How To Trust God In Every Situation | I AM Alpha & Omega

I'm glad we're together today in this space. My name is Mark Cummins. I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ. There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, hopeinOcala.com and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you. Because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience his presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.

Grab your Bible. We're gonna be on the very last page. I don't get to say that very often. The very last page in your Bible this morning, Revelation in 22. You got your journal. I would really encourage you today to take a lot of notes. I think this is one of those days that has significant potential in your life. Because we're gonna look at a piece of scripture that feels more like a Christian cliche that maybe is underutilized in our life. I think what God's word has to say to us today is forever life-changing. Because I know if you're human, much like me, there are moments in life that feel very, very random. They can feel painful, unfair, unjust. And actually, you're living in a chapter in a story, a page in the book of your life. And where you're living today, it can seem very much overwhelming, chaotic. How do I go forward? What happens from this place forward? And the idea that God already knows the beginning from the end, and he's in control of everything in the middle can feel very confusing. Because we could come to the conclusion, if God knows the beginning from the end, then why doesn't he keep all the bad stuff

out from the middle? And we struggle with that. And we wonder, where is God? How could God? Every person in this gathering watching online is living a story. It's your story. It's your life. I say often, I think it goes unheard just as often, that life is not a dress rehearsal. That this is your one and only life. Like today is the only day that you will get to live. Yesterday's gone, tomorrow's not promised, and today is your day. And your story is filled with dreams, and it's filled with delays, and breakthroughs, and disappointments. And we can often ask the same question. Why is this happening now? Why this circumstance? Jennifer, I love you. You know, the text that you sent to Linda this morning, and you said, you know, you're just new to Church of Hope. Here's what you need to know, Jennifer, and everybody in this space. There's no such thing as new and old at Church of Hope. Every single day, we're all on the same page today. And whether or not you've been at Hope since day one, or today is your very first day, because of who Jesus Christ is,

we are family today. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Yes. And I've never had to live what Jennifer has lived. Aletheia, our family up in, family, our church family up in, you know. in Ohio, part of our Becoming Group class on Tuesday night and expanding the online presence of who Church of Hope is literally around the world. I don't know what it's like to look out in a window and see your significant other. By the way, we're talking young. Isaiah is 12. They had two children. Isaiah is 12 and Emma Rose is seven. Let me also just say, put this in play. I don't care if you're 38, 42, 82, 92. When someone that you love passes from your life, grief is overwhelming. And you're going to kind of wonder, what's going on? Why is this happening now? Where do I go? How do I move forward from this moment? Because that's how we all live. We live in the moment. We live on one page in a chapter of the book called Your Life, and we're unable to. In other books, you're able to flip towards the end. You ain't got time for this. You just flip towards the end, and you're going to read at the end of the story. But we don't get to do that with our life. And so there's all kinds of questions, and you kind of wonder. It's prom season. You're kind of wondering, why did he or she get to go to the prom and I didn't go to the prom? Well, why did my marriage crash and burn and theirs didn't crash and burn? Why am I still single when I thought I would be married? God, can you please explain to me why I'm waking up and I'm a widow? And how do I raise these two children now? This is the human dilemma. This is your number one problem in life, is you live on one single page. And in many cases, you live in one single sentence. And you're trying to follow a God who says out loud, as you'll see in Revelations 22, that he is the Alpha and he is the Omega. Notice in your copy of God's Word, Revelations 22 and 13, the very end, I am the

Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. That phrase, Alpha and Omega, that's the Greek alphabet. It's the A and the Z. And you sit here this morning, you're like, okay, great, God's the Alpha and Omega, but so what? How is that going to impact my life? I'm starting chemotherapy. How does that impact the loneliness that I feel? Hey, how does that impact that like, hello, I know everybody else is excited about AI, but I lost my job. AI is doing my job now. See, life contains moments that feel wrong. Write that down. You don't have to be surprised about it. Life contains moments that feel very wrong. It's the wrong timing. It's the wrong diagnosis. It's the wrong betrayal. It's the wrong financial losses, the opportunity lost. And these moments can cause us to question God's plan, God's timing, and God's goodness. And you focus, I focus, we focus in the moment that you're in, and God focuses on the masterpiece that you can become. And here is the tension. And so my hope, my prayer for our time together, and why I think this is life-changing is we need to move from stop saying this is too much and start saying God is more than enough. Your life forever changes if you walk off this campus today. And rather than going through life saying this is too much, this is too hard, this is too overwhelming, I don't know what I'm going to do. And we start saying with our lives that our God is more than enough. We see this all through the Bible, all kinds of biblic examples. You got the story of Job, right? He's suffering many times. He's kind of wondering, God, how could this happen? The story of David, who's supposed to become the new king, but he's now hiding in a rock. Joseph, who has this great dream that he is going to be this leader, but he is betrayed and he's in a pit and he's in prison. Mary, a teenage girl who's just minding her own business, the angel says, hey, by the way, girlfriend, you're pregnant. I know you haven't been with a man. And all the gossip and everybody starts getting online and TikTok blows up about her character. And then Jesus himself, who we are going to celebrate next month, his crucifixion, all of these, every one of these moments looked wrong in the moment. And right now, you're living, perhaps potentially, in a moment that in your opinion, in your mind, this is wrong. What feels wrong in the moment may be perfectly right in God's plan. Imagine living your life that way. Yes, this moment is hard. And yes, this moment is crippling.

And yes, this moment doesn't make any sense. And the timing is so upside. But inside of you, there is a centerness in God. He's not just a moment on Sunday. He is the foundation and he is the essence of your life. In Revelations 22, 13, he says he's the Alpha and Omega. But he also started this whole book in Revelations chapter 1. He says, I am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. And if God holds the beginning and the end, he can certainly handle your middle. Matter of fact, I just think we need to be reminded. Look at the person on your left and say, God's got your middle. Go ahead. If it's across the aisle, just shout it. Yeah, God's got your middle. Now look back to the other person and say, I promise you, he's got your middle. How could you say something so bold like that, Mark? Look at what God says in Colossians chapter 1. For in him, in Christ, all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and him, all things are held together. The one who made the world is more than capable of handling your world. That's really good news. The one who created the whole world, all those places that you go to, those who are joining online right now because you're on spring break and you're at some beautiful mountain resort or you're at the beach someplace, that beautiful creation, God created that. And God who created the world, he is big enough, strong enough, fast enough, smart enough to handle your world. We need to stop living as though my problems are bigger than my creator.

Isaiah 46 and 10. God says, I make known the end from the beginning, from the ancient times what is still to come. I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please. See, God is already standing in the future that you're worried about. He's standing there. He's in you, he's with you, he's for you. That's why he says, I am the alpha and I am the omega. I am the first and I am the last. And God's plan, the beginning, God created you intentionally. That's why I've taught you year after year that you're not some random moment on a Friday night, a pizza and a bottle of wine and boom, pop out you. That's not who you are. God created you. God sat down and said, I need you in the universe. I am deliberately creating intentionally you. I knew you, I formed you even before you were in your mother's womb. And then the end, we're in the last chapter. If you're not familiar with Revelation 22, your homework is just read this chapter and you're going to get real excited about what the end looks like for us in a real place called heaven forever. God will redeem what you can't understand. There's much on this side of heaven that we don't understand. But the promise is that in the end, he will redeem all that we can't understand. And in the middle, God is shaping you. He is conforming you to be more like Jesus. That's our theme. That's why I've got your journal out all year long, week after week. We are learning who is Jesus. The problem with many of us is we know about Jesus.

Your mema, your papa, you went to vacation Bible school. You were in youth group somewhere, someplace. Jesus was someone that you heard about. But is he Jesus? Monday and Tuesday. And in a hospital on the 13th of March. When a husband, a father, a brother, and a son dies. So how do you? How do you walk off this campus and trust God? Not just in the beginning and not just in the end, but trust God in the middle, where you are right here this morning. How do you? Because either A, right now you're sitting in here and you're like, man, I am so thankful. I'm ready. Give me some of these principles because right now I need to know how to trust God because I'm really struggling in trusting God. Or around that next corner, there's going to be a moment. And I can't say it enough, but I feel like I just have to. If you think for a second that whoever sits in the White House is going to bring you the satisfaction that you're looking for, she's not. He's not. If you think a little bit more money in your bank account, if you think moving from a 2,400 square foot to a 3,100 square foot, all these things and all these issues that you look at that this is going to be my source, there is one source for our joy and his name is Jesus Christ, period. He alone will be your source. He is your joy. He is your satisfaction. So how do we do it? I'm glad you asked.

I'm going to give you a few things to write down, and we have created some extended worship time for us here at the end for us to declare our goodness, how good God has been to us, and allow you to see him as the Alpha and Omega. So you're taking notes. Write this down. Number one is this. How do I trust God who sits at both ends of your story? Number one is this. Embrace the moment you are currently in. Stop wishing your life was in another chapter. Some of the best parenting advice I received when we became young parents from our pediatrician, his name was Dr. Butt. That was actually his name, Dr. Butt. He just said, man, you just got to embrace every single moment. So I did. Wiping their butts, I embraced the moment. Linda, I don't know what it's called. I think it's called cradle cap, that nasty stuff that gets on the top of their head. Like Linda didn't want to scratch it. She thought she's going to hurt the kids. And so, man, I got in there with my fingernails, and then I got that stuff. I don't know where that stuff came from, but it's caked up on there all over the place. To this day, the girls, their favorite moment is kind of lay on the couch and have someone kind of play with their hair, kind of a deal, right? If your bride likes that, guys, that's probably because her dad or someone was scratching that cradle crap off. I don't know if that's what it's called, junk on their head, whatever. But there's this temptation, once they get out of diapers, or once they start moving from crawling to walking, or once they go to school, right? Or okay, it's, someone said this to me yesterday, only parents who've ever had a kid drive

understands how foolish this is. Here's the thought. I just can't wait for my kids to drive. Life will be so much easier. Or once they get out of college, we play this game that it's, you know, once I get this bill paid off, once I get married, once I get out of this marriage, once we do, and we miss this incredible gift called the present. Don't miss the moment that God is writing because you're worried about the ending. You're in a tough spot. Maybe the marriage isn't, the career isn't, your health isn't. I'm not saying that it's not. But what I'm saying is in this moment, embrace it, trust God in it. Many of us, we get discouraged, right? It's not that you don't believe in God, but you're like, I could believe in God a whole lot more if he would like answer my prayer request right now. And people say this, they'll say to me, hey Mark, if it were going to happen, it would have happened by now. If it were gonna happen, I've been praying about that. And if it were going to happen, it would happen by now. Hey, how about we stop applying our timetable to God's sovereignty? Ecclesiastes 3 and 11, he, God, who has made everything beautiful in his time, he has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end. See, delay is not denial, it's preparation. God is preparing us for what he has prepared for us, and God's calendar never runs behind. Heaven never says, oops, we're late. Like sometimes maybe I'm going to go to my physical therapist and I need to get some dry needling on my calves because they're all jacked up again, and because I don't leave early enough, I pull in and I'm a little bit late and I'm like, oh, oops. You know, Ocala's been growing and there's traffic everywhere, so I'm so sorry I'm late.

Like God doesn't play that game. God's not like, oh man, I can't, look what's happening in your marriage. Oh my goodness. Michael, why didn't you remind me? I forgot to set my alarm clock. I didn't know that you were going to get laid off and you were going to be struggling financially. Oh, couldn't believe it. God's never late. He's always on time and we've got to stop applying my time. Now, I can say this to you on a Sunday morning, but I struggle. I want God to fix it. We're doing a little addition at our house. Anybody who's built or done an addition at your house, it just can't get done fast enough. And so I actually said to our builder yesterday, I said, I didn't say that I was having this. I said, Linda is having addition fatigue. I'm taking her to counseling. She's on a prescription. I mean, I struggle. I want it yesterday. And so I'm practicing in real time, no longer applying my time cable to God's sovereignty. He is in control. And because it's a delay, doesn't mean that it's a denial. It's preparation. God never rushes. He orchestrates. He's perfectly building your story. And the delay that you and I hate may be the very preparation that you need. God wants you to win. God doesn't want you to DNF, did not finish. He wants you to cross the line of life victoriously.

So what are we going to do while we're waiting? Let me give you three things. They will sound easy, but I promise you they are challenging. Number one is this, stop complaining. It is the hardest thing to do. And I just want to say to all those people in the house who are my age, you're older, and you got grown kids. When they're at your house and you're talking to the TV, you are driving them batty. Because they're like, dad, mom, they've told you a hundred times, like, you know, the guy on Fox News, the guy in CNN, they can't hear you. Stop complaining. Second, this is high for some of us A personalities, is stop forcing events. You're forcing it. You're putting pressure where pressure doesn't need to be. And stop being frustrated with a timetable that you cannot see. And I'll give you one thing to start. Start trusting the author while your story unfolds. Embrace the moment that you're in. Number two, write this down, is endure the hard chapters. Some of us, some of you are in really hard chapters right now. You're limping through a betrayal. You have a financial setback. There's a sickness, death, grief, injustice. Your hard moments are real. There's a lot to be concerned about, a lot to be worried about. But they're not the end. Because we are followers of the alpha and the omega. And the Bible tells us, thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord. It is not a cliche.

We don't work or live for victory. We live from victory. What we're going to celebrate in April is that Jesus Christ who was dead became alive again. And because he came back from... the dead, you and I can come back from any setback. That hard chapter that you're in right now in your life, you just turn the page. It might be hard on the next page. You just keep turning pages because the promise of God is that he is good and he has plans and purposes for our life that are good. The challenge is the timing. That's why you just have to endure. The pain you feel today may be the very platform God uses tomorrow. Your favorite athlete, your favorite movie, the story of an athlete or an actor in the storyline that they had unbearable hard chapters. You don't watch movies that don't have a moment where that hero, that protagonist doesn't get knocked down. It looks like it's the end of him. It's the end of her. You stay glued to the story. You turn that page in the book because you want to see how does it all work out. If that's true in how we entertain ourselves, how much more true to those of us who are followers of Jesus. Just keep turning the page. My God's able. Just keep turning the page. My God's in me. Just keep turning the page. My God's for me. Just turn it in the page. I don't understand the time, but God's got a timetable that is perfect. I just keep turning. You just keep turning. You just keep turning that page. You refuse to quit. Let me give you some of God's word to put in your notes so that you can apply it this week. Psalms 23, even though I walk through the darkest of valleys, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. So when you go into that job interview, when you go into that challenging conversation with your boss, you have Psalms 23. The good shepherd is walking in and walking with you. Psalms 46, God says that he is our refuge. When you feel the attack coming against you, when you've made decisions that are less than best, you can go to God. He is our refuge, and he is our strength. He is a very present help in our time of need. I wrote this down yesterday on the back porch while I was sitting with Linda. God often hides promotion inside of problems. The dream marriage that you want, it's right inside that problem that you're facing right now.

That next step in a career, that next step in your health, whatever it is, God often hides the promotion. We want the promotion, but it's inside that problem, that as we trust him through it, God promotes us towards it. Isaiah 43, when you pass through the waters, I'll be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. Deuteronomy 31 and 6, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified. It doesn't matter if you're weak, it was like this. For the Lord, your God, goes with you. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. Second Corinthians 12 and 9, my grace is all that you need. My power works best in weakness. So if you want the power of God, you have to be willing to be weak. John 16, 33, I've told you these things so that in me, you will be strong and courageous. I've told you these things so that in me, that in Christ. That's why every single Sunday this year, we're just taking you to Jesus. Because I want you to see that in Jesus, not in a guy named Mark, not in a denomination, not in your 401k, not in politics, not in what the price of the barrel of oil is, not in how big your biceps are, not on how fast you can run a race. All the things that we measure our life by, Jesus has said he wrote all these things to us that we might have peace. In this world, you'll have trouble, but not in Christ. The satisfaction, the peace, and the joy that you're looking for is rooted in Christ. I mentioned earlier about the hard chapters. I first talked about Joseph. What looked like sabotage might actually be a setup. Without the pit, Joseph never reaches the palace. Without betrayal, Joseph never reaches destiny. Without prison, Joseph never reaches promotion. Mary, the mother of Jesus, could you just imagine sitting with her and having a cup of coffee? Her response would be that the timing, everything was so wrong. She was engaged to Joseph, and now I'm being told that I'm pregnant? Joseph is going to divorce me, what everybody in the town are talking about me, the timing was wrong, the situation looks impossible, and the explanation feels incomplete. Oh yeah, by the way, Joe, God did it. Timing is just, and it's overwhelming, these hard chapters that you're in. Joseph didn't quit, Mary didn't quit, and as we will look, as we lean into Holy Week, Jesus, the hard chapter, as he's betrayed, the mock trial, he's crucified.

I say this to the church every year, it's not too early, I would, what I do every year is on purpose, I find one night and I rewatch the passion of the Christ. It's a part of my Holy Week, so between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, I watch that movie again. It is the most violent, horrific, cruel, intense movie, I've seen it, I can tell you almost every chapter, but when they get the cat o' nine of tales that whip, and they begin whipping his body, and the way they make you sit there and feel the pain across his back, it centers me, it reminds me that my Savior went through this hard chapter. This is the one that I'm following. Like following Jesus isn't some weekend hobby for me. It's not something I kind of look at my calendar and say, oh, let me see, am I following Jesus today? Is it comfortable? Convenient? No, I'm following, I'm all in, and when I see my Savior, and now the Holy Spirit begins to shape me more like him, then when Mark faces these hard chapters, it gives me a resolve not to quit. What looked like the worst moment in history with Christ became the greatest moment in history. Here's the last thing I'll say to you, and Corbin, if you and the team need to get set up, get set up, is trust God, the author and the finisher of your faith. Hebrews 12 and two, look to Jesus, who's the author and finisher of your faith. Your past cannot disqualify you, and your present can't destroy you, and your future can't surprise you. At the appointed time, God has scheduled his breakthrough for us, your vindication, your restoration, your promotion. That's why Isaiah 46 says that he is making known the end from the beginning. I say this as a question, if, because I do believe Jesus holds a beginning to the end, and I'm saying it for you, if you believe that Jesus is the alpha and omega, if you believe that he holds a beginning to the end, then you can trust him with the middle.

Your most important decision today is not what you'll do with the rest of spring break, not whether or not you need to adjust some of your money in your 401k, not all the things that we think that we need. I mean, your most important decision that's in front of you this morning is pivoting and trusting God with your middle. God's calendar is never behind. It's just ahead of your understanding. Stop playing God, because you're not. Your life is miserable because you're trying to understand God, who's God, and you're not. I'm not. That's why we trust him with the middle. Faith doesn't require understanding, it requires trust. Some of you this morning need to trust God, perhaps for the very first time, to save you from your sins, but I know most of you, I look into your eyes week after week, and what I know is this morning, what's most important is you realigning your life, your everyday moments in life, those things that you kind of set to the side, you're not going to think about, oh, you buried them, that moment in your middle that you're kind of hoping that it all works out. God hasn't asked you to hope it all works out. God has asked you to trust him, it is. There's a big difference in your mindset, there's a big difference in the strength of your life when you think, I'm hoping, I mean, maybe, possibly, God's going to work it all out for my good, from he is, my God is able, and he is. See, God scheduled your breakthrough before your struggle began. So at home or in this room, the timing feels wrong, the situation, it feels wrong, the delay feels wrong, I'm with you, but you've got a choice, I have a choice. Jesus is the alpha and he is the omega, which means that God was there at the beginning and God is there at the end and God is in every moment in between.

And our only problem, our only problem this morning, and listen, I don't mean to rush over some of your real problem. I know you, you got some real problem, you got some real pressures in your life. But trusting him over that problem, trusting him under that problem, trusting that he is side by side with you in that problem, that is the source of strength, that is the hope that you're looking for. This is the human dilemma, it's the call of action that Jesus is giving us this morning. He is our guide. Will you trust him in every chapter of in between? Why? Because the betrayal, it didn't surprise him. And the setback that you're experiencing, it didn't surprise him, didn't confuse him. The delay didn't catch God off guard because the alpha saw the beginning and the omega owns the end. And he is right in the middle with you. Thank you. Being together in this space today is really good. If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, I'd like to invite you today to start following Jesus. It's not about your behavior. It's not about your church attendance. It's about the reality that Jesus is for you. God's not mad at you, he's madly in love with you.

Would you right now pray this prayer with me? Hey God, it's me. I've sinned and I know it and I can't fix me. But today I receive you Jesus as my savior. I believe that you died on that cross for me and that you were buried for three days and then you became alive again. And I invite you into my life to guide me and direct me all the rest of the days of my life. And with that prayer, my friend, welcome to God's family. I'd like to continue our friendship. If you would email me, pastor at hopeinokala.com, I'll follow up with you and together we'll celebrate Jesus in your life. Peace. Amen.