HOPE BETTER THAN AIR
Hebrews 11:6 So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Hebrews 11:1 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
It has been said that:
“Man can live 40 days without food.. 3Days without water.. 8 Minutes without air But we cant live without HOPE
Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Romans 8:22-25 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Hope is a future thing
Something unseen
Something we have yet to hold.
What is this telling us?
Put the past behind you, press on to gain the things hoped for.
King David in his life lost;
Family, friends, position, land, wives, Children, peace (Sin with Bersheba –Loss of Son) Health (Sick in old age)
But look at His Psalms.
Psalm 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Psalm 31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.
Paul was another great example.
Driven out of Jerusalem when first saved, Spent 14 years in the desert, Stoned, prision 3 times, Shipwrecked 3 times, whiped 5 times, Danger from rivers, Danger from bandits, Danger from Jews, Danger from Gentiles, Gone without sleep, cold, hungry, abused (See2Cor 11:15)
What was pauls response?
: Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
My own early testimony is one of loss: I lost my home in Te Aroha, my Children and my possessions all lost but my hope is in the Lord and in His love.
We need hope to press on, to build faith on.
Hebrew word for hope Yachal...To wait confidently (To hope)
Greek Alpizio To anticipate with confidence..
Romans 15:13 I pray that God, who gives hope, will bless you with complete happiness and peace because of your faith. And may the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope.
Expect a Harvest of hope in your life
As a farmer plants so he expects a harvest, As we enrol in the army of hope and sow into the fields of hope so hope will overtake us!
1 Corinthians 9:7-11
7 What soldier has to pay his own expenses? And have you ever heard of a farmer who harvests his crop and doesn’t have the right to eat some of it? What shepherd takes care of a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? 8 And this isn’t merely human opinion. Doesn’t God’s law say the same thing? 9 For the law of Moses says, “Do not keep an ox from eating as it treads out the grain.” Do you suppose God was thinking only about oxen when he said this? 10 Wasn’t he also speaking to us? Of course he was. Just as farm workers who plow fields and thresh the grain expect a share of the harvest, Christian workers should be paid by those they serve.
11 We have planted good spiritual seed among you. Is it too much to ask, in return, for mere food and clothing?
You see our hope is not only in this life but in the life to come
1 Corinthians 15:19 And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.
Proverbs 14:32 The wicked are crushed by their sins, but the godly have a refuge when they die.
Thats why as we sow in this life, the older we get the more hope we have! Because we have sown into hope we will reap hope!
The Lord says to us very clearly in Jer Ï know the plans I have for you, Plans for a hope and a future, plans for good and not evil..
He who has begun a good work in you is well able to complete it even on the day of the Lord!
Today I encourage you to sow hope in your life. To be a vessel open to receiving the hope of Glory Jesus Christ Amen.
