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Building an Empire of Hope

Labrador Spar - Part 2

Jereme DittmerApril 20, 2017

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Jereme DittmerApril 21, 2017

Jereme DittmerApril 19, 2017

2018-01-13 08.35.28 1691489882391445803_3956854224.jpg

Ben Courson

Ben Courson is founder of Hope Generation, host of a global TV and national radio program, and is an author and speaker based out of Applegate Christian Fellowship.

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❤️ my sister Mare Bear & my niece Relly Belly! Legends, all. Since we got a fam vibe going on, I wanna write to families!

Have you ever wondered why the book of Ruth is in the Bible? Here’s a girl who uncovers Boaz’s feet when he’s laying in bed (a not-so-subtle sexual overture) and they get married and then they have kids. End of story. Why is it in there?

To answer this we have to go back to the story of Abraham. God called Abraham to be a tribe unlike any other tribe: “a blessing to the nations.” A tribe that BLESSED other tribes? What?! Tribes FOUGHT tribes. They were fraught with blood feuds and vendettas, so for Abraham’s tribe to bless all other tribes was a radical idea.

Problem was Abraham’s own tribe fell victim to infighting. Abraham and his nephew Lot got so wealthy the land wasn’t big enough for the both of them, so they split, parted ways. Abraham had kids: the Israelites. Lot had kids: the Moabites. Israel and Moab were at war with each other for years.

Generations later, a woman named Ruth enters the story. She falls in love with Boaz. Ruth is from where? Moab. Boaz is from where? Israel. Ruth is a daughter of Lot while Boaz is a son of Abraham. By getting married they bring the tribe back together!(!!!!!!) Ruth and Boaz then have grandkids, one of whom is (drumroll please) King David! And Jesus in turn was the “Son of David” who fulfilled Abraham’s orders to be a blessing to the nations, when his “gospel” travelled to “the ends of the earth” to “every tribe and tongue.” Que the mic drop.

And to blow minds even further, when Genesis says Abraham and Lot “separated” it’s the same Hebrew word for Ruth who refused to be “separated” from her family. Abraham’s tribe merged with Lot’s just in time to have king David!

If your family is doing awesome, fab! But if it has fallen apart, take hope! God puts them back together in the most genius of ways, at the most opportune of times!

On Monday I wound up vibing in Orange County for this week‘s TV talk show! During filming we released quite a few neuropeptides and strengthened the ole immune system by laughing a ton, but that didn’t stop us from shying away from the heavy hitter topics I’ve been talking about on the media lately, namely: Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade and the national crisis that is suicide. One of the highlights of the talk show was this crazy comfort-connection in Scripture between... Floods. Rainbows. Thrones.

The symbiotic resonance of these three ideas and ideals are woven throughout the warp and weft of the narrative arch of the Bible. Bars are about to be dropped.

In the beginning of the Bible, in the story of Genesis, the FLOOD occasions a RAINBOW: God’s promise that the earth would never flood again. In the middle of the Bible, Psalms, it says God is enTHRONED on the flood. At the end of the Bible, Revelation, God’s THRONE is surrounded by RAINBOWS.

From start to finish and everywhere in between, the Bible tells of a God who is not only unsurprised by your flood, but actually perches His throne right on top of it! And what surrounds that throne? A rainbow! Which means every storm has a rainbow, and every problem has a promise to fix it!

So when life goes all Apple Rainbow Death Wheel on you, and you seize up, find the rainbow and the throne above the flood. When you pass through the waters, they will not overflow you...because every flood you weather brings with it a promise-rainbow and a throne!

Don’t focus on your problems.

Focus on God’s promises.

And despair will be gone like Enron.

‘Twas nutter butter 9000 speaking in Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada last week😜 (I’ll be touring So Cal this week)! Here’s a message I’ve been sharing with peeps lately:

Jesus as an infant is taken to Egypt. He is brought back to His homeland, and passes though water to be baptized...to spend 40 days in the wilderness. Now watch this. When Israel is an infant country, it too is taken to Egypt. It is then brought back to its homeland, and the Red Sea parts while Israel passes through water...to spend 40 years in the wilderness. Did you catch that? Both Jesus and Israel are taken to Egypt as babies, pass through water, and then spend 40 days/years in the wilderness.
Who informs us of these parallels?
Matthew.
And who is he writing to? A Jewish audience. A.K.A. Israelis.

Jesus is retelling Israel’s story.
Boom.

He is Israel’s chosen one.

Case in point: Jesus meets a demon possessed guy at the tombs. He asks the guy his name. “Legion,” comes the reply. The guy’s name is Legion! Jesus proceeds to cast the demon out. If you’re a first century Jew hearing this for the first time, the subtext is jaw-dropping. Here’s why. Rome has shamed Israel by conquering it. The empire sends thousands of troops (called legions) to march through the Jewish streets. A people who did not acknowledge the Hebrew’s God, has conquered the Jews. The legions are Israel’s great shame. The Roman legions (consisting of 6,000 troops) march through the nation, reminding Israel that they are a defeated foe, and the Romans are their masters.

So you see what the writer is doing here? In the story of the demoniac?

When Jesus casts out Legion... He is casting out Israel’s shame.

He is retelling Israel’s story.

So too, the Lord wants to retell your story. He can redeem it. He doesn’t always MAKE ALL NEW THINGS, but the Bible does say He MAKES ALL THINGS NEW. He finds people with a sad old story and renews it and reworks it into a thing of beauty. He is in the business of doing major plot twists. The Author of Faith is in the business of turning the darkest of plots into the happiest of endings.

You are something the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is something that the whole ocean is doing 📸 @brightong #hopeisdope #hopegen
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#happyfathersday #godofhope #childofgod #hope #hopegeneration #universe #ocean

Eavesdrop on this convo @cambriajoy, Bo and I had yesterday:

We often get stressed because we are overwhelmed by so many tasks, future projects, and commitments. Worse, we are worried about steps four, five, and six of EACH project, burying ourselves under stress overload. But God only asks you to do ONE THING at a time. That’s why the Bible propagates a “one thing” mentality. “ONE THING I desire of the Lord,” David said, “to behold his beauty and dwell in the courts of the Lord forevermore.” “ONE THING is needful,” Jesus told Martha. “And Mary has chosen the better part.” While Martha was worried about a great many things, Mary was focused on sitting at Jesus’s feet, not missing the moment. “ONE THING I do,” Paul said, “forgetting what lies behind I reach forward to what’s ahead.” The Bible is all about the ONE THING.

One of the keys to defeating stress is to change our mindset to this “one thing mentality.” Do step one. That’s all you have power over anyway. When you do that, all the other steps you have to take will fall into place.
This is why Navy SEALs are so strong. During hell week, they go through 96 hours of sleep deprivation, and put their bodies through excruciating work outs. There is only one way the SEALs can get through the workouts: they teach their minds to focus on one task at a time. If, while they do moving push ups, they think about how they have to lift giant logs right after, they collapse under the pressure. But the SEALS who graduate and pass the training are the ones who discipline their mind to focus only on the present task, and that’s how they accomplish mighty feats.

The Bible says you are a good soldier for the Lord. Like the SEALS, focus on the one thing God puts before you. Be a minimalist, and shed all the burdens and weights of stress others put on you (or even you put on yourself). Jesus’s burden is light and His yoke is easy. He doesn’t call you to stress about the million things you have to do. Remember, God has called you to a one thing mentality. When this becomes your focus, like Paul and David and Jesus, you’ll accomplish more than you ever dreamed and you’ll do it more peacefully than you ever imagined.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas (1947) 📸@brightong #hopeisdope #hopegen .
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#poem #poetry #poetrycommunity #hopetour2018 #stars #hopegeneration #godofhope

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