Sermon Tone Analysis

Living Hope

Psalm 71:1-8; Hosea 2:14-17 & I Peter 1:1-9

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, …” I Peter 1:3-4

Psalm 71:1-8

1 In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me. 3 Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

4 Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men. 5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.

6 From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.

I will ever praise you.

7 I have become like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.

8 My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.

Hosea 2:14-17

Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.

There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

16 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’

17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked.

The opening three verses of I Peter give us a wonderful image of the Holy Trinity: God, the Father, who knows us and chose us, the Holy Spirit who sanctifies, cleans, prepares, and helps us to be holy, and Jesus who’s sprinkled us with His ever-cleansing blood.

Today we continue our journey to the cross and to the empty tomb.

This Lenten season, we walk with hope.

Our New Testament reading isfrom first Peter, chapter 1.

We continue today to look at our hope and our inheritance.

Let’s listen for God’s word to us today.

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

“Father, our prayer is that your Word IS alive and redemptive in our hearts.

May Your living, enduring word shape us and mold us into the people of God we are called to be.

Amen”

I Peter 1:1-9

Peter, and apostle of Jesus Christ.

To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for the obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.[i]

How many of you saw the images of Billy Graham’s motorcade as they brought his body the 100 miles to his final resting place?

Listen to this quote from Billy’s son, Franklin, “My father, Billy Graham, made me promise long ago that we would take him back to Charlotte after he died, and that’s what we’re in the process of doing right now.

The outpouring of love we are seeing as we travel from Ashville to Charlotte via the motorcade with him is overwhelming.

People lining the streets, the overpasses—whole families, young and old, some holding signs, some holding up their bibles.

We are so incredibly touched.

My father would be humbled and honored.

He would want all the glory to go to God.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

What a picture of living hope.

Here are few quotes from Billy Graham on hope;

Billy Graham’s Hope

“Faith points us beyond our problems to the hope we have in Christ.”

(The Journey, W Publishing Group, 2006)

“Earth’s troubles fade in the light of heaven’s hope.”

(The Journey, W Publishing Group, 2006)

“Perhaps the greatest psychological, spiritual, and medical need that all people have is the need for hope.”

(Hope for the Troubled Heart, Word, 1991)

“My hope does not rest in the affairs of this world.

It rests in Christ who is coming again.”

(The Jesus Generation, Zondervan, 1971)

"Some day you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead.

Don't you believe a word of it.

I shall be more alive than I am now.

I will just have changed my address.

I will have gone into the presence of God."

"My home is in Heaven.

I'm just traveling through this world."

"When we all reach the end of our earthly journey, we will have just begun."

"The Bible says that as long as we are here on Earth, we are strangers in a foreign land.

There are enemies to be conquered before we return home.

This world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven."

Hope! Hope! Hope!

What does it mean?

What is hope?

How can we have hope in our troubling times?

DOOR OF HOPE!

The Prophet Hosea gives us a wonderful word picture of hope in our Old Testament reading.

The prophet tells the people that God will bring them out to the desert, away from all their worldly distractions.

God will bring them out of the Valley of Achor --- which literally means “trouble”.

Hosea is prophesying to the people that God will bring them out of the Valley of trouble and will transform their valley from a door of trouble into a door of hope.

How many of us here today are in the valley of trouble?

Are we resident aliens living on the edge of society?

Have we been scattered, or dispersed?

Are we living in troubling times?

Has the weight of the world collapsed on you?

Has a recent medical condition brought you to your knees?

Maybe you are suffering from a broken relationship with a family member, father, mother, brother, sister or friend; you understand the valley of Achor --- trouble.

Is the valley of trouble your place of employment or lack of employment?

Maybe your Valley of trouble is school.

We live in troubling times.

Maybe, just maybe, this is your time of the Valley Achor --- the Valley of trouble.

Good news, hear verse 15 again: “There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.”

The Old Testament (Hebrew) word that Hosea uses for “hope” is “tiqvah --- teek-vah.”

“Teek vah” means “to wait for, to look expectantly in one direction.”

In the Old Testament book of Joshua, the image of hope was a red or scarlet cord.

This image comes from the story of Rahab.

Rahab was a prostitute in the city of Jericho.

Rahab was a relative of Boaz—she is an ancestor of both David and Jesus!

Her home was built into the city wall.

Her “occupation” brought many visitors.

One day she harbored Israelite spies—no one thought much of it but the spies instructed her to tie a red cord in her window so that Rahab and her family would be safe from the Israelite invasion.

(Joshua 2:18-21) Hold the visual image of a red cord in your mind as an image of hope.

The very valley of your trouble—God can turn into your door of hope!

LIVING HOPE!

The people to whom Peter is writing his letter to are living in troubling times.

They are dispersed around the known world.