Hope-filled Holidays
The Importance of Hope
1 Corinthians 13:13
ONE THING
Hope is the confident expectancy of a certain and favorable
future.
Every year the holidays bring …
Joy and laughter …
Excitement and anticipation …
Family & friends …
Gifts & gratitude …
And enough food to bring on a Festive 15!
But for many, the holidays also bring …
Busyness & exhaustion …
Indiscretion & debt …
Loss & loneliness …
Rejection & guilt …
How would you like for this holiday season to be the best yet?
How would you like to experience the joy of holidays no matter what?
How would you like to experience what the angels proclaimed to the
shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth… “peace on earth…”?
This can be the experience of your holidays if you want…
The key is found in the simple, yet powerful little word, HOPE …
In his book, “The Anatomy of Hope”, Harvard Medical School professor,
Jerome Groopman writes that, …
“hope is as important to the healing and recovery of patients as
any medication he might prescribe as a physician.”
The importance of genuine hope cannot be overstated…
But what is HOPE?
HOPE, true hope, is essential to healthy, joyful living, but what is it?
To answer, we must begin with what it is not …
What hope is not…
Hope is NOT “Wishful thinking”
“I sure hope it snows on Christmas day.”
Hope is NOT optimism … that prevailing attitude that “things turn out for
the best…
Hope does not arise from being told to “think positively”…
Hope does not arise from hearing a favorable forcast…
Hope is NOT action based on presumption or a hunch
“Well here goes… I sure hope this works…”
The dictionary defines HOPE as
“A wish or desire accompanied by expectation of its fulfillment.”
Hope, genuine hope, is rooted in reality…
Again, Jerome Groopman, in his book, “The Anatomy of Hope”, defines
true hope…
“Hope is the elevating feeling we experience when we see – in
the mind’s eye – a path to a better future.”
With the arrival of Jesus, HOPE has taken on a much more powerful
definition.
Biblical HOPE is not simply “a wish or desire accompanied by expectation
of its fulfillment.”
This leaves open the possibility of the desire or wish not being fulfilled.
Jesus, as the arrival of HOPE, moves hope from a possibility or even a
probability to a certainty!
ONE THING
Hope is the CONFIDENT expectancy of a CERTAIN and
FAVORABLE future.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is
love.
1. The FOUNDATION of Hope is EMBEDDED in GRACE
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is
love.
Romans 15:13 (ESV)
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Genuine Hope is embedded in the grace of the triune God of the universe!
The FATHER is the SOURCE of Hope
Romans 15:13 (ESV)
13 May the God of hope fill you …
Literally, this passage reads, …
Romans 15:13 (ESV)
13 May the God of THE hope fill you …
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and
not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
The SON is the SECURITY of Hope
Ephesians 2:12–13 (ESV)
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no
hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once
were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
The SPIRIT is the STRENGTH of Hope
Romans 15:13 (ESV)
13 … so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Every other kind of hope is faulty…
Hope is the confident expectancy of a certain and favorable
future.
2. The FORMULATION of Hope is EXPERIENCED by
FAITH
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is
love.
Romans 5:2 (ESV)
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we
stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 15:13 (ESV)
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing ...
We are told of Abraham, the father of faith, that his hope was intrinsically
tied to his faith…
Romans 4:18 (ESV)
18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many
nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
Hope cannot be SEEN, but SEES
Romans 8:24–25 (ESV)
24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who
hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it
with patience.
Hope SEES through the EYES of FAITH
Hope is the confident expectancy of a certain and favorable
future.
3. The FOUNTAIN of Hope is EXPRESSED through LOVE
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is
love.
GRACE
◊
FAITH
◊
HOPE
◊
LOVE
Romans 5:5 (NLT)
5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God
loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Psalm 33:22 (NLT)
22 Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone.
Hope is the confident expectancy of a certain and favorable
future.
Hope-filled Holidays
The Importance of Hope
1 Corinthians 13:13
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