Where is Your Hope Part 1
Hebrews 6:19
Hi everyone. It’s Pastor Dave. Thanks for listening to the My Daily Church podcast. It’s a Friday, and I am taking the message and splitting into two, in order to give you enough meat to listen to for the weekend. Or if you want you can listen to both parts back-to-back.
Today’s message is a critical one. The message is titled, “Where is Your Hope?” I could have said, “What is your hope in?” but in either case we really need to ask ourselves, where is our hope coming from today? We may very well need a reminder of where our true hope comes from. This message was recorded on January 3rd, 2021, however it is what we need now. Here is Part 1 of the message, “Where is Your Hope,” and I pray you are blessed by the message.
Hebrews 6:19 (NLT)
19 This hope (that we have in Jesus Christ) is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.
This hope - that we have in Jesus Christ - is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls – And it leads us into God’s very presence
The hope that you and I need today, as we enter 2021, is the hope that comes from an ever-increasing faith and an ever-increasing relationship with Jesus. It’s a hope that becomes an anchor for our souls. It is a hope that leads us into the very presence of God.
And, I’m going to tell you straight up, if your hope is in anything else today, you may be standing on sinking sand.
“On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
How many times in 2020 did you hear someone say, “We’ve never seen a year like this?” “We can’t wait until this year’s over.”
But, here’s my question for you today. Are you looking to a New Year for hope? Are you hoping for better circumstances just by turning a page on the calendar?
I know that sounds like a good and optimistic thing to do – to hope that just the passing of the days will bring better circumstances, and maybe those better circumstances will bring more happiness into our lives.
And that makes all the sense in the world to those living in the world because all that the world has for hope is the hope of better circumstances in the days ahead.
But – the radical, life-changing truth of “Hope in God” is 180 degrees opposite of the world’s view. On every page of the New Testament, God has unveiled a supernatural hope that comes from a supernatural rebirth, and that new spiritual birth leads to a new spiritual life that is not connected to our external circumstances. And best of all is that the hope of God is the hope of Heaven.
It’s Heaven coming to earth in our lives now and our lives continuing in Heaven with God for eternity.
It all started with God stepping into our world to live our life as a man.
John 1:1 (ESV)
1 In the beginning was the Word (a name for Jesus – means “God in Expression”), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
and then –
John 1:14 (ESV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .
From that moment on, through every chapter of the New Testament, the people of God began developing a radically different perspective on hope. From that moment on, through every chapter of the New Testament, the people of God began developing a radically new perspective on the outward circumstances of this world.
When Jesus Christ entered the scene, no longer do you see the true followers of Christ depending on their outward circumstances to bring happiness or peace into their lives. No longer is it a change of outward circumstances that they are hopeful for, but instead, it is the growing inward life with Jesus Christ that gives them peace, and joy, and hope. The more we grow in the new spiritual life, the more we grow in the inward peace, the inward contentment, and the inward joy that comes from the life of Jesus living in us.
Their hope is no longer in the changing of a calendar day. Instead, you see them learning the hope that you and I need today. You see the followers of Christ begin to learn the hope that you and I need today. Not the hope of the world, that’s wishful thinking. Instead, it’s the hope of God. They learned the biblical definition of hope.
Hope (in the Bible) is defined as a confident expectation based on solid certainty.
God’s hope is a confident certainty that we have been born into a new life here and into an eternal life with God in a very real heaven. And, it’s a hope that is a confident certainty that nothing on this earth can separate us from that.
And this confident hope that comes from their new life in Jesus Christ continues to push, and push, and push away their focus and their concern about their current, temporary, external circumstances. Because, more and more, we’re not of this world. More and more, we’re sojourners, we’re passing through this world. More and more our hope is in Heaven and our purpose here is to glorify Christ while we’re here and to watch the Kingdom grow until we get there – until we finish the race (as Paul describes it in Philippians 3.) More and more you see the Christ-followers in the New Testament lose their focus, lose their concern, on their temporary circumstances.
You see it in Acts 5, where Peter and the Apostles are retained by the Pharisees, and they’re flogged and whipped. It says when they left, they went home rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus! That’s like this radical perspective.
You read Paul in 2 Corinthians Chapter 6 where he lists everything he’s ever gone through for the love of Christ. That’s a pretty radical list of difficult circumstances.
We could read a hundred verses as examples. But we have to at least mention the Sermon on the Mount. Let me sum up the Sermon on the Mount for you. Jesus Christ takes the physical law that was unable to save you, and he elevates it to spiritual principles. And so, everything that is in the law becomes fulfilled in the spiritual principles in the Sermon on the Mount. It’s a radical view if you’ll see it that way.
Let’s read a little of it. This is what the Disciples were learning – not just the twelve – but all of the followers of Christ.
Matthew 6:19–21 (NLT) – (Jesus speaking)
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
And then skipping through Matthew 6:25-33, with some paraphrasing.
Matthew 6:25–33 (NLT)
(with some paraphrasing) – (Jesus speaking)
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life . . . Isn’t life more than (the needs of this world)? . . .
30 And if God cares so wonderfully for (the temporary things of nature), he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things . . .
32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.
33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
But, here’s the problem. Don’t we as Christians tend to say, “Yeah, I know all that – but I still hope God will make my circumstances better in the New Year.”
But, what if us building our hopes on the chance of better circumstances might actually be us building the house of our life on the sand?
Matthew 7:24–27 (NLT)
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
25 Though the rain comes in torrents (circumstances) and the floodwaters rise (circumstances) and the winds beat against that house (circumstances), it (that person’s life) won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.
26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
27 When the (outward circumstances of) rains and floods come and the winds (of circumstance) beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Guys, we cannot put our hope in wishing for better circumstances in this world. Instead, in order to build our life on the bedrock of Jesus Christ, we have got to put our hope in God transforming us through our circumstances.
Instead of asking God to change our circumstances, our true hope comes from us asking God to change us through our circumstances.
God wants to change us. He wants to transform us. He wants to give us hope – through our circumstances!
That’s the end of part one. If you have time, go right into Part Two. If not, be sure and come back to finish Part Two when you can. Thanks for joining us and for being a part of the My Daily Church family.
Today’s message is a critical one. The message is titled, “Where is Your Hope?” I could have said, “What is your hope in?” but in either case we really need to ask ourselves, where is our hope coming from today? We may very well need a reminder of where our true hope comes from. This message was recorded on January 3rd, 2021, however it is what we need now. Here is Part 1 of the message, “Where is Your Hope,” and I pray you are blessed by the message.
Hebrews 6:19 (NLT)
19 This hope (that we have in Jesus Christ) is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.
This hope - that we have in Jesus Christ - is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls – And it leads us into God’s very presence
The hope that you and I need today, as we enter 2021, is the hope that comes from an ever-increasing faith and an ever-increasing relationship with Jesus. It’s a hope that becomes an anchor for our souls. It is a hope that leads us into the very presence of God.
And, I’m going to tell you straight up, if your hope is in anything else today, you may be standing on sinking sand.
“On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
How many times in 2020 did you hear someone say, “We’ve never seen a year like this?” “We can’t wait until this year’s over.”
But, here’s my question for you today. Are you looking to a New Year for hope? Are you hoping for better circumstances just by turning a page on the calendar?
I know that sounds like a good and optimistic thing to do – to hope that just the passing of the days will bring better circumstances, and maybe those better circumstances will bring more happiness into our lives.
And that makes all the sense in the world to those living in the world because all that the world has for hope is the hope of better circumstances in the days ahead.
But – the radical, life-changing truth of “Hope in God” is 180 degrees opposite of the world’s view. On every page of the New Testament, God has unveiled a supernatural hope that comes from a supernatural rebirth, and that new spiritual birth leads to a new spiritual life that is not connected to our external circumstances. And best of all is that the hope of God is the hope of Heaven.
It’s Heaven coming to earth in our lives now and our lives continuing in Heaven with God for eternity.
It all started with God stepping into our world to live our life as a man.
John 1:1 (ESV)
1 In the beginning was the Word (a name for Jesus – means “God in Expression”), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
and then –
John 1:14 (ESV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .
From that moment on, through every chapter of the New Testament, the people of God began developing a radically different perspective on hope. From that moment on, through every chapter of the New Testament, the people of God began developing a radically new perspective on the outward circumstances of this world.
When Jesus Christ entered the scene, no longer do you see the true followers of Christ depending on their outward circumstances to bring happiness or peace into their lives. No longer is it a change of outward circumstances that they are hopeful for, but instead, it is the growing inward life with Jesus Christ that gives them peace, and joy, and hope. The more we grow in the new spiritual life, the more we grow in the inward peace, the inward contentment, and the inward joy that comes from the life of Jesus living in us.
Their hope is no longer in the changing of a calendar day. Instead, you see them learning the hope that you and I need today. You see the followers of Christ begin to learn the hope that you and I need today. Not the hope of the world, that’s wishful thinking. Instead, it’s the hope of God. They learned the biblical definition of hope.
Hope (in the Bible) is defined as a confident expectation based on solid certainty.
God’s hope is a confident certainty that we have been born into a new life here and into an eternal life with God in a very real heaven. And, it’s a hope that is a confident certainty that nothing on this earth can separate us from that.
And this confident hope that comes from their new life in Jesus Christ continues to push, and push, and push away their focus and their concern about their current, temporary, external circumstances. Because, more and more, we’re not of this world. More and more, we’re sojourners, we’re passing through this world. More and more our hope is in Heaven and our purpose here is to glorify Christ while we’re here and to watch the Kingdom grow until we get there – until we finish the race (as Paul describes it in Philippians 3.) More and more you see the Christ-followers in the New Testament lose their focus, lose their concern, on their temporary circumstances.
You see it in Acts 5, where Peter and the Apostles are retained by the Pharisees, and they’re flogged and whipped. It says when they left, they went home rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus! That’s like this radical perspective.
You read Paul in 2 Corinthians Chapter 6 where he lists everything he’s ever gone through for the love of Christ. That’s a pretty radical list of difficult circumstances.
We could read a hundred verses as examples. But we have to at least mention the Sermon on the Mount. Let me sum up the Sermon on the Mount for you. Jesus Christ takes the physical law that was unable to save you, and he elevates it to spiritual principles. And so, everything that is in the law becomes fulfilled in the spiritual principles in the Sermon on the Mount. It’s a radical view if you’ll see it that way.
Let’s read a little of it. This is what the Disciples were learning – not just the twelve – but all of the followers of Christ.
Matthew 6:19–21 (NLT) – (Jesus speaking)
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
And then skipping through Matthew 6:25-33, with some paraphrasing.
Matthew 6:25–33 (NLT)
(with some paraphrasing) – (Jesus speaking)
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life . . . Isn’t life more than (the needs of this world)? . . .
30 And if God cares so wonderfully for (the temporary things of nature), he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things . . .
32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.
33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
But, here’s the problem. Don’t we as Christians tend to say, “Yeah, I know all that – but I still hope God will make my circumstances better in the New Year.”
But, what if us building our hopes on the chance of better circumstances might actually be us building the house of our life on the sand?
Matthew 7:24–27 (NLT)
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
25 Though the rain comes in torrents (circumstances) and the floodwaters rise (circumstances) and the winds beat against that house (circumstances), it (that person’s life) won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.
26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
27 When the (outward circumstances of) rains and floods come and the winds (of circumstance) beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Guys, we cannot put our hope in wishing for better circumstances in this world. Instead, in order to build our life on the bedrock of Jesus Christ, we have got to put our hope in God transforming us through our circumstances.
Instead of asking God to change our circumstances, our true hope comes from us asking God to change us through our circumstances.
God wants to change us. He wants to transform us. He wants to give us hope – through our circumstances!
That’s the end of part one. If you have time, go right into Part Two. If not, be sure and come back to finish Part Two when you can. Thanks for joining us and for being a part of the My Daily Church family.