Hope

Hope Does Not Disappoint (Rom 5:5 NKJ)

In order to be happy a person must have someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for - Readers Digest (As cited by Billy Graham)

What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of human life. - Billy Graham

To live without hope is to cease to live. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Bible is the only document of hope that we have in the world.

The Bible gives us the message of hope, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.

Four reasons:

1. It gives us the basis for hope.
2. It tells us what to hope for.
3. It encourages us with examples of people who lived by hope against hope.
4. It teaches us how to hope.

The Basis of Hope - God Himself, His Promises

The Things of Hope – Good, Salvation, Life, Blessedness

Examples of Hope – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Job, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul

Way of Hope – Faith, Patience, Love, Endurance….

There is Hope

One important fact that the Bible clearly wants everybody to know is that “THERE IS HOPE”

...for him who is joined to all the living there is hope (Ecc 9:4 NKJ)

It is said that a drunkard doesn’t give up drinking.. because he feels there is no hope.

A man or a woman may give up fighting when he thinks there is no hope.

Many a sick man has quickly died, before time, because he felt there was no hope.

However, if we believe in God; we must learn to believe in hope, contrary to hope (Rom.4:18)

Now, you may not have hope about a particular thing you are desiring. For instance, if you wanted to get a job and didn’t get it.. However, that doesn’t mean that your life is lost. God’s plan for your life doesn’t change. If you come back to God, there is hope.

Loss of Hope

• People can be without hope (Eph.2:12; 1Thess.4:13)
• People can lose hope (Eze.37:11)
• People can give up hope (Acts 27:20)
• Hope can be deferred – it makes heart sick (Prov.13:12)

Regaining Hope

1. Remember that God is the God of hope (Rom.15:13)
2. Remember that there is hope for the living (Eccl.9:4). If you are not dead already, hope is there for you.
3. Stop looking at the contradictions; ground yourself in faith and hope (Rom.4:18)
4. Turn your eyes back to God (Ps.121:1,2)
5. Meditate on the promises of God (Ps.119:49)
6. Remember what God has done in your life and in the life of His servants (Ps.78:7)
7. Encourage your soul to hope in God (Ps.42:5)
8. Repent from bitterness and frustration (Heb.12:15; Ps.73:13,21; Eph.4:31)
9. Be filled with the love of God shed abroad in our hearts (Rom.5:5)
10. Take courage and God will strengthen your heart (Ps.31:4)

7 Qualities of Divine Hope

1. Unseen (Rom.8:24)
2. Related to Future (Jer.29:11; 31:17)
3. Grounded in Faith (Heb.11:1)
4. One of The Three Theological Virtues That Remain (1Cor.13:13)
5. Purifies (1John 3:2,3)
6. Living (1Pet.1:3)
7. Doesn’t Disappoint (Rom.5:5)

We Have Hope Of

• Return of Christ - Blessed Hope (Tit.2:13)
• Resurrection (1Cor.15:19,20; Acts 23:6; 24:15; 1Pet.1:3)
• Redemption (Luke 21:28; Rom.8:23-25; Eph.1:14; 4:30; )
• Righteousness (Matt.5:6; 2Pet.3:13; Ps.85:11; Isa.61:11; Mal.4:2)
• Reward (Matt.5:12; Luke 6:23; 1Cor.3:14; Rev.11:18; 22:12)