Hope That Lives

Hope That Lives (1 Pe. 1:3-13, 18-21) The world says “Give up”, but the Spirit of God says “Hang on to the hope”

What is hope? Hope (conventional definition) = an uncertain desire (e.g. I hope it will/won’t rain today) An attitude of hopelessness can lead to a life full of evil acts (crime) (Jer. 18:12) Christian hope (Elpizo, Gk.) is not an uncertain desire, it is a confident expectation based upon God’s nature, promises (Titus 1:2) and abilities, based upon His demonstrated love, power and faithfulness (Ps. 31:24; 78:7) The hope of salvation is the helmet of a Christian’s armor (1 Thess. 5:8) What is the source of our hope? (2 Thess. 2:16-17, a gift from God, Rom. 15:13, Gal. 5:5, through the Holy Spirit) Hope is awakened/announced by the gospel (Col. 5:1, 23; Ps. 119:81 & 114; 130:5; Rom. 15:4) On what is our hope based? On the knowledge of God’s Character, Power & Faithfulness as recorded in the Bible (Ps. 71:5, 78:7, 121:1, Rom.15:4 & 13; 1 Pet. 1:5, Titus 1:2, Col. 1:5 & 23)

On the resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:19-20, Rom. 8:11; Col. 1:27; 1 Tim. 1:1; 1 Pe. 1:3,4 & 21) Demonstrated by: The Empty tomb The Appearances of Christ, to Peter (Lk. 24:34), to the Twelve (Lk. 24:36-42; John 20:19-20), to James, the half-brother of Jesus (Acts 1:14), to all the apostles (Acts 1:22), to Paul (Acts 9:1-9) The Transformed lives of His Disciples/Followers (Then and now) On the continuing, living presence of God with us (Matt. 28:20, Heb. 13:5, Phil. 1:23. Acts. 7:55-56; 1 Thess. 4:17; Rev. 21:22-22:5) Remember the words of the song – Because He lives, I can face tomorrow On the promise of His return and of our resurrection unto eternal life into His kingdom (John 5:25-29, 14:1-3, 19, 17:24, Titus 1:2, 2:13, Col. 1:5, 23, 27, 1 Pe. 1:3-5, 13, 2 Pe. 1:10-11, 1 Thess. 4:16-17, Rev. 1:7, Heb. 9:28, Acts. 24:15, 1 Cor. 15:50-58, Matt. 25:21 & 34; Gal. 5:5; Col. 1:5; 1 Tim. 6:19) What kinds of things do you hope for? Immanuel Kant, said that there are 3 questions that everyone asks: “What can I know? What shall I do? For what shall I hope?” Psychologist William Marston asked 3,000 people, "What have you to live for?" He was shocked to discover that 94 % were simply enduring the present while they waited for an uncertain future. (See 1 Cor. 15:19) Hope gives us: Something to live for, to struggle for, to care for. The power to stand firm in our convictions Our assurance is so sure that none are able shake us from our convictions (2 Tim. 2:16-18; 2 Thess. 2:2; 1 Tim. 1:19-20, Heb. 6:11-12, 1720) The power to endure adversity

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But as we, imitating Jesus, set our minds and hearts on the hope and joy that is set before us, we are able to endure all hardships (1 Pe. 4:13; 6:22-23; 1 Thess.:5:5; 2 Cor. 4:16-18; Heb. 6:19).

The power to motivate The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city’s hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child’s name and room number and talked briefly with the child’s regular class teacher. "We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now," the regular teacher said, "and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn’t fall too far behind." The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, "I’ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs." When she left she felt she hadn’t accomplished much. But the next day, a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. "No, no," said the nurse. "You don’t know what I mean. We’ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back, responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live." Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: "They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?" Bits & Pieces, July 1991. A self-made millionaire Eugene Lang, greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixthgraders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school. - Parade Magazine. On the other hand, one night at dinner a man, who had spent many summers in Maine, fascinated his companions by telling of his experiences in a little town named Flagstaff. The town was to be flooded, as part of a large lake for which a dam was being built. In the months before it was to be flooded, all improvements and repairs in the whole town were stopped. What was the use of painting a house if it were to be covered with water in six months? Why repair anything when the whole village was to be wiped out? So, week by week, the whole town became more and more bedraggled, more gone to seed, more woebegone. Then he added by way of explanation: "Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present." - Halford E. Luccock, Unfinished Business. Boldness to share the gospel (Phil 1:20) We should be prepared to explain our hope to others (1 Pe. 3:15)

The command, "Hope fully" (1 Pe. 1:13) means be intensely desirous and fully confident. (See also Heb. 6:11) The Lord takes pleasure in those that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. (Ps. 147:11) “Living” (Zao, Gk. = real, living, breathing, active, powerful) hope (1 Pe. 1:3) There is but one true hope (Eph. 4:4) and that is through the resurrection of Jesus A hope of an inheritance that is (1 Pe. 1:4; Titus 3:7): Imperishable (Aphthartos, Gk. = immortal, incorruptible, not subject to decay) Uncorrupted (Amiantos, Gk. = undefiled, unsoiled, unimpaired) Unfading (Amarantos, Gk. = unfading, perennial) Reserved for us in Heaven We are protected by the power of God through faith (1 Pe. 1:5) We were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, the Christ His was a perfect and complete sacrifice Since this is the case, we can rejoice in the fact that our distress is temporary, and our salvation assured Like children on Christmas eve, we wait with joyful anticipation for the what awaits in the morning (Titus 2:13) We can set our hope completely on the grace we have been promised True Hope vs. False Hope (Ps. 25:3, 5, 21, 62:5) Relationship between Hope, Faith & Love (Col. 1:4-6) Hope is the root, faith is the plant, and love is the fruit To demonstrate faith is to act upon hope Hope requires patience (Lam. 3:26; Rom. 5:4; 8:25; 1 Thess. 1:3) Everything that we do, we should do with hope (1 Cor. 9:10)