1413 - "Hope: The Bridge to Life" I Corinthians 13:13

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Each weekday, Dr. Crisp will be discussing biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Tune in daily to start your day right and deepen your understanding of how to better walk the way and enjoy the journey. Here's your host, Dr. Tony Crisp.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome to On the Way. This is Tony Crisp, and this is Podcast 1413. I pray that if you don't listen to any other podcast that I do this month, that you will listen to this one and maybe pass it on to someone else. This might be a good one to send to a friend. This might be one that would be good for a senior to listen to, for a young person to listen to, and especially those who are veterans, those who have served in our military, those who are in law enforcement, first responders, firefighters, those who work as EMTs and emergency technicians. There is an alarming statistic that sticks in my mind, and I believe the Church of Jesus needs to pay close attention to it. Those of us who are followers of Jesus, and especially those of us who are leaders in the Church of Jesus, we need to bring these particular people to the forefront. Because there are people that are falling through the cracks in every generation, I know that. But because of the tumultuous days in which we're living, and especially in America, with the division that we see, I have not in my own personal lifetime seen a time when America is so divided, even more so that I am aware, it may be because of my age, but I was a boy, a teenager during the days of the Vietnam War, and I remember the heartache of those who fought in that war. I remember many of my friends went off to war and when they came back they were not the same. And I remember some lost parts of their bodies, and others came home in coffins. It was a time when those who came back who had fought, who had stuck it out, and God had let them live, they came home to a nation that was ungrateful in a lot of ways. And they took out upon those great warriors the frustration that they had with the political establishment. And so it was a time of great division. And those of you who live through that time, you know that. But never in my life have I seen the political divide as it is today. Because you see, what had started back in the 60s in root form is now in full bloom. And those who were the rebels of the 60s, now what they were following and the lack of respect that was engendered and the lack of mistrust, some of it greatly earned, has now come into maturity, and we're seeing the fruit of turning our backs on God. Now I'm not talking about taking prayer out of schools. I hear people say sometimes, well, we really started downhill when we took prayer out of schools. No, that was way down the stream. I believe it was in the twenties, when America began to embrace the lie of Darwinism and natural selection, what many would call transmutive evolution, when we kick God out of our schools as creator, and we begin to teach and sometimes in a subtle way that we are here by chance and a random act, and that there is no creator who gives us plan and purpose and design. And because of that, people have lost hope. I am amazed when I look over the statistics. Even from twenty twenty-six the BA data shows that approximately six thousand four hundred veterans. Well, it's six thousand three hundred and ninety-eight, rounded up to sixty four hundred veterans died by suicide in twenty twenty-three. Now that was down somewhat from twenty twenty-two and the gray period that we call the period coming out of COVID. The reality is that the daily average of veteran suicides. I'm not talking about those who are killed in the line of duty. I'm talking about suicides is 17.5 deaths per day. Seventeen to eighteen die per day on average, every day, three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. And the suicide rate for veterans, listen, this is reality. The suicide rate for veterans is more than double that of non veteran adults. Suicide rates are high among older veterans, that is, those who are 50 plus. But they are also elevated for younger veterans, 18 to 34, and elevated for women. It is amazing. But that's not all. First responders demographics. A twenty fifteen-2017 study found law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, comprise the those three groups comprise the vast majority of first responder suicides. Law enforcement made up fifty-eight percent of the suicides, firefighters twenty-one, EMS eighteen. There's reasons for that. And I don't want to get carried away with the various reasons because some of it is researchable, others of it is just a deep reading of human nature. And what I can tell you is having had sheriffs and law enforcement at every level, captains, lieutenants, patrolmen, highway patrol, troopers of every kind, and police, chiefs of police, those who are in charge, those who are in charge of jails and worked in prisons. It is amazing because you see they can't have a normal life like many. Even if they do get to go to church, they're always on call, it seems, and many times are called out, and when they're there, they're thinking about what they should be doing, what they're going to have to do. It's hard to turn it off. The divorce rate increases as pressure increases. And many times these people are working for little of nothing as far as the risk for their own bodily harm and mental harm and emotional harm. They see things that many of us would not be able to stomach. And it becomes a part of them and it brings about a certain categorization emotionally in the mind. They have to turn it off because if they don't, they go home with that, then the family pays for that. This is almost a no-win situation. For those who go to church, they many times don't get to go on a regular basis. And when they do go, many times because they're not there every Sunday or on a regular basis, they're kind of out of sync. They feel out of place. And so somehow we've got to meet them where they are. And we've got to think outside the box, and we've got to think how can we create fellowships and koinania circles and fellowships in a local way, not just national bodies, but local bodies where they can have safety to talk and have camaraderie with those in their own group and those without their group. Because when they're just dealing with other law enforcement and other military, and then it can become an echo chamber. And that's true in any area of life, in any arena, but it's especially true for those who are in the brotherhood and the sisterhood of first responders, law enforcement and military. The warriors of our society, and I am in the process of doing everything I can behind the scenes and things that will be known soon publicly, that I and some of my dearest colleagues and friends and brothers are putting together materials that will help warriors, that will be designed for warriors, because we must care for them. The scriptures are filled with warriors, and they almost seem to be loners in some regard. But I want to talk to you scripturally about what is the answer to this. Whatever we do and whatever form of encouragement we can give, it always comes back to what the Apostle Paul talked to the Corinthian church about. Now he said what he said in the midst of spiritual gift, dealing with the gifted, dealing with those who are the above average, dealing with those who in some way are especially gifted. That's true for many of our military. This is true for many of those in law enforcement. They have an extra something that others do not have. When the Apostle Paul was talking about spiritual gifts and those kind of things in 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14, that's all one passage. You know the chapter in 1 divisions were added hundreds and hundreds of years later than the original text. It was a letter. And in the middle of the letter, chapter 13 in our Bibles, is what is called the love chapter. You hear it read at weddings and it's sent and Valentine's and all of these other ways that we express. But in 1 Corinthians 13, 13, here's how the apostle Paul ended the chapter. He said, Now abide faith, hope, love. These three, but the greatest of these is love. Having been a pastor now for fifty years, I can tell you I've stood beside a lot of coffins, I've stood beside a lot of dying beds. And unfortunately, and in the providence and sovereignty of God and his goodness, he's allowed me to minister to families who have experienced suicide among those that they love the most. And Paul has an answer here for us. You see, there are three great virtues that are mentioned here faith, hope, and love. Have you noticed how they are sequenced? Faith. Hope and love. What's in the middle? Hope. Let me come back to that. Faith. Do you know someone can take their own life? They are truly saved. They are followers of Jesus. They truly know him, but somehow something clicks, things begin to happen. A series of thought patterns that are unhealthy, disappointments, hurts, sorrows, and seeing things that a man and a woman shouldn't see, hearing things that a man and a woman shouldn't hear, and being cut down and constantly having to keep watch and looking over your shoulder. Those things creep into their life and other things, I'm just naming a few. But a person can commit suicide, take their own life who's truly saved, and know that they are saved. You can be loved and love others and commit suicide. And the reason I know this is because I have had the duty at times of reading suicide notes, of talking with moms and dads and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and friends who were the last people that they talked to. And they knew that they were loved, they knew that they loved others, and many times left notes and letters to that effect. But I've never read a suicide note, never heard of one where someone had hope. You see, faith, hope, and love is not an accidental sequence of words. Hope is the bridge to life. What is hope? Is it wishful thinking? No. Hope in the Bible is expectation. I translate elpis, which is the Greek word E L P I S I translate that as hope in the sense of expectation, eager anticipation, excited expectation, that God is going to get you through, that a better day is ahead, a better hour is next, and that you're going to see the goodness in the land of the living. That there's going to be something to live for. That's hope. And only Jesus can give hope. That's for real. Only He can. Only He can heal the mind that is troubled. Only He can give solace and comfort to those who are discouraged and hurt. You see, this life is filled with trouble. And all of us need hope. All of us need to look for a better day and trust in the God who gives the better day. But you see, trust can wane and love can wane. But they can also be strong, and yet a person can lose hope. And when they see no way out, it pains me to even think about this because the people that I've known and love who take their own life, I think, what was the last thoughts that they were thinking? You cannot get into their mind. You cannot. But God can. And so we need to help those that we see that are sliding away or who are beginning to isolate themselves. Isolation is not God's will. God made us for community. God made us for fellowship. God made us for koinanea. This is why the Church of Jesus is so needed. This is why koinanea is so important in a church. If you're just going to a worship service, let me just tell you, you're like going to a hot dog stand. It's not a well-balanced meal. What you need is to get involved in a local assembly so you can experience the full meal. You can see people ministering to one another. And are there churches and groups that are not what they need to be? Of course, but neither are you and neither am I what we need to be. And so we need to give some grace there and receive grace. And so the reason I'm making this podcast is primarily for warriors, but it's also for every one of us who have ever thought about it's not going to get any better. I'm not going to get any better. This is never going to change. There's no way out. There is a way out. The Exodus is in Jesus. And my prayer is as you turn this off and as this podcast comes to an end, you will believe me that I love you. And that God has a plan, a purpose for your life. He created you on purpose. And his design is for you to know him and to know the forgiveness and the release of your sins, because Jesus loves you with an undying, unflinching love, and he will see you through whatever it is that you're going through. And his purpose is for you to live, not die. His purpose is for you if you do die, that you will die trusting that there is a better place awaiting you. My prayer is especially for our warriors, but it is also for all of us and for the Church of Jesus that we will look for ways to reach out to those who are hurting around us and give them hope in Jesus. We're on the way, this is Tony Crisp.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Thanks for listening to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Tune in every weekday for information on biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Fridays are for your questions. Email your questions to questions at TonyCrisp.org, then just listen for your question to be answered on Friday's podcast. That's questions at TonyC R I S P dot org. Thanks for listening and have a blessed day on the way.