Hope Today 037 - How do we overcome pessimism?

A weekly program of word and music featuring an eclectic mix of Christian music and teaching by Pastor Tom Cullen and Brian Evans.  Mac Wigfield starts the program with southern gospel classics.

Produced at Straight Path Studio in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.

Christian Artists featured are:

Collingsworth Family

Whisnants

Bev Foster

Phil Wickham

John Michael Talbot

The Scottish Festival Singers

Mission House with Jess Ray and Taylor Leonhardt

Doug Oldham

Nicol Sponberg

Dunamis Music

Thank you for listening to HOPE TODAY. This is a program developed at Light & Life Programming, a registered charity. We are listener supported. If you would like to help with this ministry, donations can be made through our website at www.lightnlife.ca.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Welcome once again to this program of Hope Today. We are so glad you have joined us. May you be encouraged over this next hour. How do we overcome pessimism? It's a good question to be considered in our teaching today. Pastor Tom Cullen will bring us answers during our time together. But first, let's sit back and find inspiration as Mac Wigfield leads us to some gospel classics as we get our program started.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Good Sunday morning to you and welcome from me to Hope Today. Today's question You heard it. Do we see the glass half empty or half full? Let's ask the Collingsworth family to begin to answer that question. And I'm afraid they're going to be very positive. But I can trust Jesus.

SPEAKER_11 1:09

Ah picked up a spirit that could be no longer. He brushed off its and then watched it so into the sky. If he's a mindful of creation on this I can depend I am his child, and I can place all my trust in him.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

I can trust you. I can trust you.

SPEAKER_11 3:25

Don't always agree, but I lean on his will, for he always knows what's best for me.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

I can trust me.

SPEAKER_11 5:04

I can trust Jesus. He takes care of me.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

You'll find it in the book of Jeremiah. Let me read you a couple of verses. He was told to go down to the potter's house, and he went there. He said, I found the potter working at his wheel, but the jar he was making did not turn out as he'd hoped. So we crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. Then the Lord gave me this message Can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand. Yeah, it hurts sometimes, but the potter has a job to do and he's very busy. The wisdom will encourage you. Trust the potter's hand.

SPEAKER_10 6:21

Here on the potter's wave I find myself once more, my faults and frailties bring me here just like before with strong and loving hands. The pressure is a place of times I tremble as he puts me through the fire.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

I'll trust the He knows what's best for me. He has a perfect way, these human eyes can see He's the butter. He knows just how much I can take when I face the fire again. I'll trust the butter's hands work deep inside and he makes no mistakes, though it seems a crumbled end, and I can hardly stand the pain but into his own design.

SPEAKER_10 8:36

He is molding me. I know though my world spins all around the partners in control.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

He knows what's best for me. He has the permanent eyes can see the pun clay. He knows just how much I can take Well Face the Fell. I'm from the butter. Just how much the Will I face the fire again? I'll trust the punter.

SPEAKER_10 10:12

When I face the fire again, I'll rust the fire.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

This is hope today. While we've lived with the reality of COVID-19 for some time now, and so many feelings and attitudes have crept into our thinking. But perhaps one of the most debilitating is the attitude of pessimism. It's the attitude that says nothing will change and our problems are too big for God to overcome. It's an attitude that makes God as small as a grasshopper and our problems as big as a giant. How do we overcome it when we're in the eye of the storm? Foster suggests an answer.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Sometimes I don't really hear me. But I'm moving towards you in the eye of the storm. I'll trust you, Jesus, in the eye of the storm. I'll follow you when darkness surrounds me, fear overwhelms me. I'll trust you, Jesus, in the eye of the storm. Sometimes it's so hard to do. In the midst of the heartache I'm facing, I'm moving towards you. I wanna believe in you, Jesus. Believe every word to be true. Sometimes I'm not sure of the next step, but I'm reaching for you. In the eye of the storm, I'll trust you, Jesus. In the eye of the storm, I'll follow you when darkness surrounds me, fear overwhelms me. I'll trust you, Jesus. In the eye of the storm, my eyes fixed on you. I'll walk on the water. You give me the courage to face my fear. Your eyes fixed on me. I'm stronger with you. Stronger with you. In the eye of the storm, I'll trust you, Jesus. In the eye of the storm, I'll follow you. When darkness surrounds me, fear overwhelms me.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

I'll trust you, Jesus, in the eye of the storm.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

In the Old Testament Book of Numbers, we read of how the Israelites have been rescued out of slavery in Egypt. And they are led by God to the edge of the Promised Land. But before they go in, they send a group of twelve spies to scout out the land. Upon their return, two of the spies say, We can take the land with God's help. But ten spies say, There is no way we can take the land. The people who live there are like giants, and they make us look like grasshoppers. I have to tell you, there are days when I really relate to those ten pessimistic spies. I look at the world situation and I think there's no way we're going to overcome this virus. I lament the old days and I grieve for the next generation who will seemingly never know the freedom we once enjoyed. You are driving down the road in your police car and you come across a serious accident. The injured and dying are all over the place. As you stop, you see a sharp woman amongst the bystanders go into premature labor pain. As you get out of your car, the driver's involved in the accident begin to fight. What do you do? Reverse vehicle get out of the remove uniform. Sometimes it's so tempting to join the crowd in desperation and give in to pessimism. To join the proverbial ten and only see the giant. But as you read on in this story in the Old Testament Book of Numbers, you see that this isn't what God wanted. He wants us to trust him, to place our faith in him, and know that he is at work even in the midst of difficult circumstances. When all we see is the battle, God sees the victory. When all we see is the mountain, God sees a mountain. So Phil Wickham says.

SPEAKER_06 16:53

Oh god, the battle belongs to you. I see through the night. Oh god, the battle belongs to you. And if you for me, I can be against me.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

But there were two others, Joshua and Caleb, who said, No, we can take the land. Let's go. How did they do it? How did they stand against the pessimism of the day? The answer is simple. They kept their eyes on the majesty of God. This is not to say that they didn't see the challenges that lay ahead of them. They were blind optimists. Denial is not a cure for pessimism. They recognized the fact. But there was a greater fact that they also recognized, and that was that the living Almighty God was on their side. He had proven it in bringing them out of slavery in Egypt, from rescuing them from the hand of Pharaoh's army, and leading them through the desert with a pillar of fire at night and a cloud in the day. You know that God is on your side. He really is rooting for you. He is ready and willing to give you any help that you need in order to overcome some sin in your life. He really does want the best for you and wants you to grow in your faith and character. He really does listen to your prayers and answers them. He really does love you with an undying love. God is not against you. He is for you. He is on your side. The creator of the heavens and the earth is for you. The one who brought the Israelites out of Egypt and made them into a great nation is on your side. The one who gave his son to die on the cross for your sin and my sin, and the one who on the third day raised him from the dead is on your side. Oh, how we need to take the truth of Scripture in that says, if God is for us, who can be against us? Here is John Michael Talbot.

SPEAKER_07 20:17

Cast your cares upon him. Only he is worthy to stand. In tribulation, trial, and sorrow. When you can see through tomorrow, he'll reveal to you the frailty of man. Can you reach the love of neighborhood? Will they see the sweet, sweet Savior shine through the charity girl? Do you hear his call to follow? You must lay down your life to follow. For only when you die are you free to live. We must go as the light to the nation. Take up the cross and follow where he leads. We must go as the light to the nations prepare to wear his crown of thorns. Are you prepared to take this cross to the head?

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Will his love you would freely shared in humility cast down you can Berengould was one of the truly gifted preachers and literary men of the 19th century. In addition to being ordained to the Anglican ministry in 1864, he was a noted writer throughout his life. He published 85 books on such varied subjects as religion, travel, folklore, mythology, history, fiction, biography, and popular theology. Yet, amazing enough, the work for which Sabine is best noted is a simple children's hymn written in 1865. During an upcoming school festival, he wanted the children to sing as they marched to a neighboring village. Not being able to find anything suitable for this purpose, Sabine sat up during the night to write something himself. Onward Christian Soldiers was the result. It had been written in great haste, and he knew some of the rhymes were faulty. I'm certain that nothing has surprised me more than its popularity, he remarked. Sabine Baring Gould lived to age 90 and died in 1924. Yet his hurriedly written hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, is still marching on from the lips of young and old alike. You may want to march too, as Scottish Festival singers sing for us.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

How did they do that? Well, they kept their eyes on the majesty of God, but they also believed in the promises of God. They knew that the only hope the Israelites had in taking the land that was before them was that it was the promised land. He never asked the public for us. He did it all through reliance upon God through faith. His critics said that he was never in need because he was a foreigner. So people gave him money out of petty. Others said that he gained sympathy with the people because his methods were so novel. And others thought he had a secret treasure through which he funded the whole program. But his quiet reply was, it's all false. Except for the secret treasure. I do have a secret treasure, he said. It's inexhaustible in the promises of God who is unchangeable and faithful. And he proved it by running his orphanages for more than 50 years without asking for a penny from anyone. All through prayer, all through believing in the promises of God. Mission House, Jesse Ray and Doug Leonard sing, Good God.

SPEAKER_05 29:10

Be still my stop. Be still my stop. Be still my stop. Be still my stop. Be still my stop. Give me a heart. Give me a eyes. Give me a heart. Give me a heart. Give me a heart. Give me a heart. Give me a heart.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Keep your eyes on the majesty of God, know that God's promises will never fail you, and then this God's presence will never leave you. The Israelites worshipped the living God. They were guided by him both day and night as they traveled out of Egypt. Joshua and Caleb knew that he would go on ahead of them into the land. The God of the Israelites is the same God today, and he will never leave you or forsake you. John Wesley is reported as saying on his deathbed. And don't we know it to be true? We Christians believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, proving that God will not for us. But on the third day, he rose from the dead, proving that he is a God who never leaves us or forsakes us. He is with us always to the very end of the age. That's his promise. And that's the reality. There was a follower of Jesus named Paul, who once wrote a letter to a group of Christians in the ancient town of Philippi. I can imagine him dictating the letter to his secretary and saying, when he came to what we call chapter 4, verse 20, and saying to his secretary, I can do all things. And the secretary put down his pen in my mind's eye and said, I'm not going to write that, Paul. Paul said, Why not? Because I know you can't do all things. Sure I can, said Paul. No, you can't, said his secretary. I'll give you all the money that I have to prove that you can't do all things. And Paul said, He didn't let me finish. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Oh, said his secretary. The deal's off. Now there's two of you. Here is Doug Holdem. And this is the time I must sing. Praise be to Jesus.

SPEAKER_09 34:33

I've tasted a freedom. So I can go very sleepy. I have learned of life's. So I stand in God's presence. And I sing in my heart. He is all. There have been days that I've been filled with. And I've dreamed and made plans for the heart. Oh, but now. Now's the time I must sing. And I know there's a reason why in God's own season He gives me a song I can sing. So keep silent, you got us. Keep silent, she feels, and he found himself. For now. Now's the time I must sing. It's a time to sing praises to my rock of all ages. Oh, this is the time I must see. And if I've seen, and if I've done, and if I've gained, and sometimes I've won all the good things that this life never brings. And I've tasted enough of life's miracle.

SPEAKER_08 36:21

And forever I just have to say be to Jesus. My masters of hero. This is the time I must send. It's my time to sing praises. The time I must send. It's silent. It's silent in mountains. It's silent, to your mountains. It's my time to sing praises. To the common sense the commons.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Thank you for being with us on Hope Today as we look at the challenge of pessimism. As Christians, we have a sure and certain hope in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the solid rock upon which we stand all other ground, his sinking sand. Here is Nicole Sponger.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

I dare not trust the sweetest praise, but holy lean on Jesus day. All Christ started dead. All other found is taking the stand All the Brown Just taking death It's comment Stop for me and Ohwell me but all the real night stoke E then it's done, take it to test trumpet sound, only him be found. Just stand his right, just let's alone for the let's stand for the strongest.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

God's presence will never leave you, and finally, God's power is always available to you. Joshua and Caleb in the Old Testament overcame the pessimism of their day because they knew that they didn't go into the promised land in their own strength. They went forward in the power of the mighty God who rescued them from the hands of the Egyptians. With God's power, nothing was impossible for them. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, began one of his sermons by recalling the words of the old-time evangelist When God does anything, he does it handsomely. He went on to tell his audience that the Lord is always faithful. People say, Lord, increase our faith. But didn't our Lord rebuke his disciples for that prayer? It's not a great faith that we need, but faith in a great God that is needed. Even though your faith may be as small as a mustard seed, he continued, it is sufficient to move mountains. We need a faith that rests on a great God and expects him to keep his own word and do just as he promised. Are the times causing you to be pessimistic? Can I encourage you to place your trust in God? He has proven through his son Jesus that his promises are certain, his presence is sure, and his power is greater than any problem that you may face. He's prepared a table before you in the presence of your enemies. This is how you fight the battle.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

This is out by my battles This is our fight my battles This is our battles This is our fight my battles This is our battles This is how the valley know that you're with me surely your goodness Your mercy follows me So my effort is praise and Thanksgiving This is out by my God And I will live my song Praise South by Sal vai Sal vai Salvai South by God promised to never leave us nor forsake us And in that promise we can trust Him as we finish our program today we hope that you have been encouraged We would love to hear from you You can reach us by email to listener at hopeToday-lp.ca Once again send your notes to Listener at hopeToday-llp.ca Hope Today is produced at Straight Path Studio We look forward to being with you and your friends next time for another program of inspiration Until then keep looking up Jesus is coming again Hallelujah para City Soul Com mais autoridade Victory Eric Eric Stanley El Kistão Mason batteries Elite Fare si la paix papà