A few weeks ago I approached the Connersville News-Examiner about writing a bi-weekly column for their paper. The editor was more than kind and seems excited about having me as a regular contributor. The column is called “Ask Pastor Paul” and will run every other week in the Friday edition.

This past Friday, November 18, the first column ran in the News-Examiner. I’ve already had some positive reviews and I pray it will continue to be a blessing to folks. If you have a question you’d like for me to answer you can email your question to askpastorpaulfrederick@gmail.com and I’ll do my best with the Lord’s help.

I plan on posting the column here on my little-used blog on Monday after the Friday edition comes out. If you’d like to read it sooner you can visit http://www.newsexaminer.com and you’ll find a link to it.

Q: We are living in scary times, and our world seems to be turned upside down lately. Where can we find hope these days? – Peter

A: It is easy for any person to become discouraged or even depressed in the days we are living in. For a number of factors, people are losing hope in the institutions and principles we have held dear. Thankfully there is a source of hope in our world: the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible speaks often of hope. In fact, the word hope is used over 125 times in our King James Version. This just goes to show that humans since the beginning of time have had worries, cares, and concerns and that they yearned for hope from an external source. In order to find out what kind of hope Jesus affords,we should go to the Word of God and see what it says.

The first way in which Jesus Christ provides hope is in salvation. The psalmist wrote, “For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.” (Psalm 71.5)

God’s gift of salvation extends to every person because every person meets the qualifications for salvation. In order to qualify for salvation we must be a sinner. The Bible tells us that, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3.23) We have all fallen short of what the Holy God expects of us and due to that we are separated from Him.

Thankfully, that is not the end of the story. God loved each and every one of us so much that He sent Jesus Christ to come to earth, be born of a virgin, live a perfect life, lay His life down for our sin, be buried and resurrected on the third day. Jesus Christ was, and is, perfect, without sin, and was the perfect sacrifice for our sin.

We know we have all sinned and that sin has separated us from God. Through the testimony of the Scripture we believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again to pay that sin debt for us. Now all we have to do is accept that payment and the free gift that is salvation. In order to accept the free gift we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, and call on Him asking for salvation. The Apostle Paul said it this way, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10.9-10)

By believing on Jesus Christ and calling unto Him we have the hope, the assurance, that we have salvation. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10.13) Now we have hope that we will spend eternity in the presence of God in Heaven.

Jesus does not just provide hope in our salvation, but He also gives us hope in His presence with us daily. Jesus told His disciples, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28.20b)

Jesus had promised His followers a divine Comforter some time before. “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” (John 14.16) This Comforter is the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is ever with those who know Jesus as their Saviour. No matter what we do or where we go, the Lord is always with us and has promised that He will never leave us.

There is another area in which Jesus gives us hope and that is in His Second Coming. Paul wrote that as Christians we are “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2.13)

For followers of Jesus Christ, His Second Coming is the next great event on the world’s stage. Sure, other events may be important and even monumental, but none of them are to be compared to the glorious appearance of Jesus to take us with Him to heaven to spend eternity with Him.