The Power Of Hope

I. We all need hope consider David. He Had it all.

A. Killed the bear and the lion with his bare hands.

B. He had stood in the valley of Elah and killed the giant.

C. Saul has killed his thousands, but David had killed his ten thousands.

D. He conquered Jerusalem

E. He was the champion of Israel.

2 Samuel 6:12-15 (ESV) 12 . . . So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. 13 And when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. 14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn.

Psalm 100:1-5 (ESV) 1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

F. But... you say that’s not me. I don’t feel that way.

G. Where did you get the idea that feeling ecstatic and bounding from one emotional mountain top to another is equivalent to being close to God?

H. For that matter, where did you get the idea that David Lived on the mountaintop?

II. David’s valleys were as deep as his mountains.

A. Psa. 6:1-7; 10:1; 13:1-4

B. David stayed faithful to God Psa18:1-8

C. Psa 42.1-5

D. Psa. 23 The word restore is present imperfect

III. What is hope?

"ELPIDZEIN means expectation with the nuance of counting upon... If hope is fixed on God, it embraces at once the three elements of expectation of the future, trust, and the patience of waiting. Any one of these aspects may be emphasized.

Theological dictionary of the New Testament. (Vol. 2, Page 530-1).

A. Hopes a powerful thing.

B. Little league 12 – nothing we’re not discourages we haven’t batted yet.

IV. Hope brings the victory in the secular world

A. Victor Frankel said that no one should have survived the Nazi camps. Those that did, survived because of HOPE.

B. Hope the desire for something good with the anticipation of receiving it. The discipline of waiting for something we know will take place.

C. Consider these pictures of Cuban refugees. What motivated them to take such amazing risk and work so hard to achieve their dream? HOPE!

D. In England’s darkest hour the British government called on Churchill to save a nation. He did so by instilling HOPE.

E. 1940 after being called from exile, on May 13, Sir Winston Churchill addressed the government,

“I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.

You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs -- victory in spite of all terrors -- victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.”

. . . I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

F. After Dunkirk he said,

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"

V. Hope brings victory in the spiritual world

Romans 5:1-5 (ESV) 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.