Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3, ESV). I have been fascinated by the phrase “living hope” for years. In the Greek, this phrase has …
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me (John 14:1, NASB1995). If I preach your funeral message!?! No, I’m not making a prediction. I hope the Lord comes back next Friday at 11:32 a.m., and I never have to preach another memorial sermon. But when I do preach a sermon, …
Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5, NASB1995). I want to be careful with the topic of depression. I also want to admit that I’m discussing depression as a pastor and not a clinician. But from a …
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13, NLT). The evil affliction of this age is despair. God’s antidote for despair is hope. The Apostle Paul …
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV). We all deal with disappointment. But there is a deep disappointment when something life-altering happens. We didn’t expect it, and we know our lives will be …
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13, NASB1995). The Apostle Paul teaches us to abide in faith, hope, and love. Your spiritual vitality and emotional health can be discerned by checking your faith, hope, and love. The opposite of faith is fear, the opposite of hope …
We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18, ESV). Benjamin Franklin said, “When you are finished changing, you are finished.” The concept of change is nothing new if …
Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” (Genesis 18:11-12, NLT) Angels visited Abraham one day. He was …
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13, ESV). The Greek word for hope can also be translated as “expectation.” All of us will grieve. Paul writes to the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica that when …
For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it (Romans 8:24-25, NASB1995). Funny thing about hope – as soon as you get what you hoped for – it isn’t hope …