Hope
Jerry Wilhite, author Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them].
Have you noticed how much crime has risen, and how young the face of the criminal is becoming?
Twelve year olds drop five year olds out of windows to their death. Ten year olds sexually abuse five year olds. The list goes on and on.
It is not just the young; it seems to be every age. This is caused mostly by a lack of hope. As people find themselves in hopeless sitiuations they become more violent. They do things they would not have done before.
It is not just the poor; it is the rich and the middle class as well.
When hope is missing, then violence takes its place. How can the rich be without hope if they have money?
Well, that is part of the problem; we have too much associated with money. I have found more hopeless people with money than you probably can imagine.
When you have your health you take it for granted, but without money the health does not seem important.
The reverse is true, when you have money and bad health the money does not seem important,
Now when there is no love, or companionship, then money and health are not important.
I met a couple once that had money and would have given it all away to bring a child back that had died.
As you can see hope is in more areas than just money. It is in every area of our lifes.
We hope to be rich, famous, healthy, fruitful, happy, in love, with children, and so on. But when just one area goes bad or we loose our hope in that area, the rest does not matter. We will do things we should not and normally would not.
Hope is God and that is why we have a lack of hope because we kicked God out over 30 years ago (as a country that is).
Now let's see in scripture how hope is God and God is hope.
Ezra 10:2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, [one] of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Israel had sinned, but had hope, and that hope was God.
Job 4:5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Job 4:6 [Is] not [this] thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
It was not by God that those bad things happened to Job, but by a lack, a lack of hope. When we loose our hope it means we have cut God out of part or all of our life.
Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. Psalm 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest inhope. Psalm 31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope inthe LORD.
Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD [is] upon them that fear him, upon them thathope in his mercy;
Psalm 33:22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
Psalm 38:15 For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.
Psalm 39:7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope [is] in thee.
Psalm 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and [why] art thou disquieted in me?hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him [for] the help of his countenance.
Psalm 71:14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.
Psalm 78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, butkeep his comandments:
Psalm 119:49 ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast causedme to hope.
Psalm 119:81 CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: [but] I hope in thy word.
Psalm 119:114 Thou [art] my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
Psalm 119:116 Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not beashamed of my hope.
Psalm 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
Psalm 130:7 Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD [there is] mercy, and withhim [is] plenteous redemption.
Psalm 131:3 Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.
Psalm 147:11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in hismercy.
Proverbs 10:28 The hope of the righteous [shall be] gladness: but the expectation of thewicked shall perish.
Proverbs 11:7 When a wicked man dieth, [his] expectation shall perish: and the hope ofunjust [men] perisheth.
Proverbs 14:32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hopein his death. Proverbs 29:20 Seest thou a man [that is] hasty in his words? [there is] more hope of afool than of him.
Ecclesiastes 9:4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog isbetter than a dead lion.
Isaiah 38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can [not] celebrate thee: they that godown into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
Isaiah 57:10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; [yet] saidst thou not, There isno hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.
Up until now we have read how our hope should be in the Lord. But in the next verse we see the Lord as hope and hope as the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed [is] the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Lamentations 3:24 The LORD [is] my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Joel 3:16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; andthe heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD [will be] the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
Acts 2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also myflesh shall rest in hope:
Acts 23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the otherPharisees, he cried out in the council, Men [and] brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of aPharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
Acts 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shallbe a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
Acts 26:6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God untoour fathers:
Acts 26:7 Unto which [promise] our twelve tribes, instantly serving [God] day and night,hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.
Romans 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of manynations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, andrejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in ourhearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
We are saved by hope.
Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a manseeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Romans 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it].
Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
1 Corinthians 9:10 Or saith he [it] altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, [this]is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hopeshould be partaker of his hope.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest ofthese [is] charity.
2 Corinthians 1:7 And our hope of you [is] stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers ofthe sufferings, so [shall ye be] also of the consolation.
2 Corinthians 3:12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
2 Corinthians 10:15Not boasting of things without [our] measure, [that is], of other men'slabours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by youaccording to our rule
Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope ofrighteousness by faith.
Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know whatis the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Ephesians 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from thecomonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope,and without God in the world:
Ephesians 4:4 [There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope ofyour calling;
Philippians 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and [my] hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but [that] with all boldness, as always, [so] now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether [it be] by life, or by death. abundantly,
Philippians 2:23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
Colossians 1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before inthe word of the truth of the gospel;
Colossians 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved awayfrom the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of thismystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love,and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what [is] our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? [Are] not evenye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning themwhich are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate offaith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father,which hath loved us, and hath given [us] everlasting consolation and good hope throughgrace,
1 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the comandment of God our Saviour,and Lord Jesus Christ, [which is] our hope;
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the worldbegan;
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God andour Saviour Jesus Christ;
Titus 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hopeof eternal life.
Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fastthe confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Hebrews 6:11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the fullassurance of hope unto the end:
Hebrews 6:18 That by two imutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie,we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hopeset before us:
Hebrews 6:19 Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, andwhich entereth into that within the veil;
Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope [did];by the which we draw nigh unto God.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according tohis abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end forthe grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1 Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gavehim glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and [be] ready always to [give] ananswer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness andfear:
1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.What you should of got out of these verses is that hope is expectancy and expectancy in the Lord. I use very little of my own words in this study, because I want you to get the scripture in you about hope. And if less of my words gives you more to dwell on God's even better.
But the main point is that as the US has kicked God out, Bible Studies, Prayer, and in public places like government buildings or property, the US has also kicked its hope out as well. So to reduce crime, and violence we need hope and the only hope that matters is that hope that is in and of God.
My prayer for you this week is that the hope of God fills you. Amen.
3-3-4 H.O.M.E.