God with Us Brings Hope

Hope

True Story: John Aldridge: Fishing boat with buddy sleeping down below,handle broke-overboard- in sea for 12 hours, sharks, used boots as a flotation device-no life jacket on. Coast Guard, been looking for you for 9 hours!” John replied, “Well I’ve been looking for you for twelve!” Hope to keep looking.

Definition

Biblical hope is not described as a wish, but as peace based on fact, and a trust and faith based on God.

Hope is only as good as the object or person(s) in which we place our hope.

Not all hopes are equal because not all people we hope in are equal.

Our hope is based on what God says

God is with us!

Matthew 1:23 NIV

23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

He is with us everywhere we go.

Psalm 139:7–12 NIV

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Our hope is not in an imaginary God or a God who is fickle, it is in a God who will be with us no matter where we go or how we behave.

Matthew 28:20 NIV

20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Our hope is based on who God is

Hope must be on a person of good character.

It would be a mistake to place our hope on a person with bad character.

Character is a consistent trait that defines the person.

If He is with us but not of good character, then that is a very negative situation.

What is the Charterer of our Immanuel.

Look at a story in the book of Mark

Mark 5:25–34 NIV

25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

He has compassion on us.

He travels with the lowly and needy.

He does not become bothered nor annoyed with us.

God with us means he truly loves us.

Our hope is based on what God does

God is faithful.

Can you remeber a circumstance when your world was in tumoil and problems were swirling around you? Can you look back now and remember how you were deliverd out of thieses circumstances?

What does that have to do with hope?

What do those memories have to do with your here and now?

Gratitude breeds hope.

Thankfulness fosters hope.

Acknowledgment and appreciation bring hope. 

Do you ever think that one day God is going to let you dangle at the end of the rope and NOT rescue you?

We can have hope in God because what he does, He is faithful.

Lamentations 3:21–26 NIV

21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:21–23 NIV

21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

lam 3 21-23

Focusing on gratitude can renew and grow our hope.

Recognizing and appreciating the good that God has shown us in the past can increase our hope for all He will do in the future.

Sharing this gratitude and hope with others can multiply its effects.

Build up and encourage the Body of Christ.

Grow the Kingdom as those in darkness are led to the light.

As we nurture this living hope, it can sustain us through our darkest days as we wait for God to move. 

My father, at age seventy-five, planted a number of small fruit trees. “What an optimist,” I said to him, somewhat mockingly. Dad passed away a few years ago. Now when I return to the old homestead, I have an option. I can go to the grassy cemetery on top of the hill and brood over his grave, or I can eat the fruit of his trees and reflect on a man who knew a great deal about hope. —Bob Seiple, 

What is your hope based on this morning?

May it be, God with us!

Romans 15:12–13 NIV

12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Take this with you...

Do I sense God is with me right now?

Do I believe He is not annoyed with me right now?

Do I know that He will be with me because He has proven His presence in the past?

How can I share this hope with someone this week?

Will I invite someone to join me in worship this Christmas?

INVITATIONS

Next week Sappias.