Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, "There Is Still Hope." When people sink into the mire of despair, if others do not deliver them from it, they would merely be in despair again and despair will ultimately kill them. The most terrifying thing is to lose hope due to stress. The only way to effectively control our stress is by the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. We must not be distracted by stress. All the time, we have to control stress and confess it before God. The devil always tries to cause us to despair to cause death, but Jesus keeps us from it and gives us life to the full to overcome stress. Today's Scripture is well known to us. There was a family; the father was poor, naked and starving and found it hard to live and his son was also a beggar. In the past, even beggars had a hard time to find a valuable spot to beg because there was a strict division among them. They were already on the brink of despair and had to risk their lives, but Bartimaeus fortunately found a good place to beg just outside of Jericho. From early morning to evening he lived by begging and his life was in despair. However, he heard good news. Romans 10:10 says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." As he heard from those who passed by the gates of Jericho, the Son of God Who is named Jesus of Nazareth came to the earth. Whosoever came to Him received healing; the cripple began to walk, the mute began to speak, the deaf to hear, and the blind to see. At first Bartimaeus regarded it as a mere story, but gradually he took it as truth and reality. He had a hope for the first time. "Whose disease will be healed today?" "Today a certain blind man was healed." Every day he heard the stories of the healings of Jesus so he began to have a hope saying, "My disease will be healed, too. Even though I am blind, my destiny will be different as soon as I meet Jesus!" Therefore, in the midst of despair, he had burning flames of hope and determination to meet Jesus in person. From that time on, he waited for the coming of Jesus to Jericho rather than begging for money. As he was blind, he did not know how Jesus looked and when He would pass through Jericho. However, he was I n anticipation all the time. One day many people were passing by. So he caught one person and asked him, "What's up today? So many people are coming and going." "Don't you know anything about this? Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." "Is Jesus passing by? I shouldn't miss this opportunity!" He stood up, but he couldn't know where Jesus was going. "Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me!" His shout was so loud that it disturbed people's hearts so they rebuked him, "What a noise! Be quiet!" However, Baritimaeus didn't care about being boisterous or calm. He cried out to fulfill the desperate hope of life. "Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me!" His loud cry really disturbed all those around the entire gates of Jericho. Jesus stopped and turned around to see Bartimaeus. Look at this! Jesus had already passed by Bartimaeus. However, Jesus responded only when he looked for Him. "You must cry out to God!" Jesus could have taken care of Barimaeus before he looked up to Him, but He didn't heal him while just passing by him. Jesus would listen to his plea only when he cried out to Him. We should not speak ill of others who cry out to God. Sometimes people rebuke those who pray loudly, saying it disrespectable. How could someone dying from disease be decent and calm in prayer? Even if he or she is rebuked by others, it would be much better to be healed and alive. Bartimaeus didn't just say calmly, "Jesus of Nazareth, help me!" He cried at the top of his voice, "Jesus of Nazareth, help me. Jesus, have mercy on me! Jesus, help me!" At this Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." Then Bartimaeus jumped to his feet and threw away his tin can for begging. Next, he also threw his cloak aside. At that time beggars had only one cloak. But Bartimaeus boldly threw his cloak aside because it was in his way to Jesus. All human beings inherited despair. Because of Adam’s sin, they are on the road of despair called sins, transgressions, diseases, poverty, and death. Genesis 3:17 says, "To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life." How painful human life is as the sins of Adam and Eve brought God's rage so they have to live under the curse! Bartimaeus encountered the most important opportunity in his life, in which the blind could see. He became so hopeful! No matter how desperate and dismayed our circumstances may be if we look up to Jesus we can have hope! Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Call to Me! Don't say calmly like singing a song. Our choir always sings well. Our God loves to hear our cry. When we see Jesus, we can be hopeful. Thus Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Psalm 120:1 says, "I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me." As he cried out to God, He answered him. As long as we can cry out to God, we still have hope. With hope we can survive. Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. How can we have faith? By hearing the message! While Bartimaeus was begging on the roadside, he heard a rumor about Jesus through some people who passed by. They said that Jesus the Son of God came to the earth and healed the sick and cast out the demons and saved the sinners wherever He went. This was real good news to Bartimaeus. As he heard this good news, he was fully determined to meet Jesus. One day, a greater crowd than usual was passing by. He asked someone what happened and he answered that Jesus was passing by! A golden opportunity finally came to him. We should not give up if an opportunity arrives. However, it was so pitiful as Bartimaeus could not see at all. Even though Jesus passed by him, he could not know. But as Bartimaeus had a dream in his heart, he could not give up. So he began crying out. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" At Bartimaeus' desperate shout, Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." Jesus never looks the other way when one cries out in distress. David said in Psalm 18:6 as follows, "In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears." In the Bible, whosoever met God always had a loud voice! As they cried at the top of their voice, God heard their cry. When we face difficulties in life, we should not be in despair or dismayed, but cry out to God desperately. Our good God won't turn down our desperate prayer. God hasn't only answered decent prayers only. He is looking for those who cry out to Him as if it were a matter of life and death. As Jesus called him, he threw his cloak aside and jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. Mark 10:49-50 says, "Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him.' So they called to the blind man, 'Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you.' Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus." At this Mark emphasized that Bartimaeus was blind because a cloak was very rare and valuable then. He always took care of his cloak, but he threw it aside as it was in his way to Jesus. The cloak was one of his necessities. As Israel was characterized by a huge daily temperature range, the poor used the cloak as a blanket at night. Thus Exodus 22:26 says, "If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset." This is the Word of God. As the poor people had only one cloak, so it must be returned before sunset so as for them not to shiver with cold. Nonetheless, to the beggar Bartimaeus, the cloak was his whole fortune. However, as it became an obstacle in his way to Jesus, he threw it aside without hesitation. This shows how desperate Bartimaeus' dream was and how firm his faith was! He believed as if it was a matter of life and death. He cried out and jumped and struggled so hard, saying, "Jesus, please look at me!" When he ran to Jesus, if He didn't answer him, it would be a matter of total despair. There would be nothing but death. His absolute faith would turn into absolute unbelief and his absolute life would be absolute ruin! With his desperate dream that he would see by meeting Jesus, he believed that Jesus would heal his blindness as long as he came before Him. So he threw his precious cloak aside and ran to Jesus. We must come toward Jesus with faith when we hear the gospel. Only then can we experience miracles of God. John 10:9 says, "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." Jesus is the gate to heaven; whoever enters through Jesus can go out to freedom. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; demons are thieves. No matter what kind of despair and frustration we may be in, if only we look up to the cross of Jesus Christ, there we can find eternal forgiveness, eternal righteousness, eternal healing, eternal blessings, and eternal resurrection and eternal life. When we cherish Jesus in our hearts, no despair can approach us. Frustration can come near us. Hope always overflows for us. When people say words with the aim to make us despair, it’s actually the devil who comes to try to steal, kill, and destroy us. Today when we meet Jesus, we can dream about the Fivefold Gospel and the Threefold Blessing. Whosoever comes to Jesus will receive righteousness, holiness, healing, the blessings of Abraham and eternal life. Matthew 8:16-17 says, " When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.'" Jesus cast out demons by His Word and make us filled with the Holy Spirit. He curses with His word and blesses with His word. We receive life by our mouth confession. I bless you in the name of the Lord that you praise and bless each other with your mouth confession. No matter whatever situation we may be in, we should not lose hope. We humans live by dreams. We won't die even if our rice were used up. However, if dreams in our hearts are used up, we will die. If we don't have any dream in our hearts, it means death. Therefore, how can we hold up dreams? The cross of Jesus! If only we stick to the cross of Jesus, dreams will stay with us. The life with the cross of Jesus is a precious life. To have dreams in the heart has nothing to do with age. With a God-given dream, Moses led the exodus of the Israelites at his age of 80. Caleb finally conquered Hebron at the age of 85 with a God-given dream. If Jesus is with us, we can have any dream and hope in any circumstance. Mark 10:52 says, "'Go,' said Jesus, 'your faith has healed you.' Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road." When Bartimaeus came to Jesus, He asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" "Rabbi, I want to see." Jesus answered, "Your eyes are opened to see." The blind man's eyes were opened! As the blind man opened his eyes and began to see, did he go back to the best place to beg outside of the gate of Jericho? No way! As he met Jesus, he followed Him as one of His disciples. Bartimaeus who was living his life with no dreams by sitting on the roadside was changed into a person who follows Jesus after meeting Him. Amazing changes in life take place to those who meet Jesus. If Jesus is with us, there is no such thing as the shadow of despair. Jesus is not a religion. He is the life and hope. Therefore, whosoever comes to Jesus will receive life and have it to the full and can live a changed life with dreams and hope in his or her heart.