God's GIFT OF HOPE FOR YOU

Poor Substitutes for Hope

Wishful Thinking--Blind Optimism--Ambitious Dreams

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12

For Most People, Hope Is Something They Do,

But The Bible Talks About Hope As Something We Can ___________________.

Hope Is The Confident __________________ That God Is Willing And Able To Fulfill His Promises To Us.

“3bIn [God's] great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade – kept in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:3b-4

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Hebrews 6:19

Why Christians Have Hope

·         We Have Hope Because We’re ___________________ Of Our Past.

10This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:10-12

·         We Have Hope Because We’re ___________________ With Our Present.

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. Romans 8:22-27

·         We Have Hope Because We’re ___________________ Of Our Future.

1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5