July 27th, 2004 a man from Illinois stood up in
Boston, MA and addressed all who listened. He said, “Hope in the face of
difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end,
that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in
things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.” Just 5 short years
later, that man who said those words became our 44th President of
the United States; President Barack Obama. Whether you are a republican, a
democrat, somewhere in between, or nowhere to be found, with all politics aside
and pure focus on his words, there is truth in what he speaks.
Besides salvation, hope is one of God’s greatest gifts to
us. We have hope through eternal life.
2 Peter 1:3-12 says, "What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven- and the future starts NOW! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all-life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fires comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him- with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation. The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it- that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves- through the Holy Spirit – the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!”
2 Peter 1:3-12 says, "What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven- and the future starts NOW! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all-life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fires comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him- with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation. The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it- that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves- through the Holy Spirit – the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!”
What BOLDNESS there is in HOPE! It brings about proved faith.
May you have hope in what your heart breathes. May you have hope in the
struggle that life brings. May you have hope in the moments you cherish. May
you have hope as you remember the memories that make you smile. May you have
hope in the seasons as they change. May you have hope in time as it passes. May
you have hope in the little things. May you have hope in what you proclaim. May
you have hope in the relationships you have. May you have hope in the things
unseen. Because all of these things are from the Father above, who embraces us,
and lavishes His love upon us. He had the audacity to send His Son into
corruption, so we could have HOPE!
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