Have Hope for God Loves us

For the last 40 years since the foundation of Singapore, gays have been persecuted. Over the last 10 years, there has been a change, a tacit and grudging that Gays are here to stay. Howver, the Homosexuals are still subject to punishment by law. Events with an homosexual undertone are banned. In such a seemingly hopeless situation, after so long, hope for many for change would have faded. Christians Gays in Singapore has reason to hope, for our God is risen.

(1 Cor 15:16 NKJV) For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
(1 Cor 15:17 NKJV) And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
(1 Cor 15:18 NKJV) Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
(1 Cor 15:19 NKJV) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
(1 Cor 15:20 NKJV) But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

(1 Cor 15:26 NKJV) The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
(1 Cor 15:27 NKJV) For "He has put all things under His feet." But when He says "all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.

(1 Cor 15:42 NKJV) So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

At the cross of calvary, Jesus died for us. It was actually a moment of defeat. The disciples were dispersed, there was widespread fear of prosecution that subsequently followed. The disciples were pushed to the wall, hiding in an upper room. Jesus their leader has just died. He was supposed to be Messiah to usher in salvation from the Romans. With His death, so gone all their hopes and dreams, with their journey with Jesus over the last 3 years seem lost and a distant past. There is no return from death. Death is final. Jesus was no more. Their enemies proclaim in 'glee', see now how He cannot even save Himself. What hope have you got?. Jesus body at the tomb was the final testimony of their defeat. Hope was lost. They have followed Jesus, the journey impacted them, but all seem meaningless.

If Christ has not risen, even though He died for us and is sinless, our hope is futile i.e. we like Jesus would die and not succumb to break free from the gates of hades or hell. His death therefore would be futile as it meant that death has victory over Him. Therefore, if our faith is bounded by Jesus death only, and hope in Christ, Paul described it as "most pitiful". Jesus body, at the tomb was the constant reminder of hopelessness.

On the third day, there was news that Jesus body was missing. The tomb was opened. Where were the Roman soldiers guarding it?. Then Jesus appeared to them, one after another. It was the very same body, with nails pierced hands, formerly lifeless bones of battered flesh, now transformed into a new body.

(John 20:26 NKJV) And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!"
(John 20:27 NKJV) Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."

We will one day die because our body is born of corruption. All will be left is a shell, rotten flesh, skeleton only, a memory past. Because Jesus rose again from the death, His body changed in a blinking of an eye, we too from skeletons into a new inccorruptible body. This body is both physical and spiritual, able to like Jesus transends physical barriers and appear instanteously from one place to another.

Jesus ressurection, proclaims boldly there is Hope beyond Hope. When all is lost, when there is no victory at sight, Jesus proclaim that He is a God above all things, concouring the ultimate fate of mankind, death, the ultimate enemy. If the ultimate enemy is now defeated, we have victory through Christ resurection power.

Without fear of death, with knowledge that in Christ resurrected power all things are possible, from Jerusalem to Antioch, to Rome, to Britanny, Christianity spread. In AD 64, Nero blamed Christians for causing a fire in Rome, and killed thousands of Christians many cruely. It was this period of incredible strive, that the Gospels were written, and Pauls letters to the Churches were written.

It was the hope of that one day, that we too when we fall asleep will be ressurrected when Christ comes back, and having nothing to fear, since there is nothing more ultimate than death, that kept their Hopes beyond Hope. As Christ gave us the authority, let us put all things under our feet, let us not succumb to defect but stand firm in the Blood of the Lamb and His broken Body and resurrection Power coming through the Holy Spirit for which the disciples called to wait upon.

As Gay Christians in Singapore, we will not loose hope in God. and not be discouraged by religious condemnation. But we will believe in the risen Jesus and that God has called us for a special purpose for such a time as this.

Father God, I pray that Gay Christians in Singapore will not loose heart but continue to hope because our hope is based on a sure foundation of Jesus, our risen Lord. Father God, I pray for peace in the heart of Christian Gays, peace in the assurence that you are with them in the midst of persecution, let their hearts not filled with anxiety, let there be peace. One day Father God, we will have the peace in heaven with you where we would not have to be tormented by questions of why we are Gays, why we are not married, why have we chosen an apparently sinful lifestyle (as if it is a choice or that being Gay is in any way a sin), and who will take care of us when we are old. Our eyes look up to heaven, from whence the Prince of Peace will come to take us back home.

Cause, In your presence
In your presence. there is peace within
In your presence, there is Joy
I will linger, I will stay
In your presence day by day
till your likeness be seen in me