A Visit with the Joneses

Carol Jones Saint: Hello, hello there. Come right in to spend a special time of family devotions at Home Sweet Home. What a joy to have you. We are living in such serious days.

For many people, they feel that life is hopeless and that there is nowhere to turn, nowhere to go. Maybe someone has just lost a job or has heard that they have cancer or a terminal illness, and life seems hopeless.

The sad part is that it's not just a middle-aged person or an older person or a senior that feels that way, but today so many of our teenagers and our young college students, they feel that life does not have any hope. Well, we're so glad that you've come to visit because we are going to be thinking in a special way about the God of hope.

In Romans 15, verse 13, we read those beautiful words, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace." Isn't that encouraging? We are serving a God of hope. We're glad that you're here, and we know the scripture and the music will be of help to you as you're visiting.

Guest (Male): In his writings, Billy Graham writes that back in the year 1954, when Mr. Graham was quite a young man, he met Winston Churchill for the first time. And the great Winston Churchill asked him, "Young man, can you give me any hope?"

Billy Graham says it was a great privilege for him to say to the famed Winston Churchill, "Jesus Christ is our hope. Jesus Christ is our hope." And so the songwriter has written, "My hope is built on nothing else, nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." Sing along with us as we sing it, and may your hope be built on Him.

Guest (Male): That stanza made reference to the fact that hope is an anchor. My anchor holds within the veil of the stormy gale. And it is interesting and important for us to remember that the Apostle Paul referred to hope as the anchor of the soul.

Hebrews 6:19, "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both steadfast and sure." Make sure the anchor holds even amidst all the storms of life. Certainly this is what Mother Jones had in mind when she said, "Be very sure your anchor holds and grips the solid rock."

Guest (Male): Again in reading the writings of Billy Graham, I noticed he told of a day when he met John Steinbeck, the novelist. And Mr. Steinbeck said to Billy Graham, "I see no hope for America unless we have a catastrophe."

That's quite a hopeless outlook, isn't it? The outlook of John Steinbeck, the novelist. "I see no hope for America unless we have a catastrophe." And Billy Graham says he was privileged to say to Mr. Steinbeck, "Oh, I believe Jesus is our hope, and that Jesus is coming again and will save us from extermination." He will bring trust, love, universal peace, and prosperity. For Him, the world waits.

And so in Titus chapter 2, we discover that the hope of the coming of the Lord is the blessed hope of the child of God. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

What a blessed hope that one day the Lord will come for His own. What a blessed hope for the child of God that one day there will be a resurrection. And it is this resurrection hope that the song "Whispering Hope" speaks of and sings of.

We get lots of requests for it. Listen as I play it for you on the organ now. The hope that whispers through all the trials and tribulations of life is the hope of the resurrection, that because He lives, we too shall live.

Carol Jones Saint: As we are thinking about hope, we would like to share with you in this radio visit a very special memory time. We're going to share with you a portion of a radio visit in which Brother Ray, Reverend Raymond Jones, our youngest brother who is now with the Lord, sings so beautifully "My Hope is in the Lord." And then he will also share with us some beautiful portions of scripture about the hope that belongs to the child of God.

Raymond Jones: (Singing) My hope is in the Lord who gave Himself for me, and paid the price of all my sin at Calvary. For me He died, for me He lives, and everlasting life and light He freely gives. And now for me He stands before the Father's throne. He shows His wounded hands and names me as His own. For me He died, for me He lives, and everlasting life and light He freely gives.

Guest (Male): "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope." These are days when we need Christians who will have hope. For naturally and normally, the world has no hope, but to know Jesus Christ is to have hope.

In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul writes to the church about hope. He begins with the premise that hope is the very basis of salvation in Jesus Christ. Listen to these words as Ray has our family Bible reading for us right now.

I think it would be wonderful if everybody here in the living room would open the Bible. Open your Bible, each one of us, and follow along, and the scripture will mean much more as we follow the reading of God's word.

Raymond Jones: Romans 8, beginning at the 24th verse. "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? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

Guest (Male): What a promise. Because we have hope, then we know that all things work together for good to them who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. This gives hope to the child of God.

Guest (Male): All things work together for good to them who love the Lord. That's right. Now I want you to hear that same passage of scripture which begins with the basis of hope, and this time I want Ray to read it for us from the Amplified Bible. The Amplified Bible goes back and gives us some of the additional meanings of the Greek New Testament. Listen to it.

Raymond Jones: "For in this hope we were saved. But hope, the object of which is seen, is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees? But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.

So too the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness. For we do not know what prayer to offer, nor how to offer it worthily as we ought. But the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

And He who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the Holy Spirit, what His intent is, because the Spirit intercedes and pleads before God in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.

We are assured and know that God being a partner in their labor, all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good to those who love God and are called according to His design and purpose."

Guest (Male): Oh, the joy of giving life to the Lord. Oh, the joy of praying that the Holy Spirit would intercede for us even when we know not how to pray. Because the Holy Spirit always intercedes and prays for us according to the will of God. And then we know that all things work together for good.

Guest (Male): Romans 15:13, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope." We need Christians who are abounding in hope because we serve the God of hope.

Carol Jones Saint: We are just pausing to let you know that you are visiting with the Joneses at Home Sweet Home. It is such a joy to have you here in the living room, and we trust that the devotions that we have shared so far have been of help and blessing to you.

It would mean so much if you would take time to write and let us know that our ministry is being a blessing to you. When you are writing, the address is A Visit with the Joneses, Post Office Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania, and the zip code 16512.

There are many expenses in a ministry such as this, and if you are writing a check, a check should be written to the legal name, A Visit with the Joneses, Incorporated, and gifts to the ministry are tax-deductible. If you ever are interested in information about CDs or cassettes, just mention that and we'll be glad to send that along.

As we have been thinking in this time of devotions about the God of hope that we serve, and how wonderful to know that we do serve a God of hope, we are very honored to have as special guests Bill and Nyla Penn, who are going to share a song with us.

Bill will be playing his trombone and his wife Nyla will be moving over to the organ. Bill and Nyla are going to play a beautiful song which is a favorite of so many, "A Shelter in the Time of Storm." Bill and Nyla, this song fits right in with what we've been talking about. In the times of storm and doubt, how wonderful to know that there is a shelter in Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Oh, that was great, just wonderful. What a beautiful tone on that trombone. And thank you, Bill and Nyla Penn of Erie, Pennsylvania, for being our very special guests in this radio visit. There is hope, all because of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Carol Jones Saint: We are so glad that you've taken time to stop by and visit at Home Sweet Home. And it is our prayer that through the music and the scripture that has been used in this radio visit, that your heart has been filled with hope.

Maybe you felt discouraged, you felt that there was no one who cared, that life was hopeless when you came. We hope now that you'll realize that we are serving a God of hope.

Remember that as you write, you let us know that you want our ministry to continue and that you are being helped and blessed. Your letters mean so much to us. And as you're writing, the address: A Visit with the Joneses, Incorporated, Post Office Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania, zip code 16512.

Goodbye until the next time.