Sermon Tone Analysis

Light flickered from the lone candle sitting, wax-dripped, in the center of the rough-hewn table.

It’s light glimmered streaks of yellow and gold off of the worn-out faces that sat silently worshiping quietly as one of them led a hymn.

These were the outcasts; the green-card carriers of Bithynia.

Driven from Rome by Claudius they had made their way to an unfamiliar and an unfriendly city.

They could find no work.

When people found out they were followers of “the way” (their name for Christians) they just weren’t interested.

Public meetings were forbidden so here they were, huddled around the candle.

There used to be more of them, but as the persecution had grown, their numbers dwindled.

Many who thought they believed were willing to cash in their faith for food and only the faithful remained.

And those faithful were losing hope.

Disappointment after disappointment, trouble by trouble, their strength had ebbed away.

From the loss of their homes to their forced exile to their persecuted existence in this god-forsaken town, they were about ready to throw in the towel.

Their hope was gone.

Suddenly through the silence, a knock came at the door.

Everyone tensed together.

Who was it?

They had been forbidden to meet.

Had someone heard their quiet singing and called the authorities.

Their leader raised his finger to his lips to signal for silence, then called out, “Who is it?”

Expecting the rough answer of a Roman soldier, they were all surprised to hear a whisper.

“It’s John.

Quick!

Let me in!” Sighing with relief the door was opened and a wide-eyed excited John burst into the make-shift church.

“I’ve just come from the docks.

I didn’t tell anyone, because I didn’t want you to be disappointed anymore than you already were, but there was a courier sent from Rome.” Pulling a parchment out of his cloak, He said with great anticipation.

“It’s a letter . . .

from Peter.”

They all gathered around as John began to read:

I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds.

Not one is missing, not one forgotten.

God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus.

May everything good from God be yours!

What a God we have!

And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our

Master Jesus!

Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now!

God is keeping careful watch over us and the future.

The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime.

Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine.

When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.You never saw him, yet you love him.

You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing.

Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing.

The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory.

They clamored to know who and when.

All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled.

Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives.

Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing.

You didn’t know any better then; you do now.

Can you imagine how that must have encouraged their hearts?

Peter had actually sat down and written to them.

That in itself would have been a great encouragement, but did you catch what he told them.

Let me read it to you from the NKJV starting in v 10:

Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

Peter, here, talks about our great salvation.

To a people who need hope, he gives it, and then some.

He tells them in v 10 that even though they be the outcasts of society, they are blessed to be alive now.

He says that the prophets carefully looked into the scriptures to see when this Messiah was coming.

To them God revealed that it would not happen in their lifetime.

O no!

They were preparing for this day.

Peter then says something amazing!

He says, “Hey, stop feeling sorry for yourselves!

Stop sitting there stepping on your lip.

You’ve got nothing to be down in the mouth about!

The day in which you are living in is so special that even the angels would have given anything to have been in on this!”

And as they heard those words, the dead lifeless eyes that had glowed dully in the candle’s light begin to shine and that old feeling that they had lost began to return.

Yes, hope was reborn in their hearts.

NEED

More than any American generation in a long time, I think that we can identify with these people.

We have many obstacles.

Though we haven’t yet experienced great persecution, if you’re like me, there’s this little voice inside your heart that keeps saying, “Get ready, its coming!”

I used to make statements like that and feel a little bit of doubt that what I was saying was true.

No more!

I have no doubt in my mind that this country is going to become an increasingly hostile environment for believers.

As a result of this sense, I also sense a lot of despair.

Like those lowly candle gazers, many are worried and hopeless.

That hopelessness is encouraged by our enemy.

Many grow hopeless because Satan deludes them.

They are caused to doubt by his unchecked whispers into their mind.

And because they doubt they are often defeated.

They are too demoralized to witness; They are too frightened to take a stand because, now, it might really cost them.

Many believers sit in the dark room of their fear absolutely intimidated.

They are deluded by their enemy.

Many are hopeless because Satan deludes them and others are hopeless because circumstances have distracted them.

They are all about the latest political gossip or the viral email that claims that the president is a Muslim or the Army about to confiscate church auditoriums.

Hey, first of all, a lot of that stuff isn’t true, and even if it is, it doesn’t change anything.

God is still on this throne and we need to get our eyes off of this world and put them on Him.

It’s real easy to lose hope when I look at the world around me, and many have done just that.

They’ve allowed circumstances to distract them and the enemy to delude them.

Then others have allowed their priorities to divert them.

Listen, one of the greatest thieves of our hope is misdirection.

We start chasing the wrong priorities and, because we are out of the will of God, we are unsuccessful and we lose our hope.

I don’t know if any of these fit you today, but here’s what I do know: The gospel was meant to bring you hope, but whether it does or not is really up to you.

That’s right!

Your hope is up to you! God has made provision for you to walk in His peace and His power, and even though things are bad around you, to have the quiet confidence of a servant who knows His master is in control.

So if you’re struggling with your hope this morning, I want to give you some principles which can help you overcome your hopelessness and face the world with a smiling face and a ready hand.

You say, “Alright, Rusty, go for it!