Hope That Carries You - Jacob Stanley

Hebrews 6:19 says 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure... A ship without an anchor will end up shipwrecked, A soul without hope will also sink The human soul NEEDS hope. Storms will come, but hope is the anchor the keeps your soul afloat. Without hope your soul will sink. Hope I want to talk a little about hope tonight. Hope empowers you, it gives you a supernatural strength to keep going when things are tough. I remember hiking as a young teen with my family. Occasionally we would be climbing up a steep long section or track. As your climbing up it can be very long and arduous, dragging yourself and your pack up the hill. Slogging one foot after another. But what gets you up the top is hope. Hope that it’s only so far to go. eventually you will come to a point where you can see through the trees, you can pause for a moment and see actually how far you’ve come. It gives you hope. Life can feel like that sometimes. One foot after another, slowly and painfully walking through pain and discomfort. You need to find a clearing where you can step back and see how far you’ve come, thank God for helping you every step of the way. And then grab a hold of hope, grit your teeth and start pushing through for another section of challenge. It’s worth it.

Hope. Hope will get you there. Hope gives you last bit of strength, it calls out, “just 100 more meters!” Hope isn’t nieve optimism, our hope as christians is powerful, because our hope rests in someone powerful. What do you put your hope in? Everyone hopes for something When I get this thing, I’ll be better. Some people hope for a promotion Some people hope for a holiday Some people hope to be left alone Some people hope for an opportunity to shine Some people hope for a nice house Some people hope to have kids Some people hope to find love Some people hope to find purpose Some people hope to get through the pain they are experiencing We all have needs, God wants to be the one to meet your needs and God wants to fulfill the desires of your heart Place your hope in him tonight. He is good faithful father. He will never leave you or forsake you, he will take care of you, answering your prayers, protecting you, providing you, filling your mind with peace and your heart with joy. Place your hope in God What are you putting your hope in tonight? Psalm 33:16-22. New King James Version 16 No king is saved by the multitude of an army; A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. 17 A horse is a [a]vain hope for safety;

Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. 18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, 19 To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name. 22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, Just as we hope in You. He will deliver you soul from death, and death of the soul, place your Hope in God. This hope, Hope in christ, is the anchor for your soul Hebrews 6:19 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure Place your hope in God tonight. He is firm and secure He is good faithful father. He will never leave you or forsake you, he will take care of you, He will answer your prayers, He will protect you, He will provide for you, He will fill your mind with peace and your heart with joy. He is the anchor for the soul, firm and secure Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV) 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments

God is Faithful and you can put your hope in him. ——————- I want to talk a little tonight with the time I have left, about a man name Abram. I want to tell two things from Abrams example

1. God is faithful- you can put your hope in him.

2. Hope in God not in stuff.

Abram was just like you or me, a normal person. Abram was man that chose to put his hope in God I read a quote today, “Those who leave everything in God’s hands will eventually see Gods hand in everything” Abram is a perfect example of this Genesis 12:1-3 New International Version The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.[a] 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”[b] The thing God asked abram was risky, costly, seemly foolish, it would demand abram to put all of his hope in God.

Years went by, Abraham dies, he has a son issac, issac has a son Jacob who gets the blessing , and Jacob has many sons. But some of the sons hate one of his kids, Joseph. They throw Joseph in a pit and sell him to slave traders. Many years go past and there is a great famine in the land. No one has food, because there isn’t any rain, crops dry up and animals die. Jacobs brothers go to Egypt to beg pharaoh to sell some grain to them. Genesis 45:4-8 says this: 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.[a] 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. When you put your hope in God, you can see the bigger picture It’s the clearing where you can see through the trees. Joseph suffered some hard years, but he hoped in God. God is a keeper of his promises, and he had made a promise to Abraham. To make him into a great nation, famine was threatening to hill of Abraham defendants but God had a plan to keep his promise. Romans 8:28 New International Version 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. You can put your hope in God because he keeps his promises ——-

But you see Abraham wasn’t just hopping for stuff, he was hoping for something else. Hebrews 11:8-19 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. Abraham didn’t put his hope in stuff, he didn’t put his hope in getting rich in Canaan. He wanted to follow God to be near to God. He wanted to be close to God. It talks about a heavenly city, Zion is the place where they believed the messiah would reign on the earth. Someone with their heart for Zion yearns to live in a place where God is on the throne, they want him as the king and judge of their lives, They put their hope in him, they want to be near him. Psalm 84:5-7 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.[b] 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

They go from strength to strength, they live in blessing. The valley of Baca means weeping. ——————————— Band up ———————————- Revelation 21:1-5 21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” We don’t hope for a place, like we don’t hope for things, instead we hope to be near him. We put our hope not in the world, not in circumstance, but in him, our faithful God, the one who is our light, who heals our hearts, who wipes away tears. A faithful God who is near to his people. Our hope is in a relationship with God - him fulfilling our needs In a nearness to him We hope in a future with him, where he is our guide, our helper, our Heavenly Father. A life where we look forward not for stuff, but we hope that no matter what happens, we might be near him, that he will be a part of our lives through every season. That God will be our strength our protector, our provider. That he will fulfill the desires of our hearts

Put your hope in Him tonight. Maybe you need God to be your anchor tonight Maybe you are walking through a pain and you need help God wants to give you hope.