Finding Hope in these Chaotic Times #49

What is Hope? If you've lost your hope, your dream, or maybe even your confidence that God can forgive you then Fearless Faith can help you get it back! Hope is the Anchor of Your Soul, so what are you hoping for right now?

Dan, Terry, and Brian will help you live your life with purpose, change someone’s life for the better and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Everyone starts the race... but only the Fearless Finish Strong!
 
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Transcript

Terry Steen: 0:02

Well, I didn't know if it would work or not. But I said I'd been hit by a bus and was in a coma for 10 years. So,

Brian Roland: 0:11

and yeah, our CFO we're now Yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 0:15

On this great financial guy took this ministry into bankruptcy. I've got some skills.

Brian Roland: 0:22

I hope we have the right guy down.

Dan Wheeler: 0:25

Guys, why do people lose hope? I'm just gonna throw that out there. What are some of your thoughts?

John Matarazzo: 0:32

Live your life with purpose, change someone's life for the better and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Welcome to finish strong the podcast designed to help you discover your unique purpose and develop a plan to leave a powerful legacy. Dan, Bryan and Terry are ready. So let's get started.

Dan Wheeler: 0:50

What do you think of when you hear the word hope? We're going to talk about hope. And if you've lost it, stay tuned. I'm hoping my two buddies Terry Steen and Brian Rowland will join me for this podcast, this episode of finish strong. Are you guys up for it?

Terry Steen: 1:07

I hope so, man. I just hope I can get through without saying something stupid.

Dan Wheeler: 1:14

Let's hope but you know, we don't always see miracles on this. But you know, seriously, many people have lost hope today. They've lost the hope of ever accomplishing their dream. They've lost hope that they're going to be a success that their life matters, that maybe God can ever forgive them. And that's what this podcast is all about restoring your hope if you've lost it. And we believe that hope can be an anchor, it anchors the soul. God wants to give you hope, and a future. He has a plan for your life. Hebrews 619 says we have this hope as an anchor for the soul firm and secure. Guys, isn't that an interesting comparison, comparing hope to an anchor on a boat?

Terry Steen: 2:04

Yeah, it really is. And we think about, we always hear about the storms of life that we all go through. And these last two years, everybody has been in tsunamis. And we could not do it without that solid anchor could

Brian Roland: 2:21

we know it's the truth. And and when you think of an anchor to an anchor, it grips it. It keeps you from moving from floating afar, you know. But I don't know if you've ever witnessed an anchor breaking at all and all the shuffling that the sailors that have to do to try to get this anchor back on the boat and proceed and some of these, these bigger yachts that are out there, it seemed I saw a story not long ago where they lost the anchor and they had to go and reattach it. And oh, man, what a job that was. And you think about if you lose your anchor personally, the job it is that you feel that you have to do to get it back when God's right there though. But we feel that we send that we can't go back to him. And that's that's not right. We have to we have to have that hope that we know that he's there. Hope keeps

Dan Wheeler: 3:05

us moving forward. It's that feeling of expectation, that desire that certain things will happen. Let's talk about things we've hoped for in the past. Brian, can you think of something you hoped for? And that you you finally got? Yeah,

Brian Roland: 3:20

the other day? I was I think I mentioned this to you that when I was doing my first trumpet recital, I took trumpet for seven years. So I was headed down pretty good when I decided to quit, which everybody was upset and I am now that I did. You didn't

Dan Wheeler: 3:32

answer the call to blood, sweat and tears when they asked you to play with them.

Brian Roland: 3:36

I will I tried to I tried to you know, try out for it. But I didn't have it that okay, it's gone. That Chicago? No. But I had an old King trumpet. And I think it was a king and it was just all beat up. It was probably fourth generation. And it didn't even shine anymore. But I got the most I could out of it. And I was doing my first recital. And a music teacher gave me this new future trumpet beautiful and with nickel, a bell on it. And that net was now wonderful sound. And he said I can use that for the recital. And I didn't want to give that up. When I was done. It was just so wonderful. And it was my birthday and the day my recital. And my recital was done. My parents came over and they gave me a card and I opened it up and said the trumpet Yars keeping Wow. Because you know that talk about hope for that I was going to go back to my beater. Handle that thing. But that was the most beautiful instrument and what were the best surprises in my life too.

Dan Wheeler: 4:29

Yeah, you know, sometimes you're almost afraid to have hope. Terry, how about you?

Terry Steen: 4:33

Yeah. Funny you say that because what came to my mind was, you know, hope is kind of a byproduct of faith. I will probably talk about that a little but the the tension between hope and faith I was thinking back to when I heard the first time that my mother had leukemia and had cancer. And my immediately my hope was that she would beat it Then she could overcome it and live many more years. And I believed in had the hope for that. And as time progressed, I realized that she was ready to go home, she was ready to go to heaven. And I had to kind of shift gears a little bit, I knew my faith was strong that God's will would be done. And so I had to kind of shift my hope, to just believing that she was going to soon be with her Savior, and pass on. So So my hope shifted, but I still had had hope.

Dan Wheeler: 5:41

I had that kind of hope when Beth was sick and facing cancer and never lost it. But before we went through that, I had lost hope. In my life. I had, because of sin in my life st had gotten my mind so twisted, I was living in this world of paranoia. And I just couldn't find God and I was losing hope that ever find him again. And I honestly got to a point where I just didn't want to live anymore. I, as I was preparing for this today, I was thinking about there was a concrete abutment that I passed every night on my way from QVC to home, and I could picture myself, just driving just gunning it, driving my car full speed into that abutment. And then, you know, I was I was in a mental hospital, and then God broke through one day, and I felt him again. And when I got well, and I was back with the Lord, I would drive by that abutment and just praise God. Now, he never lost hope on me, even though I had lost my hope of ever finding him. But you know what, I never gave up trying. I kept reading my Bible, I kept praying, I was in this hospital. And they kept wanting me to go to all these classes and do these things. And they actually came to me and said, Dan, you know, you're reading your Bible, you're gonna make yourself crazy. And I said, No, this, this is what's gonna restore my hope and bring me back. So, so many people are in that place, you can, you can lose hope. And, you know, you have to do things, though, to keep your hope alive, you have to work at it. You have to, you know, dig the ditches and put in the effort and put in the time, even when you don't feel like God's hearing your prayers. You keep on praying. You guys remember a time when you've had to do things to keep your hope alive?

Brian Roland: 7:38

Yeah, yeah, I remember. And it was a time when I was I was going through a divorce. And Dan, you know that very well. And when you shared that whole experience with me, and I had to keep the hope alive, because I thought I had everything figured out. I thought we were on the right path. And when that hit me square between the eyes, man, it's it's like, wow. And I don't know, if I lost hope. I lost direction. I know them. And I had to I had to get my direction, right again, and had to get my true north back in place. And just speaking, you know, you can surround yourself with a lot of great people, but it's in your own mind in your own heart. And you have to you and God alone, you know, that's why the relationship is so important that we have that so that we can regain that hope quickly.

Dan Wheeler: 8:24

You know, Terry, we talked about faith and hope. And it says faith is the substance of things hoped for. In Hebrews 11. One, so we have to have that hope to have faith.

Terry Steen: 8:37

Yeah, they work together, don't they? Yeah, I was thinking it. As Brian was talking. I was thinking about the I worked for a ministry for a long time, and was laid off and was without a job. first time I'd ever been without a job. And most of my experience had been in the financial area. And here I am leaving a ministry that went into bankruptcy, so put a financial position with a bankrupt company. And I had to believe that God had me there and was taking care of me and that my days were planned and stand on the faith that I had and have that hope that he had that perfect position for me, which ended up happening. I remember your

Dan Wheeler: 9:29

first resume you did at that time you put in a 12 year gap and yeah, we're gonna tell tell the employers that she had amnesia.

Terry Steen: 9:37

Well, I I didn't know if it would work or not, but I said I'd been hit by a bus and was in a coma for 10 years. So and yeah, our CFO we're

Brian Roland: 9:47

now yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 9:50

This Greg financial guy took this ministry into bankruptcy. I've got some skills.

Brian Roland: 9:57

I hope we have the right guy Dan.

Dan Wheeler: 10:01

Why do people lose hope? I'm just gonna throw that out there. What are some of your thoughts?

Terry Steen: 10:06

You know, as we were, as we were reflecting on that I was reminded of that verse in Romans five, and it's first three and four. And what I think one of the reasons are why people lose hope is that they give up when things get tough. And when things get tough, and you give up and you let your faith fall by the wayside, that's when you lose hope. Because in Romans five, it says, We're to glory in tribulation. People don't glory and tribulation, people don't want to fight through the tribulation that they're in. And, and it tells us that the tribulation develops perseverance, that perseverance develops our character, and our character develops hope. And there's where the anchor of our soul is, is that hope. But if we don't fight through the tough times, if we don't glory in the tribulation, as the Bible says, it's easy to lose our home.

Brian Roland: 11:12

Yeah, I'll tell you, I think too, that people get the cart before the horse, they start doing what they want to do, and they're going to do it, how they want to do it. And they go about it differently than how God has planned for them. If they would take it the Lord, he would lead him in the directions they need to go. But they start going in their own footsteps where they want to go, they put God behind them, and say, No, you know, you're, you're following me, but we're going this way. And it should be the other way around. And when it doesn't happen, the way they have it planned or, or something caves in that there's a disaster, they lose hope they're going to what was God now? Well, you never put God in it to begin with, you have to ask him for his leadership and for his favor. And that's where your hope builds. But if you put it behind it, you lose it.

Dan Wheeler: 11:58

But that's so good. Brian, you know, I think a lot of people when they get to our age, and they realize that some of their dreams haven't come true, and that their life just didn't work out the way that they thought it would they start to lose hope, maybe need not even at our age, maybe in middle age and their 40s or 45. They're like, Wait, this is isn't what I planned. And the problem is, they planned it, they didn't seek God's wisdom. And so that went off in the wrong direction. And I think that's another reason people lose hope is because they turn their back on God, they reject His ways, His laws. And then Satan, you know, takes them down that path. And pretty soon Satan destroys their hope. And I think people put their hope in the wrong things and other people in material things in their job. And so misplaced. Hope can be destructive.

Terry Steen: 12:55

Yeah, I think that's exactly right. I was just gonna say, too many times, people who put their hope in other people, many times you see it with people, putting their pastor or someone in ministry on a pedestal, or even their parents or whoever. But when you start putting your hope in an individual, that you just increased, the percentage of chance that someone's going to let you down in your hopes will be dashed, but you can never go wrong. Keeping your hope with the Lord.

Dan Wheeler: 13:30

I know when we started talking about doing a podcast on hope. We were talking a lot about faith. And it seems like faith and hope go hand in hand. You have to have both. You have to have faith that your hope can be a reality. And it is reality, when you've placed it in the Lord's hands. And when you've sought him and you feel like you're really following his ways. And you know, Jeremiah 2911, the Bible says, For I know the plans I have for you declares the LORD plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope, and a future. So God wants us to be prosperous, maybe not always financially, but as far as living the abundant life. So let's talk about that faith and hope combination,

Brian Roland: 14:24

just what you said, Jeremiah 2911, where it gives us hope and faith because Faith says whenever or whatever you're hoping for, it's here now, whereas hope says there's a chance of it happening sometime in the future. And I think that verse explains it perfectly when it says that it gives us both faith that we that we have now and hope that's in the future. That's good.

Terry Steen: 14:49

I still you know, I don't know that I've sorted out exactly the difference between the two they obviously go hand in hand and and work together but we Know that in Hebrews 11, it tells us without faith, it's impossible to please God. So we have to have faith. And then earlier in the 10th chapter, it says, Let us hope unser, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we possess. So it's telling us you have to have faith, it's impossible to please God without it. And once you have that faith, hope takes over your life. And then you have to hang on to that unswervingly

Brian Roland: 15:34

that, you know, what to hope is an optimistic attitude that's based on expectations or desire, or as faith is confidence or trust in something, or even someone, and it's not based on proof was just in believing and things that are unseen.

Terry Steen: 15:48

Hmm, that's good. Yeah. And, you know,

Dan Wheeler: 15:50

Jesus prayed, he said, you know, Lord, I hope I'd like this cup to pass from Me. Nevertheless, you know, when he was facing the cross, right, they said, nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done. So it's okay to have those wants those desires. That's your hope. But it needs to also we need to submit to God's will, and say, I'm going to have faith that this is going to come true, if it's your will.

Brian Roland: 16:18

And even Jesus, he didn't hope that Lazarus would be raised from the dead. He had faith that he was going to raise them from the day. He didn't hope he was going to feed the multitudes. He had faith that you're going to multiply the fish and feed the multitudes. Right? Big difference right there in the hope and faith.

Dan Wheeler: 16:33

But Lazarus sisters, his family, his friends, they all hoped, right. And you know, the people that were going to be fed,

Brian Roland: 16:42

faithfully showed up. Yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 16:43

Colossians 127 says to them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles, the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is our big hope that is our main hope. And we as Christians that have that hope we need to offer that hope to others right now, is when we can make such a difference in our country, in our world, by giving people hope. That's what we are striving to do with this podcast so that people can finish strong.

Terry Steen: 17:19

Yeah. Paul tells us in Ephesians, this was this was great. It says I pray the eyes of your heart be enlightened that you may know the hope to which he's called you the riches of His glorious inheritance in his holy people. So it's that hope that he's called us to me that's, that's the prayer.

Dan Wheeler: 17:45

And our greatest hope is that Christ is returning for us that we're going to live with Him forever, that we're going to have new, a new glorified body, we read about that. And First Thessalonians 413 to 18. You can look up those verses, it gives you great hope it gets gives you excitement, I think people are looking at the world and saying, oh my goodness, and I know I've tended to panic, listening to the news sometimes say, Yeah, where is this all gonna end? Well, we know where it's gonna end. In the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, the last page of the Bible says he comes back, we are on the winning side. And what more glorious hope could there be in anything than that eternal life. And I think that needs to inspire us to be bold in our witness to tell other people about Jesus, because we have the greatest hope.

Terry Steen: 18:36

Yeah, and the more and more of the Holy Spirit we get in our life, the more of the Holy Spirit, the more hope we have. Because the more faith we have in Romans 1513 says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. Those are fruits of the Spirit, joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So with the Holy Spirit in our life, we can literally overflow with hope. That's a great promise. And then in Titus, we see where it says hope of eternal life which God promised He promised us that hope of eternal life. That's exciting stuff. It really is.

Brian Roland: 19:18

I have faith that he's coming back soon. I am hoping it's tomorrow. Yeah, exactly what I think that's a good way to put it.

Dan Wheeler: 19:26

Absolutely. In first Peter 113 We read, wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought on to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. But tell your friends, pray with them, pray for them, especially if they've lost hope and really seek God you know, guys I like to every morning I pray God put someone in my path that I can talk Today, and today I was at a hospital doing some pre op testing. And I was there quite a while. And God led me to a woman who had gone through some marital problems, but she had given her life to the Lord. And she just kept praying for husband praying for husband, he came to know Jesus. And she told me the way that God directed things, but he just told her to have faith have hope, that he was going to work it out. And she kept loving her husband, it was like a thrilling story. But she never lost hope through her darkest hours. And as a result, they moved out of the area where he was involved with somebody else. They're both involved in their church. They're just as happy as can be. And I thought, Well, what a great story for tonight, when we're going to be doing this podcast on hope. So the I mean, the point is, when we talk about finishing strong and people who are new to fearless faith in our podcast, by the way, you can find us on Facebook, we do a morning cup of inspiration on our Facebook page at FFM 60. Go there, give us a like or following. But we talked about finishing strong. We want our final days to be better than the rest of our days. And too many people hope all their lives to retire to a life of luxury and leisure. And we don't feel like that's what God wants us to do. We now have some time and resources. Brian and I are retired and Terry is knocking on the door in a few more weeks. And and that's going to be great, because we're really going to go full steam ahead. That's the hope.

Terry Steen: 21:41

Yeah, yeah, that's a great story, Dan. In it, I guess what I would leave with our listeners would be anyone who's lost hope, and had your eyes fallen away and not turned to the Lord. I would just encourage them to turn back to the Lord and Isaiah 4031. It says, those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. So if you're feeling weak, if you don't feel you have the strength, you can find mad hope in the Lord.

Dan Wheeler: 22:11

Brian, final thoughts? Yeah,

Brian Roland: 22:13

I find you know, I have several people that I've talked to that they've lost hope. And the way they've lost hope is that they put all their trust in to religion, they put it into a church, they put it into a person. And it's always failed. And they keep saying where's God? Will hookah How can this happen? How does God let this happen? And the thing is, is that when they turn to the master himself, turn to Jesus Himself. You're I mean, just accepting them in those life, the hope you're going to receive from that. And knowing that you're living a new life, it just makes all the difference in the world and just trying to tell these people this, just give us a chance. Just try a relationship. Forget the religion, try a relationship. I want you to try that you'll never turn your back. You'll never forget it. Because once God is leading your life, things change. Health can change. That's your mental state can change. Yeah, man physically, mentally, spiritually, financially, things can change, when you put your hope in God,

Dan Wheeler: 23:17

that's good. Brian Terry, in a moment, I'm going to ask you to pray for our listeners that may be of lost hope. But I want to finish with this in Mere Christianity. CS Lewis wrote, hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continually a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not as some modern people think, a form of escapism, or of wishful thinking. But one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world, that they have become so ineffective in this aim at heaven, that they have become so ineffective in this and then his final thought is, amen, heaven, and you will get Earth thrown in aim at Earth, and you will get neither. So our hope is in heaven. And yet we have to have, you know, we're in the world. But our hope is there. Terry, would you pray for people who have lost hope and are really needing it tonight as we conclude?

Terry Steen: 24:21

Sure, Father, we love you so much. We thank you for this opportunity that we've had to share and to talk about hope, that incredible gift that you've given each one of us who know you Lord, and we just pray that whoever's listening right now who may have lost their hope, lost their faith, we ask that you would rejuvenate their heart, that they would sense your Holy Spirit through the words that we're speaking right now God wherever they are, and that you would touch them, Lord, and that you would rekindle that little fire that little bit of hope God that you can allow to allow to get bigger and bigger. stronger and stronger Lord, where we can stand on that verse in Isaiah. That says, though, that those who hope in the Lord can renew their strength Father, we pray that that hope could anchor their soul and whatever storm they're in the middle of God, may they? May they be anchored by the hope that you give God. You give us reason to hope. You give us eternity you give us eternal life, you give us heaven, God, how could we ask for anything more than that? So Lord, help us God to keep our focus on you. And on the hope that you give us continue to build our faith, Lord, and we'll be careful to praise you and thank you for it. Because you're an awesome, awesome God and we love you. In your name we pray. Amen.

Dan Wheeler: 25:53

Thank you, Terry. Don't give up hope. If you've lost your hope, look to Jesus asked him to restore it. And we're hoping that you'll join us for the next episode of finish strong God bless.

John Matarazzo: 26:09

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finished strong and fearless faith. Check out their website, F faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong