We now are going to continue in our series that I launched last
week entitled Hope, Hope, and I don't know about you, but I
could do with a dose of Hope. I explained to you last week
that all it takes is for me to spend a few moments on my on my
Daily News junket, around all the various apps I have and
websites for me to feel a a sense of hopelessness.
And certainly in the world events that we're seeing
recently, there is such an escalation of conflict in the
world for which we pray Lord Jesus, for your peace.
We pray where man is trying to to to solve things, where man is
trying to use might and and and war to solve these things.
We know, Lord Jesus, that it is only your peace that comes from
you. That is what we pray.
We pray that through these conflicts, Lord God, there will
be an awakening to you, Lord God.
We ask that in your name. But all of that to say, you
know, we, we do have this sense sometimes of hopelessness.
But as Christians, we have to remember that there is a promise
of hope that is rooted in God and God alone.
And I shared with you what is the anchor text for our series,
which is from Romans 12, verse 12, that says this.
Paul says, rejoice in hope, rejoice in hope, and be patient
in tribulation and be constant in prayer.
And for me, that's a verse for the year for myself personally.
And I believe that the Lord is sharing it for all of us this
year. Because there is life in this
instruction from Paul that we are to rejoice in hope, be
patient in tribulation, and to be constant in prayer.
Rather good instructions, I think you'll find.
But I do believe that for many there is a sense that we are
having a sense of hopelessness. And I wanted to come in this
series and maybe shift our focus away from hopelessness onto the
hope that we find in Jesus. And if you're wondering why I'm
playing around with my notes, I just discovered that I pulled
out my notes from last week. So for those of you who missed
last week, that wouldn't have been a problem.
For those of you who were here, sorry about that.
But that doesn't change the introduction.
So I don't know about you, but when I think about hope,
sometimes my mind goes to, I hope that this is a worldly kind
of hope. You know, I hope that it will
work out OK Or I hope that, you know, the sun will shine this
afternoon. Or I hope that that is not the
kind of hope that we are going to be looking at over these
coming weeks. The kind of hope that we're
looking at is a hope that is living, that is alive, that is
based on the promises of God. And what I said last week was
that what you'll find is that that which you put your trust in
is that which you hope in. Think about it.
That which you put your trust in is the thing that you put your
hope in. If you trust in your finances,
you will put hope in your money for your future if you trust in
people. And by the way, we want to be
trusting one another. But I'm talking about a kind of
trust that is for my whole life, you know, the kind of trust that
we replace from God to other people.
If you put your trust in other people, then your hope is going
to be in other people. Who knows that sometimes we get
disappointed by other people. And so really, when we're
talking about hope in God, the question is who are you putting
your trust in? And you can do this as an
exercise. Think about it.
What are you hoping in right now?
Because your answer is going to show you who you're putting your
trust in. Good little exercise, isn't it?
What are you hoping in right now?
Because that will show you who you are putting your trust in.
And I was reminded of Ephesians 212 as I was preparing for this
talk. And who says this to the church
in Ephesus? Remember that you were at that
time separated from Christ. So he's speaking to believers
here saying, listen, there was a time where you were separated
from Christ and you were alienated from the Commonwealth
of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.
All of that is to say you were an alien from the promises of
God, that Jesus died on the cross for you.
And then he says this having no hope and without God in the
world. And I think this rather focuses,
focuses in on the point which is this a biblical hope is based on
a relationship with Jesus. Because I want to say this and I
said it last week in the 11:30 service, is that if you are here
this morning or you're watching me online and you have yet to
say yes to Jesus and you're not walking with him, I want to say
this. There is no hope for you.
Whoa. Did the pastor just say that?
Aren't you supposed to encourage people?
Yeah, I am. I'm encouraging you to say yes
to Jesus because it's in that place that you will find a kind
of hope that is not based on your circumstances.
You see, once you are walking with Jesus, you have a hope that
is assured. What is that hope?
That he loves you and that you are going to be with him for
eternity. What is that hopelessness that
you feel without Christ? Let me tell you, if that you're
feeling that sense of hopelessness, it is this.
You're going to spend eternity without him and that you are
lost. But you see, that is the gospel
message, isn't it? The gospel message is the good
news that we can have hope in a living.
God paid the price on the cross for us, and you don't have to do
anything for it. We looked last week as I laid a
foundation at the Why and the What of hope?
And we looked at three things about biblical hope.
The first one was that true hope comes from God.
We're just touched on that. The second thing is that hope is
a gift. You can't earn it.
You can't work for it. It's freely given to you.
There's not many things in this world that are free, if any.
But I tell you something, a hoping God that's free for you.
You know, Christianity is the only religion that is not based
on your ability to earn a relationship with a God.
Do you know that Christianity is not about performing your way
into heaven? It's about recognizing that
Christ has done it all for you on the cross and you simply
simply come as you are? And you say, Lord, would you
take me as I am? I recognize that you've done it
all. How liberating is that?
So good. And then the third thing we
looked at, which is hope endures.
And this morning's talk then is entitled.
Hope changes everything. Hope changes everything.
Another way to look at this would be the fruit of hope or
the benefits of hope. And I feel like that the Lord's
kind of given me a mission the first three months of this year,
as we lead into Easter and we celebrate Easter Sunday and the
hope in a resurrected life with Christ.
I feel like God's given me a mission to tell you that hope
will change your life. I feel like God's laid on me a
burden to tell you this. You don't need to live in
hopelessness. Why?
Because hope will change your circumstances.
Hope changes everything. Now you don't need to put your
hands up, but who would like to sign up for that?
You put your hands up. Well done.
Either you didn't listen to me or you're just, like, disobeying
me. It's fine.
Just kidding. Hope changes everything.
And I think that it speaks to something in our heart to say,
whoa, yes, that's what I need, That's what I want.
And so we're going to look at what that looks like this
morning. You know, we looked at hope as a
future, invisible and confident expectation of the fulfilment
and promises of God. And I said to you last week,
this hope isn't about a wish upon a star.
It's about a hope upon the sun, hope upon the sun.
And I want to read to you one Peter 1/3 to four.
This is what it says. Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, He
has caused us to be born again in a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
You see, the hope that we are talking about is a living hope.
It is living. Why?
Because it's hope that is Jesus, and Jesus is alive.
But I want to say this. This kind of hope takes work.
I thought you said it was a free gift.
It absolutely is, but it's not a passive gift.
You will not receive this by osmosis.
You will not receive this lying down on your sofa saying, my
world is terrible. Let me keep thinking about all
the bad stuff. That is not how you're going to
receive hope. It's a daily choice to put our
trust in him and to ask the Holy Spirit to pour out his hope in
our lives. We have to make a decision to
walk in hope. And you might say, Mark, I've
got no strength for it. I tried that.
It's been months. I've given up.
And I hear you and I shared last week some of our own challenges
as a family. I'm not speaking as one that
doesn't live this with us all. But you see, the Christian walk
is a walk. You see the Christian walk is a
hold on. It requires movement in the
direction of Christ. And so it's not about ignoring
our circumstances and saying like, everything's OK.
I am. I am an optimist, really by
nature. But in order for me to be an
optimist, I have to sometimes ignore the reality of life, much
to the frustration of my wife. It's fine.
That's not that bad. No, it really is.
Nah, that's good. Now hope is not, you know,
optimism based on unrealism. Hope is actually looking at the
circumstance head on and then doing this.
That's what we're talking about. But you've got to make a choice.
I've got to make a choice to fix my eyes on Jesus, who is our
living home, right? Let's do this bit of an
exercise. I feel like exercises today, not
the type of the gym or anything like that, right?
I want you to look at something that is very difficult in your
life right now, something that you feel hopeless about,
hopeless about. I think it might be a family
member. It might be a financial
situation. It might be a job.
It might be some decisions you've got.
It might be a challenging meeting that you have tomorrow.
It might be a difficult conversation you have.
What is that thing? Look at it at the moment.
Don't ignore it. Now I want you to do this.
I want you to look at Jesus. Jesus is coming in the room with
you and I want you to hand over that thing to Jesus.
I'm going to pray, Lord, I just pray now that you would bring
hope where there is hopelessness in this situation.
I pray for all those that responded, whether in the room
or online, Lord, that as they have handed over those
circumstances to you, as they've made a decision to fix their
eyes on you, Lord, hope would well up by the power of your
Holy Spirit, would you pour out your hope into that situation.
And I pray boldly, because it's in your word, Lord God, that
they would rejoice in that there.
Where once they cried through it, they would now sing for it.
Where once there was trepidation, would there be a
spring in their step? Lord God, I pray in your name,
Amen. So with that rather lengthy
introduction, how does hope change everything?
I'd like to give you 4 things. The first one is this, and you
won't be surprised by this because I just prayed it.
Hope can bring us joy even in the tough times.
You know, we've been singing this morning about how big and
great God is. And I read to you earlier from
Isaiah 12, and we looked at the truth of the salvation that we
have in Him will bring us joy. For me personally, when I get to
a place of hopelessness, I find comfort and joy in the truth
that I am his and nothing can separate me from his love.
Like, seriously, it's it's like a moment where I just say, you
know what? This doesn't matter, really.
In the grand scheme of eternity, which, FYI, is a very long time.
In the grand scheme of life, it's OK.
Sometimes we just need to say to ourselves, or someone needs to
say to us, it's OK. But his.
He loves you. I know it's difficult.
I know it's tough. Hey, you're his.
You mean I'm his? I'm his.
Hold on a minute. Let's just get this right.
You mean the God that created the universe and flung the stars
into space? He said that nothing will
separate us. Yes.
Oh, my word. That's amazing.
Like we need to make the decision sometimes to focus on
the truth that we are His. I'm going to say it again.
You are his. Right?
All of you. Say now to yourself, I am his.
Let's do this. I am his.
Nothing's going to separate you from him.
No height, no depth. No, nothing.
Wow. You know, as I start thinking
about it, I'm like, I want to get there quick.
I mean, I've loved life, Lord, but I can't wait to be with you
for eternity in heaven. I mean, that is going to be a
joyous experience. But you see, you can real.
You can walk through that joy right now, but it takes us a
moment to remember the truth that we are his.
And I don't want to minimize what you're going through, and
for some of you that feel of hopelessness, but I want to say
this, just put your eyes on him and say out loud I am his.
Feel better. I mean, you're his.
I could just do a whole sermon with that phrase.
You are his. But there is joy.
We know Habakkuk. We haven't got time to read it.
Now it's going to come up on the screen.
Actually, I think maybe we've got a slide for it.
We got Habakkuk up there. There we go.
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the
vines. The produce of the olive failed
and the fields yield no food. Anyone feel like that?
I mean, you might not have olive trees and all that jazz, but and
you may not have a fig tree, but that might represent your life
though. Carry on.
Let's next slide yet. Oh, that's like another
nevertheless word nevertheless. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
And that Lord in capitals means Jehovah or Yahweh.
What that? What does that mean?
We have a personal relationship with a personal God that's
revealed His name to us. I will take joy in the God of my
We've got to. You know what?
I'm going to say this right now. Us Christians, we've got to be
more joyful. I mean, people must look at us
and go, wow, man, they're miserable.
I mean that. I know.
Not you but me. Like, well, I don't want to be
like him. He's always miserable.
Like I thought it was supposed to.
Like, seriously, imagine I gave you a billion pounds.
I clearly don't have that money, so don't ask me for it.
But imagine it, boy, you would have a smile on your face and
someone said, Why are you so excited, Claire?
Why are you always so happy, Edward?
Why you've got this smile on your face and you've got a
spring in your step. You've got a billion pounds.
You're going to be happy, but you've got something way better
than a billion pounds. You've been saved from hell and
saved to eternity with God in heaven.
And yet we'll walk around like this.
Got to go to church on Sunday morning?
Come on, put on your church face.
Come on, you can do this clearly using humour to make a point.
But you get it right. There is joy.
Jesus, Where's Eduardo? Can we record that, please?
It's a new song. It's very good song.
I like the song. Right.
Hey, let's ya. Go over there.
Bless you, brother. Get up here.
Get your guitar. OK, We better move on because we
are running out of time. Who was #2?
Good Hope can bring us peace in the midst of turmoil.
Oh boy. John 1427.
Jesus said there's peace. I leave with you.
My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give
to you. Let not your hearts be troubled
neither let them be afraid. Now what Jesus is saying is
there's two kinds of peace. There's a peace that comes, a
worldly peace, which is based on eradicating all of life's
troubles and difficult circumstances.
Well, sometimes we experience that.
Isn't that lovely? You see, everything's all right
at the moment. Actually, the kids aren't
shouting. I paid the bills this month.
I've got food in my it's all OK. And then all of a sudden, you
hear the kids fighting. Oh, it's gone.
Clearly not your house, of course, but Jesus says that kind
of piece. I don't leave with you.
I leave with you. A very different kind of piece.
You see, it's a piece that comes.
From knowing that you are his. So I told you I'd use that
phrase again. It's the kind of peace that
Jesus showed us. He was in the boat in a storm.
You remember this story, and a storm is rising.
Whoa, it's terrible. And the disciples are not going
to die. And they turn around and there's
Jesus. Can you sleep in this boat?
You might be going through the most terrible storm.
My prayer for you is that you will sleep peacefully.
That comes from hope in him. Why?
Because if you make a decision, the trust in him, hope will come
and peace will follow. I'm up for that.
Number three, OK? Hope can give us courage in
spite of our weaknesses. Hope can give us courage and
strength in spite of our weaknesses.
CT Stud was a missionary, I believe in the 19th century.
No, it could have been 20. Someone can Google it and let me
know later. And he said this.
His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the
nations. His authority in heaven gives us
our only hope of success, and his presence with us leaves us
no other choice. Oh, isn't that good?
You see, his authority in heaven gives us our only hope of
success here, because every spiritual blessing has been
given to us. We are seated with Christ in
heaven, heavenly places. Are you understanding this?
Like that which God called you to do will be successful because
he has says he will equip you for that.
And you see, what hope gives us is that when God says, I want
you to go to that meeting tomorrow and I want you to not
capitulate, but share how you feel.
You can do so with hope, knowing that he is going to give you
strength in that moment. You hearing me?
That's the kind of strength that we're talking about.
What about Queen Esther? I love Queen Esther.
Anyone here? Reed Esther.
What a great story of this woman.
She wants to save the Jews. If you've got time, go and read
it. It's not a long book.
And she, in the face of adversity, demonstrates amazing
courage. Why?
Because she goes to King Xerxes and asks him to spare the life
of the Jews. Now you can't just go up to a
king and say, can I have a chat? You're going to die.
And she was under. She understood what was at
stake. Here she see she had trust in
God, and so she put a hope in him.
And from that came a holy boldness.
Anyone here won a holy boldness. But your trust in God and your
hope will be in him. #4 As we bring this plane to a land, hope
can keep us focused on God, not the temptations of the world.
Now this is a very interesting one.
We are in a spiritual battle. You know this?
And when we looked at the Call series last year, we looked at
the story of when of of holiness that be called set, set apart
from the world. Yeah, holiness has been set
apart from the world and set apart for him.
And we looked at the story of when the Israelites came out of
Egypt. And I said that Egypt is a type
of world of coming out of the world and being consecrated to
him. And who knows the battle of the
flesh that we have. It's the enemy, the flesh and
the world that was to pull us away from walking with Jesus.
And I have found that hope can keep me focused on God and his
Kingdom and not on the Kingdom of this world.
How does that play out? I was thinking about this this
morning. See, Jesus said in Matthew 619,
where our treasure is, is there. Our heart is also.
And the thing about all these truths, like truth, these truths
like trust and hope and truth, they're they're not isolated
things. They're all interlinked.
And I was thinking about this. It's like if my treasure is in
my money, right, then my trust is in it because my heart's
there and therefore I hope in it right?
Do you see this linkage? Like your heart is involved with
this? But here's the thing.
Conversely, if my treasure is Jesus and Him alone, right, my
heart is going to be there and I'm going to therefore trust in
Him. Are you seeing the connection?
And I find the more that I put my trust in Him, the more that I
recognize that He is my treasurer, not the billion
pounds per the example earlier. But all of a sudden the things
of this world just don't seem as attractive as they once did.
And I know you know this. You see, our daily walk is
saying that he is more precious than this world.
Because where your treasure is there your heart is also.
And you see, you can't talk about trust and you can't talk
about hope without talking about where your treasure is.
And I'd like to ask you a question this morning.
Where's your treasure? Do you?
I'll be the more specific, lest I make you uncomfortable.
Apologies. Is Jesus more of a treasure to
you than this world? You see, hope changes everything
because Jesus has changed it all for us.
The question that is before us is are we going to make a choice
to walk in hope? Are we going to make a choice to
put our trust in Him? Are we going to make a choice to
fix our eyes on him over the circumstances?
That is what is before us this morning and I want to be able to
pray with you all as we stand together.