D - What Gives you Hope Pt. 1

1 John 3:18 NIV

18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

This is our memory verse for this month! We’ve also talked about it for a long time now since we have preaching through 1 John as well every Sunday. This Sunday we read through 1 John and learned about how are heart can be changed to do what is right, which is to:

Love with actions and in truth.

We also learned that our heart has this awful habit of making us feel unworthy, unloved and even in some moments it takes out hope away. So for the next few weeks we are going to explore this question right here:

What Give You Hope?

I want you to think about two different scenarios:

You don’t get a job you really need.

You loose a loved one.

Think about these situations, how do they make you feel? How are they different? How are they the same?

Both of these situations are awful and I pray that you haven’t gone through either of these. I do understand if you have, they’re not uncommon.

But sometimes, when we find ourselves in situations like these, we turn to optimism instead of turning to hope. well, what’s the difference between optimism and hope?

Optimism is very impersonal and disconnected from your emotions. (picture of optimism) Optimism is very dependent on our situations and circumstances. I mean, optimism is a good thing to have but optimism typically shows up when things are bad and even then there is zero guarantee that things will get better.

Again, I think it is important that optimism is in your life, but it relies too much in our circumstances to know which way to point.

Hope on the other hand, is close and personal because hope is a choice to rely on a person instead of your circumstances. Here’s the hard part. Not just any person can give you real hope. If you rely on others to give you hope, then whenever that person makes a mistake or drops the ball then the hope you had is going to go away.

So if you place your hope in Jesus, it does not matter what your circumstances are, your hope will always be there. You know why hope in Jesus is so much better than our own optimism? Because biblical hope teaches us that even if things don’t get better here on earth, everything will be perfect in heaven.

Let’s take a look at what King David has to say about hope in Jesus:

Psalm 39:4–9 NIV

4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. 5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. 6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be. 7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. 8 Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools. 9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.

What is a handbreadth? Can you put your 4 fingers together in your hand together? This was a measurement back in the day, this is how long a handbreadth is. What is King David saying with this? He is saying that his life is short.

We’ve got to remember that our life is short, it may seem long now but people are only around for a short time.

Men in America live on average up to 73 years old and women live an average of 79 years old. That doesn’t mean you won’t live longer. I’m going to live to be 100, but even then that’s only 100 years old.

David is saying our life is short. Compared to God, our life is not very long. So, in the midst of my short life and my long problems, what can I do? Verse 7 David says:

Psalm 39:7 NIV

7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

My hope is in God. Now, you’ve got to remember this about King David:

He was rich.

It does not matter how many things you have in this world, it does not matter how much money you have in your wallet, you can own the entire world. But even King David, who had everything, he knew how important it was to have Hope in God. Where is your hope?

Remember, it is okay to have optimism, but optimism and hope are different. If you are optimistic about the future, you must remember to also have hope in Jesus.

Take a break for balloon cup staking game. (depends on time)

Small Group Questions:

What’s the difference between OPTIMISM and HOPE?

What kind of problems do you think King David had that caused him to seek God?

What are some situations in YOUR life that could cause you to seek God?

This last question can be hard, and I know it may be difficult for you to share so don’t feel any pressure to share. But what are some situations in your life that could cause you to seek God.

In my life, it’s the sin in my life and consequences of it. The consequences of my actions are tough sometimes, does that ever happen to you? Sometimes something awful happens and I think to myself, what could I have done differently? And my consequences follow me, I mean I told ya’ll the story on Sunday about how I messed up in college and it caused me to loose a lot of money, loose my job and get kicked out of school.

But, because I had hope in Jesus, I was able to get back up on my feet and try again and thanks to God I had a second chance to make up for my mistakes.