The God Of Hope

Hope is God's gift to the believer. David writes in Psalms 42:5, "Hope though in God". Say that with me. "Hope thou in God". Jeremiah writes, "For I know the plans I have for you," saith the Lord, "They are plans for good, plans to give you a future and a hope". The fact is that God Almighty put you on this earth with a specific challenge for you to do, something specific for you to accomplish, a specific purpose. You have a divine destiny that no one else on this planet can achieve but you. You are anointed with the favor of Almighty God to accomplish your impossible dream. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a book that reeks with the hope of God. Jesus Christ is presented in the Bible as our blessed hope. Paul presents Christ as the hope of glory. Hope generates enthusiasm. Hope generates excitement. Hope overcomes despair and discouragement. Hope will be there all the time, because God is with us all the time.

Paul writes in Romans 12:12, "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 in the book of Genesis. That was a word of hope from God the Father to you. Satan is a defeated foe. The seed of the of the woman was Jesus Christ. At the cross, Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, crushed the head of Satan on the cross of Calvary. Calvary was not a tie. Calvary was a crushing victory for the Kingdom of God. Satan is a defeated foe. He is a defeated foe. The Bible clearly says that Jesus went into the bowels of the earth. He introduced himself to the legions of hell, saying, "I am the mighty conqueror that has just come from the cross of Calvary. I have crushed Satan and his dominion from this point forward. From this day forward when my children come to the gates of hell, in the authority of Jesus' name, you obey them. You bow before them, because they have my authority, they have my power, and they are victorious in my name"!

You have awesome power. The last recorded promise of Jesus is in the Book of Revelation 22: "I am coming soon". Brother, if he was coming soon 2,000 years ago, if you listen closely, you can hear the footsteps of Messiah walking across the clouds of heaven, getting ready to call the bride of Christ home. Our King is coming soon with power and great glory. Lift up your heads and rejoice. Stop watching the fake news that'll give you ulcers and keep you up all night. Start reading the glorious news that we are the bride of Christ victorious over the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things that are not seen". Take away hope, and life with all of its fascinating opportunities is reduced to a mere existence. Without hope, life becomes bleak, life becomes drab, it's joyless, it's a burden, it's a never-ending process of pain. People without hope sink into depression and to despair. Life has no meaning. The associated press carried the story of four teenagers who locked themselves in a car and committed suicide by carbon monoxide after writing a note on a brown paper bag to be buried together. Why would four young people living in an affluent neighborhood in the wealthiest nation in the world choose to kill themselves? Why is the suicide rate among America's teenagers skyrocketing? The answer is, they are losing hope for their future in these United States of America.

Let me tell you this: if you have no hope, your heart will break. You will stagger through life blinded by your own tears. You will walk a road where there is no joy, suffocated by the sound of your sobbing voice. Some of you here and millions of you are desperately searching for hope. I have this message from the Word of God for you today. There is hope for a brighter tomorrow. Dreams still come true. There is hope that is guaranteed by the 3,000 promises of God found in His Word. Our hope is not wishful thinking. Our hope is alive. Our hope is real. Our hope is eternal, it is available, it's powerful, it will make you laugh again, it will make you sing again. I challenge you, get up from the paths of disappointment. Get up from despair and defeat. Try again. Hope thou in God! The victory is ours through Christ the Lord!

What is the difference between hope and optimism? Plenty. Optimism hopes for the best without a guarantee. Optimism is no more than whistling in the dark. Christian hope is faith looking at the promises of God and knowing with absolute assurance that what God has written in this book concerning what he is willing to do as demonstrated by what he has done in the past can work for you and will work for you today. Let's talk about the final battle that every one of you are going to experience and every person watching this telecast is going to experience. And that last enemy as recorded in the Word of God is called death. Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment".