Hope for the days are coming

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 33: 14 - 16 (NIV)
“ ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. “ ‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
Message: Hope for the days are coming
People living without and with hope
It is sad to see people around you loose hope…
Sometimes you see people in an acute state of hopelessness - when they feel there is nothing to live for anymore… have you ever felt this way?
More ofter you see people live in a chronic state of hopelessness - when they just carry on with life without feeling hope… not much to live for… have you felt this way?
I know that there are good percentage of you listening today, that live with a healthy dose of hope in your life - that’s awesome, and you are an inspiration
I do believe that hope is contagious and that we inspire a life of hope in each other
That’s one of the reasons I believe in church - despite all the other sources of religious information we have at our disposal, we still need each other as a church family
We need to put ourselves in an environment of hope
This is what church is supposed to be… a place of hope… a place where those who struggle with hope can go to find inspiration… and a place where those have hope share their stories of hope
We need to get better in sharing our stories of hope
Thieves of hope
There are thieves of hope that make it hard to have hope:
- Loneliness - when you are alone it is easy to loose hope… we need interaction with other people… we need to talk and we need to listen… the TV or the internet is not going to cut it… we need to make the effort to make meaningful contact with other human beings
- Mental health - poor mental health can deprive you from hope… depression and anxiety can affect your ability to experience hope… if you struggle to find hope constantly in your life, it might be time to see someone to help you!
- Addiction - when you are bound by the chains of addiction, you will struggle with hope… addiction consumes hope, because you are fixated on getting what you need to satisfy the big hunger
- Commercial Strategy - when people are selling you things, it is their strategy to tell you how hopeless you are without their product in order to get you to buy it… just think for a moment how many commercials we see every day telling us how hopeless we are - just remember: you can never buy hope!
- Politics - the same goes for politics - politicians will tell you bad things are in order to get your vote… from the economy, to crime, to immigration… sadly politicians always have some measure of truth in their arguments… but not too much, because too much hope is not good for politics
- The News - we are exposing ourselves to so much bad news that it is hard to find hope… if you are looking for hope, don’t watch the news!
Hope leads to joy and peace
When we experience the time of Advent, we are invited into hope
This is a time of joy and peace - hope brings joy and peace into our lives
People come to Christmas events because they find hope
The Light came into this world to take away the darkness
The angels announced peace on earth
The Magi saw hope in the stars
The shepherds were overcome with joy
We need to immerse ourselves in the stories of hope
The days are coming!
Jeremiah said: “The days are coming!”
Hope is on its way!
A branch will sprout from David’s line
We will be saved and we will live in safety
We will have hope by the name of The Lord Our Righteous Savior
Let us make hope part of our language today!
If you need hope, listen carefully for the stories of hope
If you have hope, don’t hold back on sharing it, because there are so many who need to hear it!
May we find tougher that hope for the days are coming!
Comments
Add your comment