Sermon Central
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Jesus Our Hope Series
Contributed by E. True Neilson on Dec 16, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus!
SIMPLY JESUS
JESUS OUR HOPE
INTRODUCTION
-This morning I want to start with an important question:
WHAT DO YOU PUT YOUR HOPE IN?
-As Christians we are supposed to say “Jesus!”
-And I think most of us do put our hope in Jesus…but it’s so easy to also put our hope in other things.
-For example. If you are facing a financial issue and there is money bank. You might say “Oh, no. $1000 to fix the car, well no problem because I’ve got money in the bank.” What’s your hope in? $
-If we start filling sick, or learn of a medical condition…I’ve got medical insurance. What’s your hope in?
-When we’re going through a hard time, we say “My friends will help me! What is your hope in?
-Some people believe that when the guy/gal they voted for takes office, their problems will all go away! First of all, get real!
-If you think your life will be ruined or saved because who the president or governor is…what are you putting your hope in?
-Others have a hard time and they turn to alcohol, drugs, pornography, food, or even just drown their sorrows in television.
-What does that reveal about our hope?
-OUR HOPE IS REVEALED MOST CLEARLY IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES.
-The issue of hope is a major blind spot in many Christian’s faith.
-Everyone hopes in something and sometimes those things deliver
-But as people of faith, our hope should always be in Jesus Christ. -That's part of the message we’re taking to the world, is that we an eternal and unwavering hope in our God.
-But what they want to know is…
CAN GOD BE TRUSTED WITH OUR HOPE? (VS 13-16)
13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: 14 “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”
-Now, for the record the Bible doesn’t encourage swearing!
-But when people do swear, they usually swear by something or someone that is held in high regard.
-They say I’ll swear on a Bible! On a stack of Bibles.
-I’d swear on my mother’s grave…ooh, don’t drag her into it!
-I’d swear on my firstborn child! He’s just a child.
-I swear to God. Jesus said a simple yes or no would do fine.
-People swear, by some name greater than themselves.
-But WHEN GOD PROMISES THERE IS NOTHING GREATER TO SWEAR BY!
-Because there is no one and no thing that is greater than him.
-And that gives us a clue about the character of God.
-He doesn’t need to swear by anything. Because when God makes a promise he keeps it.
-When God makes a promise…people don’t say…“God, do you swear on a stack of Bibles?” He wrote the Bible.
-“Would you swear on your mother’s grave?” He was never born.
-“Would you pinky swear God?” People don’t pull things like that on God…because he’s God!
-No our author is trying to talk to these Jewish Christians about hopes and promises…and he brings up their favorite example.
-Abraham! God promised Abraham that’d he bless him.
-That he’d give him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. That the whole world would be blessed through Abraham.
-Abraham probably didn’t fully understand what that meant.
-But we have the benefit of being able to look back on that and understand clearly.
-Abraham’s family was to be the family from which the Messiah came. His family was the family that Jesus Christ came from!
-And when God made that promise, Abraham believed God.
-He didn’t ask him to swear…he just waited.
15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.
-If you’ll remember Abraham waited quite a long time.
-God never gave a timeline 4 Abraham having many descendants
-God never spelled out exactly what that would look like.
-He just promised it. Abraham just believed it.
-Our passage says he “received” what had been promised.
-It happened just as God said that it would happen.
-Now Abraham didn’t have his son Isaac until he 100 years old.
-And Abraham certainly had moments of doubt...there is that whole Ishmael thing.
-But overall, Abraham waited, and when he waited he discovered something that many of us have discovered; we can put your hope in God, because GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES.
-When we got the call to come to McMinnville and start Adventure there were a lot of details that had to fall into place.
-One of our big obstacles was selling our house.
-We were not in a financial position to buy or even rent in McMinnville, until our sold in Eugene.
-We put it up for sale in May and we were supposed to move to McMinnville on the first of September.
