The format is Welcome, Song, Prayer, Lesson, Closing.
Song: I Lift my Hands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeOm4_YOd4A
Prayer. Lord we gather here tonight seeking a touch from you. Some of us need healing. Some of us need comfort and some of us don’t even have word to express what we need. Be with eye in a special way tonight. Be with each of us and help us to set aside the cares of life to simply “be” with you. Thank you for being with bear’s baby and with eye’s mom and eye. Thank you for each regular and for bringing back sunsets and spongy too. We pray in Jesus name amen.
I have been thinking, what we could consider in our time together.
I tried this and that and nothing seemed to work.
Then I returned to hope. Where are we placing our hope? Where is my hope?
Do I, do we, as we age or face the loss of people who are important to us, cling to hope?
Hope is a person, Jesus who is the Anchor for our souls. But hope is also an action, a choice and a Biblical truth.
So thinking first about Jesus as the anchor for our soul…what ARE we clinging to when the currents of life tend to take our thoughts down a road we do not want to go on?
Is our mind filled with Biblical truth and promises or do we leave it empty for the enemy to use as his playground?
By that I mean, are we meditating on the Word day and night as instructed in Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
And again in Psalm 1 1Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
I want to be like that beautiful tree. I want to live in hope (and joy and peace and love, etc). But if I don’t have the Word implanted in my mind and from my mind into my heart, how can I?
We can’t actually.
So for a while we are going to look at a selection of verses about hope. My hope (smile) is that each of us will find renewed hope but even more that every single one of us will leave here tonight with at least one verse to treasure in our hearts and minds and use to draw us away from any tendency to hopelessness or despair and into the land of hope.
Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Dodi Note: This verse is a classic. And actually is one of my implanted ones. God created you and me with purpose, on purpose for a purpose. Illness, aging, or loss… nothing removes the plans God has for us.
In fact, there is even an old gray hair verse? It says, I will be your God throughout your lifetime--until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. (Isaiah 46:4).
So God has plans, good plans for our entire life. And they are intended to give us hope and a future. Never think you are too old, too young, too poor, to ill too anything-at-all to serve God and bless others.
Amen?
Isaiah 40:31 is a verse with an if-then clause about hope.
But those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Dodi Note: What is the condition?
To HOPE in the LORD.
Notice it does not ask us to hope we get it right? Or hope we can manage? It invites us to hope in the LORD and let Him renew our strength.
We can do that right? When we feel hopelessness trying to draw us into a pit…we can say/pray/speak forth this truth. God, you said if/when I hope in you that you will renew my strength. God you said, I can soar on wings (of your love/provision) like eagles soar over the circumstances of this life, you said I could run the race/life you have either given or allowed for me and not grow weary or faint. So I choose, we choose to stand on that truth.
Do you see how having Scripture implanted can work for our good? And if you are not so good at memorizing make yourself a little paper or notebook or something with some verses that draw your heart.
Psalm 121:7-8
The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Dodi Note: Like WOW, right? The LORD will keep us from all harm. You may want to scream or weep, “But God, do you see what I am going through?” However the fact is here you are alive tonight. We all have devices and we all have internet of some sort. We probably ate today and are not out in the cold.
Sometimes the harm part is hard to “get”. But then it says, God, the LORD will WATCH over our entire lives. He will watch (guard) over our coming and our going…meaning every single moment of our lives… and he will do it, actually is doing it right now and will forevermore. Then one day, we will be finished with life on earth and all it’s trials and home in heaven forever. Good news? Good verse? Filled with hope and promise.
Roman 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Dodi Note: Why do you think Paul so often prayed this sort of blessing over us and the people to whom his letters were written? Maybe because we need fresh infusions of hope? Notice it says..”God of hope” and asks Him to FILL us with ALL joy and peace As…during.. while we TRUST in him.
Then or so that we can OVERFLOW with hope by the POWER of the Holy Spirit.
The key is our choice to TRUST isn’t it? To choose to trust God even when and no matter what?
And as we choose to trust then the natural outcome is hope. Which if you notice is not what we have to try to drum up in our own strength. Hope comes through the power of the Holy Spirit.
So yet again, we choose to trust and we choose to rest in and on what God has already offered us.
Hebrews 11:1 is an interesting verse and I really like how these verses are flowing together. Hebrews 11:1 says,
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Dodi Note: CONFIDENCE in what we hope for. And just what are we hoping for?
We are hoping that God is Who He says He is and that God will do what God has said he will do. Remember the earlier verses? The ones about giving us hope for a future and keeping us even in our old age?
So we have confidence in what we hope for…could that be almost exactly the same thing as trusting God? And assurance for things we do not see.
I doubt any of us have really seen heaven. We also probably have not actually seen God either.
Maybe we have some things that are really good just over the next dawn. Or just down the next turn in the road called life.
Maybe even after one of those hope and joy stealing seasons is over.
Maybe moments of goodness in the midst of the darkest seasons.
What do you think? Can we choose to trust, lean and rely on God.
No matter what?
Guess what?
That is hope being outworked.
The next verse is a little different. 1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Let’s go pick up some context around this one. It is the “love” passage and always fun to read.
1 Cor !3: The Way of Love
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Dodi Note; We know that God is love, right? It says so in 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
And we know we are to be like God. Let’s do something I love to do and change this out a bit:
4God is patient and kind; God does not envy or boast; God is not arrogant 5or rude. God does not insist on His own way; God is not irritable or resentful; 6God does not rejoice at wrongdoing, God rejoices with the truth. 7God bears all things, God believes all things, God hopes all things, God endures all things.
8God and His love never ends.
That actually causes hope to arise as well as sets a standard for us to follow as we live life and relate to others. Even or maybe especially those we don't actually agree with or like, or who have hurt us.
Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Dodi Note: This is one of my implanted verses.
Jesus is speaking and He is inviting us to come, simply come to him. I know Christians who think and tell others it is not OK to be weary or overwhelmed. I totally disagree.
If we were never going to be weary or overwhelmed, why would Jesus tell us what to do when we are?
Think of Father God, or Jesus standing or sitting there when you have “had it” and with gentleness and absolute calmness inviting you to come and receive his rest.
Don’t you wish sometimes that we could literally climb up in his lap and just rest. Well, physically we kind of can’t and yet we actually can. It is part of the “being still to know” lifestyle. If you never have moments of simply being still and resting with God, try to cultivate that as a regular habit.
Sometimes using worship music helps. Or going outside in nature. Or whatever ministers best to your heart. But bottom line is Jesus has invited us to “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Give us REST. We just need to “come”. Sort of like that if you are on fire slogan, Stop Drop Roll? Stop Come Rest.
Psalm 119:114
You are my refuge and my shield;
I have put my hope in your word.
Dodi Note: Did you catch it? Again we see our choice. It says He, God is our REFUGE and SHIELD. Why? How? Because we have put our HOPE in HIS WORD. We can’t actually do that if we do not know His Word, can we? And look what this verse promises “refuge” and “shield”.
A shield to defend us and set up a wall of defense around us (maybe our hearts?) and a place of refuge, a place to rest and be hidden and kept safe.
Remember way back in the OT. The Hebrew people had cities set aside as Cities of Refuge for various things. When a person fled there they were safe.
Do you have times of needing refuge? Maybe a refuge from the news? Or from thinking about a loved one who had abandoned you? Or whatever other thoughts or events you need refuge from? I know I do and probably every day too. We have such a refuge….we enter it by placing our hope in His Word.
The Word is full of neat gems like the ones we are looking at tonight. They, it, The Word are our refuge from thoughts that can literally torment us.
Especially those “what if” kind of thoughts. For a “what if” thought we have the first two verses. No matter what, God will still have GOOD plans for us. Amen?
Dodi Note: The next verse speaks of the faithfulness of God. God is faithful. God always performs His Word. God is not a man and he does not lie, trick, or deceive us.
Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Yet again, we have a part to play. Do you see it? We choose trust. We hold unswervingly to Hope, Jesus and His Truth. And we can because God is always faithful. Even when we forget to be.
Dodi Note: Now all this does not say we will not endure or experience difficult and hard things in life. We will. We do. Probably we can all think of one going on right now in our own lives. Romans 5:3-4 testifies to this:
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Ugh! Right? But there is purpose in suffering. It produces growth. Think butterfly emerging from a cocoon. There is a progression listed here and oddly the outcome OF suffering is hope. Perseverance to character to hope. Crazy? Anyone thinking of an example you want to share when you have lived this to the other side?
The next verse is in Psalm 31:24. it admonishes us to:
Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the Lord.
Dodi Note: I want to see AMP version.
Be strong and let your hearts take courage,
All you who wait for and confidently expect the Lord.
And Message: Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up.
Expect God to get here soon.
Dodi Note: Sometimes it is so hard to trust, to rest, to lean, to be still, to wait on God when some situation has gone on way to long and may seem to have no end in sight.
We kind of get to the point where we are forgetting what we “know”.
Maybe we do not care if our suffering is producing character etc, we just want it to be OVER.
So here comes this verse in Romans 8:25. A verse that is linked to the happy clappy verse Romans 8:28.
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
We are to wait patiently. But then…. then…. let’s see the next verses from Romans 8. And remember this was written to people who had been enduring horrible oppression and persecution from the Romans. And sometimes from their own Jewish leaders.
Romans 8 starts this way: 1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you= free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Then skipping down to verses 26-38
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
God's Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Especially Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
and Romans 8:31 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Proverbs 13:12 Is a favorite of some of my friends. It says:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
We can identify with that can’t we?
A longing fulfilled is a tree of life?
But think for a minute. Has something you maybe at first did not even want, maybe tried to fight against turn into a “tree of life” meaning a joyful thing?
Maybe a move. Maybe a job change you did not want. A best friend who dies or moves but then later you get a new friend who is even better in some ways?
Hope deferred, makes the heart sick. Literally. When we lose hope, or forget what hope really is we can become depressed. We can become literally ill. Ulcers etc. My prayer for all of us, including myself is to take these Scriptural promises and truths to heart. And that we can set out hope firmly in the personal presence and provision and love of Jesus, who is after all both “I AM” and Emmanuel. ( All we need and with us)
Psalm 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
Dodi Note: I can feel the longing expressed by the Psalmist here. Can you? Does your heart have a similar longing?
I WAIT for the LORD
My WHOLE “being” waits
and in His Word I put my trust.
Lord God let is be so for each of us here tonight and for those we love. Help us to set our hope firmly in and on YOU. Help us to be intentional and unwavering in our trust for and faith in you and LORD, Abba Father, send your comfort to each one here tonight. In Jesus name amen.