Advent–Hope

“I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which in retrospect, I would not trade.” --Jim Stockdale (Quoted in Good to Great)

“Oh, that’s easy,” he said, “The optimists. The optimists were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.” –Jim Stockdale (Quoted in Good to Great)

“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” --Jim Stockdale (Quoted in Good to Great)

Four Key Ideas--Biblical Hope

    1.The Problem of Hope

2. The Promise of Hope
3. The Power of Hope (and finally)
4. The Person of Hope

The Problem of Hope

Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Isaiah 6:13c  The holy seed is its stump.

“I remember that light came as in a flood and all was clear. Not only had I got rid of theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth. … ‘All is well since all grows better,’ became my motto, my true source of comfort. Man … has risen to the higher forms and there can be no conceivable end to man’s march to perfection.” --Andrew Carnegie 

“As I read this [what I had previously written] today, what a change! The world convulsed by war as never before! Men slaying each other like wild beasts! I dare not relinquish all hope.” --Andrew Carnegie 

The Promise of Hope

Isaiah 11:2-5 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Hebrews 6:13-19 “When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.’ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (NIV)

The Power of Hope

Hebrews 10:32-39  But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.  35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Hebrews 11:13-16 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

The Person of Hope

Isaiah 11:1 & 10 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples— of him shall he nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

This Christmas season, where is your hope?

John 16:33-- "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”