Fellowship Hall

Faith without hope is dead.  Many times, along the way, our faith gets weak.  Hope carries us through.  God's timing is not ours.  He is perfect.  Man is far from perfect.  There are times when it seems that we can't go on.  God said in his word that he would put no more on us than we can bear.  The question is, did God do this, the devil, or did we ourselves cause the dilemma that we are in?  Jonah created the problem he had by running to Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh as God told him to do.   He was swallowed by a whale.  As the song said  "Ol' Jonah then began to pray.  "  He did some repenting.  You can just imagine the horror of being in a whale's belly.  Then, on the other hand, there was Joseph in Genesis 37:20-50:11.  He was thrown in a pit by his brothers.  Midianite merchants got him out and sold him to the Ishmaelites, who brought him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar.  He was blessed to be able to run Potiphar's house until, his wife lied about him.  Falsely accused of rape, he went to prison.  Even in prison he was blessed with favor.  He was set free by Pharoah, ruler of all Egypt.  He made Joseph the next ruler under him.  The blessings of God were upon him and he was endowed with the wisdom of God.  All through his dilemma, he held fast to his faith and showed God's grace.  Just think, he spent over ten years in prison.  Then, there was the man born blind.  The question was asked, who did sin, this man or his parents?  Jesus answered neither but this was so the glory of God could be seen.  Then there was the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.  He spent thirty eight years before Jesus told him to take up his bed and walk.  Later Jesus spoke to him in the temple and told him to sin no more less a worse thing come upon him.  What about Adam and Eve?  They were placed in the garden and told to keep it.  The only rule, don't eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Everything was perfect.  Then they disobeyed God and sin entered with it's curse of spiritual death.  All men are now born in sin.  There had to be a savior, to save man from his sins.  A lot of our dilemmas are because of our sinful nature.  Jesus is the answer to the problem of sin.  Matthew 11:28-30: Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your soul.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  Jesus is our source for life, here and eternally.  Can you treat God like a genie?  No, God is our creator and our heavenly Father.  If we repent of our sins and ask Jesus to come into our heart, we belong to him.