Easter - There is Still Hope
In There is Still Hope, Pastor Jeff reminds us that there is, and has always been, hope for all of us. Hope is a universal word that we all experience. Maybe you’ve hoped to get married or hoped to stay healthy. Perhaps you’ve hoped to retire or hoped your kids will behave. We all have all different kinds of hopes at different seasons of our lives.
Here’s the thing about hope: Without a foundation, hope is kind of useless. We need a plan associated with our hope to make it a reality. Thankfully for us, God has a plan for us and He always has. The kind of hope that God brings is always built around a plan. Before He even made us, God had a plan to sacrifice His son so that we can have a relationship with Him.
Regardless of our being sinless or not, He knew we would all fail, He knew we would need a Savior. God’s plan is the foundation upon which we build our hope. There’s still hope because there’s still a foundation. Amen!
Check out what the Bible has to say about our hope in God’s plan:
1 Timothy 1:1 (NKJV) 1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope.
Colossians 1:27 (NKJV) 27To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Titus 2:13 (NKJV) 13looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is, and has always been, the foundation of our hope!
A Strong Foundation
Our hope is still strong today because it was built on a strong foundation. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, we know that our hope did not die with Him! We’re reminded of that truth in 1 Peter:
1 Peter 1:3 (NKJV) 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Another version of this passage says, “We are reborn to experience a living, energetic hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus.”
The strong foundation on which we build our hope and faith is the Resurrection of Jesus. We start there and we finish there; the Resurrection brings us security in life.
Discussion:
Before becoming a Christian, on which foundation did you build your life?
How has the truth of the Resurrection brought security to your life?
What would you say is the difference in hope and faith?
The Most Important Thing
Paul spoke about the Risen King in a letter to the church of Corinth to clarify the most important thing for all of us to remember, the foundation of our faith.
1 Corinthians 15:1-20 (NLT) 1Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
3I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.
10But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.
12But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
Discussion:
Has your faith ever been challenged by a coworker? A peer? A family member? How did you respond?
Consider verses 12-20 from the above passage. If a nonbeliever questioned you with these same false claims, how would you reply?
The Takeaway
The Gospel of Jesus–the Good News–is the foundation for our lives. Resurrection simply means that a person was alive, then died, then was made alive, never to die again. That’s the Gospel! Because Jesus is alive, we have hope. Amen!
In There is Still Hope, Pastor Jeff challenges us with this question: Where are you? At timestamp There are different ways that people live their lives…
Some people are Thursday people. They want life to just keep on rolling as it is. They hope things never change. They think they’re getting by just fine without Jesus and they want to continue on with their lives without change or disruption.
Some people are Friday people. They don’t expect things to go wrong, and when things do go wrong, they’re unprepared, surprised, and disappointed. Instead of hoping things just stay the same, Friday people hope they can make it through their circumstances.
Some people are Saturday people. They’re hunkered down, facing the silence, wondering where God could possibly be in their time of need. They frantically search for the Good News, feeling abandoned.
We want to be Sunday people. We want to build our lives on the foundation of the resurrection of Jesus. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead will make our mortal bodies alive for all eternity as born again believers. Praise the Lord!
Romans 8:11 (NLT) 11The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Discussion:
What does it mean to be “Sunday people”?
Reflect on times in your life when you’ve been a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday person. How did the revelation knowledge of the resurrection of Jesus impact your hopefulness?
Through the crucifixion of Friday and the silence of Saturday, God was and is still with us. He will never leave us or forsake us! When we build our lives on the foundation of the resurrection of Jesus, we can face our trials and tribulations with confidence and knowing that Jesus is going through it all with us!
Galatians 2:20 (NLT) My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
As Christians, we–our sin–died with Christ. Our new, born again, life in Christ is the resurrected life, a life that was alive, but died, and is now alive once more, never to experience death again!
Prayer:
Father, let us never lose sight of your goodness and mercy. Help us to remember your ultimate plan for us to build our life on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that this revelation of our hope in Jesus floods our hearts in a new way so that we never, ever see life in the same way. Thank you, God, for the sacrifice of your perfect Son so that we may spend eternity in heaven with you. In Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
