#Hope Changes Everything

We now are going to continue in our series that I launched last

week entitled Hope, Hope, and I don't know about you, but I

could do with a dose of Hope. I explained to you last week

that all it takes is for me to spend a few moments on my on my

Daily News junket, around all the various apps I have and

websites for me to feel a a sense of hopelessness.

And certainly in the world events that we're seeing

recently, there is such an escalation of conflict in the

world for which we pray Lord Jesus, for your peace.

We pray where man is trying to to to solve things, where man is

trying to use might and and and war to solve these things.

We know, Lord Jesus, that it is only your peace that comes from

you. That is what we pray.

We pray that through these conflicts, Lord God, there will

be an awakening to you, Lord God.

We ask that in your name. But all of that to say, you

know, we, we do have this sense sometimes of hopelessness.

But as Christians, we have to remember that there is a promise

of hope that is rooted in God and God alone.

And I shared with you what is the anchor text for our series,

which is from Romans 12, verse 12, that says this.

Romans 12:12

Paul says, rejoice in hope, rejoice in hope, and be patient

in tribulation and be constant in prayer.

And for me, that's a verse for the year for myself personally.

And I believe that the Lord is sharing it for all of us this

year. Because there is life in this

instruction from Paul that we are to rejoice in hope, be

patient in tribulation, and to be constant in prayer.

Rather good instructions, I think you'll find.

But I do believe that for many there is a sense that we are

having a sense of hopelessness. And I wanted to come in this

series and maybe shift our focus away from hopelessness onto the

hope that we find in Jesus. And if you're wondering why I'm

playing around with my notes, I just discovered that I pulled

out my notes from last week. So for those of you who missed

last week, that wouldn't have been a problem.

For those of you who were here, sorry about that.

But that doesn't change the introduction.

So I don't know about you, but when I think about hope,

sometimes my mind goes to, I hope that this is a worldly kind

of hope. You know, I hope that it will

work out OK Or I hope that, you know, the sun will shine this

afternoon. Or I hope that that is not the

kind of hope that we are going to be looking at over these

coming weeks. The kind of hope that we're

looking at is a hope that is living, that is alive, that is

based on the promises of God. And what I said last week was

that what you'll find is that that which you put your trust in

is that which you hope in. Think about it.

That which you put your trust in is the thing that you put your

hope in. If you trust in your finances,

you will put hope in your money for your future if you trust in

people. And by the way, we want to be

trusting one another. But I'm talking about a kind of

trust that is for my whole life, you know, the kind of trust that

we replace from God to other people.

If you put your trust in other people, then your hope is going

to be in other people. Who knows that sometimes we get

disappointed by other people. And so really, when we're

talking about hope in God, the question is who are you putting

your trust in? And you can do this as an

exercise. Think about it.

What are you hoping in right now?

Because your answer is going to show you who you're putting your

trust in. Good little exercise, isn't it?

What are you hoping in right now?

Because that will show you who you are putting your trust in.

And I was reminded of Ephesians 212 as I was preparing for this

talk. And who says this to the church

in Ephesus? Remember that you were at that

time separated from Christ. So he's speaking to believers

here saying, listen, there was a time where you were separated

from Christ and you were alienated from the Commonwealth

of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.

All of that is to say you were an alien from the promises of

God, that Jesus died on the cross for you.

And then he says this having no hope and without God in the

world. And I think this rather focuses,

focuses in on the point which is this a biblical hope is based on

a relationship with Jesus. Because I want to say this and I

said it last week in the 11:30 service, is that if you are here

this morning or you're watching me online and you have yet to

say yes to Jesus and you're not walking with him, I want to say

this. There is no hope for you.

Whoa. Did the pastor just say that?

Aren't you supposed to encourage people?

Yeah, I am. I'm encouraging you to say yes

to Jesus because it's in that place that you will find a kind

of hope that is not based on your circumstances.

You see, once you are walking with Jesus, you have a hope that

is assured. What is that hope?

That he loves you and that you are going to be with him for

eternity. What is that hopelessness that

you feel without Christ? Let me tell you, if that you're

feeling that sense of hopelessness, it is this.

You're going to spend eternity without him and that you are

lost. But you see, that is the gospel

message, isn't it? The gospel message is the good

news that we can have hope in a living.

God paid the price on the cross for us, and you don't have to do

anything for it. We looked last week as I laid a

foundation at the Why and the What of hope?

And we looked at three things about biblical hope.

The first one was that true hope comes from God.

We're just touched on that. The second thing is that hope is

a gift. You can't earn it.

You can't work for it. It's freely given to you.

There's not many things in this world that are free, if any.

But I tell you something, a hoping God that's free for you.

You know, Christianity is the only religion that is not based

on your ability to earn a relationship with a God.

Do you know that Christianity is not about performing your way

into heaven? It's about recognizing that

Christ has done it all for you on the cross and you simply

simply come as you are? And you say, Lord, would you

take me as I am? I recognize that you've done it

all. How liberating is that?

So good. And then the third thing we

looked at, which is hope endures.

And this morning's talk then is entitled.

Hope changes everything. Hope changes everything.

Another way to look at this would be the fruit of hope or

the benefits of hope. And I feel like that the Lord's

kind of given me a mission the first three months of this year,

as we lead into Easter and we celebrate Easter Sunday and the

hope in a resurrected life with Christ.

I feel like God's given me a mission to tell you that hope

will change your life. I feel like God's laid on me a

burden to tell you this. You don't need to live in

hopelessness. Why?

Because hope will change your circumstances.

Hope changes everything. Now you don't need to put your

hands up, but who would like to sign up for that?

You put your hands up. Well done.

Either you didn't listen to me or you're just, like, disobeying

me. It's fine.

Just kidding. Hope changes everything.

And I think that it speaks to something in our heart to say,

whoa, yes, that's what I need, That's what I want.

And so we're going to look at what that looks like this

morning. You know, we looked at hope as a

future, invisible and confident expectation of the fulfilment

and promises of God. And I said to you last week,

this hope isn't about a wish upon a star.

It's about a hope upon the sun, hope upon the sun.

And I want to read to you one Peter 1/3 to four.

This is what it says. Blessed be the God and Father of

our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, He

has caused us to be born again in a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

You see, the hope that we are talking about is a living hope.

It is living. Why?

Because it's hope that is Jesus, and Jesus is alive.

But I want to say this. This kind of hope takes work.

I thought you said it was a free gift.

It absolutely is, but it's not a passive gift.

You will not receive this by osmosis.

You will not receive this lying down on your sofa saying, my

world is terrible. Let me keep thinking about all

the bad stuff. That is not how you're going to

receive hope. It's a daily choice to put our

trust in him and to ask the Holy Spirit to pour out his hope in

our lives. We have to make a decision to

walk in hope. And you might say, Mark, I've

got no strength for it. I tried that.

It's been months. I've given up.

And I hear you and I shared last week some of our own challenges

as a family. I'm not speaking as one that

doesn't live this with us all. But you see, the Christian walk

is a walk. You see the Christian walk is a

hold on. It requires movement in the

direction of Christ. And so it's not about ignoring

our circumstances and saying like, everything's OK.

I am. I am an optimist, really by

nature. But in order for me to be an

optimist, I have to sometimes ignore the reality of life, much

to the frustration of my wife. It's fine.

That's not that bad. No, it really is.

Nah, that's good. Now hope is not, you know,

optimism based on unrealism. Hope is actually looking at the

circumstance head on and then doing this.

That's what we're talking about. But you've got to make a choice.

I've got to make a choice to fix my eyes on Jesus, who is our

living home, right? Let's do this bit of an

exercise. I feel like exercises today, not

the type of the gym or anything like that, right?

I want you to look at something that is very difficult in your

life right now, something that you feel hopeless about,

hopeless about. I think it might be a family

member. It might be a financial

situation. It might be a job.

It might be some decisions you've got.

It might be a challenging meeting that you have tomorrow.

It might be a difficult conversation you have.

What is that thing? Look at it at the moment.

Don't ignore it. Now I want you to do this.

I want you to look at Jesus. Jesus is coming in the room with

you and I want you to hand over that thing to Jesus.

I'm going to pray, Lord, I just pray now that you would bring

hope where there is hopelessness in this situation.

I pray for all those that responded, whether in the room

or online, Lord, that as they have handed over those

circumstances to you, as they've made a decision to fix their

eyes on you, Lord, hope would well up by the power of your

Holy Spirit, would you pour out your hope into that situation.

And I pray boldly, because it's in your word, Lord God, that

they would rejoice in that there.

Where once they cried through it, they would now sing for it.

Where once there was trepidation, would there be a

spring in their step? Lord God, I pray in your name,

Amen. So with that rather lengthy

introduction, how does hope change everything?

I'd like to give you 4 things. The first one is this, and you

won't be surprised by this because I just prayed it.

Hope can bring us joy even in the tough times.

Hope can bring us joy even in the tough times.

You know, we've been singing this morning about how big and

great God is. And I read to you earlier from

Isaiah 12, and we looked at the truth of the salvation that we

have in Him will bring us joy. For me personally, when I get to

a place of hopelessness, I find comfort and joy in the truth

that I am his and nothing can separate me from his love.

Like, seriously, it's it's like a moment where I just say, you

know what? This doesn't matter, really.

In the grand scheme of eternity, which, FYI, is a very long time.

In the grand scheme of life, it's OK.

Sometimes we just need to say to ourselves, or someone needs to

say to us, it's OK. But his.

He loves you. I know it's difficult.

I know it's tough. Hey, you're his.

You mean I'm his? I'm his.

Hold on a minute. Let's just get this right.

You mean the God that created the universe and flung the stars

into space? He said that nothing will

separate us. Yes.

Oh, my word. That's amazing.

Like we need to make the decision sometimes to focus on

the truth that we are His. I'm going to say it again.

You are his. Right?

All of you. Say now to yourself, I am his.

Let's do this. I am his.

Nothing's going to separate you from him.

No height, no depth. No, nothing.

Wow. You know, as I start thinking

about it, I'm like, I want to get there quick.

I mean, I've loved life, Lord, but I can't wait to be with you

for eternity in heaven. I mean, that is going to be a

joyous experience. But you see, you can real.

You can walk through that joy right now, but it takes us a

moment to remember the truth that we are his.

And I don't want to minimize what you're going through, and

for some of you that feel of hopelessness, but I want to say

this, just put your eyes on him and say out loud I am his.

Feel better. I mean, you're his.

I could just do a whole sermon with that phrase.

You are his. But there is joy.

We know Habakkuk. We haven't got time to read it.

Now it's going to come up on the screen.

Actually, I think maybe we've got a slide for it.

We got Habakkuk up there. There we go.

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the

vines. The produce of the olive failed

and the fields yield no food. Anyone feel like that?

I mean, you might not have olive trees and all that jazz, but and

you may not have a fig tree, but that might represent your life

though. Carry on.

Let's next slide yet. Oh, that's like another

nevertheless word nevertheless. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

And that Lord in capitals means Jehovah or Yahweh.

What that? What does that mean?

We have a personal relationship with a personal God that's

revealed His name to us. I will take joy in the God of my

We've got to. You know what?

I'm going to say this right now. Us Christians, we've got to be

more joyful. I mean, people must look at us

and go, wow, man, they're miserable.

I mean that. I know.

Not you but me. Like, well, I don't want to be

like him. He's always miserable.

Like I thought it was supposed to.

Like, seriously, imagine I gave you a billion pounds.

I clearly don't have that money, so don't ask me for it.

But imagine it, boy, you would have a smile on your face and

someone said, Why are you so excited, Claire?

Why are you always so happy, Edward?

Why you've got this smile on your face and you've got a

spring in your step. You've got a billion pounds.

You're going to be happy, but you've got something way better

than a billion pounds. You've been saved from hell and

saved to eternity with God in heaven.

And yet we'll walk around like this.

Got to go to church on Sunday morning?

Come on, put on your church face.

Come on, you can do this clearly using humour to make a point.

But you get it right. There is joy.

Jesus, Where's Eduardo? Can we record that, please?

It's a new song. It's very good song.

I like the song. Right.

Hey, let's ya. Go over there.

Bless you, brother. Get up here.

Get your guitar. OK, We better move on because we

are running out of time. Who was #2?

Good Hope can bring us peace in the midst of turmoil.

Oh boy. John 1427.

Jesus said there's peace. I leave with you.

My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give

to you. Let not your hearts be troubled

neither let them be afraid. Now what Jesus is saying is

there's two kinds of peace. There's a peace that comes, a

worldly peace, which is based on eradicating all of life's

troubles and difficult circumstances.

Well, sometimes we experience that.

Isn't that lovely? You see, everything's all right

at the moment. Actually, the kids aren't

shouting. I paid the bills this month.

I've got food in my it's all OK. And then all of a sudden, you

hear the kids fighting. Oh, it's gone.

Clearly not your house, of course, but Jesus says that kind

of piece. I don't leave with you.

I leave with you. A very different kind of piece.

You see, it's a piece that comes.

From knowing that you are his. So I told you I'd use that

phrase again. It's the kind of peace that

Jesus showed us. He was in the boat in a storm.

You remember this story, and a storm is rising.

Whoa, it's terrible. And the disciples are not going

to die. And they turn around and there's

Jesus. Can you sleep in this boat?

You might be going through the most terrible storm.

My prayer for you is that you will sleep peacefully.

That comes from hope in him. Why?

Because if you make a decision, the trust in him, hope will come

and peace will follow. I'm up for that.

Number three, OK? Hope can give us courage in

spite of our weaknesses. Hope can give us courage and

strength in spite of our weaknesses.

CT Stud was a missionary, I believe in the 19th century.

No, it could have been 20. Someone can Google it and let me

know later. And he said this.

His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the

nations. His authority in heaven gives us

our only hope of success, and his presence with us leaves us

no other choice. Oh, isn't that good?

You see, his authority in heaven gives us our only hope of

success here, because every spiritual blessing has been

given to us. We are seated with Christ in

heaven, heavenly places. Are you understanding this?

Like that which God called you to do will be successful because

he has says he will equip you for that.

And you see, what hope gives us is that when God says, I want

you to go to that meeting tomorrow and I want you to not

capitulate, but share how you feel.

You can do so with hope, knowing that he is going to give you

strength in that moment. You hearing me?

That's the kind of strength that we're talking about.

What about Queen Esther? I love Queen Esther.

Anyone here? Reed Esther.

What a great story of this woman.

She wants to save the Jews. If you've got time, go and read

it. It's not a long book.

And she, in the face of adversity, demonstrates amazing

courage. Why?

Because she goes to King Xerxes and asks him to spare the life

of the Jews. Now you can't just go up to a

king and say, can I have a chat? You're going to die.

And she was under. She understood what was at

stake. Here she see she had trust in

God, and so she put a hope in him.

And from that came a holy boldness.

Anyone here won a holy boldness. But your trust in God and your

hope will be in him. #4 As we bring this plane to a land, hope

can keep us focused on God, not the temptations of the world.

Now this is a very interesting one.

We are in a spiritual battle. You know this?

And when we looked at the Call series last year, we looked at

the story of when of of holiness that be called set, set apart

from the world. Yeah, holiness has been set

apart from the world and set apart for him.

And we looked at the story of when the Israelites came out of

Egypt. And I said that Egypt is a type

of world of coming out of the world and being consecrated to

him. And who knows the battle of the

flesh that we have. It's the enemy, the flesh and

the world that was to pull us away from walking with Jesus.

And I have found that hope can keep me focused on God and his

Kingdom and not on the Kingdom of this world.

How does that play out? I was thinking about this this

morning. See, Jesus said in Matthew 619,

where our treasure is, is there. Our heart is also.

And the thing about all these truths, like truth, these truths

like trust and hope and truth, they're they're not isolated

things. They're all interlinked.

And I was thinking about this. It's like if my treasure is in

my money, right, then my trust is in it because my heart's

there and therefore I hope in it right?

Do you see this linkage? Like your heart is involved with

this? But here's the thing.

Conversely, if my treasure is Jesus and Him alone, right, my

heart is going to be there and I'm going to therefore trust in

Him. Are you seeing the connection?

And I find the more that I put my trust in Him, the more that I

recognize that He is my treasurer, not the billion

pounds per the example earlier. But all of a sudden the things

of this world just don't seem as attractive as they once did.

And I know you know this. You see, our daily walk is

saying that he is more precious than this world.

Because where your treasure is there your heart is also.

And you see, you can't talk about trust and you can't talk

about hope without talking about where your treasure is.

And I'd like to ask you a question this morning.

Where's your treasure? Do you?

I'll be the more specific, lest I make you uncomfortable.

Apologies. Is Jesus more of a treasure to

you than this world? You see, hope changes everything

because Jesus has changed it all for us.

The question that is before us is are we going to make a choice

to walk in hope? Are we going to make a choice to

put our trust in Him? Are we going to make a choice to

fix our eyes on him over the circumstances?

That is what is before us this morning and I want to be able to

pray with you all as we stand together.