the purifying hope
SERMON STARTER
                    A couple of years ago we added a PUR water filter on our kitchen faucet. I never realized all the contaminants that are in tap water. My new water filter removes 99% of the lead in water. It removes 96% of the Mercury and significantly reduces Chorine. The amazing filter lets me know with an orange blinking light when it's full and needs replacing. I know the filter works for two reasons. First, the water tastes sweeter, and secondly, the filter is heavy with contaminants before replacing compared with a new filter.
          What we NEED is a PUR filter for the soul. The world's contaminants are everywhere. Contemporary advertising relies heavily on sexuality and profanity to sell their products. It's on television, the news, entertainment, music. . .Our unfiltered souls get heavy with contaminants. The world broadcasts into our souls it's heaviness until  we get spiritually hard of hearing and can no longer hear God's still, small voice.
          At Easter when Christians worldwide worship at the same time, celebrating Christ’s incredible promise of resurrection. That hope in me causes a lump in the throat and a deep longing from within. No other religion founder has risen from the dead to promise, “Because I live, you shall live also!”  Jesus stands unique in all the ages as both Messiah and Deliverer.
          No matter what the Christian denomination or sect, all agree that there has to be life beyond the grave. Countless millions of devout Christian believers have gone to their rest believing that there is a God and He has prepared a place in heaven for them. For we who love and trust Jesus, blind faith alone isn’t enough; there is this deep longing that says, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Our Hope is in You!”
          Let this hope be in you that Jesus’ promises are real and we will see Him and our loved ones again. This is our earnest hope and deep expectation. This sermon explores both Resurrection and Hope.
Pastor Phil  <><<

Easter Morning - April 1, 2018
Sheepfold Ministries / Pastor Phil Roland <><<

THE  PURIFYING  HOPE
1 JOHN 3:1-3

“THE HOPE that purifies causes us to become one with The birth of Spring each year. We walk in Jesus’ promise to return and His Resurrection Promise, ‘Because I Live, you shall live also.’”                       Phil Roland  <><<

 1 John 3:3 
“Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” 

PURIFY = hag-nid'-zo -   To Make Clean, To Sanctify Oneself

THOSE WITH THE  PURIFYING  HOPE. . .
I.  HAVE EXPERIENCED THE PRESENT-TENSE LOVE OF GOD  Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 1 John 3:1

          A. We are called Sons and Daughters of God!
                    1. Tiny, adorable toddlers. . .Incarnate cuteness. . .
                    2. Loving them is irresistible
          B. This love is given “lavishly” - Luke 11:10-13
                    10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who
              knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among
              you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a
              serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a
              scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
              children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
              those who ask Him!"

  THOSE WITH THE  PURIFYING  HOPE:
II.  ARE AWARE THEY ARE ‘NOW’ GOD’S CHILDREN - v.2a
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

          A. Too often God's Promises are misinterpreted,                                                   “Pie-In-The-Sky-Bye-And-Bye”
1. Today's McDonald's Fast Food culture
                    2. Driven by the present, locked into the present
          B. Present Rights as Children of God - John 1:12
            But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children   of God, to those who believe in His name:
1. Free from Fear, Anxiety and Dread
                    2. Free from Condemnation, Guilt and Shame
THE PURIFYING HOPE, cont. p.2

 THOSE WITH THE  PURIFYING  HOPE:
III. LOOK FORWARD WITH HOPE TO HIS SECOND COMING
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.


          A. The Blessed Hope -  Acts 1:10-11
            10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold,
              two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, "Men of Galilee,
              why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was
              taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw
              Him go into heaven."

          1. He Ascended FROM the Mount of Olives
                    2. He Will Return TO the Mount of Olives
                    3. He Will enter Jerusalem thru the Eastern Gate / Golden Gate
          B. He promised we would live again just as He has done - John 14:19
                    19 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see
              Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am
              in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
          1. Micron - Tiniest measurement of time, "A Blink of an Eye"
                    2. C.S. Lewis Quote:
                        Dr. Seamands, Pastor / Professor at Asbury College, Asbury,
                        Kentucky, tells of a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa. "Some
                        of his friends asked him, ’Why have you become a Christian?’
                        He answered, ’Well, it’s like this. Suppose you were going down the
                        road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t
                        know which way to go, and there at the fork in the road were two
                        men, one dead and one alive--which one would you ask which way
                        to go?’"
                    3. Jesusis alive and not just with us, He is in us!
          C.  We bury our Dead facing East / Expecting a “Blessed Reunion”
                    Eg. Google: St. Rose Cemetery on Dutch Lane in Hermitage, PA

THOSE WITH THE  PURIFYING  HOPE:
IV.  ARE CLEANSED BY GOD’S GRACE AND TRANSFORMED
3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
          A. We are purified by Hope in Jesus and His awesome Promise
                    17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have
               passed away; behold, all things have become new.        2 Corinthians 5:17
          1. Hope exchanges our weakness for His Strength
          2. Hope exchanges our life for His
          B. We are not purified/sanctified/cleansed by human effort -Eph 2:8,9
          8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of                                     yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.   
          1. It is our hope and God's Amazing Grace that Transforms
THE PURIFYING HOPE, cont. p.3

          2. WE do NOTHING but trust and hope in Jesus for salvation
          C. Keeping our eyes on Jesus has transforming power - 2 Cor. 3:18
             “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being
              transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes
              from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”   2 Cor 3:18 
          1. Hoping in Jesus we get “RTL’s”
                                Radically Transformed Lives
          2. We are transformed by what we look at
                    3. What are you looking at?

 

THE  PURIFYING  HOPE:
BRINGS A HOPE THAT PURIFIES US SEVERAL WAYS:
          1. Our views of Worldly Materialism are changed
          2. Our need for Revenge is transformed
          3. Our need to Blame God, Self and Others. . .dies
          4. Our terror of Suffering and Death is transformed
          5. Our poor attitudes about Trials and Tribulation are                          banished

EASTER SONG, Second Chapter of Acts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gggPpVtEKQ

 

 

THE PURIFYING HOPE
1 John 3:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

 

 

 

He was Dead and He's Alive

It was 27 years ago, on Feb. 27, 1991, at the height of Desert Storm that Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon. It stated that her son, Clayton Carpenter, Private 1st Class, had stepped on a mine in Kuwait and was dead.

Ruth Dillow later wrote,
"I can’t begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For 3 days I wept. For 3 days I expressed anger and loss. For 3 days people tried to comfort me, to no avail because the loss was too great."

But 3 days after she received that message, the telephone rang. The voice on the other end said,
"Mom, it’s me. I’m alive."
Ruth Dillow said, "I couldn’t believe it at first. But then I recognized his voice. He really was alive."
The message she had received was all a mistake!

She said, "I laughed, I cried, I felt like turning cartwheels, because my son whom I had thought was dead, was really alive. I’m sure none of you can even begin to understand how I felt."

Can you begin to imagine the joy Jesus' followers felt when their wildest hopes became a reality on the resurrection morning?
This is the Hope that purifies!