7-25-2016

Good Morning All!! 

    Colossians 1:26-27; “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.  To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

    “Listen, do you want to know a secret?”  The Beatles asked that question.  So do many others as they go through life.  We all like to be part of a secret.  Of course most of the time, we want to be part of a secret because we like to tell someone else.  There is an old axiom that says two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead.  I am not sure if even that is true.  When someone knows a secret, he just has to tell someone.  It is almost as if it simply bubbles inside of you until it just has to burst out.

    We are rapidly approaching that time of year when keeping secrets becomes even harder.  If you are one of those shoppers who seek out the perfect gift for someone, when you find it; it can be very hard to keep it quiet. It can be especially hard on young ones.  A mother, playing games with her very young daughter, told her daughter that she knew the present that the little girl bought her was red.  The little girl answered, “No it is not, your housecoat is blue and your slippers are green.”  She was just bursting to tell the secret.

    You know about a secret, a mystery which has been revealed to you.  You know the secret to having hope.  You know where that hope is; it is Jesus.  Many, many people, for years and years, have wondered where they can find hope.  Many have searched and never really found it.  They searched their minds and their souls; they searched using drugs and other chemicals in order to open their minds to finding the truth about hope but they never found it.

    Hope is found in the empty cross and the open tomb.  Jesus died for you and for me to pay the ransom for our sins.  Through this wonderful gift we have hope.  We no longer have to look for hope; it found us.  Hope comes to us through the Gospel; hope comes to us through the wonderful words of God’s forgiveness of our sins.  Hope comes to us and it gives us peace and contentment.  We know whatever tomorrow will bring, we have the certainty of God’s promise of salvation, his promise of comfort, his promise of hope.

   So you know the secret, our hope is in Jesus; now stop keeping it a secret.  God gave us this mystery to share with others.  He gave us the mystery to the hope of our life so that we can tell others.  We should share by how we live and by how we speak.  We should show it to our family and friends and we should tell them as well.  We should especially share this with our family and friends who are in need of this knowledge.  We need to give them the same knowledge of hope.  We need to tell them that their sins are forgiven by God because of Jesus.

Dearest Father, you have revealed to us the mystery of your love.  Help us to spread this message of peace and hope to all those around us.  Guide us to be beacons in the lives of those around us especially those who feel the pain of separation and loss.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,    

Pastor Bret