Spiritual Future of a Region

As many of you know, we have been real involved with the relief efforts down on the Gulf Coast. I, and quite a few others, see this as more than just rebuilding homes and helping people. Many people are starting to see this as a reset of the spiritual destiny of the Gulf Coast, especially New Orleans. What is our role in this? What would God have us do? Is this one of those divine moments that we must grasp or be staring at the wrong side of history in the future?

Andrew Hicks sent me this article from the CNN website and I thought it was interesting:

Voodoo practitioners scatter after Katrina

Monday, October 31, 2005; Posted: 9:25 a.m. EST (14:25 GMT)

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- The last time Don Glossop saw his customers they were ritually burning green candles, hoping voodoo would pierce the federal bureaucracy and hasten the arrival of desperately needed relief checks.

Glossop's shop, New Orleans Mistic, has been closed since Hurricane Katrina swamped the city two months ago, and most of his clients, who practice a local variant of voodoo, have scattered across the country.

He fears that Katrina, which laid waste to entire neighborhoods and claimed hundreds of lives here, may take another casualty: New Orleans' status as the country's voodoo capital.

"As of today I would say it's pretty dead," Glossop said. "Even the tourist shops are in jeopardy. There is a chance for a huge loss here."

Voodoo has long been entrenched in New Orleans, quietly practiced in homes with altars, candles and incense to solve problems of the heart and wallet. Before the storm tore through, about 15 percent of the city's population actively practiced, according to Lisa Fannon, a tour guide, though estimates vary widely.

Voodoo is part of the vernacular here, showing up in jazz and conversation. Some residents still sprinkle red brick dust on their doorway steps to ward off evil spirits.

It's an economic draw as well, enticing curious tourists and their pocketbooks into stores such as Glossop's.

While plans are still on for an annual voodoo fest for Monday, organizer Brandi Kelley said the event will be much smaller this year because many drummers and dancers were forced to relocate.

The ceremony at her shop will focus mainly on healing the city.

"We have got to call on the ancestors for help and get real serious about it," Kelley said. "The spirit is in the city. It's the spirit of this city that is going to rise from the ashes."

If only she could find her snake for the closing ceremony. He was supposed to be in a bathtub of a friend's apartment.

"They say he's somewhere in this room full of debris," Kelley said, her voice trailing off.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The "go away" hurricane ritual was performed in July, just as it always is at the start of the hurricane season.

"It didn't quite work out so well," acknowledged Giselle Moller, manager of Marie Laveau House of Voodoo. But, she said, it may have helped a bit.

"Imagine if the hurricane would have hit us straight on. There would have been no French Quarter," she said.

Even before Katrina, some thought voodoo was fading in New Orleans because the younger generation was less interested in the complicated practice, which involves substantial memorization of rituals and songs, Glossop said.

But New Orleans is not giving up on voodoo, notwithstanding evangelist Franklin Graham's recent comments that the city's Mardi Gras revelry and ties to voodoo were adverse to Christian beliefs.

Defenders say voodoo is a legitimate African-based religion that has been unfairly maligned in movies and popular culture.

"Voodoo is not some kind of black magic cult," said Wade Davis, a Washington-based National Geographic explorer-in-residence who has studied the religion extensively in Haiti. "It's the distillation of very profound religious ideas that came over during the tragic era of slavery."

In New Orleans, much of what is practiced these days is a system of folk magic. Some also practice Haitian voodoo.

As the city revives, proponents hope voodoo will make a comeback, too, because it's part of the intrigue that draws visitors.

"I think it's going to be a very strong part of what will get people back here," said Jameson King, who works in one of the voodoo shops in the French Quarter. "We're here for more than drinking."

HOPE

With the coming of Christmas and celebrating advent at our church, I thought that I would share the notes from the message yesterday for those who were interested. They are pretty incomplete, but it gives a perspective on how God wants us to hope in Christ, how hope is an anchor for our soul, and how without hope, we are not able to stand. Obviously, our hope comes from what Jesus did for us in His death, burial, and resurrection by forgiving us of our sins and giving us new, eternal life in Him. During this Christmas season, may each of our hearts and lives be filled with hope in every situation as we look to Christ and are renewed in our relationship with Him.

Hope In Christ

Rev 12
12:1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring — those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. NIV

The Bible gives us a picture of a great war going on in the heavenlies that has involved all of God’s creation. We see the coming of Christ as God’s rescue of a fallen world and His redemption of mankind.

As we go through the Christian life, one of the main things that God grants us to sustain us, encourage us, and satisfy us, is HOPE. He doesn’t leave us alone, or just save us and then let us drift. Through His word, the Holy Spirit, and the communion of the saints, He fills us with hope in Him. He is our hope.

What is HOPE?

Greek – elpis – to anticipate, usually with pleasure, expectation or confidence

Hope is a complex emotion made up of a desire for an object; and an expectation of obtaining it. Where either of these is lacking, there is not hope. (Barnes)

FAITH - NT:4102 pistis (pis'-tis); from NT:3982; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation

What/Who do we hope in?

We hope in Jesus Christ, in His death, burial, and resurrection, and in His forgiveness of our sins and promise of eternal life. We hope in God Himself.

Matt 12:21
21 In his name the nations will put their hope .

Col 1:27
27 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.

Story of Homeless people in SAN FRANCISCO

What does HOPE do for us?

1.It strengthens us.

Isa 40:28-31
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
NIV

2. It is a reward for suffering – our suffering is not in vain. We learn perseverance, which builds character, that reveals hope in God.

Rom 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
NIV

Romans 5:2
[In hope] In the earnest desire and expectation of obtaining that glory.
Hope is a complex emotion made up of a desire for an object; and an expectation of obtaining it. Where either of these is lacking, there is not hope. Where they are mingled in improper propertions, there is not peace. But where the desire of obtaining an object is attended with an expectation of obtaining it, in proportion to that desire, there exists that peaceful, happy state of mind which we denominate hope And the apostle here implies that the Christian has an earnest desire for that glory; and that he has a confident expectation of obtaining it. The result of that he immediately states to be, that we are by it sustained in our afflictions.
[The glory of God] The glory that God will bestow on us. The word "glory" usually means splendor, magnificence, honor; and the apostle here refers to that honor and dignity which will be conferred on the redeemed when they are raised up to the full honors of redemption; when they shall triumph in the completion of the work: and be freed from sin, and pain, and tears, and permitted to participate in the full splendors that shall encompass the throne of God in the heavens; see the note at Luke 2:9; compare Rev 21:22-24; 22:5; Isa 60:19-20.

(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)


3. It prepares us to patiently wait for what God has in store for us in the future instead of looking for salvation in this life

Rom 8:20-21
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. NIV

Hope has reference to the future; and in this state of the Christian, he sighs for deliverance, and expects it.



Rom 8:22-25

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:24

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
[For we are saved by hope] It cannot be said that hope is the instrument or condition of salvation. Most commentators have understood this as meaning that we have as yet attained salvation only in hope; that we have arrived only to a condition in which we hope for future glory; and that we are in an attitude of waiting for the future state of adoption. But perhaps the word "saved" may mean here simply, we are kept, preserved, sustained in our trials, by hope. Our trials are so great that nothing but the prospect of future deliverance would uphold us; and the prospect is sufficient to enable us to bear them with patience.
[But hope that is seen] Hope is a complex emotion, made up of an earnest desire, and an expectation of obtaining an object. It has reference, therefore, to what is at present unseen. But when the object is seen, and is in our possession, it cannot be said to be an object of hope. The Word hope here means the object of hope, the thing hoped for.
[What a man seeth] The word "seeth" is used here in the sense of possessing, or enjoying. What a man already possesses, he cannot be said to hope for.
[Why] How. What a man actually possesses, how can he look forward to it with anticipation?


Romans 8:25

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
[But if we hope ...] The effect here stated is one which exists everywhere. Where there is a strong desire for an object, and a corresponding expectation of obtaining it-which constitutes true hope-then we can wait for it with patience. Where there is a strong desire without a corresponding expectation of obtaining it, there is impatience. As the Christian has a strong desire of future glory, and as he has an expectation of obtaining it just in proportion to that desire, it follows that he may bear trials and persecutions patiently in the hope of his future deliverance. Compared with our future glory, our present sufferings are light, and but for a moment; 2 Cor 4:17. In the hope of that blessed eternity which is before him, the Christian can endure the severest trial, and bear the intensest pain without a complaint.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

4. It connects us with God’s character – He is the God of hope and He fills us with a glorious expectation of His future deliverance of our souls. How can we not rejoice in Him?

Rom 15:13

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. NIV


5. It serves as anchor for the soul that sees us through great hardships, disappointments, and failures, and it actually grabs hold of God and the eternal blessing of salvation by entering into God’s presence and attaching itself to Christ.
Heb 6:16-20

16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
NIV

[The hope set before us] The hope of eternal life offered in the gospel. This is set before us as our refuge, and to this we flee when we feel that we are in danger of death. On the nature of hope, see the notes on Eph 2:12.

Hebrews 6:19

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
[Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul] Hope accomplishes for the soul the same thing which an anchor does for a ship. It makes it fast and secure. An anchor preserves a ship when the waves beat and the wind blows, and as long as the anchor holds, so long the ship is safe, and the mariner apprehends no danger. So with the soul of the Christian. In the tempests and trials of life, his mind is calm as long as his hope of heaven is firm. If that gives way, he feels that all is lost. Among the pagan writers, "hope" is often compared with an anchor. So Socrates said, "To ground hope on a false supposition, is like trusting to a weak anchor." Again - "A ship ought not to trust to one anchor, nor life to one hope." Both sure and steadfast. Firm and secure. This refers to the anchor. That is fixed in the sand, and the vessel is secure.
[And which entereth into that within the veil] The allusion to the "anchor" here is dropped, and the apostle speaks simply of hope. The "veil" here refers to what in the temple divided the holy from the most holy place; see the notes on Matt 21:12. The place "within the veil" - the most holy place-was regarded as God's special abode-where he dwelt by the visible symbol of his presence. That holy place was emblematic of heaven; and the idea here is, that the hope of the Christian enters into heaven itself; it takes hold on the throne of God; it is made firm by being fastened there. It is not the hope of future riches, honors, or pleasures in this life-for such a hope would not keep the soul steady; it is the hope of immortal blessedness and purity in the world beyond.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)



6. It serves as the basis for faith. Faith is bringing into actual experience the things that are hoped for in the heavenlies. Controlled by faith, we meditate and order our lives around what we are hoping for.

Hebrews 11:1

Heb 11:1-2
11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
NIV

[Of things hoped for] In heaven. Faith gives them reality in the view of the mind. The Christian hopes to be admitted into heaven; to be raised up in the last day from the slumbers of the tomb, to be made perfectly free from sin; to be everlastingly happy. Under the influence of faith he allows these things to control his mind as if they were a most affecting reality.

(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)



7. It brings life. This hope in Christ has living power because Jesus is alive. We have been given new birth into hope in Christ. He is our salvation and the object upon which we place our hope.

1 Peter 1:3-4

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
NIV

1 Peter 1:3

[Unto a lively hope] The word lively we now use commonly in the sense of active, animated, quick; the word used here, however, means living, in contradistinction from that which is dead. The hope which they had, had living power. It was not cold, inoperative, dead. It was not a mere form-or a mere speculation-or a mere sentiment; it was that which was vital to their welfare, and which was active and powerful. On the nature of hope, see the notes at Rom 8:24. Compare Eph 2:12.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

What does this have to do with warfare and Revelation 12?

Eph 6:10-14

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

• Unless our hope is in the Lord, we will not stand against the attacks of the enemy. We will become weak and will be easily swayed by the enemies tactics.

• Unless we are living by hope in Christ and His future blessings and reward, we will become overwhelmed by the disappointments and struggles of this life and turn to weak, useless pleasures that only destroy.

• Unless we place our hope firmly in Christ and trust in Him, we will be deceived into thinking that our source of salvation and our true enemies are those around us. We will turn on our spouse, our children, our neighbors, and friends when they disappoint us and fail to provide for our needs. Only with hope in Christ do we have the strength and the perspective to be a LIFE GIVER instead of a life taker.

Hope in the Cross

I saw this quote from A.W. Tozer on liquidthinking.org. Really powerful:

The Old Cross and the New

"All unannounced, and mostly undetected, there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique - a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching.

The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. The new cross, if understood aright, is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure.

The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. The old cross is a symbol of death. God salvages the individual by liquidating him and then raising him again into newness of life. God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life he offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross.

Among the plastic saints of our times Jesus has to do all the dying and all we want is to hear another sermon about his dying. So subtle is self that scarcely anyone is conscious of its presence. Because man is born a rebel, he is unaware that he is one. Our uncrucified flesh will rob us of purity of heart, Christ-likeness of character, spiritual insight, fruitfulness; and more than all, it will hide from us the vision of God's face, that vision which has been the light of earth and will be the completeness of heaven."