We have to have hope. And yes, I have talked about this for the last month because “hope” is our theme for this year.
One of the things we have to agree on is that everyone needs hope. That is hope based on what is more powerful and costs more than anything else we know. Hope is to be held on to and shared with others.
The problem is that hope is often overlooked or pushed to the side. There is a problem when we don’t have hope. There is a problem when we disregard the hope that we have been given. Paul says to his friends in Galatia that he doesn’t understand why they walked away from God.
Galatians 1:6-7 NLT
I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
They walked away from what they heard and learned. To give up is to not have hope. To stay with God and to move forward is to live with hope.
Hope goes further than we can go alone. Hope is something God holds for us and is very positive. It is His plan for us. He sets us up for good and not bad, winning and not losing, strength and not weakness.
Jeremiah 29:11 NASB
For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Yesterday’s sermon was rooted in the fact that real hope is tied to the Gospel. We have nothing without what Jesus gives us. Paul declared his confidence was held tight to lasting hope.
Romans 1:16 NASB
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
May this be true for us. We hold in high esteem the hope that God gives and the Gospel that holds on to us. There really is more to come.
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