A Fresh Breath of Hope

Mark Finley: Sunshine of His love reveals that He has a plan for your life. The wind of His spirit comes, gives us freshness and newness. Do you all long for something more in your spiritual life? Tonight God says, yes, I want to come with the wind of my spirit and transform you. I want to make you over again.
Guest (Male): This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: A Fresh Breath of Hope. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: 1968, the eyes of Americans were glued to their television screens that Christmas Eve. And they were not looking for Santa Claus and his reindeer. The Apollo 8 with James Lovell and William Anders and Mission Commander Frank Borman was circling the moon. Three days before, launched on December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 traveled to the moon in three days. It orbited 10 times in over 20 hours. This was a magnificent space feat, a magnificent first for America. It was the first manned space flight to leave Earth's orbit. It was the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial body, Earth's moon. And you may remember as the astronauts circled the moon, Jim Lovell radioed back to Earth and he said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring. It makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." The astronauts commented later that looking at Earth from the vantage point of space took their breath away. But then on that Christmas Eve, William Anders began to read that significant message for all the people on Earth. "For all the people on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send you." They began to read Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 to 4. And Americans stood there with bated breath, hearts beating a little faster, awestruck as they heard those words: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness." In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. You and I are not a genetic accident. We're not merely genes and chromosomes that came together accidentally. We're not merely skin covering bones. We're not some haphazard arrangement of cellular molecules. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God's creative works reveal an all-powerful, all-loving, all-intelligent Designer. If you look at the laws of the universe, if you look at the way the universe operates, if you look at our environment, our environment speaks of order. It speaks of symmetry. It speaks of design. And where there is design, there must be a Designer. Where there's intelligent design, there must be an intelligent Designer. In fact, David in the Psalms, in Psalm 19, verse 1, said, "The heavens declare the glory of God." And indeed they do. As we look into the heavens, the heavens magnificently declare God's wisdom, strength, power, and glory. All of creation, from the vastness of the heavens to the minuteness of the design of shells in the ocean, reveals this Creator God. This God who's the lover of the infinite, this God who is a magnificent artistic Designer, this God that created the heavens and the stars. Let's journey tonight and look at some of that magnificent evidence that indeed He's a marvelous Creator. Our sun is 93 million miles from Earth. What if it were 50 million miles from Earth? What would happen? The Earth would be consumed and burned up. What if it were 150 million miles away from Earth? What would happen? We'd freeze. A loving Creator God put the sun just in the right place to provide for us all of the health-giving benefits of those sun's rays that we need. Can you think about the immensity of the universe? Alpha Centauri, our nearest star, is 26 trillion miles away. Now, to get a little glimpse of what 26 trillion miles is, if you were able to ride in the fastest spacecraft, if we traveled on Voyager spacecraft, the fastest vehicle ever constructed, it would take us 70,000 years to arrive at Alpha Centauri, the closest star. It is quite magnificent. When you look at the vastness of the heavens and you think of the symmetry and design, you think there must be an incredibly intelligent Designer that designed all nature. And He must be all-wise, all-intelligent, and incredibly all-powerful. There are 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone. There are a million galaxies in the bowl of the Big Dipper. If you just think of the Big Dipper, it is so vast. Space is so awe-inspiring, it's difficult for the human mind to comprehend it. There are 125 billion visible galaxies in the universe. Just the galaxies, each one having tens of millions of stars. And astronomers are discovering new galaxies all the time. 125 billion galaxies. Wasn't the psalmist right when he said, Psalm 19:1, "Is not God in the height of the heaven? And see the highest of stars, how lofty they are." That statement is not only theologically true, it's scientifically true. When you think of the vastness of space, when you think of the height of the stars. And then Jeremiah chapter 33, verse 22, says, "The host of heaven cannot be numbered." Now let me share something fascinating with you. When Jeremiah wrote that text, Jeremiah 33:22, there were no vast electronic telescopes at all. If you go out into the heavens, we are told if you count the stars that you can see with your eye through a handheld telescope, you'll have 5,119. Now, if you don't believe me, please get your telescope and go out there. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. You count those, and if you get less, you missed one. Recount, please. If you get more, you added one. Please recount. Because I am told by reliable sources that through a handheld telescope, you can see 5,119 stars. But Jeremiah writes, "The host of heaven cannot be numbered." You know, the story is told of Napoleon that his sailors were arguing over the existence of God one night. They were traveling on a boat down the Seine River in France. And Napoleon that night stood there and listened to their argument. Then Napoleon simply said to them, "Gentlemen, who made the stars?" And he left them to ponder the vastness of space, the infinite nature of space. All around us, our environment speaks to us. All around us, echoing and re-echoing down the corridors of time, all around us, the stars and the infinite nature of the universe speak to us of this God that loves, this God that cares, this God of wisdom, this God of intelligence, this God of design. The Earth travels at 134 miles a second through the atmosphere. Но this Earth is traveling in orbit. Other planets are traveling. And the stars, like great water skiers passing back and forth underneath the ropes, these planets travel through space. It's amazing that they don't collide as they travel at these phenomenal speeds. Who holds them in His hand? I love that old song, "He's got the whole world in His hands." And He does, my friend. Who keeps all these heavenly bodies in order? Our environment, the natural world, speaks to our senses of a God that can order the planets and a God that can order our lives. In the book *Wonder-Worlds*, page 13, it says, "Mere matter cannot be endowed with such capacity." That is the capacity of order and design. "The universe is not a haphazard aggregation of accidental bodies moving without system and working order. It is the work of Omnipotence." The Bible is true. God created the world. The words of the astronauts are true. "In the beginning," finish it with me, please, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." It is the work of Omnipotence. The sun rises and sets on time. It's predictable. The tides come in and out on time. It's predictable. The God that causes those planets not to collide, the God that causes the sun to rise and set on time, the God that causes the tides to come a certain distance and He says you can come here and come no farther, this God of order and design and symmetry, this God of planning has a plan for your life. And He plans good for you. All of nature speaks of His care and His concern and His love. And if He's caring for the birds, if He cares for all nature, certainly He cares for the crowning act of His creation, human beings. Our ecosystem is perfectly balanced. Rain falls into the oceans and rivers. It evaporates and goes back up into the clouds. It comes down again as rain, and the water we drink is older than the pyramids. What a perfectly designed ecosystem designed by this amazing and loving God.
Guest (Female): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of Scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers. If you want to learn more about the Bible, check out our free Bible series at globalbibleschool.org. That's globalbibleschool.org. Discover answers to your deepest questions straight from God's Word. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: Don't you like what Psalms says? Let's read it together in Psalm 33, verse 5: "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." When you take a walk with head erect and shoulders back, and you're breathing in that life-giving air and you're drenched with the sunshine, and you are walking and looking at the trees, say to yourself, "The earth is filled with the goodness of the Lord." In spite of the evil in our world and the suffering and the sorrow and disappointment, all goodness is not gone. And every day as the sun rises, God bathes this earth with goodness. And every day as we breathe in fresh air, God bathes this world with goodness. And as we drink pure, crystalline water and it inspires and invigorates our body, God bathes our bodies and this world with goodness. The natural world around us speaks of His love. It speaks of His care. It speaks of His plan for our life. Our environment around us is health-giving and life-giving. Let's look tonight at some of the properties in our environment that are so life-giving. Richard Louv, in his book on dealing with children, talks about lost in the woods. And he talks about a generation growing up in city environments. He points out that new research indicates that healthy childhood development contributes to physical and emotional health if we spend time in nature. In other words, children who spend time in nature are a lot more healthy than if they are not in nature. And Louv in his book cites research that indicates that we were made for garden. The more time we spend in natural environment, the healthier we become. I was interested in some research done by Andrea Faber Taylor and Frances Kuo from the University of Illinois. The title of the article was "Mother Nature Helps Kids with ADHD Concentrate." And it pointed out that if you have kids with ADHD and you can get them out into the sunshine and fresh air in a garden-like environment even for 20 minutes a day, their research from the University of Illinois indicates that it makes a significant difference and has a calming effect on those children. We came from a garden. We were made to return to that garden. Let's look at the benefits of sunlight from a physiological standpoint. Sunlight enhances our immune systems. It lifts our spirits. It improves our sleep and increases our energy. If you want to strengthen your immune system, get out in the sunshine. If you feel a little discouraged, walk out in the sunshine. If you want to sleep better, walk in the sunshine. Dr. Cummings, in his book *8 Secrets of a Healthy 100*, page 61, says, "Sunlight increases serotonin, a happiness brain chemical. Reduced serotonin levels have been associated with many disorders, including ADHD, irritability, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and nausea." So you're feeling a little bit irritable? Go out in the sunshine. Take a walk. That sunshine will help to produce serotonin, your nerves will be calmed, and you'll walk in feeling like everything is all right. Billy was a young man living in East Los Angeles. Billy had an incredibly troubled past. Billy stayed out late at night, ran with the wrong crowd. His life was going down, down, down. Dr. Cummings at that time was a youth director in the Southeastern California Conference. And a pastor called Dr. Cummings and said, "Look, I have a troubled kid. We don't know what to do with him. Would you take him to a Christian Adventist summer camp for eight weeks? Maybe it'll turn him around." Dr. Cummings had real questions about that and he said, "Look, we'll give the kid a trial of a week." You'll read this story in *Imagine a Healthy 100*. And as Dr. Cummings prayed about it, he said, "I really want to help this boy, but I know if I put him in with all the other kids in camp, we may really have some trouble." He remembered that they had a wilderness camp. And he went to the director of the wilderness camp and he said, "I have a challenge for you, and I want you to take on this young boy, Billy. He's a troubled youth from East LA. But I'd like you to take him camping. I'd like you to take him out in the meadows and spend a week with him there." Camping, cooking in the outdoors, sitting under the stars, hiking the mountains. Billy came for a week, and in one week, his life was dramatically changed. He ended up spending the entire summer at that camp. He fell in love with nature so much and the God of nature that Billy wanted to instruct others in what he learned about. Here's a kid living in the jungle that came back to a garden, and it made all the difference in his life. When you feel tense and stressed out, when you feel oppressed by the dark clouds of discouragement, get out in the sunshine. And recognize that as you do that, God's love is shining upon you. You see, throughout the Bible, light is a symbol of God's shining presence. Light is a symbol of God's love in the Bible. When Genesis says, "Let there be light," not only was there physical light, but the presence of God was coming to create a world. Light speaks of a God who daily surrounds us and guides us with His presence. Light in the Bible is a symbol of the very presence of God. Psalm 4, verse 6, says, "Let the light of Your face shine upon us." So when I take a walk in the sunshine, I remember Psalm 4, verse 6: "God, let the light of Your face shine upon me." Not only do I walk in the sunshine and think about the serotonin that is being generated in my brain chemicals, but I'm thinking about the reality of the fact that light represents God's presence. And I say, "Lord, I'm surrounded in Your presence." Too often, my eyes are focused on Earth. Too often, the problems of Earth weigh me down. Too often, the burdens of Earth are pressing out on my shoulders. Too often, the dark clouds surround me. But the sunlight reminds me of the sunlight of God's love. It reminds me of a God that smiles upon me, a God that is indeed speaking to me through light. Light speaks of a continual presence of God. He'll never leave us or never forsake us in the dark moments of our life, in the discouraging moments on our life. When the darkness of divorce hits your family, when the darkness of sickness surrounds you, when the darkness of a business going south surrounds you, the sun still shines in the sky reminding you that the light of God's presence has not left you. Psalm 36, verse 9, please read it with me: "For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light." He is the fountain of life, and all of light represents the light that He has for your life. Even in darkness, God lights up your future. Even in darkness, God illuminates a pathway before you. There are no dead ends with God. When you are in the tunnel of darkness, look through that darkness and see the light of His love shining upon you. Now light speaks of a God who constantly illuminates our darkness. Millions of people are confused about the meaning of their lives. They're saying, "Is life just getting up in the morning, wolfing down a cup of coffee, eating a glazed donut on the way to work, going to work and working all day, coming home at 5 o'clock, eating supper, watching television, doing the same thing the next day and the next and the next? What's the meaning of life?" Shakespeare in his play Macbeth, in act 5, scene 5, said this: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." What despair! What hopelessness! What darkness, Mr. Shakespeare! Life is not a tale told by an idiot. It is not full of sound and fury signifying nothing, Mr. Shakespeare. Because the good book says, Genesis 1:1, say it together with me, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Life is not darkness, it is His light. Light speaks of a God who colors our lives with purpose. You know, light is not one color, it's many. And light speaks of a God that colors our life with purpose and meaning and brings joy and happiness to our lives and brings direction to our lives. When you walk in the sunshine, think of the light of His presence. Think of the light that illuminates darkness. Think of the goodness and magnificence of this God. You know, when Jesus was going to be born, John the Baptist, speaking of Jesus when He was coming there to be baptized, John said, John 1, verse 9, that Jesus is the true light that lights every man coming into the world. Jesus called Himself, He said, "I am the light of life." John 8, verse 12: "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but the light of life." Do you want to have light in your mind? Light that chases away the darkness? When Jesus came, He revealed that light. Coming to Jesus, we find light that illuminates our darkness. Jesus came through the crowds. He touched the eyes of the blind and they were opened. He touched the ears of the deaf and they were unstopped. He touched the arm of the withered man's arm and it had new life flowing through it. Jesus touched the legs of the cripple and they leaped. When we see Jesus, we see the one who is the light of the world, and coming to Jesus, we find the greatest meaning and greatest purpose in our lives. Jesus found a woman who was looking for meaning and purpose and direction. Her life was filled with darkness. Men had thought she was a plaything and an object to be used, and so she had fallen into moral disrepute continually. But Jesus came to her and He said, "Go and sin no more." And she got up and found the light of His forgiveness, the light of His grace, the light of His mercy, the light of His love. Are you looking for meaning in your life? Are you looking for purpose in your life? Sometimes do you lie in the bed at night and look up at a dark ceiling and say, "Lord, what in the world is this all about? Is life—is death a dark hole in the ground? Is death a long night without a morning?" Let Jesus come into your life, this one who is the light of the world. Let Him light your mind with new hope and new courage. He gave that woman a new start, and He'll give you a new start tonight. That's what His light is all about. Jesus said, John 12, verse 35, "Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you. He who walks in darkness doesn't know where he's going." Jesus says, "Look, tonight I'm revealing my love to you." When you walk out and see the sunshine, remember that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. His light of love and grace and mercy wants to come into your life. He wants you to have the smile and a sunlit face of His love and grace and goodness.
Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: When you walk out and see the sunshine, remember that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. His light of love and grace and mercy wants to come into your life. He wants you to have the smile and a sunlit face of His love and grace and goodness. You know, the Bible begins with a perfect world. And God says, "Let there be light." And then Adam and Eve sinned, and the darkness of sin and disease and suffering and sorrow and death come upon our world. But I've got good news for you: the Bible ends with a perfect world. The last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, verses 3 through 5: "There shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face." We saw His face in the garden. We'll see His face when the earth is remade like a garden again after He comes. They shall see His face and His name shall be in their foreheads. There shall be no night there. The darkness is gone. They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever and ever. Chaos and calamity and conflict will be over. Disease and disaster and death will be over. Pollution and poverty and peril will be over. Jesus Christ will come, and one day, after what the Bible calls that thousand-year millennium, the holy city will descend. This earth, this planet in rebellion that has been pockmarked by sin, with war and worry and weariness, this world will be made over again. And the Bible says, Matthew 5, verse 5, "The meek shall inherit the earth," and the light of His love will shine from one end of the earth to the other. This is incredibly good news.