Is It Naïve To Be Hopeful Amid All The Despair? Series

- Set up a collapsed tent on state where the pulpit normally is. This is the image for the sermon.

LIVING IN FRAUGHT TIME: Right now there is much to worry over.

- Amos 9:11 – “David’s fallen tent.”

- Think of all the references in the Old Testament to the “house of David.” With that in mind, we have a humble image here: the “tent” of David. That’s not nearly as impressive as a house. And not only just a tent, but a “fallen tent.” This humble tent is collapsed on the ground.

- We have a collapsed tent up here on stage this morning. It’s a picture of what we’re talking about. Is this the way things are and will always be? What reason is there for hope?

- Is it naïve to be hopeful amid all the despair? Is it naïve to be hopeful amid the ruins?

- Especially right now amid the uncertainty and the malaise of the pandemic, it is hard to be hopeful.

- On the other hand, if there is reason to hope, that’s an incredibly powerful truth. We’ve all experienced the power that hope can bring. It may not immediately change your current situation, but it can transform your heart and vision.

HOW CAN I HOPE? God has a plan.

- Amos 9:11-15.

- Three pieces of this:

a. God has a plan.

- This passage is a reference to the Millennium. This is a time of Christ ruling on the earth.

b. He can bring it to pass.

- He has sufficient power.

c. The ending is good.

- We can clues about the direction this thing is going. And they point us toward a great ending.

PIECES OF HOPE:

1. There will be a physical restoration of Israel.

- Amos 9:11-15.

- This is one of the greatest of the signs: Israel returning to dwell in Palestine.

- Was that fulfilled back in 1948, when the modern Israeli state was established? It’s possible that it’s related, but this passage is not describing what’s going on in Israel today? How do we know that? By the level of fruitfulness mentioned in v. 13 that is clearly not happening today.

- Additionally, while Israel has been physically restored to its land, they remain a secular nation.

- I am not dismissing what happened in 1948 as insignificant, but we do need to acknowledge where it doesn’t match up to what the Bible predicts.

2. There will be abundant fruitfulness.

- Amos 9:13.

- There are incredible details here about the degree of physical fruitfulness that the land will enjoy. It’s hard to fathom.

- When Jesus rules in the Millennium, it will be a time of great abundance.

3. The whole world will participate in this vision.

- Amos 9:12.

- Obviously this passage focuses on the Jews, but there is a significant reference to the Gentiles.

- The blessing here will go to more than just the Jews.

OUR PRAYER OF HOPE: Thy kingdom come.

- Matthew 6:10.

- What we’ve talked about in this message is not the whole picture of what’s ahead. This passage is specifically about the Millennium. That’s obviously a huge part of the story of Revelation and therefore our future. But it’s not the whole picture.

- It does, nonetheless, give us abundant reasons to be hopeful.

- We are not:

a. Accidental creatures formed by evolution.

b. Adrift in a world going downhill into inevitable, irreversible destruction.

c. Left to fix the world ourselves.

- No, we cry out for Jesus’ kingdom to come to fruition. It is a hopeful vision.

- This is why in the Lord’s Prayer we are called to pray “Thy Kingdom come.” It’s not idle words. It’s a cry of hope. “Jesus, bring Your Kingdom about!”

- Back to the collapsed tent. Yes, there was a time when the great house of David was little more than a collapsed tent. But that wasn’t the end of the story.

- Today, we may look around at our world and feel something similar. But that is not the final word. God has a plan.