What ever happened to hope
Proverbs 13:12 (NKJV) Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
Romans 15:13 (AMP) May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.
HOPE, what a big, little word. 4 letters, yet it has such power to change us.
Hope
Man can live about 40 days without food, about 3 days without water, about 8 minutes without air but only about 1 second without hope.
It means: A confident expectation of good. A confident expectation of everlasting life “favorable and confident expectation” Many times It has to do with the unseen and the future.
Hope, desire of some good with expectation of obtaining it.
We live in a world today that seems to have lost hope. People look at the weather and have lost hope, at politicians and have lost hope. They look at the economy and have lost hope, Marriages, raising KIds, even our young people have lost hope. Sad but so true.
Out of 100 Average Americans
7 Struggle with Depression; some even consider suicide.
8 are struggling with the lost of a Job.
7 Abuse or are addicted to drugs or alcohol
14 feel crippled or trapped by Fear & Anxiety
60 don’t profess to be Born Again
3 are grieving the Death of a Loved One.
Center for disease control has said that more people die from suicide now then by traffic accidents.
The largest increase is now among the baby boomers.
Suicide rates have gone up 50% in men over 50 and 60% in women over 60.
The highest rate used to be among teens and the elderly with Baby boomers in 2nd, now they are the highest.
Teens and elderly has not gone down, they went up also, its just that these other groups went up more.
Suicide accrues 1 every 18 hrs.
Center for disease control says that for youth between the ages of 10 & 24, suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death.
Thankfully most suicide attempt do not succeed. In the age range of 10-24, there are approximately 100-200 attempts for every one completed suicide.
SO SAD, SO SAD!!!! What a demonic spirit this is.
There are over 100 completed suicides everyday in the USA.
Suicide is now the tenth leading cause of all deaths for all age groups.
And we all know that this is so under reported because so many people feel shame when a loved one commits suicide.
When did these rates start going up like this. After the reference of God and the Bible was taken out of our society.
We have seen the post war generation. The Woodstock, anti-war, free love, drug generation come and they haven't been able to find true peace, and we know as Christians that you will never find true peace, until you let the PRINCE OF PEACE into your heart.
Religion as a whole hasn’t helped. Why? Because what religion has shoved down people throats is that you can never please a righteous, holy mean God
Again this alone is enough to want to make you vomit, because the God of the Bible, Jesus is the most loving and giving that there is, and He will give your heart peace and give your life purpose.
John 14:27 (NKJV) Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Church, There is a God given void in people’s heart and it’s given by God and it cannot be filled with the things of this world. It can only be filled with a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. Here let me show you.
Look at what Solomon, one of the wisest people that ever walked the earth said.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NKJV) He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (AMP) He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Solomon, like so many tried to fill this void with the pleasures of life. He did and experiment with all the best that life had to offer and found out that things won’t fill you.
Listen to this, tell me that this doesn’t sound like people of today.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-26 (NLT) I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. 2 So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” 3 After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. 4 I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. 7 I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. 8 I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire! 9 So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. 10 Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. 11 But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. 12 So I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and madness (for who can do this better than I, the king?). 13 I thought, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. 14 For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate. 15 Both will die. So I said to myself, “Since I will end up the same as the fool, what’s the value of all my wisdom? This is all so meaningless!” 16 For the wise and the foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In the days to come, both will be forgotten. 17 So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
18 I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned. 19 And who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? Yet they will control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work under the sun. How meaningless! 20 So I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world. 21 Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy. 22 So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? 23 Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless. 24 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? 26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Here we have seen the hopelessness of an unsaved person. He tried it all, but it brought no fulfillment.
Did Solomon get it together? Well in one way he did. Listen to his final words of his book.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NLT) That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.
Well Church, today, I want to tell you that we have a Blessed Hope. A greater Hope then even Solomon had. Our Hope or our confident expectation of good. “favorable and confident expectation” Desire of some good with expectation of obtaining it.
And why is that? Because we have JESUS!
The Bible tells us that hope is the only thing that can hold us in this chaotic world that we live in. In fact our Bible and our God says that we are to have a great hope and this hope will hold us steady no matter what life brings at us.
Hebrews 6:13-20 (NKJV) 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 6:19 (AMP)[Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it—a hope] that reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil,
Hebrews 6:19 (NLTse) This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary.
Our hope in God is an anchor for the believer's soul. The word "anchor" (agkuran) refers to the anchor used by ships to hold the ship in a certain place.
The anchor keeps it from floating aimlessly about and being damaged or sunk by floating upon the rocks of forbidden shores. God's promise of an eternal land (heaven) is what anchors the believer's soul and...
keeps it from floating aimlessly about.
keeps it from floating upon the rocks of forbidden shores.
the anchor of hope is both sure and steadfast. It cannot slip and it cannot break; it will hold the believer no matter what storms or violence are launched against it.
V/20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus,
our hope in the promised land of heaven is that which actually carries us into heaven. If we hope or believe in Jesus Christ the great forerunner and great High Priest, then we shall follow Him into the very veil of God's presence.
Hope in Christ and the glorious promises of eternal life carries us into God's presence. Nothing will stir us to be faithful to Christ anymore than keeping our eyes upon the great hope He has given us in Christ Jesus, the great forerunner into God's presence.
Titus 2:12-14 (NKJV) teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works
We have a great hope in this life and beyond, and it gives us Great comfort, and its all because of Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NKJV) But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words
(1 John 3:1-3 NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure
(1 Peter 1:3 NKJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
