Hope

I'm going to shift topics now. An optimist looks at an oyster and expects to find a pearl. A pessimist looks at the oyster and expects to get tomein poisoning. The difference between the two outlooks. One has hope and one does not. As a counselor and licensed therapist, when I was doing my training and counseling in California, I remember very well what one of the trained therapists told us. Never leave your client without hope. Don't let them walk out the door without giving them some hope. Hope is so essential for life. I remember a personal example. My wife and I were married in 1963. Mr. Herbert Armstrong did our wedding in England. After a year of being married, we wanted to have a child. We tried four years unsuccessfully. One year at the Ministerial Conference in Pasadena, California, it would have been 1968. By then, we had been married five years. Almost four and a half. And Mr. Armstrong said, you don't have any children yet? No, Mr. Armstrong. Why don't you come over to my house? We went over to his house, and he anointed both of us. That was January. In February, my wife conceived. After four years of trying, in April, on the night to be observed, we had Toronto and Buffalo together for the last time. Almost a thousand people were there. And we said, we have a special night, a very special night. And I said, the night to be observed is a very special night for us to be observed, because we wanted to let you all know, as our family, that my wife is pregnant. And we broke into clapping and cheers and everything, because they had asked us for years, when are you going to have a child? When are you going to have any children? When are you going to have a child? And we'd have to say, oh, sorry, we don't have any children. And now we were able to have them. And then we had one Janice, and then 15 months later, we had another one. So we had a double blessing from God, when we thought we would never have children.

We always hoped to have children, and every month we'd go by, we'd hope, and then disappointment, hope, and then disappointment, hope, and then disappointment. But finally, that hope, with faith, God gave us a little child. Two children, in fact. Hope is essential for us to live life. What does it mean to be hopeful? To be hopeful means you have confident expectation. You're confidently expecting. It's a feeling that what is desired will happen. But it's not like faith, which is a certainty. Faith, which says, I know I'm going to get that. I know you can do it, God. I hope for something. That's why I have faith. I'm going to receive it.

But hope must come, and hope is so essential in life. The Greek word, the noun, is alpus, E-L-P-I-S, and the verb is alpizo, which is E-L-P-I-Z-O. In the Greek, in Hebrew, there's several of them. One of them is tikva, another one is yagil.

But whatever they are, whatever the word is used, hope carries with it a confident expectation. Let's take a look at some scriptures on hope and see if we have hope and ask ourselves if we have hope in life. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 19. The Apostle Paul said this. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 19 as he wrote to this troublesome church.

1 Corinthians 15 and verse 19. He said, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. So hope is something that will last us beyond this life. But in this life, too, there are things you hope for. You hope for a new car when your old car is sputtering. You hope for a new suit when your suit is tearing. You hope for a new shirt when your shirt is getting too small or too big. You have hope that you're going to get it. You don't know you're going to get it yet, but you have hope. Until you receive it, you have hope. You don't have to hope anymore once you receive it. For instance, I don't have to hope that there's light up here. There is a light here. I don't say, I sure hope I have a light up here. It's here. You don't have to hope once you have it. But hope is something we have, and hope is so important in life. If we don't have hope, we will be, of all people, most miserable. 1 Peter 1 and verse 3. And our hope is so much better than just an earthly hope, because it's a living hope. 1 Peter 1 and verse 3. 1 Peter 1 and verse 3. And what I love about God's Church is that we believe in hope for all humanity.

We don't believe that just because people are born in Tibet.

Or people are born in Siberia and never have a chance to hear about Jesus Christ that they're going to go to hell.

We don't believe that. We believe there's a second resurrection where all people will have a chance to know the truth and to be able to live the truth. And to be able to show God that they're sorry for what they did in the past. We believe that there's hope for all of mankind.

1 Peter 1 and verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope or a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That living hope has to do with what we have.

My living hope has to do with the fact that we believe that we can be raised from the dead. That we understand there's a first resurrection. We understand there's a second resurrection. That resurrection for all people. That God loves everyone. God loves people. He doesn't hate them. I was reading a book by John Maxwell on leadership.

He said, you've got to love people before you lead people. You've got to love them. I remember one guy did not want to be in the ministry. He was told, you're going to be in the ministry. He didn't want to be. You're going to be in the ministry. He didn't like people. He was put in the ministry and he did okay, but he never liked it.

See, if you don't like people, get a job in a canning factory where you can love cans or an automobile line where you can love the automobile. If you don't love people, don't be in a service profession. It takes people who love people to be able to lead people. We have a lively hope and it's called a better hope than others. 1 Corinthians 13, 13.

Did you know that hope is one of the big three? But it's one of the ones that usually is the most neglected, I would say, of the big three. 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 13. And now abides faith, hope, and love. Faith, hope, and love. These three, but the greatest of these is love.

You usually hear a lot about faith and you usually hear a lot about love. You hear a little bit about hope. We need hope in our lives. I'm going to share with you some scriptures that show you what hope involves. It involves confident expectation. It involves waiting with hope. It involves waiting with an eye to the future. That something's going to happen that's good. It's not just standing there, okay, one, two, counting the tenth.

One, two, three, four, I'm just standing here tapping my foot and waiting for this to happen. It's a confident expectation while you're waiting. While you're waiting. It's that hope that gives you that. Hebrews 11 and verse 1. In fact, faith needs hope with it. You won't want faith toward something unless you hope about it. First, Hebrews 11 and verse 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is what you have to say, I know I'm going to receive this. I know this is going to come.

I know it. Why do you want it? Because I hope for it. Faith is the evidence, is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. Faith is what you have to say, I know God can do it. I know God's going to do it, and I hope he does it. And I hope for it. I can't wait for that to happen. Hope. I'm glad that I have hope. I have two parents in the grave. I understand completely what Mr. Scriber and his wife went through.

I think we lost about six very important people and animals over the course of about four years. And that was really hard. Before that time, I thought, I never lost anybody really close to me. I used to say to God, Father, I know what you're like a little bit, because I know what my dad's like. And I said, now I understand what the ancient of days is like, because my dad lived till 97, my mother till 96. And my wife's mom died at 90, 92, I think she was.

So we...but you've had them around, you've loved them for such a long time, and you've lost them. But then we haven't lost them, because they're going to come back. And that's the hope we have. I'm going to see them again. And if I make it into God's kingdom, which I want to be there, I can be there to welcome them back. I can be there to say, hey, I'm here. It's good to see you. Awake from your sleep and learn God's way. What a great time that's going to be.

Faith. Hope is necessary for it. Acts 24, verses 14 and 15, we find that our hope is in God. And that's a big key to having the right kind of a hope. We can also hope in this world. Our hopes in this world can be dashed, but our hope in God will never be dashed. God will not disappoint you. Fact, Titus 1, verse 2, he says, In hope of eternal life, which God, who is promised, God will never lie. We have a wonderful hope. Acts 24, verses 14 and 15, we read this, But this I confess to you, that after the way which they call heresy, So I worship the God of my fathers, Believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets, And have hope toward God.

My hope is in God. God will never disappoint you. If you have that hope, hope in his kingdom, hope in the wonderful world tomorrow. And that's why the Holy Days are so important. Because the Holy Days point us to that hope. They help you keep that hope alive. Because they show you the hope and the plan of salvation for all human beings.

For you and for everybody. Wonderful hope that we can have. Ephesians 1, 18, we're called, it's a hope of our calling. Why were you called, anyway? You're called to be in God's kingdom. Ephesians 1, verse 18, we read this. Ephesians 1, 18, he says, The eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, That you may know what is the hope of his calling. Why did God call you? I know of lots of people in my high school who were better than me. I know of lots of people in my high school that probably have been better Christians, better ministers, better whatever, educators.

But God didn't call them. The hope of our calling. Do you have a hope of your calling? God's called you. He called you for a reason. He called you for a purpose.

And he wants you to be there in his family. And it's awesome. And if you keep that hope in front of you every day, you can brighten your days. If you lose that hope, you get depressed. You know why people are depressed? There's so much sadness stuffed inside of them. And all they see is darkness. It's like going to see the movie... What is it? Julie Andrews starred in it, Sound of Music. And everybody's criticizing because the music is being sung by nuns. Where's their hope? They don't see brightness.

They see dimness. They see darkness. They see the dark clouds. They don't see the silver lining. People with hope see that which is bright. And people that are depressed don't see a lot of hope. And so it's important to have hope.

It motivates. It keeps you going. So he says that you may know what is the hope of your calling and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. God has put a lot of interest in you and me. Colossians 1.23. The good news of God's kingdom gives us hope. Colossians 1.23. Paul wrote this.

If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. What is our job? What is our work? Get this gospel out to as many people as possible. We need to be the Paul Reverers of the spiritual realm. We need to be riding on our horses and saying, God's kingdom is coming. God's kingdom is coming. You need to be ready for it.

You need to repent to be there. You need to look and see what great hope God gives you, what great things God has in store for you as we ride our horses. We need to spread the gospel by our example, by our prayers, by whatever means we can, by our friends, talking to them, not being ashamed. I don't mean trying to talk them into anything. There was a day that I was not very helpful. In the early years, we kind of hit our...

We don't want to tell anybody, I'm a minister. You go in to get a haircut. They say, what are you doing? I'm in an adult education. Well, that's a great thing. I am in... I'm trying to educate adults. But you dodge who you were. You didn't want them to think of you like they think of ministers in the world. So you dodged it. I don't dodge it anymore. They ask me, I am a minister and I teach God's... I teach at Ambassador Bible Center. Oh, what do you teach? I tell them, oh, what church? The United Church of God?

Oh! They really don't know what it is. They don't want to be dumb. They don't want to think that they don't know anything. They say, yeah, I'm a minister. United Church? Oh! And we meet in Milford. Oh! They still don't know. Okay. But the point is, I'm not ashamed. Have hope. Have hope in God. God has called you, not be ashamed of the gospel. Don't be moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.

We have a job to do to warn the world, to let them know. Romans 15.4, the Scriptures give us hope. You know, if God did that for them, God could do it for me. After all, if God gave Abraham and Sarah a child when she was too old to bear, He could give me a child. Hope. Romans 15.4, the Scriptures give us hope. He said, whatever things were written beforehand were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.

I'm reading through the Matthew. I'd like to read through one of the gospels before Passover time. So, since I started early, I started on Matthew already. I'm in chapter 15. I just sit there and I marvel. My Lord and my God walked on water. My Lord and my God took seven loaves of bread and a cup of fish, and He fed 4,000 men, plus women and children. And they took up fragments afterwards. What kind of a God is this? The God who calms the seas. The God who says, quiet seas, calm down here.

The God who walks on water and lets the only person I ever know walk on water, Peter. That must have been quite startling. When He jumped out of that boat and landed on what was hard, even though the water is moving, He's walking on a movable floor. Until He realized, what am I doing out here? And then He started a gedan.

Help me, Lord! Jesus said. Why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? I was here for you. Hope. The Scriptures give us confidence. The Scriptures give us hope. God did this for them. God could do it for me. Look the way my Lord Jesus Christ is. I can be that way, too. He had compassion on people.

Many times, it says, He saw people that they were hurting. He had compassion for them. He felt for them. Do you have hope? You can get it from the Scriptures. They give lots of hope. Colossians 1, 27, we have it the ability and the availability in us. Colossians 1, 27. Wonderful Scripture. Colossians 1, 27, He says, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles?

What is the mystery, anyway? Which is Christ in you? The hope of glory. The fact that you have some of the mind of Christ, you have some of the character of Christ, you have some of the outlook of Christ, you have some of the words of Christ in you. That gives you hope. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Some of my latest comments now are saying, I'm going to become more like Christ and less like me.

Every day, I hope I become more like Christ and less like me. That's what we ought to become. And the reason we could do that is because we have hope. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Confident expectation. We could be in his family. Titus 2.13. We have hope in his coming. Titus 2, verse 13.

We read this. Titus 2.13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our hope is the day when Jesus Christ comes back and we're changed. I don't know what that's going to be like. Do you know what it's going to be like? I don't know. Superman is one of my favorite characters.

And Superman gives me an idea of what God, what it might be like to be in the family of God. He can fly through the air faster than a speeding bullet. He's there to stop evil and promote justice and good. He can see through anything. He can walk, go through walls, except he damages them. Jesus doesn't. When he walked through walls, he didn't damage them. When Superman goes through walls, there's a hole in the wall. And he can see through anything. He sees people. He can see through them, except lead.

That'll change. But other than that, I see a lot in Superman. When I read a book about Superman, I think it was a book out there, I forget what the name of it is, that the creator of Superman actually had in mind God.

I think some of the names that he uses are like L and talks about God. It's almost like God reproducing himself. Not quite. But what would it be like when Jesus Christ returns, and you're standing there, if you're still alive, when he comes back, and you're turned to spirit? What is it going to be like?

I used to be afraid of flying on an airplane. The first time I got on an airplane, I pictured myself. It was at night, so I couldn't see what was happening. That was probably good. And a little prop plane going all the way from Los Angeles to Chicago in a non-scheduled airlines, which was the cheapest one, $75 at that time, from LA to Chicago.

And then I got on a scheduled airlines, TWA, in a totally different terminal. That was nice, too. It was daytime. So I was able to fly in daytime and actually get a meal. Instead of a little box with some things in it. Anyway, that first time of flying, I didn't know what to expect.

But then I felt like it was my living room going up into the sky. Okay, my living room is up here with other people with me. But what would be like when you fly up by yourself?

What would it be like? I don't know. You can zip to God and back real fast, because Jesus did it.

And you'll be like Him. You won't be Him, but you'll be like Him. What an amazing time we have ahead of us. What an hopeful time. To heal people, to tell people where to find things, people looking for gold. Say, put it in their mind, go over there. They go over there and they dig. Gold! They could have been digging all over the place, didn't know where it is. Just put it in their mind. Go over here. Sometimes, you say, okay, I'll go over here to the right. There it is. There's gold.

I want to be able to bless people, to be able to heal people, to be able to help people, to be able to love people, to be able to teach people, as a spirit being. What an awesome time. God's called us that. When Jesus Christ comes back, we're going to be changed. 1 Thessalonians 4.13 tells us that the resurrection from the dead gives us hope.

I remember doing a funeral for a young lady who was a Catholic, but she was coming to understand God's way of life. I visited her once and invited her to church. She came once or twice, but she told me when I visited her, she was very sickly. I didn't know she was going to die so soon. She died. But she left a message with her family. She wanted me to do the funeral.

So here I am conducting a funeral for virtually the whole audience except for my funeral crew. Every minister, at least I did, I had my funeral crew. There were four or five people that could take off during the afternoon. I always look out at the audience and see my faithful few there. Everybody else was Catholic. And I remember preaching about the hope of the dead. The resurrection gives hope. And when I finished the funeral, I remember shaking hands with all the family and walking out with the mother of this girl. She was probably 19 or 20.

I put my arm around her and I said, You will see your daughter again. And I squeezed her, You will see your daughter again. I promise you. By the authority of the Bible and Jesus Christ. That's hope. So he says in 1 Thessalonians 4, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you don't sorrow even as others who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so then which also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say to you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not precede those which are asleep, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with a voice, of the archangel, with a trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord near. I don't know what that's going to feel like all by myself going up, but I think it'll work. I think I won't be so afraid, so scared when I'm spirit. All right. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

These words, the hope of the resurrection, the resurrection itself gives us hope. What an awesome blessing that will be. Nowadays, quoted to you, Titus 1, 2, and hope of eternal life. We also have the hope of glory. Romans 5 talks about the hope of glory. We have the hope that will be brought to us, where we can be rejoicing in that hope that God gives. Now, what does hope do for you? We talked about the Scriptures that deal with hope, and I'm going to bring this down. I don't want to take you too long.

I try to do an hour and a half service if I can. So I'll probably go a few minutes over time since we had some ordinations. We all skip Scriptures, and that's okay. Actually, you know, when you have to condense some things, it's a better message because you're not using a lot of fillers. I'm trying to give you some things here that will help. But 1 Peter 1, verses 13 to 16. 1 Peter 1, what does hope do?

Hope now impels you. It pushes you forward. It promotes you having a healthy outlook on life. 1 Peter 1 and verse 13. 1 Peter 1, verse 13, we read this. Wherefore, gird up your loins, the loins of your mind. Get your thinking straight. Be sober and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Get ready, get sober, and hope to the end. Keep on hoping. Verse 14, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance. Why? Because I have hope. I don't want to be like people in the world go the wrong way. I have hope. God has called me for something special. I have hope in that. I'm not going to let myself degenerate and go down. Verse 15, but he that has called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conduct.

And in verse 16, because it is written, be you holy, for I am holy. Why will you want to be holy? Because you have hope. Hope moves you forward. Hope promotes that. Romans 4, verse 17, we find the example here that hope keeps you going. Romans 4, verse 17, talking about what happened in this case of Abraham, but notice in verse 17, As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, before whom he believed, even God, which quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were.

God sometimes talks about, you know, now you are the children of God. Are you really the children of God? Well, you are, in a sense, because God calls you that. Are you yet in God's kingdom? No, you're not yet. He calls things the way they will, the things that will be, he calls them as though they already have happened. But going on in verse 18, Who against hope believed in hope. Abraham, God, take your son and kill him.

What? Take my son and kill him. What kind of hope can I get out of this? And also, how can I even have a child? Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken, so shall your seed be, when it came time to have Isaac.

And being not weak in faith. Would you be weak in faith? I'm getting older, I'm getting a little bit weak in faith, weak in body, too. Would you have been weak in faith to be 100 years old, your wife 90 some? Would you be weak in faith when she ceased being able to have children? And God says, you're going to have a child? Would you be weak?

Hope against hope. He hoped for God to give him a child. Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken, so shall your seed be. Verse 19, Being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, which he was about 100 years old, and yet neither the deadness of Sarah's womb. But verse 20, He says, Staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And verse 21, Here's what hope let him be, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform.

The hope that he had gave him faith in God. I hope that I'm going to have my own son. And it gave him faith toward God. God can do it. I know he can.

In 1 Peter 3 verse 5, I'm not going to read it to you. It talks about holy women of old, hoped in God. Hoped in God. That's why they modified their behavior.

1 Peter 3 15 tells us we need to defend our hope. We need to be able to support our hope. 1 Peter 3 15, while we should be able to give answers for lots of things, the one thing we should be all able to give answers for is the reason of the hope that is in us. 1 Peter 3 15, Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. I often say, have you set God apart in your heart? Does God have a place in your life? Did you bring Him with you today?

God in you, Christ in you, the hope of glory. How many times do we walk out the door and we forget to take God with us? Set aside a place in your heart, in your emotions, in your life for God. Set apart a place. And He said, Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you the reason of the hope that is in you. Now, you might not be able to explain Habakkuk 4-6. There is no Habakkuk 4-6, by the way. If you could explain it. You missed it. It's the wrong book. Not that far. But let's say 1-4. You might not be able to explain what He means there. But you should be able to explain why you have hope in God and what that hope is. That's why we have the feasts every year. They tell us about the hope. For all of humankind, you and everybody else, you should be able to explain the hope that lies within you. Colossians 1, verses 3-8. I won't go there either. It leads to a godly life. But I do want to go to Lamentations 3. Lamentations 3. What hope does for us? Lamentations, that little book after Jeremiah. I know my Bible well enough. Yes, after Jeremiah. Lamentations 3 is one of those beautiful scriptures that you want to know about hope. Lamentations 3, in verse 24. Of course, Lamentations is all about the struggles and difficulties. That those in captivity would have. Verse 24, he says this. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. God is my portion. God will never let me down. People let you down. God will never let you down. I've got hope. Therefore, verse 25. The Lord is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. Hope in him. Look to that hope confidently. Verse 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good that you should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. What a beautiful scripture. Hope is a matter of life and death, by the way. Little babies that die in orphanages in the early years, they call it marasmus. You know what that means? They die. They don't know why. You know what they found out? They died because they did not feel any love or any hope. Now they would take a baby and hold them. They would make sure you stroke them, even babies, little incubator babies. They'd have a little hole in there that parents can go through and stroke that baby so that baby knows. There's hope for them. Even though they don't understand a lot, there's hope for them. People die without hope. Romans 8, verses 24 and 25. Romans 8, verses 24 and 25. We read this, for we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. As I said, I don't have to hope for a glass of water. I don't have to hope for my Fuji water. This really isn't Fuji. It's arrowhead, and I'll take a sip. It's really water. But it's arrowhead put in a Fuji bottle, because the bottle looks nice.

Anyway, I don't have to hope for water. It's here. I don't have to hope for light. I don't have to hope for a microphone. It's here. But he says, we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. What does a man see? For what a man sees, why does he have hope for it? If I see this, I don't have to hope for light. It's here. It's not here. I could hope. I could sure hope I have a light up here. But there's a light up here. Verse 25.

But if we hope for that which we don't see, then we do with patience wait for it. Hope is a matter of life and death. We are saved by hope.

In 1 Thessalonians 5.8, 1 Thessalonians 5.8, 2 Thessalonians 5.8, 3 We read what the apostle wrote to the church at Thessalonika. 4 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, 5 and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

My encouragement to all of us is every day you go out, take hope with you. 6 Let it be a hopeful day, and the way you make sure of that is you put on your helmet.

7 The hope of salvation, the helmet. It says, we're in my direction. What am I going? What is on my mind? Isn't that what God said? Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness?

8 Let God's kingdom be on your mind. Let the hope of being in His kingdom be on your mind. 9 Let the plan of salvation be on your mind. Let getting the gospel to a world that's sick and dying be on your mind.

10 Then you will have hope. And if you have hope, you will have life.

I'll take my hope with all of us.