Hope for a New Year
Speaker: Pastor Quang Nguyen
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:8, Titus 2:13, Matthew 28:20, 1 John 3:2
Everyday English Usage of HOPE
• “A wish or desire” for something but you are not certain that it will happen.
Biblical meaning of HOPE
• “It’s a life shaping CERTAINTY of something that hasn’t happen yet but you KNOW that it will.” (Tim Keller)
• “HOPE is a joyful and confident expectation of God’s goodness.”
2 great pillars of HOPE
I. The HOPE to be WITH Christ.
II. The HOPE to be LIKE Christ.
I. The HOPE to Be WITH Christ (Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20, John 14:16)
1. The Hope of heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8, John 14:1–2)
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.—2 Cor 5:8
1 Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?—John 14:1-2
2. The Hope of Christ's return (Titus 2:13, 1 Cor 15:51-52)
(We are to live godly lives) 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,—Titus 2:13
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.—1 Cor 15:51-52
3. The Hope to walk with Jesus tomorrow (Matthew 28:20, Psalm 27:13)
20 … And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”—Matthew 28:20
13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.—Psalm 27:13
II. The HOPE to Be LIKE Christ (1 John 3:2)
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.—1 John 3:2
