24th April 2022 - Teaching Service - Yasmin Chaffer - Prisoner of Hope

Of hope. Can these bones live? That was the question that God posed

to the prophet and priest is Ekiel, whom he took by the Holy Spirit

and sat down in a valley full of dry bones. Ezekiel thirty seven,

verse three. Can these bones live? Ezekiel understood the power of the One

True God when he was facing bones that were very dead. Wisely, he

answered, Sovereign Lord, you alone no. Ezekiel's name means God will strengthen.

Think about that as you picture a hope, a dream, a heartfelt

desire that you've prayed about, maybe even for a long time. Perhaps it's

a hope or dream that you've cherished but not dared to pray about for whatever

reason. For example, you feel foolish for even wanting it. You could

have it thinking you think your age, your circumstances, you name it,

disqualify you. Maybe you're facing an impossible looking situation. Can these bones live?

It's so important to understand God's perspective on what we're praying about, or

maybe what we're no longer praying about, to know what to think. Dry

bones, these things that seem to be dead in your life can live again.

Hopes, dreams, impossible or impossible looking situations? Are these dead?

Can these bones live? Is it time to let go of certain hopes,

dreams and situations, trust them to God and move on. Or is it

time to start dreaming again? Not just dreaming, but prophesying to your situation

as a holy spirit, it leads. Does he want to do something new?

Perhaps something that looks different to what you've been dreaming? When we've allowed

ourselves, as we sang this morning, let your word move in power.

Let's let what's dead come to life. It's good and important to share from

the heart what we're thinking and feeling with God, and also so important to

listen, to give him time and space to share from his heart, to

help guide our prayers for his will in our lives, and prophesy his situations

as he leads. Without going into it in great detail, the Lord responded

to Ezekiel in verses four to six, prophesy of these bones, and say

to them, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. This is

what the sovereign Lord says to these bones. I will make breath enter you,

and you will come to life. I will attach tendence to you and

make flesh come upon you. And cover you with skin. I will put

breath in ye, and you will come to life. Then you will know

that I am the Lord. And that's what happened, except that there was

no breath verse seven. So I prophesied as I was commanded. I looked

and tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them, but there

was no breath in them. God was in it. He was right there,

and Ezekiel had done exactly as commanded, but for whatever reason, it

didn't all happen at once. Ezekiel even prophesied twice that breath should enter the

bones, once at the beginning in verse five and once at the end of

the prophecy in verse six. That's such an important message for us to remember

when we're facing an impossible situation. We've done exactly as God has told us

to do, but it hasn't happened. The changes we've been believing for haven't

taken place. Do we give up or do we go back to the author

and finisher of our faith. It's worth remembering that our job is to believe

and not to achieve, Otherwise we'd be called achievers, not believers. It

was not Ezekiel's job to make breath ender the dry bones. It was his

job to prophesy to the bones by faith, as directed by God. I

don't know why. God put an extra step in this process and told Ezekiel

to prophesy again to the breath, to enter the bodies that had risen up

from the bones. But he did. They came to life, and God

explained to Ezekiel the purpose of what had happened. What is resurrection Hope,

the very real hope that that which is dead can be brought back to life.

The direction hope is the hope that comes from the truth and the fact

that the Lord, the giver of life, died. Jesus chose to submit

to God's will for his life, to take the punishment for our sins all

the times that we have broken or will break, the law of love.

Love God, love others, love yourself. Jesus was dead, then did

the impossible and rose to life again. It's worth noting that Jesus' resurrection life

was quite different to his life before he died. When he appeared to Mary

Magdalene at the tomb where he'd been laid after the crucifixion, she who knew

him so well, actually didn't recognize him until he said her name. I

think there's something so personal and so profound in that when someone Jesus who loves

you so completely says your name, then you recognize them. Similarly, when

the two disciples were walking on the road to Maus, about seven miles from

Jerusalem, they were talking about everything that had happened when Jesus caught up with

them, but they were stopped from recognizing him. It was only later when

Jesus took bread blessed and broke it, that their eyes were open to who

he was, the Bread of life, whose body was broken for them,

and he then vanished. My point is that when something has died and is

brought back to life, it might look or be both similar and different to

previously. Don't be disappointed and keep looking back to what once was. Be

thankful, embrace this new season in life, and recognize that God is with

you in this too, as he always has been and always will be.

Once again, we go back to the promises of God, such as in

Isaiah forty one versus ten, which is reiterated in Matthew twenty eight twenty I

Am with you. You might think, oh, yes, I know that

but the better we know the one who is saying that, the more reassuring

and comforting will find it, the more confidence and strength it will give us.

I am with you. What is biblical hope? I say biblical hope

as opposed to how it's commonly used. I know I've said this before,

but people often say, for example, I hope that it doesn't rain tomorrow.

That's wishful thinking and not biblical hope. I'm making the point because popular

use of the word hope in this way can dilute our understanding of the word

hope when we read it in the Bible or in terms such as resurrection hope.

I like Christine Kane's definition of hope. She's the speaker and author we've

been looking out for the last number of weeks during the daytime Bible study.

Her teachings are excellent, as so much in them. The Bible study is

on Tuesdays at eleven o'clock on zoom. If you can make it, it's

very good. The link is on the church website. This is Christine's definition

of hope in her book called Unexpected. Hope is unshakable confidence in God.

It doesn't deny the reality of our pain, but it does give us a

life beyond our pain. It gives us permission to believe in a new beginning.

It is the happy and confident expectation of good that lifts our spirits and

dares us to believe for a different future. It's always looking to God with

expectation. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope

is in you, ps I'm thirty nine, verse seven. She goes on

to say, but when we look hope, when all we feel is the

pain of loss and disappointment, it can be so hard to believe that God

wants to help us or that he cares, because we have more questions than

answers, more doubt than faith. And yet that is the perfect time to

become a prisoner of hope. This great concept is based on Zehara nine,

verse twelve, and I'm reading from the New King James version. Return to

the stronghold or fortress uted just for us, where we can chain ourselves to

the promise that God is working all things for our good, which is based

in Romans eight twenty eight. Even when all things are falling apart from the

high tower. Of this perspective, we prisoners of hope gain a whole new

perspective. I love that a pace, a place created just for us,

where we can chain ourselves to the promise that God is working all things for

our good, even when all things are falling Apart from the high tower of

this perspective, we prisoners of hope gain a whole new perspective. I once

went paintballing. It was a lot of fun for anyone not familiar with it.

Two groups of people are pitted against each other, and the group you're

not in is the enemy. You have a type of gun and your ammunition

is little balls of paint. It was a joint Hen and Stag do so

it was Hen's versus stags, and the stag the bridegroom to be was given

this huge floral dress to put over his normal clothing, so obviously he was

in easy target. Once you'd been hit once by paintball, you were then

out of that particular game. There were different settings, and the one that

I particularly remember was a fortress with a kind of clearing around it. When

your team was in the fortress, you won because it was easy to defend,

as you could see when the enemy was approaching. It's a bit like

that as a prisoner of hope in God, who is our fortress. I'm

not suggesting it will always be easy to defend off his position of faith as

a prisoner of hope. But when it was our turn in the fortress,

we were constantly on alert to activity of the enemy and quick to respond when

we saw any We need to be like that tea, quick to respond with

the word of God the sword of the Spirit when we'd spot any activity of

the enemy. I'm not suggesting that we wait to see until we see enemy

activity before utilizing the word of God either, But like Christine says, chain

ourselves for the promise that, for example, God is working all things to

our good. There may be times when you need to reload your weapons,

so to speak, when you've been under heavy fire from the enemy and you

need to dig back into the word of God. God. These are times

when your friends can cover you for a period, but obviously there comes a

time when you have to be ready to fight again and defend your position as

a prisoner of hope. So, in choosing to return to our stronghold as

prisoners of hope, let's revisit those situations where we've given up hope or all

but given up hope or feel like giving up hope? What is the Lord

saying to you about these situations? What does resurrection hope mean? Here to

which of God's promises should you be changed? Changed again? Are going to

quote Chris's book Unexpected. God wants us to believe and understand that his promises

don't have expiry dates. They aren't like passports or gym memberships. They aren't

like condiments in the fridge or the food in the pantry. Our heavenly Father

has given us a book full of his promises that have no expiry dates,

and He will always make good on his promises. Holding to our faith even

in the face of deep disappointment is critical. Making God's promises bigger than our

disappointments is essential. Getting into His word and letting it get into us brings

our hearts back to life so we can trust again. Worshiping Him opens the

door for the Holy Spirit to encourage us and heal us. Learning how to

change our perspective through steps like these helps us to transition from where we are

to trusting God through it. I was listening to a sermon recently on a

fresh baptism of fire. The guy said, it's vital that we live in

a place of hunger, surrender, and thankfulness. I would like to suggests

that these three attitudes are also essential when we consider how to become and remain

prisoners of home. Let's look briefly at how we stir up hunger within ourselves

for God and his word refined focus. I was once enjoying a day trip

to London and I wanted to try out the oldest bagel shop in the city

in Brick Lane. The shop's been going for almost fifty years. It's opened

twenty fourth to seven and it's hugely popular. I decided I want to do

the whole I wanted to do the whole traditional thing and try assault beef one.

I figured, as I was then heading home, I wouldn't bother getting

a drink. This was a salt beef bagel. By the time I got

on the train at Waterloo, I was thirsty, but okay. Not too

far into the journey, my thoughts started to drift to water more and more.

Quite a while before I got off the train at Staines, I was

thinking virtually, virtually incessantly about water I say virtually because my only other thought

which I kept pushing myself towards, was revelation about what the Psalmist was saying

in Psalm forty two and verse one. As the deer pants for streams of

water, so my soul pants for you, my God. I was only

thinking about one thing, drinking water. Why was I only thinking about water?

Because my body knew how much I needed it? Refined focus. If

we knew, if we recognized how much we needed God, how would that

change our habits, habits in our thought life? How and when we spend

time exclusively with God as well as connecting with Him throughout the day, how

we speak et ce. Refined focus will help us to live in a place

of hunger for God, that we might that will help us to become and

remain prisoners of hope. Hunger is a gift from God. It might not

be what we would normally consider to be a gift, but I found an

article on physical hunger interesting that was in medical news today. Hunger serves an

obvious purpose. It tells us that we need to eat to keep our bodies

fuelled. However, the sighting of a tasty treat being shared in an office

may tempt us even if we're not technically hungry. That's because our brains are

on the lookout for energy rich foods just in case we need to go without

later on. There are two types of hunger, homeostatic hunger, which is

related purely to balancing our energy reserves short term, in other words, what

I'd call normal hunger, to remind us to meet our immediate needs, and

headonic hunger, which makes use of opportunities to gather extra energy. For us,

spiritually speaking, homeostatic hunger is about feeding ourselves regularly with a word of

God, our daily need, that quality time that we need to spend with

Him because we need it. Headenic hunger, making use of opportunities to gather

extra energy, can be satisfied when, for example, we listen to extra

teaching, attend a Bible study, go on a retreat, or to a

Christian conference. So hunger helps us to remain prisoners of hope, assuming we

respond to its call. Of course, the second point is surrender. It's

important that we think of surrender not in terms of giving up, as in

resignation to a situation, but in terms of surrendering our will to God's The

ultimate example of surrender of course, is Jesus life and death. As it

says in Philippians Too, Verses six to eight, that though he was in

very nature God of his own free will, he gave up all he had

and became human, and Jesus had his own will as a man and chose

to live a surrendered life. Jesus said, I only do what I see

my father doing in John five nineteen, and I say exactly what the Father

has told me to say. In John twelve fifty, Jesus surrendered his nature

as God and became a man. He also surrendered his free will to choose

to do what God was doing and say what God was saying, the opposite

of what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when they used their

free will to disobey God with their actions and words. Jesus was praying in

the garden of ghathtsemone, shortly before his crucifixion Luke forty two. Father,

he said, if you will take this cup of suffering away from me,

not my will, however, but your will be done. Notice how jesus

ultimate active surrender is expressed. He addresses God as father to me. This

speaks of surrender based on relationship. The deep ower relationship with our heavenly Father,

the more it will help us too to live surrender to him and chain

to his promises as prisoners of hope. Think about the person to whom your

closest, whether it's a friend or family member. Honor things that you would

do for them, probably have done for them that you really didn't feel like

that were inconvenient, maybe you were extremely tired. There are things you did

or would do for them purely based on relationship, and sometimes you might even

manage it without complaining. You may never need to surrender your life for your

faith like Jesus did. But the more we live a surrendered life, a

life surrender to God's will and his word, the freer we will be to

live as prisoners of hope. It almost sounds like a contradiction in turns,

doesn't it free to live as prisoners of hope? But actually it's true.

Sometimes we have to go through tough stuff, that's life. But our heavenly

Father is no more immune to our pleas and human frailty than he was.

Hearing jesus prayer in the Garden of Gathsemone, he responded by sending an Angel

to strengthen Jesus. Jesus, the son of God, living as a man,

needed strengthening to go through the terrible agony and suffering of God's willful head.

Sometimes we too will need strengthening to do what we need to do,

and we too can trust our heavenly Father to do so when we pray.

Hebrews twelve, verse two in the Good News translation, says, let us

keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to

end. He did not give up because of the cross. On the contrary,

because of the joy that was waiting for him. He thought nothing of

the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the

right side of God's throne because of the joy that was waiting for him.

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from

beginning to end. This will help us to refine our focus and live surrendered

to Him as a prisoner of hope. So I'm suggesting that we need to

live in a place of hunger, surrender, and thankfulness to live as prisoners

of hope. Thankfulness is a choice. I know. A lovely older lady,

and every time you see her and ask her how she is, she

invariably said, quite sincerely, something like praising the Lord. There's always so

much to be thankful for. He's so good, isn't he. This lady

was widowed some years ago after caring for her husband who was severely disabled for

I don't know how many years, and is now dealing with dementia and is

quite open about it. She doesn't have any children, and she lives alone,

and her response is always praising the Lord. There's always so much to

be thankful for. He's so good, isn't he. She's such an example

to me. She recently told me how she attended a social event for people

with dementia, and she ended up at some point with the microphone. It

was quite unplanned, and she gave something of her testimony. It sounded to

me like both her attitude, her thankfulness, and her testimony opened the door

for her to share some more afterwards with another lady with dementia and her daughter,

because the daughter was asking. Thankfulness will open doors to show people that

we are prisoners of hope, as it says in one Tessaonians five, verses

sixteen to eighteen. Rejoice, always pray without ceasing in everything, Give thanks

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. For ye, rejoice,

always pray without ceasing in everything. Give thanks for this is the will

of God in Christ Jesus. For you, as many of you will have

heard many times, in everything, give thanks. You don't have to thank

God for everything, because clearly not every everything is good or from God.

When I've been through extremely challenging times, I've helped found it helpful to focus

on God's character because that never changes, but circumstances will. I knew God

as my rock, stable and unchanging, and focusing on his character and giving

thanks for his goodness helped to anchor my emotions and give me peace. I'd

like to end with an example from Christine Kane's book Unexpected of a lady called

Lori Anne, who was is truly a prisoner of hope. Lori Anne spent

five years battling severe and unexpected health issues, and that required numerous operations followed

by painful recoveries. Somehow she managed an extremely successful career despite this, and

then there were very huge serious issues at work. All these challenges took their

toll on her marriage. The day her divorce was finalized, one of her

best friends unexpectedly died. Two weeks later, her dad, described as her

rock, also passed away. I'll quote the book directly now. At one

point, after so much loss, she admitted she had felt resentment toward God

in her Christian walk. She'd done all the right things, said all the

right things, and participated in all the right things, and yet she still

felt distant from God. But but that's when she chose to lean into him

rather than walk away. As she drew near to him, he drew near

to her. I was so moved when she told me, I knew that

my God was a god of hope and a god of destiny. I knew

enough to know that I could not let hopelessness be what destroyed me. I

could not let my spiral out of control. I had to press in and

trust him. The end of a chapter, no matter how unexpected or tragic,

doesn't have to be the end of our story when all we feel is

utter hopelessness. By faith, we can still choose to believe that Jesus is

the way, the truth, and the life for us and our family.

We can believe that Jesus has the power to recreate and redeem our lives,

no matter how much the destroyer has destroyed. By faith, we can lean

into Jesus and risk hoping again, trusting that He will take us by the

hand and lift us up, that our sorrows will be comforted resurrection, hope.

Can these bones live? It seems fitting to let God have the final

word. Zechariah nine and verse twelve. Return to the hold you prisoners of

hope. Thank you, Thank you, Esmond, and that will be our

memory. Verse I know I've actually returned to the stronghold of hope. Need

pay because I know, I know God has spoken today. I know people

have heard. There have been echoes that are seeping into your spirits right now.

There are there are phrases and thoughts that are there are things that are

being cracked open because of God's word today, and you're looking at things afresh.

There are things where the goodness of God is seeping into your soul,

into your circumstances, and sometimes, you know, we we kind of almost

want to wriggle in our chairs. It's a bit like if you've been to

someone like a physiotherapist or an osteopath. They kind of get into where it's

where it needs work and you just just want to move. And it's the

same when God's at working our spirits that God's are work in our lives.

We sometimes want to riggle under his hand, wriggle under his words, but

we want them to be pressed down and fulfill the purpose that they've they've been

spoken to release. You know, Scripture says God's word does not return to

him void. It achieves what it's been set out to achieve. And that's

not the same in everybody. One word lands in different soil and different circumstances,

in different hearts, in different situations, and it still achieves what God

wanted to achieve. So as we wriggle under your word today, Lord,

as we as we settle into the goodness of the soaking of your spirit,

Lord, as we receive the seed of your word. Today, Father,

we yield to you. We yield to you and to your way and to

your word. Father, we say, let your word have its way.

Father, as in the parable of the sower, let us not allow this

seed to be stolen. Now, Father, let this seed take take root

in good soil. Let it be watered and let it bear much fruit.

And so I speak to those words that He has been so clearly spoke that

we would become prisoners of hope, that hope would be something when everything else

is gone, there is still hope when circumstances could wash everything else away,

there is still the anchor of hope. And so I'm going to do something

a little unusual, I think this morning. I'm just gonna ask if God

has spoken to you this morning and you want that word to be pressed down

and and to take root in your world, to take root in you,

would you just stand as a recognition say God, I heard you this morning,

I heard your word, and I'll put that out on WhatsApp. I

hope you're also enjoying table Talk. Every week we send out table Talk to

encourage people to get around the word and to study the word together. I

would like to pray because there's a few people who need prayer who we haven't

yet talked about. Nikki, who was meant to be MCing