Hope Believes

Remember Back...

Hope believes “yes” when circumstances say “no”

It’s easy this time of year to be hopeful isn’t it?

Remember back when you were a child. The weather started to turn chilly and you knew that Christmas was just around the corner. Two weeks of school vacation, Christmas parades, visits to / from relatives were all anticipated. And, if we had been good all year (the last few weeks we were better; like cramming for the exam), Santa had something special for us! We were hopeful, weren’t we? Excited anticipation!

Consider the Present

Fast forward to today. Are you still hopeful and excited about the future?

After all we have plenty of reason not to be hopeful, don’t we?

The news is full of bad news from around the world; oh, yeah they give that one 2-minute feel good story at the end of that 30-minute broadcast so you don’t feel as bad.

The stock market, although going higher all the time, seems to change daily. <give the guarantee>. Our financial plans always seem to be changing because of that.

So, it would be easy for us to say no to things because - we just don’t know what’s going to happen. In other words, we let our circumstances drive our decision making concerning hope. It’s easy, isn’t it, to sink into that ‘stinkin’ thinkin’ and start having those ‘pity parties’. That’s when we begin to suffer from ‘PLOM disease’, where we start believing ‘poor little old me!’ <bad news…>

But, God...

“…so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us. That whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

It’s going to be so good that we are going to have this eternal life with the Father and with Jesus! Can I get an AMEN!

I saw a quote this week that sums it up: “I want to be so full of Christ that, if a mosquito bites me, he flies away singing THERE IS POWER IN THE BLOOD! That’s what I want!

<LET US PRAY>

Heavenly Father, this is the season of being grateful. Thanksgiving was last Thursday, so it is natural for us to be revelling in the wake of all of that. But, let us take time out always to give thanks to the One who gave it all for us, so that we can be with Him for an eternity. Jesus came to give us hope! Amen!

Matthew 1:18 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18–19 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:18–23 ESV

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

I want to stop there for just a minute. Can you imagine this? You have waited your whole life for this moment in time, to marry the woman meant for you, and she turns up pregnant; and the child is not yours! How could she do this to you? Can you fathom Joseph’s despair? What would you be feeling about now? You probably go through every emotion in the world.

I know that when something upsets me, I seem to have an emotional progression. I had a tractor trailer come around a curve on Dry Ponds road one morning, in my lane! The Lord was definitely driving my car that morning because somehow I swerve away in a place I shouldn’t have been able to!

After I was back on the road, I felt relieved, for a minute. Then that emotion turned to anger (I wanted to turn around and chase him down to give him a piece of my mind!). That was followed by sadness that I had sunk to that level. I began to think, “What was going on with that driver that he was so distracted. Why am I so angry? I have no idea his circumstances. Then I prayed for the driver and for me. How about you? What do you do?

Joseph’s world had been turned upside down. Let’s see what happens.

Matthew 1:19–23 ESV

19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Joseph had hope. The hope that could only come from the One who is faithful and just; from his Father in heaven. Joseph had the hope that with God, all things are possible; that things would be OK!

Matthew 1:

Matthew 1:20–23 ESV

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

We need to be more like Joseph!

Jesus is the Hope of the World

So how does hope affect you / us?

Like I said, it would be easy for us to sink into a sea of hopelessness. Things seem to be spiraling out of control.

But, here is the truth: HOPE believes “YES”, when everything around us is saying “NO”.

Jesus came into this world, not to condemn it, but to save it! And save it He did! He accomplished the impossible, what we as human only could not. Covenant after covenant was made and we broke every one of them. God knew from the beginning what He would have to do. He was the only One who could accomplish it. He chose just the right time to do it.

The Greatest Gift

At this time of year it is natural for us to feel hopeful. But, it’s not for the reasons this world wants us to have it; not because of what we might have under that tree on Christmas Day. It’s because of the Greatest Gift the world has ever known. The gift of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ! Amen!

Let us pray church!

Father in Heaven, We celebrate this season of Advent, this season of waiting, anticipating and of preparation. Prepare our hearts this day to receive our Lord. Let us not forget the reason for the season. Help us always to make Jesus the subject! Amen!