GOD’S GIFT OF HOPE FOR YOU

January 1, 2023   Chaplain Doug Kinder

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12

Poor Substitutes for Hope

• Wishful thinking

• Blind optimism

• Ambitious dreams

For most people, hope is something they do, but the Bible talks about hope as something we can _________________.

Hope is the confident _____________________ that God is willing and able to fulfill His promises to us.

“In [God’s] great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.”  1 Peter 1:4

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”  Hebrews 6:19

Why Christians Have Hope

• We have hope because we’re ____________________of our past. 

“This I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.”  Lamentations 3:21

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”  1 Timothy 6:17

• We have hope because we’re ___________________of our future. 

“He saved us in His mercy – not by virtue of any moral achievement of ours… We are acquitted by His grace, and can look forward in hope to inheriting life eternal.”  Titus 3:5,7