LUKE: YEAR OF OUR LORD - WEEK 27 - THE SECRET TO NOT LOSING HEART

I’m going to give you a list of items - can you figure out what category they all fall into?

TV Remote, Cell Phone, Keys, Socks, Wallet, Pen, Passwords / Usernames

Things you lose more often than you should! For me, I have to count to a certain number each day to make sure I have all the things I need before starting my day… because while there are certain things you can lose and life will go on - there are some things that makes it difficult to continue on without them.

Like what if you lose confidence. Or motivation? What if you lose hope? What if you lose heart?

Times when we find it hard to go on, to think that God could ever turn our situation into something good; times when you just can’t win for losing, experiencing one defeat after another; times where we’re ready to throw in the towel, feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, and lost…

We’ve all been there…some of us are there now.

I want to speak specifically to us as Christians in America. When we look at our nation…it’s easy to begin to lose heart. It seems as though faith is being trampled on more and more as time goes on. There are so many people antagonistic towards the Church, it feels as if we’re on a dead end street.

I also want to speak to us as individuals & families. Life isn’t easy. Storms come our way that we never asked for. Troubles blindside us. Struggles threaten to suffocate what little hope we have left.

But for the believer, for those who have put their trust in Jesus, the Bible is pretty clear: greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Jesus did warn us that in this world we will have trials - but He then told us to TAKE HEART for He has overcome the world.

Today some of us need to hear that God is still in control, and that Jesus still offers a lasting hope.

We’ve been studying the Gospel of Luke this year and today we’re going to look at a couple of passages that relate closely to the idea of finding hope, finding heart - those things which are easily lost in this world, but which God intended for us to never lose…