Because of Jesus, there is always hope.

INTRODUCTION

Meme about it when November hits

We’re starting the Advent season a little early because we only have 4 regular nights of youth left!

Christmas season feels special—“Advent” comes from Latin word, “Adventus” which means “the coming” or “arrival”

This is a time where we intentionally wait for Jesus birth.

We also wait for his second coming.

Because his second coming hasn’t happened yet, we still focus on waiting with hope, peace, joy, and love.

Bring us some figgy pudding. Yuletide. Boughs of holly.

Good tidings we bring to you and your kin.

But deeper words—joy, peace, hope—matter most.

Tonight’s focus: hope.

TENSION

Hope is something we all want but hard to define. That’s why we want to bring a little more clarity to what hope is.

Maybe you’ve hope for

Friend group where you feel like you belong, and have fun, and that they are kind to you and don’t start drama.

(Others are like, BRING ON THE DRAMA! We’ll work on that!)

To get a passing grade in Chemistry (no judgement, I’ve been there)

Your family to feel less tense or fractured, or to fight less

Healing for a loved one who has an illness, physical or emotional.

The world around you to just be better.

Conversation with Halle about getting your hopes up Story

I thought I was wise, but in reality,

I was pessimistic.

I was just scared of getting my hopes up.

I was passive, and ultimately lacking trust in God.

Questions about hope :

Is hope the same as wishing?

Is it risky? Why get hopes up just to be let down? Maybe you feel like hope is pointless.

Does it even matter if God’s in control? Why does it matter if God is going to do what He wants to do?

Is it childish? Like for people who are naive and don’t know the real world.

Yet we all still crave hope. Deep down I still longed to have hope, but I was afraid of being let down by God.

Here’s the difference between wishing and hoping :

Wishing waits.

Birthday Cake Example - Blowing out the candles. Wishing for a playstation, but forgot to get me a controller.

“I should have wished for a controller.”

When you make a wish, that’s literally all you have to do. Just sit and wait to see what happens.

Hope works—gets involved.

Hope is more like hide and seek.

I’ve seen y’all play Man Hunt. Sprinting, trying to find everyone.

Nobody just sits in the sanctuary and says, “I’m sure they’ll come me eventually.”

Hope isn’t about sitting around waiting for something to happen. Hope is desiring something good to happen, and then participating in the process. It’s active. It’s something that can change you.

TRUTH

Jeremiah - a prophet someone who God spoke to directly and then shared God’s message with others, especially when they where going through hard times.

During Jeremiah’s time, things were really bad. Jeremiah is all about God’s judgement upon Israel for the ways they have abandoned God and worshipped Idols.

The Babylonians had conquered the kingdom of Judah.

They ripped people from their homes.

They were forced to live in a foreign land, leaving everything that was familiar to them.

All hope seemed lost.

Jeremiah doesn’t end there, it also is a message of hope for their future.

Right in the middle of their pain, God gives Jeremiah a message to his people :

Jeremiah’s message (Jeremiah 33:14–16):

The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which is will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.

Promise of a “righteous Branch” from David’s line - Someone will come from the family tree from King David, they will be perfect, just, and righteous. He will be our Savior of the world.

Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God promised that someone from King David’s family line would come to save the world.

Even though they were far from home, stuck in exile, God was making it clear - this wasn’t the end of the story.

Real hope isn’t naive. It’s not pretending everything is fine, but it’s trusting the ONE who made the promise.

It is seeking God and trusting God’s promises.

This is the difference in wishful thinking and real hope.

Wishing is just wanting better. It floats from thing to thing, based on emotions and what you want in the moment.

Hope is grounded in who God is and His promises.

You don’t have to fake positivity or pretend everything’s okay.

My wife and I have had hard things happen this year, we’ve had prayers we’ve prayed for years now that still go unanswered.

Hope doesn’t ignore how hard that the situation is. But it holds it up, and says, “and still I trust you.”

God’s promises to us:

Guide you (Psalm 48:14). -

English Standard Version (Psalm 48) that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.

Love you no matter what (Isaiah 54:10).

English Standard Version (Chapter 54) For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Stay faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

English Standard Version (Chapter 2) 13  if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

Give wisdom (James 1:5).

English Standard Version (Chapter 1) 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Give peace (John 14:27)

English Standard Version (Chapter 14) Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid

Call you His child (Romans 8:15).

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”(NASV)

We can hold onto these promises not just because they sound nice. We trust them because of the One making them. He has proven his faithfulness through generations and generations.

Jeremiah’s message = it wasn’t just a motivational speech, but a lifeline.

When life feels messy, it can feel like God is missing, but Jeremiah (and more importantly, Jesus) reminds us that God shows up in the mess.

Hope faces reality and trusts God in the middle of the mess.

APPLICATION

Ask: Where’s your hope right now—outcome, person, the things you own, your popularity, or God?

1.) Do you feel lack hope in an area of your life? Are you carrying something heavy?

Bring it to God.

Don’t just wish the hard thing goes away.

Just like hide and seek, SEEK God. PRAY! That is the way through.

2.) Who in your life is carrying something heavy? Do you know someone who is feels hopeless or lacking hope?

How can you bring hope to them?

Show up in kindness to someone who hurt you.

Instead of joining in and gossiping, offering to pray.

Checking in with them, “How are you doing?”

“I’m praying for you,” and actually do it!

Hope isn’t passive—it’s how you show up.

Bottom line: Where hope is missing, bring it.

Challenge: What does bringing hope look like for you this week?

LANDING

· Reflection: What’s one place in your life that needs hope? What’s one way you could bring it?

· Don’t just celebrate hope—live like it’s real. Bring it wherever you go.