Hold onto Hope 1 Peter 1:1-12 “When people lose their hope that the Church can actually thrive in our modern culture, there are three things they can go into: one is compromise on doctrine, on historic faith and practice, and you say: “We’re just going to have to change that because we’ll never get accepted. The second possibility is you withdraw into high walls around the Church, and basically just try to keep hold of your kids and grow the Church biologically, like the Amish. And the third is you get very combative and say: “We’re going to take over the culture and let Christians run things.” I fear all three of those are possibilities in the United States. But I have three hopes: the growth of the global Church – there’s no doubt about it, Christianity is not going away. It’s growing, and it will continue to grow. The second hope I have is that Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church (Matthew 16:18), and there’s no expiration date on that offer. And lastly, I actually think secularism looks exhausted. It doesn’t look like it’s confidently saying: “We have all the answers to the basic human problems.” So [when] you put all that together, I have a lot of hope. But I still have a lot of fear.” Timothy Keller Map What Kind of Hope Am I Holding Onto? 1. Hold Onto a Living Hope through Christ’s Resurrection “The greatest need in our world today is the need for hope. We thrive on hope, we rejoice in hope, we witness in hope, knowing that experience works hope. ‘Happy is he . . . whose hope is in the Lord his God (Psalm 146:5).’ There is hope for the future. It is centered in the Person of Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose from the grave and is alive now. I have staked all that I am or ever hope to be on Him. “ Billy Graham 2. Hold Onto a Future Hope through Heaven “Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19) because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a ‘wish’ (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made.” -RC Sproul 3. Hold Onto a Joyous Hope through Suffering “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2). “When the world asks if there is any hope, we can say absolutely! No one is exempt from tragedy or disappointment- God himself was not exempt. Jesus offered no immunity, no way out of the unfairness, but rather a way through it to the other side.” Philip Yancey “I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will make sense only in reverse.” Philip Yancey 4. Hold Onto an Unseen Hope through Faith 5. Hold Onto a Fulfilled Hope through Prophecy