My Hope Is Built On…

So they make an appointment with the doctor, and the first thing the doctor asks them is, “What’s wrong?” The reason they made an appointment to visit his office was to find out what was wrong, and here he is, asking them what is wrong.

Illus: A man told his doctor that he did not know what was wrong, but he wasn't able to do all the things around the house that he used to do. When the examination was complete, he said, "Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me what is wrong with me in plain English.” The doctor said in plain English, "You're just lazy." The man said "Okay, now give me the medical term so I can tell my wife."

We often find ourselves PHYSICALLY knowing something is wrong, but we do not know what the problem is. The same thing can be true EMOTIONALLY. At times we find ourselves emotionally drained but we really do not know what the problem is.

Did you know that many times when we find ourselves like this, it is because we have LOST ALL HOPE.

We can understand why the SINNERS are this way. Every day of their life they live without hope!

• Every day they live without hope, knowing they are only one heartbeat away from spending eternity in a Devil’s hell

• They have placed their faith in things that cannot save them, and they live in HOPELESSNESS every day of their lives

But there are many SAVED people who also have lost all hope. Any time a SAVED PERSON or a SINNER has no hope in this life, they are in bad shape.

In this sermon, we want to look at two things about hope and how it affects us. In closing we want to find the cure for hopelessness. First, we need to consider-

I. WHEN HOPE IS LOST

A good example to look at is the life of Elijah. Look at 1 Kings 19:1-5, we read, “And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.”

Before this happened, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest to see who was serving the TRUE GOD. The God that answered by fire would prove to be the true and living God. Elijah’s God won overwhelmingly!

But later, after Jezebel threatened his life and stated he was a dead man, we find him under a juniper tree saying that he wished he was dead. But he really did not wish he was dead, because if he had stayed there, Jezebel would have been glad to accommodate him.

Illus: Did you hear about the couple that came upon a wishing well? The husband leaned over, made a wish and threw in a penny. The wife decided to make a wish, too. But she leaned over too far, and fell into the well and drowned.

The husband was stunned, but he smiled and said, "It really works!"

Illus: Did you hear about the family in their car on their way to a dog race? A frog crosses the road, and the husband, who is driving, is able to stop the car before running over him. The husband gets out and takes the frog and carries him to the side of the road.

The frog is grateful, he thanks the man and tells him that he will grant him a wish.

• The man says, "Please make my dog win the next dog race." The frog asks to look at the dog, which limps out of the car. The frog notices that the dog only has three legs, it is very fat and can barely move at all, so he tells the man that he thinks it is almost impossible to fulfill his wish, and asks that the man give him a more reasonable wish.

• The man says, "Well, then please make my wife win the next beauty contest in the county beauty pageant.” The frog asks him to tell his wife to get out of the car. The wife comes out of the car and approaches the frog. The frog turns to the man and says, "Could I please have another look at the dog?"