Can the Cycle of Hopelessness Be Interrupted?

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…everyone who hears these words of [Jesus’] and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.  (Matthew 7:26-27)

Every one of us knows the story of the foolish man all too well.  We’ve seen the wreckage over and over again.

We sin, we struggle, we start to do better, and then the storm comes and it all falls apart again.

We start to repair our relationships, but then something cataclysmic happens and we just can’t get it together.

We feel trapped in these cycles of building and collapsing—building and collapsingBut what would happen if that cycle was interrupted?

What if instead of falling to temptation—what if instead of going backwards—what if you actually saw progress?

What if instead of your marriage feeling cold and distant—what if instead of the same arguments over and over—what if you actually saw forgiveness and health?

What if all these cycles in your relationship with God, in your family, in your friendships, in your workplace, in your personal life—what if these cycles could be interrupted and replaced with something better?

That, my friends, is how hope begins.  With the cycle being broken.

This is an excerpt from last Sunday’s sermon at Faith Presbyterian Church in Covington, LA.  For more, listen here or subscribe to our podcast here.

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