High Hopes (Week 2)

Good morning.

Forrest Coleman, Lee Pastor here at Multiply.

Great to meet you if I've not met you yet.

Welcome today.

Like was said earlier, it's been a uh blessed weekend, a week in the bluegrass, because college football has started back.

Praise the Lord.

The Cats won, the Cars won, K-State won, Balmauter Cumberland won.

We're really off to a good start here.

And everybody begins the season with high hopes, don't they?

Everybody begins the season with high hopes.

A few years back, you all know that I grew up or uh grew up here in this area, but lived in Somerset for some time where I was on staff at a church there, and I really kind of moved to Somerset in that area in my early 20s, and Somerset is right on Lake Cumberland, and so uh everybody loves to go out and get on the lake.

There's boats, jet skis, all you know, uh only thing better than having a boat is having a friend who has a boat, right?

And so I'd spend some time out there um at time to time.

But uh one other thing that we used to do as friends is we would go cliff jump.

Go cliff jumping.

Now, I don't didn't realize that that's not something people normally do.

Um but when you're down there, uh, you know, there's all these cliffs that go right into the water, Lake Cumberland, and it's a deep lake.

And so I was there with a bunch of buddies, early 20s.

We're up uh on a cliff, it's about like between 30, 40 feet, probably.

And a buddy of mine who was there, he took us to this spot and he's like, Yeah, man, I've jumped here before, it's great.

Like, you don't even worry about it, it's all good.

I've checked it before, and um, you know, he wasn't one of my smartest friends.

Um, but he was in the in that zone where we were just like, all right, we're just gonna do this thing.

We had life jackets on, and uh, he's just going, jump, jump, jump.

And so I'm just hoping for the best and jump off the cliff, go down, hit the water.

The water slows me down, and then I feel the back, my back and the back of my uh life preserver bump the bottom of the lake on the edge.

And thankfully the water had slowed me down enough that it was just a little bump.

It was just uh a little tap, but uh uh it was just enough of a bump and a tap to know that that could have really not gone so well.

Um the water been a little bit lower, I had a little bit more speed to it.

And sometimes in life we're in a spot where we're taking a jump, we're taking a leap, and we're hoping for the best.

Today's message is called hope for the best.

We're in this series, High Hopes, as we're talking about what it looks like for us to hope in the one that is the one true hope, Jesus.

And I don't know if you've ever heard before, you had this mindset when you enter into different things in life and something's going on, and you don't have all the answers, you don't exactly know what's going on, but you've got a mindset of, you know what, just hope for the best.

I'm just hoping for the best.

Y'all have heard it before, hope for the best, plan for the worst, right?

But you know, there's also a time where instead of us hoping for the best, we're anticipating the worst.

We get into a time, into a mindset where the thing that we prayed about and prayed for at one point was a blessing, now it's become a burden, and all we can think about is the burden.

That job you prayed for, that little rugrat child that's running around.

That one point you prayed for and now you're feeling like it's a burden instead of seeing the blessing or asking God for the next blessing.

And instead of being in a mindset of hopefulness and hoping for God's best, you're anticipating the worst outcome, and you're not really in the mindset and thinking that God has a best plan and a purpose for you, but instead you're in this place of doubt.

Am I talking to anybody today?

When we get into a spot in life when when we've let faith get arrested, it gets stopped, and doubt begins to creep into our mind because whatever the current circumstance is, and we get into a place where we begin to shut down and we get to stop seeking the Lord, and we begin to go into what the Bible calls unbelief.

And when we get into that space of unbelief, we begin to doubt and get in a place of doubt of God's goodness for us, and that's a painful place to be.

And it may be because there's been a painful circumstance that you have endured, something has happened physically, something has happened relationally, something has happened financially, and you get to a point where you begin to doubt God's goodness for you.

Can I tell you today that we can hope for the best because we have the best in King Jesus?

And even when it doesn't look good, we know that if it's not good yet, that means God's not done yet.

So today you may be walking in today, and you may be in a space right now where you're being attacked by that space where you're being attacked by a mindset of doubt.

Something painful is holding you back.

You may have walked in today and you're in a spot of unbelief.

You've walked in today and you think, you know, what is all this God stuff about?

I'm here, a friend brought me, I've been hearing about this, but you know, religion and God, it's just a crutch for weak people.

In a spot in a place of unbelief.

And today we get to look at a scripture and get to look at a story of someone who overcame the pain, overcame the doubt, overcame the unbelief to see God do a miracle work.

Jesus is with his disciples and they're traveling from town to town and they're heading into Jericho.

And we're gonna see a story of a blind man, but before we read the story of the blind man, I'm gonna give you a couple of verses ahead of it because this is some of my favorite scriptures.

Mark 10, 45 in particular, but we'll start with verse 43.

Jesus says, But among you it will be different.

Everybody say different.

He's talking to his disciples.

He says, But among you it will be different.

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.

For even, and this is the one, I love this verse, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus, the King of the universe, stoops down and puts on flesh in the form of a baby, born two thousand years ago, a perfectly God, completely divine, also completely human in flesh, to give us an example of what it looks like for us to walk out this life here on earth and for give us a tangible example of what it looks like and what our life should be like as we follow God and have God in our life.

And Jesus, the one who's seated on the throne, he says, I came not to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many.

Right after this verse, we see Jesus and the disciples.

They've reached the town of Jericho in verse 46.

And as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him.

A blind beggar named Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road.

When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Be quiet.

Many of the people yelled at him, but he only shouted louder.

Everybody say louder.

So they called the blind man.

Cheer up, they said, Come on, he's calling you.

Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.

What do you want me to do for you?

Jesus asked.

Rabbi, the blind man said, I want to see.

And Jesus said to him, Go, for your faith has healed you.

Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.

Blind man, Bartimaeus.

We know nothing but his name.

We don't know how he got into the place.

We don't know if he was born blind or if at some point during life that he lost his sight.

All we know is that at this point that because of his blindness, he's not able to operate in society, especially at that point.

Instead, that because of his physical ailment, he was put to the side, relegated to begging on the side of the road.

No help, and only people just to give to their, give their scraps.

But Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was coming through.

The story of Jesus and his reputation of being a rabbi, a great teacher, that has already gone across the land and that he's been performing miracles, and Bartimaeus has heard about it.

And the scripture says that they saw Jesus, the Jesus of Nazareth, his earthly name, was coming through.

But what Bartimaeus did was he called out to Jesus and said, Son of David, have mercy on me.

Now what did he mean by saying son of David?

Well Bartimaeus was saying by saying, Son of David, have mercy on me.

Bartimaeus didn't say, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me.

He said, Son of David, have mercy on me.

What did it mean?

Son of David was prophesied in the Old Testament, would be indicative who would come as the Messiah, the anointed one, the one that would save and would restore the people of God in Israel, that would be this mighty warrior, that would be this savior of all, this anointed chosen one, this Messiah.

And Bartimaeus in faith speaks out, son of David, Messiah.

Even before his request, he's calling Jesus out as his savior, as his Lord, as his Messiah, with not even saying the word.

From the lineage of David.

But what happens when he says, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me?

The crowd says, Be quiet.

Hush up.

Be silent.

Don't speak.

We don't want to hear from you right now.

The crowd that's around him wants him to, instead of reaching out to God, wants him to be stopped, be silenced, be trapped in the state that he's in.

And we have to think for ourselves today, what is the crowd like in our life?

And many times the crowd sounds like doubt, unbelief, and pain.

Who's your crowd?

Who's the people that are around you?

Is it people around you who are telling you what you're doing for God is worth it?

Or is it naysayers in your life, friends and family members?

I don't understand why you go to that church in a movie theater.

That's just so silly that you go to a church in a movie theater.

Why are they even doing that?

Over the year and a half that we've been meeting here in the movie theater, I've there I know that there's family members, there's friends that have said to many of you, because you've told me about it, yeah, they've said, they've told me it's so dumb that we're doing that.

It's so silly that we're setting up and tearing down every single week, and that's because they aren't seeing clearly what God is doing.

That's because instead of them wanting to cheer you on, they're trying to say, be quiet.

It may not even be related to church, but just your relationship with God.

There may be somebody in your life who's who's around, and they don't understand what you're doing as a follower of Jesus.

They don't understand why you read your Bible, they don't understand why you have a hope in Christ, they don't understand why you pray.

And the crowd that's around you can either drag you down into a space of unbelief, a space of doubt by way of calling you to be quiet.

But I know this it's painful to be told to be quiet.

It's painful.

It's hurtful.

But what was Bartimaeus' response?

He shouted louder.

He shouted louder.

I just want to tell somebody today that God is not looking for polite prayers, but persistent prayers.

God's not just looking for you to say, oh, well, well, I guess I just hope for the best in the situation, but instead for you to get louder towards God, cry out to him for what you know that you want to see happen and what you want to see happen for his glory, and not for you to just be polite and say, God, if it's your will, but instead for you to raise your voice and say, God, I'm crying them out to you, running them out for my family, running them and I'm crying out to you from my son or daughter who's walking, running now, God, and I'm crying in out to you for this helping that I'm experiencing, running now, God that I'm crying out to you for my financial situation, and then I'm not gonna be woman, I'm not gonna turn a woman, I'm not gonna look to the world.

I'm gonna believe my savior, but instead I'm gonna look to you and I'm gonna jump out of.

Is anybody hearing today ready to chill out?

Or are we just wanting to be plumbing and sit back and say women vote for the best?

All the stuff is going on in our world and in my world and my house and my friendships and my relationships, women, just vote for the best.

Or am I gonna am I gonna start shouting?

Am I gonna start shouting to the Lord?

Because Barnabius, when they said be quiet, he said, I'm not gonna be quiet.

I'm gonna call out to the Messiah, I'm gonna call out to the king, I'm gonna call out to the son of David and say, Have mercy on me.

Because I need something.

I need something.

I'm hurt, I'm in pain, I'm going through a challenge.

We don't know how many years.

We know this.

That is when you s want to see God grow you and change you, you're going to go through a process that's painful.

I was reminded this last week or week before.

I read back through a book called Leadership Pain by Dr.

Sam Chan.

It talks about ministry and the pain that you experience and and and loss in ministry as people leave, as you experience challenges, as things go on, and he has this formula that I have to share with you today because I know there's somebody in the room who wants to grow.

Anybody here want to grow?

Anyone here today because they want to grow in their relationship with God?

Anyone here today because they want to take the next step and be in a better place than they were before?

Not just because the circumstances are exactly how you want, because you know who's in control of them.

And you can trust and hope in Him.

Here's the thing.

Whenever you experience growth, you're gonna experience change.

It's undoubted.

Growth, it means change.

And so as we're gonna grow in our relationship with God, it's gonna experience change.

Guess what?

People hate change.

People don't like change.

You change one little thing, people start complaining.

Not just in church and anything.

The restaurant you go to changes the menu.

Come on.

I get the chicken fingers every time.

When you want to grow, you experience change, but when there's change, there's always loss.

There's always some level of loss.

You all know right now we're going through the Lord is providing, and and you all are giving uh tremendously, and you're giving generously.

You're bringing your tithes, you're giving your offerings so that we're able to do this renovation project for us to be into the new space that the Lord's provided for us.

But I guarantee you that there's gonna be some of us in the room that we're gonna get into that new building, that new space over there, whatever the it's finished, and there's gonna be somebody who's like, man, I just love the movie theater a lot better.

I just missed that time in the movie theater when we, you know, had to kick gummy worms off the floor and we had to mop all the time, and you know, everybody was just so much closer back then, and it was smaller, and I just I just like a smaller church.

I don't want it to change.

Y'all know I'm preaching right now, don't you?

Even when change is good, there's still some level of loss.

Even when God takes you into something new, there's still some sort of grieving that goes on.

You gotta grieve what was and look forward to what is ahead.

And whenever there's loss, there's pain.

And so looking at the formula, growth equals pain.

Bartimaeus.

He's sitting on the side of the road.

He has a giant crowd around him, he's blind, he has no way to get to Jesus.

Everybody else is able-bodied and sees what's going on, has relegated him to the side, and all he wants is to see some change in his life.

All he wants is to see some growth for himself.

All he wants is to go from being blind to now being able to see, and the crowd is looking back at him and saying, Shut your mouth.

We don't have time for you.

Don't you know that this is Jesus of Nazareth?

Don't you know that this is the one that we've all come here to see?

So be quiet.

But Bartimaeus wouldn't be quiet.

He shouted louder.

And as he shouted louder, Jesus came to him and said, What do you want?

What do you want?

Jesus came to you right now.

What do you want?

What do you think for your glory for his glory?

That includes being tempted to.

And to experience unbelief.

Even in the most challenging parts of his ministry, right before he entered in his public ministry, he went to the desert and was attested by the devil.

Right before he went to the cross in the garden in Gethsemane, he prayed and poured out to God, and he said, if there's any way that this cup could be passed from me, do it, Lord.

Jesus could have lost hope.

But instead, for our sake, he lost his life so we could find it.

And walk in it.

And so that we can walk in what God has called each and every single one of you to.

You know the Lord is faithful.

He's faithful.

Philippians 1 6 says, be confident, everybody say confident.

Be confident of this.

That you began a good work and you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

He created a good work for you to walk in, and he's faithful to carry it on to completion.

The situation that you're dealing with is not yet resolved, it's not yet fixed, it's not yet what you want to see.

And we know that God's faithful.

That he began a good work.

Sometimes it isn't testing.

It's a trial that we're walking through.

James 1, 2 says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Over the years, walking in ministry, my wife and I, over the years and years and years now, there's been different challenges and tests and trials that we've faced.

Many of them early in our ministry had to do with finances as we were stepping out into ministry, and my wife was trying to do her schooling, and there were many times where we found ourselves, and since, and you all know, in this journey of planting a church, that we've found ourselves in a space where we're asking, okay, God, the numbers, the budget, it doesn't make sense.

We need Lord for you to provide.

And we need there's been multiple times in our life in our marriage where we have looked at each other and said, Okay, we need to pray for a thousand dollars.

And see, my wife, you know how great she is.

She's definitely the better half.

She's got a great connection with the Lord.

And I've experienced over the walk in ministry in different seasons, different circumstances, but one sticks out in particular.

Early in marriage, we were probably five years in, and both of us got to the place where we knew that we needed a thousand dollars, and we looked at each other and we said, Okay, we're gonna pray for a thousand dollars.

And so we prayed, and some days went by and we trusted that the Lord was gonna provide.

And I believed in faith and knew that my wife was praying as well.

My favorite one was when I walked out to my truck and there was an envelope underneath of my windshield wiper, and I opened it up, and it was a check for$1,000.

Didn't tell anybody, didn't post it on Facebook.

Just asked the Lord and shout it loud to him and said, God, we need you.

We need you right now, we need you to step in, we need you to help us.

You need we need you, Lord, to help us walk out the call that you've had on our lives, and the Lord deliver.

And he's done it over and over again.

I can sit here now and tell you story after story after story.

It's because of the hope that we have, it's because of the God that we serve, that we get to experience the blessing.

But you've got to hear this clearly.

In order to experience the Lord, the blessing that he has for you, just like Martinius, you've got to put yourself in the path.

You've got to put yourself in the path to receive what God has for you.

You have to put yourself in the path that you get to bump into Jesus, that you get to be in proximity to him to be able to call out to him.

And there's people I know they say, oh, you know, I can be a Christian, I can worship God, and and but I don't need to go to a church.

And the reality is you can worship God and not go to church, but you don't.

Well, I can just worship in my car, I can just have a personal relationship with God, just me and him, and not be a part of the body.

You could, but you don't.

Instead, you fall into the crowd.

Who's the crowd?

Are you in the crowd?

Are you putting yourself on the path of Jesus?

Who's the crowd that's around you?

Are you in a group?

Are you in a small group of people who are around you who are trying to encourage you, who are gonna join in prayer with you over things that you need?

Are you in relationship?

Not only are you coming to church on Sundays, but are you taking it a step further?

Do you have those people around you who are not the crowd that's gonna naysay and gonna say, oh, well, you know, uh, well, you just need to do this or that or this or that, but instead they're gonna say, No, I'm gonna pray for you.

I'm gonna join with you.

We're gonna have faith in this together.

Because when we do that, then we're reaching out for the real hope.

Are you serving with others?

Are you on a team here at church?

Are you are you putting yourself in the path?

Are you walking with him?

Are you coming every week?

Are you are you stepping forward to be baptized and begin your relationship with him?

You've got to put yourself in the path.

Because if you don't put yourself in the path of Jesus, then you're gonna put yourself in the path of other things in the world that don't truly have the hope.

They don't truly have what you need, they don't truly have the answer and don't truly have the power because we know the hope and the salvation comes from our God Jesus.

Romans 8 24 says, For in this hope we were saved.

But hope that is seen is not hope at all.

Who hopes for what has what they already have?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

And just like Barnamaeus in Romans 12:12, the scripture tells us plainly, be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12

Some of you in the room today, you're afflicted.

Some of you in the room today, you've got some type of physical ailment.

You have a spiritual blindness, you've got a blockage due to sin in your relationship with God.

And what we're called to is to be joyful in hope, to be patient in the affliction that you're experiencing, and to be faithful in prayer.

Bartimaeus called out to Jesus.

He wouldn't be silenced, he wouldn't be held back, he wouldn't be shut down.

Instead, he was faithful to call out to the Lord.

And today, very well may it be your day for you to call out to the Lord, for you to get louder, for you to cry out, for you to have a hope that's restored and joy in Jesus.

To be patient in what you're experiencing.

We talked about it last week.

We're not guaranteed physical healing, but we're guaranteed spiritual healing.

As you walk in faithfulness and prayer to the Lord.

But there may be right now people in the room that have a spiritual blindness, that you desperately need the Lord to restore your sight, to wipe away the scales, the blind over your eyes.

Maybe it's what the crowd is telling you.

Maybe it's the fact that you've lost hope.

Maybe it's the fact that you just have given up and you've not gotten louder.

Today is your day to have your hope restored.

In this life and the next.

We can walk in joy with Jesus, knowing that the trials that we experience, the pain that we experience.

It's not in vain.

But instead that we are walking out God's goodness because ultimately we know if we're in Christ, as Apostle Paul says, You can hurt my body, but you can't take my soul.

This body that we're in, it may be dying, it may be ailing, but I'm always gonna be alive from this day forward if I'm in Christ.

So there may be somebody in the room right now that you've got to get louder in what you're asking for the Lord.

Instead of letting the enemy hush you up, stop you, silence you.

There may be somebody in the room today, and you need to just begin to walk.

You need to begin to walk towards Jesus.

You need to put yourself in his path, maybe for the very first time.

You've been trusting in yourself for so long.

You haven't been giving even God a chance.

Today's your day that you can do that.

Would you bow your heads?

Because I'm going to pray over us now.

Father, I pray all across the room.

There's people right now, Father, that you've put right now, as I've said, in their mind and in their heart that there's something they need to get louder over.

There's something that they need to begin to pray louder for, cry out to you.

Today, if that's you, head bowed, if you need you need to get louder, you need to pray and cry out.

You need to not be shut down in silence, but instead that you need a restoration of your hope.

Today, if that's you, heads bowed.

I just want you to raise both hands in the air.

Both hands up.

You need to get louder.

Father, I pray across the room right now for everybody who's got hands up.

Father, they need to call out to you.

They need to get louder to you.

Father, they need to open up their mouth and speak, God, what they're calling for, what they're asking for.

So, Father, right now, Father, I pray, Lord, that they would cry out to you in their mind their heart.

What's going on?

That from now forward and days forward and weeks forward and months forward, that they wouldn't give up, but instead they would be patient in what they're experiencing right now and faithful in prayer, God, that you would give them a joyful hope.

God, of what you want to do in their life and want to see them experience, Father.

Thank you.

You may be in the room today.

You've not begun the path.

You're not even walking with Jesus, but today is your day for you to step and to ask Jesus for his salvation.

To ask Jesus to save you, to forgive you, to receive what he did for you on the cross.

You need to ask him to save you.

If that's you today, all across the room, I want you to pray in your mind and heart, pray, Jesus, save me.

I'm putting myself in your path.

Forgive me.

Cleanse me.

I believe that you're the Son of God, that you are the Messiah, that you are Lord.

Forgive me.

Wash me so I can be in heaven with you one day.

I give you my life as you gave your life for mine.

Everybody's head bowed today.

If today was the day that you prayed that, to receive Jesus and to begin a relationship with him, I want you just to raise up your hands so I can pray for you, I can see you, I can encourage you.

Father, I pray right now, Lord, across the room.

For those with hands raised, Father, that Lord, they would right now, God, that as they receive you, God, as they walk with you, God, as they receive your salvation, that God, you would work powerfully through them.

God, that they would receive, God, right now, Lord, the cleansing and the forgiveness that you bought for them on the cross.

And God, in doing so, Father, Lord, that they give their whole life, whole heart to you, Father, that they would walk forward in life with you in new hope and salvation.

So, Father, I pray, God, all across the room.

Lord, I thank you, God, for these prayers of salvation to you that, Father, you would seal it.

Seal their heart.

Write their name down, God, in the Lamb's Book of Life in Heaven.

And Father, from this day forward, God, that they would walk with you in newness and life and salvation.

God, I pray over them as well, Father, that they would step forward.

God, that they would shout loud out of the way of being baptized, receiving you, following you, and we'll give you all the glory and the praise.

We love you.

In the powerful name of Jesus, that everybody said, Amen.

Church, will you stand as we worship?