August 11, 2019

Welcome to the HerbstUMC blogpage!  We hope that you will find an encouraging word in this post and in the Sunday morning message.

Here is the Aug. 11th message link...

https://youtu.be/Px-TrSUa0e4

    With so many troubling stories seemingly everyday, where does someone find hope?  Local, national or international, everything seems negative.  Political upheaval in one country and hatred toward political rivals in another.  Power struggles between businesses and power struggles between family members.  Sexual crimes in one news story and sexual celebration in another.  Accusations, allegations, name-calling and emotion seem to rule the day.  The one thing that gets very little attention are the stories of hope.
    The Bible tells us a story of hope.  It is a story that happened 2,000 years ago, during a time of oppression, upheaval, power struggles and poverty.  During these times, Jesus Christ entered the world to remind us, each of us, that the problem is a matter of the heart.
    The hearts of the people had become hardened to God's presence.  They were not seeking relationship with him or seeking his help.  Instead, they demanded things be done on there terms.  The people and leaders viewed their problems, and possible solutions, entirely outside of God's presence.  Everything Jesus said and did was to point people to God.  Despite finding no sin in him, the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and put him to death.  The world rejected Jesus, even though they could find no fault in Him.
    In John 17, Jesus prays for the work that God is going to do through him on the cross, the disciples that he would be leaving behind in this world, and for all those who will believe.  The Son of God took time to pray for you and me.  The creator of all that is seen and unseen, took time to pray for us.  It is Jesus' love for us that held him to the cross, so that God would be glorified and we could have life. 
   At the end of chapter 16, Jesus tells the disciple, "take heart! I have overcome the world.".  Despite the efforts of the world, Jesus conquered death.  There is nothing that can happen in this world, that Jesus can not handle.  In Jesus we have hope of a brighter future.  The question is, will we open our hearts to the one that overcame the world? 

Take heart, Jesus is hope!
Pastor Jeremy