Abounding In Hope – Part 1
Randy Hageman
Part of Abounding in Hope
August 2, 2020

Abounding in Hope

August 2, 2020
Randy Hageman

We need some

in this midst of all that’s happening!

Hope is so essential to life that, without it, people struggle and even

.

The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit? —Proverbs 18:14 (NLT)

The word “hope” typically gets used in a couple of different ways:

thinking

• a

expectation; an of the way things will be through Jesus Christ

As Romans 8:28 tells us, we have a

that God will work in the lives of believers who love Him.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. —Romans 8:28 (NLT)

How God will work, is

, yet God has given us insight into discerning the certain from the uncertain.

‘The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.’ —Deuteronomy 29:29 (NLT)

We’re

how God will respond to those things which are His “secrets,” but our hope can be for those things hat “he has revealed to us.”

The big question is whether we will operate by

in those areas of certain hope that God has offered us.

We need to better understand what the

of our hope is, because, like faith, hope depends on its .

The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. —Psalms 33:17 (ESV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope —1 Timothy 1:1 (NAS95)

The Bible is extremely clear –

is our hope!

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake. Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. —1 Peter 1:18-21 (NLT)

The Bible is also clear about why God the Father did this for you and me –

!

‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ —John 3:16 (ESV)

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. —Philippians 2:5-11 (NLT)

Jesus willingly did all he did for you and me and everyone who’s ever lived, in order to offer us not only eternity with him but hope, which can carry us through

in this life.

God took it even a step further by

our hope through the Holy Spirit.

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. —Romans 15:13 (ESV)

And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) —Romans 8:23-25 (NLT)

Hope isn’t a feeling but a choice and decision that we can believe and trust God to do

He’s said He will do through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Spirit.

O Israel [the people of God], hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. —Psalms 131:3 (ESV)

The Bible doesn’t suggest but

us to put our hope in God – a decision we make regardless of how we’re feeling or what’s happening around us.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. —1 Timothy 6:17 (NIV)

So many are experiencing discouragement and frustration, and God understands this, so He tells us that when we choose “hope in God,” we’ll have to

at it.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 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. —Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)

God desires for you and me to “

in hope.”

As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate ‘Yes,’ he always does what he says. For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’ And through Christ, our ‘Amen’ (which means ‘Yes’) ascends to God for his glory. It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. —2 Corinthians 1:18-22 (NLT)

The God who created the universe, who sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins, who gives us His Spirit as we put our faith in Christ, guarantees “

he has promised us”!

Do I choose to remember God’s guarantee of hope and claim it

day?

MODEL PRAYER OF SALVATION

Dear God,
I realize I’m a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness.
I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son.
I believe the Good News that he died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sin, but he did not remain in the grave, for on the third day You raised him to life.
I choose today to trust him as my Savior and to follow him as my Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit, which You offer to me as I welcome Jesus into my life.
Please guide my life and help me to do Your will all the time, so that I strive to be Jesus’ disciple, model my life after his by helping others become his disciples, too.
I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Next Week: Fighting for Hope