Where there is Hope there is Life
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For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
You have probabley heard the saying “where there’s life there is hope” and thats maybe so but the greater truth is found in the opposite
“where there is hope, there is life”
In the 1960’s a series of experiments where conductyedm to see how the heart was affected by intense physical activity. Rats where palced into large containers of water fro which they coould not escape. Rats are known to be extraordinary swimmers, able to swim for long periods of time,which is why they where chosen for the experminets.
But something odd happened, many of the rats didnt swim for verl long at all, instead they gave up and put there heads under the water and drowned themselves.
The researchers noticed that rats that had been held imobile in the hands of the reserchers before being dropped in the water, where the ones who gave up quiclly, but those that had just been dropped int he water without being held immobile prior to that, swan as normal
Puzzled by this, the researchers did another experiment. The rats that where being held before being dropped in the water, where lifted out of the water after a little while before they gave up swiiming. when those same rats where returned to the water it was found that they swan as noraml and no longer gave up as they had done before...
What was the difference?
It was realised that holding the rats imobilised beofre puuting them in the water conditioned them to belive they had no control over their survival - they had no hope, so gave up when put in the water.
However once they had been rescued once they now expected to be rescued again and swam in expectation of that escape.
They had been given back there hope
Where there was hope there was life.....
Now we live in a world that permates with hoplesness, thats why many give up.
Its a tragic fact that sucicde rates continue to rapdily increase.
no hope, no life, but where there is hope there is life.
The world, the house of satan, is a hopeless
but the Church, the house of the son, is one of hope.
But what is our hope to look like? In practical terms?
Well firstly our hope should be a patient hope, turn to romans chapter 12 vs 2
Our Hope should be a Paitent Hope
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Here Paul connects our rejoicing in hope with patient in trial
Now we all know about trials
as Christians living as we should
every day is trial
But if we are honest some folks just have it worse than others when it comes to trials
and you may be one of those people this afternoon
where you are at the end of you thether
you can’t take it anymore it just seems like nothiong is going to make you any better
nothing is going to life the hardship
the burden
the pain
Beloved, Hold on to the rejoicing of the hope
and let that hope be a patient hope
waiting upon the Lord
You see help is coming, it may not be when you want it, on your timeline
but it is coming
our hope should be a patient hope, then secondly our hope should be a pro-active
Our Hope should be a Pro-Active Hope
10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
the word for trust is from the same greek root as hope and can be translated as such
our patient hope shouldnt be a passive hope
let’s just kick back until the Lord comes
no we are to be on the front foot
our hope is to be a pro active hope
In the Bible, hope is never a static or passive thing.
It is dynamic, active, directive and life sustaining.
biblical hope is not an escape from reality or from problems.
It doesn’t leave us idle and just waiting.
If our hope is biblical and based on God’s promises, it will put us in gear.
a pro active hope is and up and at em hope, not just reacting to things but getting ahead of them.
our hope should be patient, proactive and finally our hope should be a praising hope
Our Hope should be a Praising Hope
14 But I will hope continually, And will yet praise thee more and more.
Psalm 71 is a prayer for deliverance offered by one who repeatedly experienced God’s help throughout his long life.
Now he needs the Lord to protect and save him once again
Notice closely the relationship between hope and praise in this verse. The psalmist does not say, “I will praise you more and more because you have answered my prayers, because my hope has been fulfilled.”
Rather, his growing praise comes in a season of hoping, as he is still looking to God to save him.
His praise, in fact, strengthens his hope, because it helps the psalmist to remember God’s greatness and glory.
When he praises the Lord for all he has done, the psalmist is inspired to hope in God more faithfully and earnestly.
When we are in difficult situations, when our desperation drags upon our hearts, it is sometimes difficult to praise God.
Yet if we focus more on him and less on ourselves, if we remember his goodness to his people, including us, if we meditate upon his character, we will be stirred to praise the Lord even in hard times.
Our praise will, in turn, help us to keep on hoping, because it makes the reality of God even more real to us.
we live as the poeple of hope in a hopeless world, and at times this gets us down
the bible calls this the spirit of heaviness
Pastors usally get this on a Monday morning
this is the day when you quit the ministry
its not even like anything has particulary gone wrong, its just the spirit of heaviness
you may relate to this
no root cause to the weight of burden or sadness of depression
it just comes over you
the spirit of heaviness
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, To give unto them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they might be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Praise works like a magnifying glass. It causes what you're focusing on to get bigger, to be 'magnified.'
David said, 'Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears' (Psalm 34:3-4 NKJV)
O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.
It's a mistake to wait until you've no problems, fewer problems, or your problems are solved before you praise the Lord.
Praise is one of the great Scriptural keys to problem-solving because it gets your focus on God
Charles Spurgeon said:
'My happiest moments are when I am worshipping God, really adoring the Lord Jesus Christ...In that worship I forget the cares of the church and everything else. To me it is the nearest approach to what it will be in Heaven.'
Woship in singing to the Lord so important
both side of brain engaged
So, our hope is to be a praising hope
Fill your day with praise.
Don't just take coffee breaks and tea breaks, take 'praise breaks.'
Begin to praise God for two things:
(1) His attributes. His power, love, grace, favour, guidance, etc.
(2) His acts. Recall his goodness to you. Go ahead; take off the spirit of heaviness and put on the garment of praise.
Conclusion
Folks we live in hard times, and we are indeed to hold fast
We’re to hold fast that fearless confidence and cheerful courage
we’re to hold fast the substance of our faith. And the substance of our faith, of course, is Christ.
We’re to hold to the One who has spoken to us in these last days.
We’re to hold to the One who is our Apostle and High Priest.
We’re to hold to the One who is greater than the angels and greater than Moses.
We’re to hold fast our assurance, in Him
We are to hold fast to the rejoicing ofd our hope..
and that hope is to be patient
it is to be pro active
and it is to be praising
beacause our hope is just wishful thinking its a grasping of the reality of the one to come, it a grasping of the truth of the word of God and holding firm in hard times, becasue there is coming a day the hopelessnes of this world will end
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
The King is coming…hold fast to that hope in these hard times.