“Faith-Hope Connection” (Billy Russell, 12/22/19)

Hope for the Holidays from Hebrews (Jesus is Our Hope)

                                       “Faith-Hope Connection”

 

                    “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and

      assurance [conviction] about what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1, NIV)

 

                          Exploring the Faith-Hope Connection

 

Faith is... “confidence in what we hope for...”

                “and assurance [conviction] about what we do not see.”

      I like to simply say, faith is “living like God can be trusted.”

 

Hope is... the confident (assured, “the blazing certainty...” - Leon Morris)

                 expectation (anticipation) “... of God’s ultimate triumph” (Morris)

                 God (He is in it, on it, and can be relied upon for it.)

                 keeps His promises. (His word is sure in Christ despite trials!)

 

Ultimately, Faith in Jesus gives us hope!

     This is the Good News of Christmas: hope is personal in Jesus!

     Hope is not wishful thinking (finger-crossing/squint your eyes tight faith).

     Hope is “confident expectation God keeps His promises.”

     All the promises God made to the Ancients came true through the

          Incarnation for all those people listed in the Hall of Faith in Heb.11.

 

We can each have a faith/hope story (just like Abel, Abraham, etc...).

     How does your faith/hope story intertwine?

          Faith is a hope project- We believe God keeps His word in Jesus.

          Faith is a community project too. We do this together, never alone.

 

Put your trust in Jesus- He gives hope.