Intro
Good morning. We are now on our 4th week for this 1st month of 2022 with the theme Believing Hope and most of us are still confined in our homes due to the restrictions our government imposed on this time of pandemic. Yet we still cling on to the hope that God will carry us through these situations in our nation and in our own personal lives.
But then, last week we were exhorted by our dear pastor that God is the Great I Am and that He has many names that we can claim and declare in our lives. Though this pandemic has brought us poverty, pain, problems and many more, yet God’s grace and mercy has been part of our lives in order to experience His hope. And not just hope, He see to it that we have…
Our Overflowing Hope Ang ating Nag-uumapaw na Pag-asa
Romans 15:4-13
4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of Your name.” 10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol Him.” 12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in Him the Gentiles will hope.” 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.
Settings:
The Jewish Christians are on the verge of persecutions by the Romans themselves. We remember how barbaric the Romans were during those times of persecutions of every Christians where they were place in dungeons only to be fed to Lions. And Paul exhorted them to have the hope that they need in order to overcome their fear and that this hope can only be found from God Himself. Alongside with these Jewish Christians, the Gentile Christians were with them worshipping together in the temple. However, there were frictions between these 2 Christian groups were Paul exhorted them to be in unity so that they may experience an overflowing hope.
Our nation is on the same situation right now. We have many fellow citizens who have many indifferences in our principles especially in this pandemic situation. However, God is telling us to be united, to be in one accord and that is to experience His overflowing hope!
How to have our overflowing hope?
We need to…
1. Hear His Word – v4 Pakinggan natin ang Kanyang Salita
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
The only way to overcome fear is by faith and through His active and living Word in us. Apostle Paul said that the Scripture written in the past was to promote endurance and encouragement so that they may have an overflowing hope.
Likewise, he mentioned in his letter to Timothy about the purpose of the Word of God and that is why he mentioned to the Romans about the encouraging and enduring purpose of the Word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
John 21:25 “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
What would be God’s purpose for not writing down all the works of God besides that this whole world would not be able to contain it? Because God believes that His written word is already enough to give us hope and power in order to sustain us while we live.
God’s Word is there for us in order to sustain us in every situation, every need, every longing. The Psalmist say in Psalm 119:114 “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.”
“The only hope for this or any other society is to hear the Word of the Lord and obey.” -John MacArthur
In these days full of fake news and negative stories that promotes fear, let us rather listen to the Word of God so that faith must be build up to ourselves.
“Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.” -Thomas Aquinas
I remember the story of the bleeding woman for 12 years; she experienced an overflowing hope that resulted to her healing…
Mark 5:24-29
24…A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
To have an overflowing hope is to hear the overflowing power of His Holy Word. Why not hear the good news of the Bible instead of hearing the bad news of this world? Secondly, we need to…
2. Open up our senses – vv5-7 Buksan natin ang ating mga pag-iisip o kaisipan
After God has encouraged us and gave us endurance through His Word, then He wants us to encourage each other’s so that everyone would also endure the present hardships we are experiencing. It is only through having the same mindset that God has set upon us.
“5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
What can we see on the mind of Christ that God wants us to have during these hardships? Prophet Jeremiah encouraged the Israelites that were in captivity in Babylon when he said this to them.
Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
God’s mindset is for us to enjoy life in the midst of tragedies and trials because He thought of peace, a future and an overflowing hope! We should have this mindset that we can believe and hope that God would never leave us nor forsake us during this pandemic. So long as we follow His will and follow the government’s mandate, we are sure to win this battle against this problem we have.
1 Peter 1:13-14a GNT “So then, have your minds ready for action. Keep alert and set your hope completely on the blessing which will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Be obedient to God!”
I remember the story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector when Jesus visited him in his town in Jericho. He only knew Jesus was there and wanted to see him but because he is short, he climbed to a tree only to see who Jesus was. He had this overflowing hope to see God and that made him change his mind.
Luke 19:1-10
1 Jesus went on into Jericho and was passing through. 2 There was a chief tax collector there named Zacchaeus, who was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was a little man and could not see Jesus because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, “Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today.” 6 Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed him with great joy. 7 All the people who saw it started grumbling, “This man has gone as a guest to the home of a sinner!” 8 Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Listen, sir! I will give half my belongings to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham. 10 The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
This is not the time to judge one another but to love one another. Zacchaeus need to experience the overflowing hope and joy of knowing Jesus and he was able to change his mind about his worldly possession.
During this pandemic, this is the time for our nation to be united instead of being divided. I believe, with the cooperation of our fellow citizen we can beat this Covid 19 so long as we are united and with one purpose to follow the guidelines set before us by the government.
Aside from hearing God’s words and opening up our senses by changing our mindset towards our surroundings, the 3rd way to get God’s overflowing hope is to…
3. Persevere the trials – vv8-9 Magtyaga sa panahon ng pagsubok
“For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of Your name.”
Jesus needed to come down from heaven in order to die on the cross and save human kind. But along side with that sacrifice is to persevere the trials and persecutions He needed to take as He serve both the Jews and the Gentiles. What was the promise of God that needed to be confirmed? It is the covenant of God through Abraham in Genesis 15 that was fulfilled when Jesus died at the cross and saved both the Jews and the Gentiles.
This is the very goal of the Father in sending His Son to earth so that in His Son Jesus all might be saved and put their hope in Him. Psalm 130:7-8 “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”
The very hope that Israel and Gentiles need is the overflowing hope that comes from God. And because of this hope, Jesus was able to fulfill the promise of God towards their ancestors that they will be one in salvation by having only one God. Our Lord Jesus Himself persevere those trials and so are we.
Today, Jews are represented by the people of God all over the world, while the Gentiles are people of the world who haven’t known God yet. During these hardships, there are no Jews nor Gentiles but we only have one people of God that need to persevere these trials of life during these times that we find no hope. Because we know that God holds our hopes together in order to overcome this great fear gripping us. We needed God’s salvation towards the people of this world.
“Jesus is the hope of the world and the local church is the vehicle of expressing that hope to the world.” -Andy Stanley
We should be the instrument of God to promote perseverance during trials and during this pandemic.
Romans 8:24-25 “24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Look at Apostle Paul as he perseveres the sufferings, he needed to take…
Colossians 1:24-27 “24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Yes church, we must persevere the trials of this world like the Apostle Paul so that we may have the glorious riches of God’s love which is Christ in us our hope of Glory. This is not a secret anymore that God hid for many generations but God wants us to proclaim this hope to everyone!
“Our world today so desperately hungers for hope, yet uncounted people have almost given up. There is despair and hopelessness on every hand. Let us be faithful in proclaiming the hope that is in Jesus.” – Billy Graham
Lastly, Apostle Paul was rejoicing because of the perseverance he has to take with the hope of glory from God. And his reaction even during these trials is what we also need to do…
4. Extol the God of Hope – v10 Purihin ang Diyos ng Pag-asa
What is the most excellent way of manifesting the overflowing hope in us – it is through praising and exalting the name of our Lord!
“10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol Him.”12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in Him the Gentiles will hope.”
It is Jesus who is our remaining hope in this world and it is He who is the very reason why we can rejoice and extol His name despite our hopelessness.
Psalm 16:8-9 NKJV “I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.”
Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
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.”
Proverbs 23:18 “There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.”
Yes, our hope is not on the vaccinations, inoculation, nor medicines against Covid19; but our hope is that God will fill us with joy and peace that will result in putting our full confidence in our God, and He will pour us His overflowing hope. It’s a hope that will never runs out, it will never be cut-off. So long as we keep on extolling and exalting His name.
Do you have an overflowing hope today?
Conclusion:
I remember the story when Peter and John healed a lame man in…
Acts 3:2-8.
“2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.”
This man experienced an overflowing hope from God. When Peter was talking to him, He got message of hope as he heard the words of healing from Peter. He opened up his senses rather than closing it that he can possibly walk just as according to his faith. Yet he persevered for the 1st time he will try to stand and Peter was there to help. And lastly, he exalted the Lord by going to the temple courts and praise God with Peter.
Church, are we like this lame man who is asking to have an overflowing hope? Then start to…
H-ear His Word
O-pen up our senses
P-ersevere the trials
E-xtol the God of hope
Let us sing You are More than Enough for me…
