Our Blessed Hope

What is hope? The Hebrew word for "Hope" in this text is "Yachal". It means to have a sense of expectation that God's answer is coming, based on what God has promised in his word. I want to say that again. It's very important. "To have a sense of expectation of God's answer that is coming, based on what God has promised in his word". Listen to this: hoping is not wishing. Wishing is based on emotion. And emotion has no chance of becoming reality. God's law for controlling your future and achieving your dream is contained in the four words of king David, "Hope thou in God". "Hope thou in God".

Hope is God's gift to the believer. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you... They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope". That's God's word to every person reading this today. God put you on this earth with a specific purpose. God has an exact plan for you. He has a divine destiny for you. He has unlimited potential for you. Have you underestimated your potential?

Listen. God gave Abraham hope for his future. Romans 4:18 says, "Who contrary to hope, yet he believed". Contrary to all hope, he believed. Hope birthed Abraham's potential. Abraham became the father of all who believe. Abraham, at a hundred years of age, sired a son, Isaac, who was beyond all hope, his potential. Abraham's children, the Jewish people, came from Abraham's hope. And the Jewish people have given to the world the written Word of God. Every book in the Bible, written by Jewish people under the anointing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 2 Timonthy 3:16-17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." Abraham's children gave us the patriarchs. They gave us the prophets. They gave us the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. They gave us the apostle Paul, the father of the New Testament church. They gave us the 12 disciples.

God said, "In you (Abraham), all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And I will make your name great". Abraham changed the world forever by hope and by not underestimating his potential when he acted on the hope that God gave him. My question to you, have you given up hope? Have you surrendered your potential? Jesus Christ is presented in the Bible as "Our blessed hope" and "The hope of glory". When there is hope, hope generates enthusiasm. Hope generates excitement. What in your life is exciting? What in your life determines your dream for tomorrow? When you want something you've never had, you've got to do something you've never done. And for some of you, that's hoping in God. Romans 5:2, "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God". Romans 12:12, "Be joyful in hope". Say that with me. "Be joyful in hope".

The first recorded promise in the Bible is that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent: that was God's word of hope from God the Father to you that Christ on the cross would crush the head of Satan. I want you to know that when Christ won that victory, it was a total victory. He is victorious over death, hell, and the grave. He is victorious over sickness and disease. He is victorious over the depression that follows you like a black dog. He is victorious over every battle you're in. Lift your head. Square your shoulders. Look in the mirror and say, "I am the winner through Christ the Lord". Satan cannot defeat you. He cannot intimidate you. He cannot manipulate you. The victory is ours through Christ the Lord. Hope thou in God. Hope thou in God. Give him praise for His victory today!!!

Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for". "Faith is being sure of what we hope for. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Take away hope, and life with all of its fascinating opportunities is reduced to a mere existence. Without hope, your life is bleak. It's drab. It's joyless. It's a burden. It's a never-ending treadmill of suffering. People without hope sink into depression. They're always filled with despair. People without hope have a life that's meaningless. In the life of every person here, there is hope for tomorrow.

There is hope for a supernatural breakthrough with the crisis that you're facing. There is hope that the darkest midnight in your life will have to surrender to a glorious dawning. There is hope for a miracle. Do you need a miracle in your marriage? Do you need a miracle in your business? In your body? There's a miracle for one of your children. There's a miracle for everything that you can think of, because the God that we serve is totally victorious over all things. Give him praise for that today!!!