#1 Light The Lamp Of Hope! Series

#1 LIGHT THE LAMP OF HOPE!

Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

This is part one of two parts.

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

I. I HAVE A KEROSENE LAMP, I PRETEND THE ELECTRICITY IS OFF, I NEED LIGHT. I HAVE A KEROSENE LAMP FULL OF KEROSENE --- BUT I NEED A MATCH TO LIGHT THE WICK.

I STRIKE THE MATCH, LIGHT THE LAMP, AND SEE WE HAVE LIGHT. THE DARKER THE NIGHT --- THE GREATER THE LIGHT.

THE MEMORY OF HOPE AND GOD’S DELIVERANCE WILL BRING GREAT HOPE! I CALL THE MATCH: HOPE! HOPE AGAINST HOPE!

A. CAN WE SING THE CHRISTIAN THEME SONG?

Remember the old TV show Hee Haw, they had a song that many of us learned by heart.

" Gloom, despair, and agony on end ---

Deep dark depression, excessive misery,

If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.

Gloom, despair, and agony on end. " ---- MOAN, AND MOAN SOME MORE.

B. WE HAVE HOPE IN THIS WORLD?

Education? Social groups or clubs?, political parties? Talk shows?

Bigger churches?

C. Webster defines HOPE:

To cherish a desire with anticipation

Trust, reliance, optimism

To desire with expectation of obtainment

To have confidence

D. Sometimes to understand something better, we need to

understand the inverse? ---

DESPAIR:

To lose all hope or confidence

Utter loss of all hope

No visual way of success

To have no remedy or no cure

Incapable of solution

HOPELESSNESS:

The state of despair and gloom that sees no good expectation of

a favorable outcome.

II. WE CAN OFTEN DEFINE BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES AND WORDS WITH WORDS FROM THE WORLD. BUT WE MUST UNDERSTAND THE BELIEVERS’ HOPE IS MUCH DEEPER THAN ANY SUGGESTIONS MR. WEBSTER COULD PEN.

A. Believers hope is a hope against hope ---

to hope without any basis for expecting fulfillment.

Hope in God is having a great confidence and expectation in spiritual things beyond the things and powers of this world.

B. While Biblical hope may have roots in the past, real strong Biblical hope takes deep roots in today and in the tomorrows that we might face.

C. Biblical hope consists of more than a SANTA CLAUS WISH LIST and lustful desires.

D. YOU CAN NEVER SEPERATE HOPE FROM FAITH AND FAITH FROM HOPE. They are two peas from the same pod.

E. WHILE WE CONSIDER BIBLICAL HOPE IN CORRELATION WITH FAITH, WE CAN NOT WALK TOO FAR WITHOUT CONSIDERING --- HOPE, FAITH AND LOVE HAVE A UNION WITH TRUST --- IF WE TRUST GOD WE WILL ALWAYS KNOW HOPE.

Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; 19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

III. A BELIEVERS HOPE MUST BUILD ON THE FOUNDATION OF KNOWING GOD’S WORDS ARE PERSONAL AND THEY ARE FOR MY CHURCH, MY FAMILY, AND THE INDIVIDUAL.

A. God reveals Himself by His written word, the Bible is OUR GREAT TOOL

FOR DAILY WALKING IN GREAT HOPE.

B. God has many great things in store for a BELIEVER FOUNDED IN A BELIEVER’S BIBLICAL HOPE. WE NEED AN ANCHOR!

Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold

upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and

which entereth into that within the veil;

C. If our hope is anchored in God’s word --- it is SURE and STEADFAST...

IV. A BELIEVERS HOPE MUST BE ANCHORED BEYOND VISUAL AND EMOTIONAL FEELINGS. THERE IS A GREAT SERMON OF HOPE IN THE ROD, EVEN THOUGH THE WORLD COULD COUNTERFEIT IT!

A. God has spoken to Moses and Aaron, and God has a great plan of deliverance for His people.

B. As God begins this journey for His men, God asked: WHAT IS IN YOUR HAND?

The answer was simple: A ROD...

C. Throw the rod down? The rod becomes a snake.

D. God says to Moses: PICK UP THE SNAKE BY THE TAIL?

Moses knew better than handling a snake by the tail.

E. GOD’S LESSON TO MOSES WAS THAT MOSES AND AARON THOUGH CALLED BY GOD, WOULD ALWAYS BE IN A VULNERABLE POSITION. THEIR HOPE WAS BEYOND WHAT THEY COULD DO ---

THEIR HOPE WAS IN TRUSTING THE UNSEEN HAND.

F. WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM, ALL OF PHARAOH’S MAGICIANS CAN DO THE SAME THING THROUGH TRICKERY.

Exodus 7:12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

G. AARON’S ROD CRAWLED AROUND THE ROOM AND SWALLOWED ALL THE COUNTERFEIT SNAKES OF THE HOPES OF THIS WORLD.