Living Hope

Hello, everyone. Today is Wednesday, July the 26th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. Or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

That's right. You guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online, leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you listen to your podcasts.

We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. And the verse of the day is coming to us from Psalm 100 and verse 5. I almost said Psalm 105, but that would have been misleading. Psalm 100 and verse 5, for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and the truth endures to all generation.

We live in a world where the culture around us and our circumstances are constantly changing. Everything is in flux. Nothing is set in stone, but it is hope and peace to know that God never changes. And when you look at the complexity of life and how many moving parts are in this universe and how intricately things like have to weld together to make sense and how just mind-numbingly insanely complex things are, simplicity like God is good is a breath of fresh air. Going through the Psalms and just seeing how many times they say, listen, God is good. That's all that needs to be said.

That's a lifeline for me when life is crazy, when life is frustrating or when I'm upset about something or when it seems like the world around me is crumbling. Hey, even though this is bad, we're not negating that the situation is bad. We're not ignoring that. The situation is bad, but God is good. And His truth endures to all generations, so values don't or should not change from generation to generation.

Now, unfortunately, they have, and we can look around and see that we're in a very dire crisis of values, but God's truth endures. So you continue to stand up for that truth. People are going to call you old-fashioned. People are going to say that you're not with the times.

That's okay, because God is beyond time, and His truth and His values supersede all of that. David, you asked me something last night that I thought was so offensive to me that we had to talk about on the radio. I want you to pose the question that you posed to me last night as you were leaving my house.

I want you to pose it to Ryan. I don't know how it was offensive. You know why it was offensive. Okay.

I don't know what was offensive. Oh, well. I don't like pests of any kind. Okay. Frogs.

Anyways. Slugs. Dogs. Cats. Third graders. Third graders.

No, I'm okay with dogs, cats, and third graders. Go ahead. Ask your question. Okay.

So, Ryan. Okay. Pick a number between one and fifty. A number between one and fifty?

Yes. And say it out loud. Thirty-seven. All right. Thirty-seven. That's a big number. Okay.

Yeah, you shouldn't have picked that. Yeah. Okay. So you get a million?

Should I go lower? No. No. It's too late now. You get a million dollars. I'm afraid now. You should be.

You get a million dollars. Okay. I like that.

But every time you put your shoes on, every time you put your shoes on, no matter how much you shake them, no matter how much you bang them together, no matter how much you do any of that, there's a thirty-seven percent chance there is a mouse in your shoes. Oh, no. Oh, no. I was offended.

I can understand why you're here. I don't want mice in my shoes, in my clothes. That's awful.

Thirty-seven percent chance every time I put my shoes on, can I bang the shoes together, just as a precautionary thing? You can. It doesn't matter. It's a million dollars, though.

I'll take that. What if it bites you? I mean, I've got a million dollars. What if it gets loose in your house?

Yeah, that's a good question. When it comes out of the house, when it comes out of the shoe, does it vanish? Does it cease to exist, or is there just a mouse in my house now? There's just a real mouse in your house. Nah, nah, nah.

Not taking that now. That's why you put your shoes on outside. Then it's in your yard, and it can get up under the foundation.

You know what? I feel like my dog would probably eat a mouse. I don't want a mouse anywhere near my house. I feel like he could eat a mouse.

I might take that. I don't want mice in my neighborhood. I might train him to just eat mice. Yeah, yeah. And just live pray.

Like, oh, here boy, here. Teach your dog to hunt mice. Here's a treat.

Yeah. That's one of the good things about living. I live in a cat neighborhood, where there's just cats everywhere, so that is one of the pluses that's very rare. We did have mice in our house when Ellie was pregnant with Gavin. That was in 2019, I believe. So we had two mice.

Other than that, we've lived there our entire marriage and never seen mice. Maybe they were just lazy that year. Yeah. I don't know. 37% is high, though. That's too high. That is high. If I can lower the percentage, maybe. That's just under half the time. 25% or less, I'd probably take it. But 37, that's a little too high.

That's too high. You picked that number. I know.

But he didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know what I was picking. Yeah. Of course.

Yeah. I also wouldn't. Probably not. Not for Millie.

Probably not for me. I will say this. If the mouse vanished after it left my shoe, I would take it. But the fact is, not only that you put your foot on a mouse, but now there's a mouse in the house? No. Yeah.

And a million dollars is not worth just living in constant fear that there's going to be a mouse. People don't like that. I just live barefoot. I just walk around with no shoes.

Yeah. What happens if you wear flip-flops? Flip-flops, they still show up. They still show up. They still show up. But if you never put shoes on again, maybe you don't have to worry about it. It just pops into existence.

You just hear a pop, and it's just there. Or if you just deal with it once and then leave those shoes on forever. Mm. You're going to be a stinky foot.

Like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? Uh-huh. Yep. Spray on shoes. Yep. You're going to be a stinky foot somebody.

That's my spray on shoes. Good reference. I'm impressed. Sorry.

That was impressive. I've never seen the film. It's a cute movie.

You should watch it. Well, all right. I would not personally do it. I don't think I would. You're not going to do it. I have some qualifications.

But if it's just as stands, no, I wouldn't. Nice. We're going to start the show in just a minute and grab Dr. Shah for our segment.

If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. Hey there, listeners. I'm Jon Galantis.

And I'm Elly Galantis. And we just want to take a quick second and talk to you about Dr. Shah's and Nicole's book, 30 Days to a New Beginning, daily devotions to help you move forward. You know, this is actually the second book in the 30 Days series, and the whole point of this devotional is to help us get unstuck from the ruts of life. You know, when it comes to running the race of life, it matters how you start, but a bad start doesn't ultimately determine how you finish the race. You can have a good finish even with a bad start, and that's where this book comes in. No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck.

Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner, like I know I've done several times. I know that's right. 30 Days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's word. Life doesn't have a reset button, but our God is a God who does new things. His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 Days to a New Beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below, and if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text, 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show?

Let's do it. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028.

That's right. If today's your first time ever visiting with us on the Clear View Today show, we want to welcome you, let you know who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.

You can find all of his work on his website. That's AbbadanShah.com. I just noticed something as I was saying that intro, Dr. Shah. As I was talking about the phone number, I hit those fives, but the more I said them, they went from five to five. I heard it in my voice. I was like, two, five, two, five, eight, two.

One of us, one of us. Like my accent is starting to shift a little bit, I feel like. I wonder why that is that you don't have, because you're more Southern than us being from South Carolina, but your accent is much less profound. Because he's from Charleston. He's on the coast. So Charleston's not a Southern accent, Southern thrall.

Not really. I mean, there's some people there that have that kind of that old, real old Southern way of talking. Honey dripping off the magnolia leaves. Your wife is from Georgia. Not Ryan's wife, but Dr. Shah's wife is from Florida.

When I met her, I remember her accent, it doesn't sound strong now, but when I met her accent was real thick. The further South rule is not always true, because think about Florida. I mean, there's a lot of people from Florida who have a Southern accent. That's true, because somebody told me once, they were like, the further South you go, the sweeter the tea is.

And let me tell you something, buddy boy. That's true, until you get to Florida. I got Florida.

I went to Florida on my honeymoon, and I tried some sweet tea. I spat it right. I was like, what is this brown water? It's sort of like you loop back around to the North, like you're going to the South and then suddenly you're back in the North. It's like in Pac-Man. When you go on the left of the screen, you rip your arm.

You just get back out of the top. I'm in Georgia. I'm in Maine. Like, I don't know how that happened.

Don't ever try any lobster in Florida, though. That's a funny story. I got to tell the story now.

Please. Talking about Southern accents. I was in college.

This is 1991. And I was homesick. I'm like, I got to go home.

And my brother took me to this travel agency and this lady came out. And she looked like she was someone out of the Designing Women. Is that the show?

Designing Women? I think so. Yeah. It's a show.

It's like three ladies and one man. Oh, probably. Yeah. Designing Women. Designing Women. Yeah. Because Nicole watches it.

So I was like, I know that show. It looked like one of them came. She came right out of the show. By the time I stepped out of the screen. Which one?

Which one was it? It was probably Dixie Carter. But anyways, at the time I didn't know the show.

I know it now. But she came there and she sat down. I was sitting there next to my brother and she started talking and she talked for like good five, 10 minutes.

She knew my brother. And when she left the room, I asked him, I said, what language was she speaking? It sounded like English, but it wasn't English. It was not English. It was something else.

And she said, I'll be right back. And I was like, okay. Well on today's episode, that doesn't have a tie in with what we're talking about today. Yeah.

I know. I was like, I wonder how Ryan's going to say that. I was trying to segue that over. But there's not really a... That's the hard part about being a talk show host is you got to make it all make sense. But sometimes it's like, we're just going to dive into the topic. Well, you know, in thinking about accents and people have to take a lot of pride in where they're from and they put a lot of stock in that, put a lot of hope in how they're raised, but that's not always the best way to find hope.

We try to put our hope in various things, but you know, your raising, your upbringing, your region that you're from isn't the best way to do that. You get it, man. That's it. A plus. A plus.

If I talk long enough, maybe I'll get it. Well, unlike earthly hopes, the hope that comes from God never disappoints us. Amen.

That's right. You know, it's funny because I remember like, I will put my hope in the silliest things, like wanting to go home and eat leftovers later that night, and then get so crushed when it's not there. Like I look forward to this all day and I've never gone home and been satisfied because it's always gone or it just wasn't as good.

Like when mom used to make some things, like real ice cream or a special dish. And then in the morning before I left school, you know, I would go and move it right behind the milk cart. Try to hide it?

But then come back the next day, or at the end of the day, and it was gone. My brother got to it. I was going to say, who do you think got to it? Probably my brother. Would your dad eat your dessert?

No. Dad was not the type to do that. But your brother would come in and eat that. We're talking about hope today, specifically, you know, people, like you said, Dr. Shaw, there's worldly hopes. There's things that people try to put their hope in, but it just, it doesn't compare to the hope that we have as believers, the hope that we have that's available to us in God. So true.

So true. You know, the biblical hope is not based on earthly expectations and earthly fears. It is based on the solid foundation of God himself. I love that.

Right? Foundation of God himself. So as someone said, what makes for a good life, a happy life, a joyful life? Well, number one, you have someone you can love.

Number two, you have something you can do, something you do and you enjoy doing it. And then you have something to look forward to. And that's where hope comes in. Something to look forward to.

That's part of life. Yeah. I think it's one of those things that we, and I love the way you put it, it's based on the foundation of God himself, on the character of God, the nature of God. That's what our hope and really our assurance is.

Right. It's one of the things that gives me a lot of, I hate to say hope, but that's kind of what it is. That encouragement that we have. And the passage I want us to kind of focus on is first Peter chapter one, verse three, it says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So this is a blessing towards God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because he's abundantly merciful. He has birthed us again to a living hope means humanity or human beings were given hope there was something greater coming, but because of sin, that hope was sabotaged is there's nothing good coming other than hell. There's nothing good coming other than pain and punishment, but because of his abundant mercy and mercy is sending his son to give his life on the cross. And through that mercy, he has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, because he rose from the grave.

We have a sure promise that we're also going to rise again physically from the dead. And these are people living in the diaspora. They're living in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey. And I love it because I've been there now, haven't been to the places that Peter was riding to, because that's around the Black Sea region.

I was going to ask that. I was like, how close is this to where you guys were in Turkey? I flew over it. Oh, wow.

So we were not able to go there, but I'm hoping in a couple of years from now when we will visit Turkey again, but this time go to the north, spend some time in the east and maybe even in the central Cappadocian region, I'll get to see some of these places. But anyways, these people had lost their inheritance. They had lost their part in the community. They had lost some of their family inheritance. And so they must have been feeling somewhat dejected, even though they knew that heaven is coming. They knew that God has some great things in store for them in the next life. But in this life, they are lost a lot.

And so Peter was riding to encourage them. We all need that. We need people in our lives, and I know I do, to keep me strong in my faith. And I mean, you two men are that for me and this Clearview Church family and my wife. And there's so many people in our lives that we have. And if not, we should seek those people to help us stay strong in the faith.

Because there are times where my faith will wane based on circumstances or based on stress or all these things that come against me and my faith starts to go down. But there's people like Peter, there's people like you guys who will bring that faith back up and who speak encouragement to remind me of that hope that's still coming. Well, I think that's so important when we talk about the community of the church, when we talk about the church family, because God hasn't called us to live in the Christian life in isolation.

That's never how it was intended. We're supposed to do life alongside one another for that very reason, so that we can infuse hope into one another when one of us starts to falter or lose sight of where we're going or our faith starts to dip. We can be that infusion of hope that we need. And it's based on our common convictions coming from the Word of God. And that's what verse three is all about.

So let's look at it together. First Peter chapter one, verse three, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That Greek word for blessed is eulogetos. And that's different from the blessed in the Beatitudes. Blessed in the Beatitudes is the word makarios, which means to be happy, which means to be envied. So they're saying like blessed is the poor, blessed is the meek.

That's like, these are the people to be, these are like the good example of people. I always find it funny when people say this is not happy, when actually the word is happy. Happier the poor, happier the meek, happier the merciful. And it's not the surface-y happiness. This is the deep-seated joy.

It is. But the word is happy, makarios. Not funny when people make big sermon points out of this. But if they want to have blessed, well, the word is actually eulogetos. And in Matthew five, it's not eulogetos. It's makarios. Eulogetos gives us the English word eulogy, which means, not the eulogy that we know today, but eu means good, logos, eulogetos.

Eu is good, logos, word. Eulogetos is the good word. So could that mean be a eulogy, it's like a good word about someone, I guess, or is it coming from somewhere? In English, now it has become a good word about someone who has died, added a layer to it.

But died. I got you. I got you. You wouldn't give a eulogy about someone who's alive. Well, you should be. Yeah. Like, John, you're such a great guy. Oh, thank you. That's a eulogy.

That's a eulogy. Okay. I see.

I see. So the word eulogetos in Greek is just to say a good word about someone, living or dead. But in English, now. It's specifically for the dead. For the dead.

But Peter was calling on his readers to say a good word about God. Who is very alive. Who is very alive. Very, very alive.

He doesn't know it. Yeah. So the point is that Peter was calling on his readers to praise the living, true, triune God in the midst of their difficulties.

Wow. That's one of the best times to praise him, because it's easy to praise when things are going right. Like, Lord, thank you. I feel good.

I'm high on the mountain right now. But then when the when the storms come, the rains come, it's like just begging for just get me out. Just get me out. But it's it's that turning around and saying, you know what? Even in this, you're good.

Yeah. Even in this, you're God. The times I've done that just kind of when I find myself sinking into the mire of just pain or frustration or discouragement, and I feel like I'm sinking, sinking, sinking, I'll stop myself and I'll say no. From this point on, God is glorified. God is good.

God is not responsible for any of this. God is working all things together for my good and for his glory. God is good. Amen. And no matter what my circumstances say, no matter what's happening, no matter what will happen, he is good. And that is settled. I think we see that example, like in the Psalms, like I just took that class on the Psalms.

Dr. Shah, you helped me out a lot with that class because, yeah, Psalms I thought would be, oh, like as a as a worship leader, Psalms will be pretty easy. They are not. Having a good time. They are not.

Deep, deep, deep. But that was one of the things in a lot of those Lamentations Psalms you pointed out to me. Look how David does this, even in the midst of his trials. Almost all those Lamentations Psalms have somewhere in there God is worthy to be praised.

You're still good. You're still God. Praise be to God. Even in all of this.

Yeah. Psalm 61, verse one and two. Hear my cry, O God, attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth, I will cry to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Wow.

Yeah. So if any of you are feeling overwhelmed by your problems, if any of you are feeling discouraged, feel like you've you're just so low in your life, just start praising God. You say, well, it's very hard to do that.

Well, that's what you have to do. If you were in the bottom of a pit and you are surrounded by just creatures and snakes and whatever, you name it, name it, name your fear, and you feel like you're sinking in this mire and there is a rope hanging, OK? And you can see the grooves in the in the in the wall where you can climb out. The climbing out is praising God. That's right. The rope is praising God.

Those those niches in the wall are praising God. So if you can do that, you'll find yourself coming out of it. Wow.

I love that picture. That's so that's so profound because I feel like it's where a lot of people are. Yeah. And they just feel like, well, I'm just I'm just in this mire. I'm just stuck. I'm in a pit.

Yeah. There's no way. There's no way out.

It's too far for me to climb. There's just my lot in life. But we create those those grooves by by praising. We create those grooves by reminding ourselves who God is. That's so beautiful.

Yeah. And Paul and Peter even gives us the reason for this praise. In verse three, he says, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So the word he uses for begottenness again is the word anagenao, which means to give new birth, kind of similar to John three, where Jesus told Nicodemus, unless one is born again, anagenao, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And this rebirth does not just happen.

It requires resurrection life. So when a person gets saved, when you lead somebody in prayer, like we did this Sunday, this young couple came and they're not married, but they came and they're working towards marriage. And the young man said, I want to receive Christ. I mean, he said that. I was like, OK. He's like, yeah, I would like to do that. I said, OK. So I'm like, oh, wait, he's telling me that he needs help. So I said, oh, OK. Do you want me to lead you in that prayer?

That would be great. I said, oh, yes, of course. And I prayed with him. I would love to say that I was feeling all, you know, just just fireworks going off. It didn't. I didn't hear any violin. I didn't hear any strings, no choir from heaven, no brush of angel's wings.

I was just finished. And I was like, oh, well, OK, that I hope that was for real. But if I take it by faith, what has happened is the resurrection power has went into this young person's life.

That's right. And I'm glad you say that, because I think and I've fallen into this trap many times where I believe that that resurrection power, the Holy Spirit coming into that person is poetic language. It's poetic kind of romantic vacation of of now being a Christian, now being saved. But literally and thinking about it in that way helps me and it helps me to kind of stand in awe of what it is that you did even. And I part of me, honestly, is kind of glad that that overwhelming rush of catharsis didn't come over you because it's like you said, now you walk in faith and you trust in the power of God rather than be like, oh, wow, wow, that was that was affirmed for me.

That was verified for me. Sometimes that's good. But I think it makes you a stronger Christian to say, you know what? I have faith that God did in that young man. What God said has happened, whether I feel it, see it or not.

That's right. And then the result of that rebirth, of course, is living hope. Living is that adjective. And this is a biblical understanding of hope. There are some examples of that in the Psalms, again, in Psalm 38, 15, for in you, oh, Lord, I hope. Psalm 71, five, for you are my hope, oh, Lord God, have you noticed a common element is God? Psalm 130, verse seven, oh, Israel, hope in the Lord. And Paul talks about this as well in Romans five, five. Now, hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So God's hope is not rooted in some human expectation or fear.

It is built on the character of God himself. And that does not change. It does not change it.

You can't get around it. And that's that's what gives that hope assurance. I love that you're pointing that out, because that to me, that strengthens my hope, knowing that I'm putting it in something that not only won't change, it can't change.

Right. So everything we do here, whether we're doing it at church, in your own families, in your homes, in your marriage, with your children, even if at the moment you cannot see the things that you were hoping would happen, you have the surer, the promised assurance from God that if you walk in God's way, you will have that living hope that you're expecting. Even if you can't see it right now, even if things are contrary to what you see, you trust God's character, not the events, not people, not even yourself, you trust God.

And it gets even better because in verse four, it says to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. I think that's beautiful because you're talking about the hope that we have is in the character of God. And I think that moves our hope from being something that's going to happen to now it's a relationship because my hope is in this person of who God is. It's not just something that might happen, might not happen, may not happen the way I thought it was going to be. It's a trusting relationship with God.

It's a relationship. You're right. I love it. I love it. That strengthens me.

Yeah. Well, just hearing that language of going back and forth between put your hope in the Lord and the Lord is your hope. It's not just that you are trusting in God. It's not just you're hoping in him. He alone is your hope.

He is the one that you need to seek after. That's right. So it's not just that I hope my children get to the place that I always imagined in my heart. No, I'm now looking forward to that place where God is in the center of their lives. Do you feel like it's also like it kind of comes full circle? Maybe I'm not explaining it right, but it's like that place that I'm trying to get to, that inheritance almost it's there, but that living hope is leading me there. Yes.

Yes. And the hope is God himself, not just some imagined scenario or imagined place of perfection. No, the perfection is God himself. And the three negatives that are used here in this verse to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and does not fade away incorruptible. The word is apathartos, which in this life, everything faces corruption because of sin, even our bodies. So incorruptible means it's not going to face corruption. Second word is undefiled, which is amiantos.

In this life, everything is tainted by sin, but this hope is not going to be tainted by sin. And the third fading is amarantos, so apathartos, amiantos, amarantos. It really does have a great, like in the Greek, it has a great cadence to it. Yeah. It does.

You just miss it in English. It's just like when you actually hear those words, you're like, wow, that just does something for you. Yeah.

Like incorruptible, undefiled, unfading. That's good. I mean, that's good.

Apathartos, amiantos, amarantos. Wow. I like that. That's good stuff. And amarantos is in this life, everything fades.

The second law of thermodynamics, you know, the law of entropy, constantly pulling things down, but the living hope, nothing fades. In fact, it becomes more brilliant and splendorous and glorious with time. That's awesome. Our lives, our lives, our relationships, our hopes, our dreams in Christ are going to become more and more beautiful as time passes rather than the other way around.

That's right. Amen. So beautiful. I hope that encouraged you all today. If you're struggling with feeling hopeless, I hope you look to the one who is your hope. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com and click that donate button at the bottom of that website, partner with us financially, be a part of what God is doing through the Clear View Today show and impacting the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear View Today.