Hope for Hurting Hearts: Growing Our Faith in God

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Go to harvest.org forward slash virtue. Hope actually gets stronger when things get hard. But you must turn to God, not turn away from God. Are you hopeful or are you hopeless?

When the alarm goes off early so we can get up and work out, it's easy to wish we could strengthen our muscles while we lie there in bed. But we know it doesn't work that way. When it comes to growing strong in our faith, sometimes we have to exercise our faith. And sometimes that comes at the most painful, distressing times of life. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us get through the toughest times of our lives.

Today we'll see our faith grows as we lean hard on the Lord. Here before us in John 11 is a story of a loved one dying. It's a story of severe grief that accompanies the death of someone you love. It's also a story of how Jesus reacts in such situations and it tells us how God can actually be glorified through difficult circumstances.

But it's also a hopeful message. So we will remember that no matter what we're going through, God is going to be with you. He'll give you the strength you need in your hour of need. Not necessarily before, never after.

But he'll give you what you need when you need it. This is a story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Now these people were personal friends of Jesus Christ. And he would go to their home in Bethany when he would be going into Jerusalem. Whenever he went into Jerusalem there was conflict. There was drama.

There were things going on. So he would go hang out with his friends first. And by the way Martha was a killer cook. And I am sure he loved her food. As did his 12 buddies.

He took with him everywhere he went. So he would just show up and Martha would whip him up a feast. And Jesus liked to spend time in their home. And it could be accurately said that Mary, her sister Martha, and their brother Lazarus were personal friends of Jesus Christ.

I think that's an important thing to note. And so as our story picks up, hardship has come their way. Sickness has invaded their home. John 11.

Now look at this. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore, therefore, when he heard that he was sick he stayed two more days.

He stayed two more days in the place where he was. Huh? What? And finally Jesus comes strolling into town and he is days late. Not only has he missed healing Lazarus.

Lazarus has died and he missed the funeral. So as he arrives in Bethany, Martha goes up to him and says the following. John 11 verse 20. Then Martha as soon as she heard Jesus was coming went and met him but Mary was sitting in the house. And Martha said to Jesus, Lord if you would have been here my brother would not have died.

But now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said, I know he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Jesus said, read my lips.

No he didn't say that. But he said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

So here comes Jesus greeted by Martha with this statement, Lord if you would have been here my brother would not have died. Allow me to loosely paraphrase that. Jesus, you kind of blew it. You really led us down here.

We were bragging on you to our friends telling them all how awesome you are. And you don't even show up. You even missed the funeral. You could have done something. But then there is this spark of faith in there too and Martha does say, yet I know that whatever you ask of God he will give it to you. Ok so she is very upset with Jesus. Have you ever been upset with God? Have you ever not agreed with what God did in your life?

Have you ever been disappointed with God? Maybe saying something like, where were you Lord when my parents divorced? Where were you when my marriage dissolved? Where were you when my child went prodigal? Where were you when my loved one died? Where were you when you let me buy a cat in a pet shop?

Why did you? I have to throw crazy stuff in every now and then. I know this is an intense message folks.

So I will throw in wacky humor here and there. But where were you Lord? We feel that way. And we cry out to Him. And I want to say this.

Mary and Martha were doing the right thing. We all have our anxieties and we all have our concerns. Don't separate yourself from God and isolate yourself from other Christians.

Be with them and go to God in prayer with your concerns. Listen. With your complaints.

With your frustrations and say, Lord I don't get it and I don't like it. But I believe in you. And I believe you are in control.

And I love you. But I still don't like it. It's okay. It's just honesty. It's just honesty with God. There is nothing wrong with asking God why. Don't necessarily expect an answer. But you can ask God why.

You know if the Lord did tell us why things happen the way they do do you think it would ease your pain and heal your broken heart? I mean imagine for a moment if you were saying, God I don't understand this. Why? Why? You really want to know? Yes I do. You ready for it? Yes.

Here it is. The reason that happened was so this would take place. Boom.

What would you do? I don't agree. That's not right. That's messed up. You probably wouldn't agree with it.

So I don't even think knowing the answer would help you. God says my ways are above your ways. My thoughts are above your thoughts. So we should live on promises not explanations. And we shouldn't spend too much time asking why. Why?

Why? Now Jesus is going to put things in perspective. Martha listen to me now. I am the resurrection and the life. And he that believes in me though he were dead yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

Martha listen. Death is not the end. This is the promise of God for all of us. And this is why we as Christians have hope. Everything doesn't end when I leave this earth. Oh yes my physical life ends but I am a soul in a body and I live on in eternity. And one day heaven according to Scripture is going to come down to the earth. Heaven and earth will become one. God has a future and a hope for every one of his followers.

That's why we have hope in a seemingly hopeless world. Ok let's go back to John 11 verse 32. And when Mary came where Jesus was she saw him falling down at his feet saying, Lord if you would have been here my brother would not have died. Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping he groaned in his spirit and was troubled. And he said, Where have you laid him?

They said, Come and see. Now here is the shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. Two words. Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, Oh see how he loved him. You know men have a harder time in general than women expressing their feelings and emotions. Girls do it so well. We so admire you. We don't understand you. But we admire you. The way you are just talking and having twelve girls talking at the same time. Understanding each other. We are really perplexed when you all go to the bathroom together.

That makes no sense to men. I am going to the bathroom. Who wants to go? I will go.

And you all go. Guys would never do that ever. We are embarrassed if we see each other in the bathroom.

Oh hi. But girls. A girl will say to a girl, I love you so much. I love you. I love you.

I love you. Love love love. Guys are like. And we do feel love. We feel love for our brothers. We feel love for our wives. We feel love for a lot of people.

It is just harder for us to say it. That is all. So we will punch each other.

Love you bro. You know. Come on. We are messed up. Let's just admit it. And it is really hard for a man to cry. Generally. For many men they will hold it back.

They will fight it. And some would even say it is not masculine to cry. For anyone who would say it is not masculine for a man to cry I have a two word answer. Jesus wept.

Jesus wept. Jesus of Nazareth was the most masculine man that ever walked this planet. He was the man. Even Pilate said behold the man. He was the man.

Don't forget. He carried that wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem. After having his back ripped open by a Roman whip he was tough as nails. Not this effeminate little scrawny Jesus you see in religious art.

That is not the Jesus of the Bible. He was strong. But he wept. Because it was heartbreaking. What was heartbreaking?

What was heartbreaking was what sin had done. Who was he mad at? Was he mad at Mary and Martha? I don't think so. Was he mad at the people mourning?

I don't really think so. I think he was mad at the grim reaper if you will. He was mad at death itself. Because this was never part of God's divine plan for us to die. We would have lived forever if our crazy first parents didn't eat the forbidden fruit. And by the way it wasn't an apple. The Bible never says apple. People say when Adam and Eve ate the apple there was no apple. It was a nectarine.

Don't you know? Actually we are not told. But because they ate that fruit sin entered the world. If Adam and Eve had not eaten of the forbidden fruit we would live forever. If Adam and Eve had not eaten the forbidden fruit we would never age. If Adam and Eve had not eaten of the forbidden fruit I would have hair right now and lots of it.

Beautiful hair. I was signing copies of my book after the service and some lady came up to me and said I have to ask you how old are you? I said well how old do you think I am? She said well I don't really want to say.

Well go ahead take a shot. She said 72. I'm like what? Seriously?

She said I told you I didn't want to say. Wow. That's all because of sin, aging, sickness and of course death. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. In a new book Pastor Greg Laurie recalls his friendship with Dr. Billy Graham. He had this ability to connect from the beginning to the middle to the end of his ministry.

I remember seeing him in New York at his final crusade and flushing meadows there. And I remember he just looked at the crowd and said God loves you. And then he would turn to another part of the crowd and say God loves you. I read somewhere that what young people want and need from older people is first they want to be loved. And you want to be loved. And the Bible says God loves you. God loves you.

God loves everyone here tonight. He lived what he preached. There weren't two Billy Grahams.

He was the same in private that he was in public. And he was the godliest man I've ever met. The new book Billy Graham The Man I Knew from Pastor Greg Laurie.

Yours for a gift of any size at Harvest.org. And now Pastor Greg continues his message called Hope for Hurting Hearts. God can be glorified through human suffering and bring good out of bad. God can be glorified through human suffering and bring good out of bad.

Mary and Martha wanted a healing. Jesus wanted a resurrection. He wanted to do more than they wanted him to do. You know there are many times God wants to do way more than you are asking for. The Bible says in Ephesians 3.20 he is able to do exceedingly above and beyond that which you can ask or think.

So don't limit God by your unbelief. Maybe you have a bill due. You need 942 dollars and 76 cents to pay it. So you go to the Lord. Lord I need this much money. What would you provide him? Well don't limit him.

Say if you want to throw in five extra grand I'm good. You know whatever you want to do. Now I am sort of being a little humorous there but the point is he might want to do more than you are asking for. Say Lord here is my need.

I bring him before you but I know you can do exceedingly above and beyond that which I can ask or think. Here is the thing about hope. You think how do you get hope? How do you build hope? Well you need sunshine, lollipops, rainbows, and a couple of unicorns.

Right? They are not real by the way. But don't tell that to a little girl. But the point is we think all the good times, all the happy times will bring hope. Not really. Here is something that might surprise you. Hope grows in the garden of adversity. Hope actually gets stronger when things get harder. See that doesn't make any sense to me. Well listen the Bible says this in Romans 5.3, We glory in tribulations, which means we are happy when things are hard.

That's not easy. Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance or endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. You see when a Christian suffers and still glorifies God it reassures the rest of us that there will never be a valley so deep that God will not get us through it. It reminds us that our faith is real. It will sustain us in our hour of need.

When you are going through hardship that is when you are going to find out how real your faith actually is. Ok. I have been saying these things for years. I have been telling these things to other people. Now it is time for me to get on this little bridge called faith and put my full weight on it. And I had to do that. And that bridge did hold me up because everything God says in His Word is true. And my faith grew stronger. And my hope burned brighter.

And it can happen for you as well. But you must turn to God. Not turn away from God. See that was the smart thing about Mary and Martha.

They went to the Lord. And that is where you need to go with your pain right now. And I am asking you in closing. Are you hopeful?

Or are you hopeless? I talked about the hopeless generation. They have probably more materially than any generation that has ever existed. They have very you know iPads.

I am talking about the pets have iPads now. Everybody has all these great things. And so many of them are just you know they have a high suicide rate.

What is going on? I think it is because there are all these bright shiny dazzling things. And they quickly see the emptiness of all of it. And they are wondering is there more to life than this? Well there is. But it is not in stuff.

It is in a relationship with God. You know when you are young you say well I am not that happy now but one day when I graduate from high school I will be happy. I will be fulfilled. Then you graduate. Well I need to graduate from college.

I need to do that. Well I need to get married. Then you get married and you are like huh. Maybe I need to get remarried. So you get divorced. And I am not making light of that by the way.

But I am using it as an illustration. So you remarry again. Oh maybe I made the wrong decision. Maybe I will get remarried again. Then you say well kids. We need kids. If we had kids we would be happy. Then you have kids.

Then you say if we could get rid of these kids somehow we will be happy. Have you ever noticed it is always just a little beyond your reach. That is because it. The thing you are looking for isn't out there. It is not a thing you hold in your hand. It is having Christ in your heart. That is what you are wired for.

That is what you are looking for. I will close with this verse. And this verse is 25 chapters so be patient.

No it is just one verse. Proverbs 10 28. The hopes of the godly result in happiness. But the expectations of the wicked are all in vain. So if you are a believer and you have your hope in Christ it will result in happiness. But if your expectations are in other things it is all in vain.

Jesus has what you are looking for. He will forgive you of all of your sin and give you hope if you are young. If you are middle aged. If you are 72. Or if you look like you are 72. Or you are 85 or you are 95.

Whatever your age the answer is the same. We need Jesus. And I want to close by offering an invitation to anybody here that may not have a relationship with God yet.

Because listen to this. Life without Jesus is a hopeless end. But life with Jesus is endless hope. You have heard of the endless summer. I am talking about endless hope.

It doesn't stop for you in a relationship with God. Jesus died on the cross for you. 2000 years ago He died in your place and bore your sins. And He rose again from the dead three days later. And now He is here standing at the door of your life and He is knocking. And He is saying if you will hear His voice and open the door He will come in. Have you asked Christ to come into your life yet?

If not why don't you do it right now? You will find the hope you are looking for. He is just a prayer away. Let's all pray together. Father thank You for Your love for us. Thank You for Your Word to us.

Thank You that You can give us hope in a seemingly hopeless world. And now I pray for any person here watching, listening, wherever they may be. If they don't have a relationship with You. If they don't know that their sin is forgiven. Would You help them to see their need for You today?

Help them to come to You and believe in You we ask. Amen. We'll be back in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. Stay tuned. If you missed any part of today's study you can hear what you missed by going online to harvest.org.

Just look for the study called Hope for Hurting Hearts. Stream this study all over again while you're online or to order a copy on CD just call us 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call 24-7.

Again that number 1-800-821-3300. Well Pastor Greg I hold in my hands your brand new book called Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. Loved the book.

One of your best by the way. Oh thanks. And I'm going to flip all the way back to the back of the book. The second paragraph of the chapter you call Acknowledgments. And I find this fascinating. Here's what you write. You say my collaborator Marshall Terrell and I have consulted a veritable library of Graham books, articles, periodicals, YouTube videos, and thousands of documents on the internet including the 1,004 page file the FBI kept on Billy.

Research reached as far back as the Civil War. Yeah. Oh my goodness. This book contains dimensions of Billy's life and background which have never been explored anywhere before.

That part I found absolutely fascinating. The fact that you have, I mean you knew Billy. It says so in the title. Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. Yes. But you have dug so deeply into giving us such a rich biography on the man that you call the single greatest evangelist who ever lived.

Right. Well I want people to understand his place in history. He's truly a historical figure along the lines of our great presidents and people that impacted our country and even people that impacted our world. And so we wanted to go back to Billy's roots, his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather.

So we tell the story with a wide overview but then we go in deeply into his life and what I wanted to do Dave was show the human side of Billy. You know sometimes a person can fade into history and people never really had any interaction with him and they almost become one dimensional like President Lincoln on the five dollar bill. But he was a real flesh and blood guy, Abraham Lincoln and so was Billy Graham and it was my privilege to spend a lot of time with him. A lot of time just hanging out with him, a lot of time asking him questions, a lot of time listening to him preach and I got to know him, dare I say, as a friend and he was just such a great man to observe. You know the private Billy was even more impressive than the public Billy and the public Billy was very impressive. I mean I can't think of a greater preacher I've ever seen but privately he was very humble, very gracious and always was interested in whoever he was speaking to.

They might be a famous person like a president and they might be somebody you've never heard of before. Billy took an interest in people in general and had a wonderful way about him and every time I was with him I almost had to pinch myself. I mean I was with him a lot so it wasn't like every time I was with him I had butterflies in my stomach or something like that but I never stopped realizing this is Billy Graham I'm hanging out with here and talking to. And it was great to access him and hear things from him and share things with him and be of some small help to him in the final years of his ministry. As Billy was ending his ministry I was starting my crusade ministry and he asked me to assist him with illustrations and building bridges to younger audiences so I love doing that. In fact I found more pleasure in prepping a message for Billy Graham than I found in prepping one for myself. And when Billy actually used some of the material I gave him it was just like one of the greatest moments of my life.

I can imagine it was. You know Billy was the kind of man we all wish we knew personally and you'll get to know him in this brand new biography. It really is an inspiring journey. Again it's called Billy Graham the Man I Knew. In fact Anne Graham Lotz, Billy's daughter, commented about the book. She wrote in this page turner of a book, I learned things about my father that I never knew.

Greg Laurie has done a masterly job of setting my father's life in historical and cultural context. I pray that Billy Graham the Man I Knew will draw readers to the gospel where they'll find the love of God that he preached so fervently and faithfully. So can we send a copy of this your way? Pastor Greg is making it available to thank you for your donation of any size. And please know there are no churches or large organizations covering all the broadcast expenses.

No it's only through the investments of listeners that these insights can come your way each day. So thanks for being a partner with us. With your donation today be sure to ask for Billy Graham the Man I Knew. You can write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. Call any time 24 hours a day 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg a few moments ago you spoke of the need to get our hearts right with God.

That's right. Could you help someone who wants to do that very thing right now? Yes I'd be delighted to. Listen as you've listened to this program today maybe something's been happening inside of your heart. Where you're sensing I need to do this personally but how do I do it and what do I do? Let me help you. It's very simple.

In fact it's so simple you may be shocked. God, this relationship with him is just a prayer away. The Bible says if you will call upon the name of the Lord you'll be saved. So I'd like to lead you in a prayer where you do just that. You call on the name of the Lord. This can be the moment where you change your eternal address literally from hell to heaven.

Just pray these words. Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for me and rose again from the dead. Jesus I choose to follow you from this moment forward in your name I pray. Amen. I know it's such a simple short prayer but you just called on the name of the Lord and you know what?

He heard that prayer and if you meant that prayer in your heart he answered that prayer. Now let me help you to get started on the right foot in your new life in Jesus Christ. The greatest adventure awaits you. The life of walking with God. I want to send you what we call a New Believers Growth Path that includes the New Believers Bible and a whole lot more. And let me be the first to say to you congratulations and welcome to the family of God. To get that free New Believers Growth Pack just ask for it if you prayed along with Pastor Greg to receive Christ today.

We'll be glad to send one your way. Write us at A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300 call anytime 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study. It's a worship service. It's church in your home.

Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so join us for Harvest at Home. People are listening in from around the world and listen to this we have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ.

So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. In so many ways this world has lost its way. But God wants believers to bring the kind of change it needs. So next time Pastor Greg offers practical help on how to be a world changer. Tune in next time for A New Beginning. The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.