteousness, and with the mouth confessions made unto salvation. Romans 10 and verse number 23 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." You see, folks, Tubu was forgiven for his sins. He He was not not because of what he did, but because he asked for forgiveness. He received a pardon from the governor, but more importantly, received a pardon from God. And today, you need to ask God for forgiveness to be released from your sins. So, Ricky, come on up here. We'll release you now. Well, we'll get it later. No, I got it right here.

All right, let's go ahead and release him. And when you ask God, God, would you forgive me of my sins? Would you give me your salvation through Jesus Christ? God releases you from that guilt. He gives you hope like he gave Tupu hope and you can have hope today. You see in Titus chapter 1 and verse number two it says in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. Now we hear that word hope we it means to us that it's something we're not sure if it's going to happen. For example, how many I've got a couple gift cards here. California. How many hope I will give you one of these cards?

Raise your hand. How many of you hope I'll give you one of these cards? Raise your hand. Downstairs, too. Raise your hand if you hope you'll get a card. I got a card downstairs for you. If you hope you'll give a card. All right, put your hands down. That's not the kind of hope it's talking about here. See, the kind of hope it's talking about here is you already have it. Before the service, I gave two different people a card. One upstairs and one downstairs. So, go ahead and stand up with your card. You got the hope of the California Pizza. See, they've got the hope. And the one downstairs, he's got the hope.

And today, you either have it or you don't. Do you have this card, Abby? Good. All right. See, she does. She She hopes I might repent and give it to her. She hopes I might have mercy on her. But that's not having it. To have it, you've got to receive it. You've got to accept it. And so, I'm not going to do it with Abby. I'll do it with somebody else. Do you Would you like to have this gift card? Yeah. All right. There you are. Now, see, that's salvation. I want it. God g said you could have it. You have to receive it. And that's the hope of eternal life. When you receive Jesus Christ, his sacrifice upon the cross that we have celebrated today.

That's where hope for eternal life comes from. 1 John 5 112. He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God, that you may know know that you have eternal life. that you may believe on the name of the son of God. You see, Tubu knows that he has a pardon because he received that pardon from the governor and a number of years ago. And you can know that you have been pardoned by the king of kings and the lord of lords. You can know that your sins are forgiven. You can know that you are released from the prison of your guilt by trusting in Jesus Christ as your savior.

But you know, as a Christian, you've also got to let go of the guilt and the bitterness and the anger. Ricky, I want you to come back up here again. Help me out again if you would. And I need somebody to help you with. So, Alex, would you come up here, too, as well? All right. I'm going to put one here on Ricky. And I'm going to put the other one over here on Alex. Now, here's what happens so often, folks, as Christians. As Christians, what we do is we get bitter and we get angry at someone and we hold on to that bitterness and that anger. In Acts 8:es 22 and 23, it says, "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee, for I perceive that thou are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity."

You see, when you don't forgive somebody, it's like you're handcuffed to them for life. When you won't let go of that bitterness and that anger, it's like you're handcuffed to that person. And everywhere you go, you carry that bitterness with you. And that's why you've got to let it go. You got to ask God to forgive you. In 1 John 1:9, it says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." In Ephesians 4:es 31-32, it says, "Let all for bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking. Be put away from all malice and be a kind one to another.

Tend to guard forgiving one another even as God for Christ sath forgiven you. Will you forgive him?" Will you forgive him? Yes, I forgive you. All right. Tighter. Let's see if I get it in here. All right. There you go. And you can release Alex there, too. All right. But here's the point. Some of you have lost hope because you're holding on to bitterness. You're holding on to anger. Maybe it's a a parent or spouse or maybe it's a relationship you had in the past or somebody that hurt you. But you know that bitterness is like handcuffing yourself to that person and it never goes away. And the only way to find hope is by forgiveness.

to forgive as Christ has forgiven you. There's an interesting verse in Zechariah chapter 9:12 says, "Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that I'll render double unto thee." He said, "Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope." And you know what? You got to realize that you got to find the stronghold of hope in Jesus Christ. This last month, my wife read to me a Facebook notice of one of our former members. Her husband got saved and baptized. She got saved 11 years ago here in Hawaii. She prayed for her husband for 11 years to get saved. She never gave up hope.

That was a difficult 11 years, but she believed in God and had hope. Find a stronghold of hope. Whatever your situation, don't be a prisoner of hopelessness, but be released from that prison by the forgiveness of God for your sins, by forgiving others how they've hurt you, and hold on to that hope that God has given you. But we also need to find hope in our relationships. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, it talks about the unbelieving wife and the living the unbelieving husband living with unbelieving wife or unbelieving wife living unbelieving husband. You know what happens when that other person's not saved or or they're not living the way they should or there's some problems in your marriage?

Are are you just going to give up? Ricky and Christine came to a point where they were done but God wasn't done. And we need to realize that that we we need to find hope in our relationships. Now, I've often said no one should have to tolerate the three A's. No one should tolerate abuse or adultery or addiction. And in those kind of situations, we need to deal with them strongly and we need to say this is not acceptable. But at the same time, we can find hope in any situation. I have seen couples that were hopeless. Couples that were done, couples that had nothing left, and yet God gave them hope.

And maybe today you're in a relationship, whether it's with your spouse or your family or somebody else, and you've lost hope in that relationship. Ask God to change you, not change the situation. If you listen to the video carefully, when Ricky gave his testimony, he realized, God, even if I'm even if I don't find a wife, if I have no wife in the morning, I still need you. And no matter what your situation, you need God. And you need God to change you. You don't need God to change your spouse. You don't need God to change the other person. You need God to change you. In Romans 12:18, if it be possible as much as lifeth in you, live peacefully with all men.

See, so often the reason we don't change see change in our relationship is because we're waiting for the other person to change. And we put all the responsibility on them. And yes, it takes two people, but you know what? I can't change them. Only God can. The only one that I can change is myself. And when I allow God to change me, that allows God to change my situation or to change me. And today, maybe you need to ask God to change you. Change by going to church. I'm glad you're here today. But as Ricky shared his testimony, one of the things that changed their relationship when they started going to church more faithfully, the Bible says in Psalms 42:es 4 and 5, "When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me.

For I'd gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God with a voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down, oh my soul, and why art thou disqued me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. I find that when life is hopeless, the best place I can go is to church where I find hope. And we can find hope also in the Bible uh in in Romans 10:17, the Bible says, "So then faith come by hear and hear and by the word of God." If you want your life to change, change comes through the word of God. You got to start reading the Bible, studying the Bible, meditating the Bible, because that's where you're going to find change.

And you find change in prayer. In Romans 12:2, it's 12:12. It says, "Rejoice in hope, patient in tribulation, continue an instant in prayer." And the only way we're going to find change is to find that change in prayer. And then get help. In James 5:16, the Bible says, "Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availth much." I remember the day that Christian came in my office. I remember a little bit later the day that Ricky came in my office and they had to humble themselves and say, "Pastor, we need help." And because they found help, they found a new relationship.

They found hope. And maybe you're here today and you need help in your relationship or you need help in your life. And by the way, if you want to help in your marriage, you can go to uh www.ohana.ohana.urch/marriage. www.ohana.urch/marriage. I have a series of videos on there. Exact same things I counseledled them with. You'll find on that website. But if you lost hope in your relationship, find hope in Jesus Christ. You see, I can't always promise you your spouse is going to say, "I I've seen miracles. I've seen couples that were all but done and even done and God brought them back together." There's some right here in this service today that are that way.

And I've seen God do miracles. And I can't but I cannot guarantee your spouse is going to say, "But I can guarantee you this. God will never leave you nor forsake you." And you can find hope in him. You need to find hope to escape the prison of your guilt. You need to find hope in your relationship. And maybe today you just need to find hope again. In Luke chapter 15, there's a story of the prodigal son who went far from the father, but he came to himself and he said, "You know what? In my father's home, the servants are better off than I am." And he went back home and found hope in his father.

When his father saw him a far off, he didn't treat him as a servant. He welcomed him back as a son. And maybe you've been away from the Lord. And maybe you've been away from God and you need to find like Emily, you need to find hope in God. Again, so often what happens, we get caught up in this cycle of despair. In Romans chapter 5 and verses 1-5 it says, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation work patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us."

Folks, understand there's a cycle of hope and there's a cycle of despair. People come to me and they want counsel. They say, "I've lost hope." And I say, "Here's what you need to do." And they go out and they do it for a little bit and they come back and say, "Pastor, this isn't working." It's because you got to cycle through this again and again and again and again until you get where you need to be with the Lord. It's not a one-time process. It is a cycle of hope, finding hope in our situation. And then that when that tribulation comes again, we find more hope and we find more hope and we just keep cycling through that hope.

See, we may understand why why what happened happened. You know, as Emily shared, she went through a traumatic experience as a child. And you may not, some of you may have experienced those kind of things as well. You say, why did this have to happen to me? As a young child, I was raised in a home with a very abusive father. Was beaten quite often. And often I would ask the question, why God? Why do I have to be beaten by my father? Why do I have to be treated like this? And we may not always find that answer. But in Romans chapter 8 verse 28, the Bible says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose, for whom he did for no, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

I don't know why I had to go through what I did as a child, but I know that God is good and God has brought me where I am today. God is faithful and I can trust in that faithfulness and I can trust in the goodness of God and I can find hope in him no matter what my situation. Don't let what happened to you in the past define you today. The Bible says in 1 Chronicles 4:9 and 10 talks about a man named Jabz was more honorable than his brethren. His mother called his name Jabz saying because I bear him with sorrow. The name Jabz in the Hebrew is literally sorrow. This mom named her child Sorrow. Every time she spoke to him, every time his name was spoken, it was sorrow.

Hey, Sorrow, come over here. Hey, Sorrow, get to work. That was his name. Uh, we don't know exactly why she named him Sorrow. Something terrible must have happened when he was born. Maybe his father died or left. Maybe she died in childbirth. In her last statement, we all name him Jabz or Sorrow. Well, we don't know exactly why he was named that, but this child was born with the name sorrow. Talk about traumatic. But listen to what the Bible says. And Jabz called unto God of Israel, saying, "Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me."

And God granted him that which he requested. Here was a man that started out being born into sorrow, and he said, "You know what? I'm not going to let that define me. I'm not going to let that control me. I'm not going to let that be the rest of my life as to be a life of sorrow. He said, I want God to bless me. And today, you can find hope again. No matter what's happened in your life, no matter what you've gone through, you can find hope in the risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. You can find hope in him. So why wait any longer? In Psalms chapter 39:7, "And now, Lord, why wait? What weight I for, for my hope is in thee.

You see, Emily waited till she was in her 30s to get things right with God. And I'm so thankful she did. But why wait until you're older? Why wait another day? Why wait another week? Why not get it right with God today? I've got two verses I'm going to close. In Proverbs chapter 13:12, it says this, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life." One of the hardest things with hope is hope doesn't always happen right away. That's why it's called hope, right? And so we we face our situation. Okay, I'm going to try changing this. And then nothing changes. We lose hope real quickly.

We just kind of give up and we say, "It hasn't happened." But listen to what this verse says because I want you to see the illustration that God has given us. He says, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." It's hard to wait for hope to be fulfilled. It's hard to wait to see God change things. But when the desire cometh is a tree of life, folks, a big old tree like the one they're going to put on the screen right now, that didn't start yesterday. You know how that started? as a little sapling and it took a lot of years for it to grow into that big tree. And that's the way hope is. You have no hope if you don't plant the seed.

There's no hope. But if you plant the seed, that's the start of hope. But you've got to water it. You got to cultivate it. You got to weed it. You got to continue to work it and wait for that hope to come and take full fruit. And sometimes that takes time. But today, you can find hope in God. You see, folks, I have found most people don't lose hope in God as much as they lose hope in themselves, but they blame God. God can't change this. Well, God can't change it because you're not changing anything. God can't forgive me. God says, "I'll forgive you for whatever your sins because that's what Jesus died for."

You see, we lose hope in ourselves, but the best place to find hope is in the risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Are you in a prison? Some of you are in a prison of guilt for your sins because you've never been saved. And you don't know if you died, you'd go to heaven. But that's exactly why Jesus died, so you could. And he wants to free you from that prison and give you the hope of eternal life that you can know you're going to heaven. He wants to forgive your sins. Some of you have got to let go of that bitterness and the anger at somebody else because all you've done is handcuffed yourself to them for the rest of your life.

And until you forgive them as Christ forgave you, you're going to be dragging that with you everywhere you go. Some of you have lost hope in a relationship and you just don't see how it can change. And if you're looking to the other person to change, you're going to continue to lose hope because as much as life in you, the change has to start right here. And you got to say, "God, either change my situation or change me because I need you either way." And trust in him. And some of you because of something that's happened in your life that's come to define who you are, you've lost hope. And I don't know if I can give you an answer why it happened, but I can tell you this. You can find hope and peace in Jesus Christ. You can find hope again. Romans 15:13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.