D - What Gives you Hope Pt. 2
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So, I know we had to skip last week but I hope and pray that each and every single one of you guys had a great time at the beach! I am currently getting a petition signed by the city of Thomasville that will allow me to go with you guys next year.
In the meantime, does anyone remember our memory verse?
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
I’m sure this memory verse has been a bit easier for us to memorize. We’ve been reading through 1 John on Sunday morning recently. And John has been talking about love and loving one another. This Sunday we even learned where love comes from and this next Sunday we will continue to read up on chapter 4 and finish this chapter this week.
Speaking of this week, we will all be together at North Lexington Baptist Church this weekend all together. We will sing together and have a great time! We will be leaving here at 9:30am so be ready!
Well, you may not remember, but a couple of weeks ago we sat together and we talked about what in the world gives you hope. We pointed out the differences between Optimism and Hope.
We said Optimism relies on your circumstances but Hope relies on Jesus.
What gives you hope?
Whenever it’s super hot outside you might want to escape the heat right? How do you escape the heat? You get in the shade or you find a nice pool to jump into.
If you know a hurricane is coming what do you do? Some people go to walmart and buy all of the water so that when Pastor Luis goes to buy water there’s none left. But others turn a generator on and maybe even practice a plan to hide in their bath tubs in order to potentially escape the hurricane.
as a kid I used to live on the other side of the state. Washington NC. And we were pretty close to the beach so when hurricanes came through, THEY CAME THROUGH. So when the hurricane came by for its yearly visit, we would actually find refuge in my highschool. The last time we were there we spent the night in my highschool and waited for the hurricane to die down. It was a cool experience but we were there because we were looking to escape this hurricane.
Those are some solid examples of of when you and I may look to escape our situation. Sometimes we experience pain and suffering in our world right? And we place our hope in Jesus to escape our situation. But when we do that, we underestimate God’s true intentions. See, God will give you the promise of heaven one day. He will, but sometimes we place all of our hope in that promise because we want to escape this place. But God’s has bigger plans.
God wants to begin a change in the world in the same way he began a change in your life. Have you ever read Jesus’ prayer before?
9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
See, I believe that when I was dead in my sins, and I placed my hope in Jesus. But instead of all of my problems and my issues just going away, they began to CHANGE. Can you say the word CHANGE?
Sometimes it is best for us to taken away from our situations, I truly do believe that. But sometimes we want to escape from our situations instead of asking God to change them for His honor and His glory.
See what verse 10 say:
10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
God wants us to pray for 2 things:
His kingdom to come
His will be done
Where though? Where do we want His kingdom to come to? Where do we want His will to be done?
10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
On earth, IN THE SAME WAY ITS BEEN DONE IN HEAVEN.
That blows my mind, You have no idea how many times I’ve read this verse and I did not realize this. When God’s kingdom and will comes into our lives something happens. It’s this word right here:
RENEWAL
Sometimes it is best for us to escape our circumstances. But sometimes what’s best is for God to come into our lives and make our situations new. To change our situations in the same way He changed us when we made the decision to follow Him.
The promise of heaven is not a promise of escape, it’s a promise to make all things new. In the book of Revelation John, the same guy that wrote our memory verse for this month, sees a vision of heaven and this is what he saw:
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
God’s promise is a promise of renewal. Our hope in Jesus is the hope in the promise that God can and will change your life.
Discussion Questions:
What does the following verse tell us about God’s desire?
Matthew 6: 10
What would it look like for us to pray that God would CHANGE our situations instead of praying for God to help us ESCAPE?
Take a minute to pray with your group for change. You can pray for change in your life, or for change in the life of someone you know.
Read: Philippians 1: 6