Joyfully Hoping For God 2 (A Joyful Hope)

Intro:

Good morning and we welcome everyone to our 4th and last Sunday for the month of March with a theme “A Joyful Hope”. And throughout all our exhortations this month, it all circled on this topic. But a question remained unanswered “are we happy?” Do we still feel the joy of God in our hearts? You see many people are still seeking to find this kind of joy that would satisfy their needs, yet it seems that all the material things on this world would always lack the quality of joy they are longing.

Today, we would seek the effects of joy that could only be found in God. We would study Biblical characters that they themselves have the effects of this kind of joy and it all started when they met God. You see many people were touched by God after they met Him. A living testimony is none other than ourselves. We are a living testimony to everybody that after we met Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have that hope and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. But before knowing and accepting God, we are just like the other people who are hoping for joy to come to them filling and satisfying them. Let us learn again how to be…

Joyfully Hoping for God Maligayang umaasa sa Diyos

How many of us are still hoping that they can find joy? Many tried to get it from material things, from relationships, from achievements and entitlements of this world but it can only be found in God. Despite of all the challenges and trials of life there is a joyful hope in God. Well, today is the truth that we will all and for many again find that joy in God while we hope to get it today. God will never fail us.

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

ASND “Nawa ang Dios na nagbibigay sa atin ng pag-asa ang siya ring magbigay sa inyo ng buong kagalakan at kapayapaan dahil sa inyong pananampalataya sa kanya, para patuloy na lumago ang inyong pag-asa sa pamamagitan ng Banal na Espiritu.”

It is only God that can be our source of true joy in our lives. And once we find it, this will grow and overflow in us through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us. Once we experience this inexpressible joy, changes in our lives start to happen.

What are the effects of these joy in our lives after we found our hope in God? On this exhortation, we can find 3 major effects of this joyful hope in us. Let us look upon the 3 persons in the Bible that showed their joyful hope upon meeting God in their lives. There are a lot of Bible characters that showed joy and hope after they met our Lord Jesus. Who are these people and what can we learn in order to have joyful hope?

1. There is a Jubilant Hope in leaving our sinful life – Matthew and Zacchaeus

Here comes 2 famous tax collectors in the Bible in the lives of Levi or Matthew and Zacchaeus. If there is most wealthy job in the Bible it is probably the tax collector. And Jesus was able to choose one of His disciples in the person of Levi or Matthew.

Look at the encounter of Levi or Matthew with Jesus:

Luke 5:27-32 “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow Me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to His disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

And the encounter of Zacchaeus with Jesus:

Luke 19:1-10 “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed Him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”