Hope
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Hope
Hope
13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
May God Bless The Reading Hearing & Understanding of his Precious Word!
Prayer
Confession of Faith
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name
Intro:
Hope - Hope is one of those words that use to give me just a warm and fuzzy feeling - until I understood what Hope means and why it is important to live in a place of Hope
Hear is a definition of Hope
Hope can be understood as a confident expectation and assurance in God's promises and faithfulness.Hope is a firm belief that God is in control and will fulfill His purposes, even in difficult circumstances!
I remember hearing Barak Obama say this
"Hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it."
So I have talked to many people who have given up hope! Many people who have given up on their dreams for themselves, for their children, for their future! There are so many of us who are just existing as time goes by! Many of us are distracted with things that just occupy time! they don’t actually do anything for us, they just occupy time!
Too many people have lost the confidence in the promises of God! We have gotten ourselves wrapped up and tied up in the world’s position that if things I want don’t happen immediately - then it’s not for me! At that point, the run over to the next bright shiny object!
Paul reminds us in the text that God is the God of Hope!
Paul is praying for those who need hope! He reminds us that God is the source for our confident expectation in his promises by faith!
God is the God of Hope
God is the Author of our hope.
God is the Foundation of our hope.
God is the Builder of our hope.
God is the Finisher of our hope.
When we look at the text in context we see
in verse 1
1 We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
In the message translation it reads like this
1 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status.
We lose hope, when things don’t work the way we thought should! We lose hope when we focus on the world and the things of the world and we are disappointed! It is so important that those who are strong in faith, strong in the confidence of the promises of God serve those who are losing hope! Those who are faltering, those who have been caught up in sin!
It reminds me that strength is for service, not status
Strength is to be used to lift up and serve others , not just ourselves! Don’t be afraid to let people lean on you when they are going through hard times! Verse two says
2 Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
See this me centered culture that is running rampant today is just the opposite of what the bible talks about! We all should be looking after each other! We all should be asking How Can I Help? - That’s what ministry is about
We have become afraid to help each other out of fear! Maya Angelou said "Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay."Invite hope to stay! Invite the confidence in the promises of God to rule in your heart! Invite the stability of serving Jesus Christ to be the foundation of your home! Then use that to give hope to a family member, use that to give hope to a friend, use that to give hope to a co-worker, use that to give hope to a stranger!
God is the Author of Hope! He is the one we go to to obtain and keep our confidence in his promises, he is the one we go to to keep our confidence in his faithfulness!
Don’t allow the world to dictate your hope! As Christ followers we must maintain a firm belief that God is in control, we must maintain confidence that he will fulfill His purpose in our life, even in difficult circumstances.
If someone is going through a storm of sickness, those who are strong must get to that individual and ask How can I help!
If someone is going through bereavement - get to that person and ask How can I help
If someone is going through relationship issues - get to that person and ask How can I help
We need to look after each other! We need to be that hope for someone when they can’t see hope in a situation!
Do you know that it’s the work you do outside of the four walls of the church building that will have the greatest impact for the Kingdom of God!
The least we can do and the most we can do is earnestly, fervently pray! Don’t be stingy with your prayer life!
3 For Christ did not please Himself [gave no thought to His own interests]; but, as it is written, The reproaches and abuses of those who reproached and abused you fell on Me.
3 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it.
So many folks are trying to breeze through life with no problems, while everyone else around them is suffering! If Jesus didn’t ignore the pain and challenges that those around him had, and he jumped in and helped out, how do you think isolating yourself, allowing yourself to become numb is helping the Kingdom of God grow!
Just like Jesus we must deny self!
Now, let me say this; the bible in Romans chapter 14 talks about people who think they are strong, but are really weak
If you are a christian who judges, If you are a christian who grumbles , If you are a christian who complains, If you are a christian who criticizes , If you are a christian who still trust in a legalistic religious behavior, inother words , do this and don't do that behavior , If you are a christian who disobey God's Word and goes against the explicit commands of God
you are not the strong - the bible defines you as the weak and now that you know, please allow a strong Christ Follower, to minister to you! Because we need you on the battlefield to help those who are losing hope
We need all hands on deck!We need to build the Kingdom of God
People are losing hope and it is up to you and me to remind them of who is the author and source of this confidence in being a Christ Follower! It is up to you and me to remind them that Jesus jumped in and helped those around him! It is up to us to remind them just how much God loves them even when they have lost hope in themselves, lost hope in other people, lost hope in the state of the world!
Our Hope, our confidence in how we are and who’s we are was and alwasy will be in God through our faith in Jesus Christ!
My challenge to you today, is to get out of your self and go help someone else - giving them the Hope of Jesus Christ!
Gos bless you and God keep you is my prayer