Marty Sloan – Living the Dream

Virtues Series Part 1 – Hopefulness

11 15 09 HT AM

2 Peter 1:5 ESV

2 Peter 1:5 ESV

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,

This morning we kick off a new series called Virtues – A Journey of Character.  When you talk Virtues and character you are talking about foundational topics. Virtues are a set of values that one lives by – they do NOT shift with circumstances because a virtue is more principle based than it is personality based. Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being good. Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective well-being, and thus good by definition. The opposite of virtue is vice.

Over the next few weeks together we will discover a few of the virtues to live our life by, together we will go on a Journey of Character.  This morning we kick off with the virtue of Hopefulness – Hope.

1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The scripture here puts an emphasis on love, love is no doubt everlasting, upon our entrance to Heaven, hope and faith will discontinue as they will give way to experience and completion. In heaven faith will be swallowed up in vision, and hope in fruition. There is no need to believe and hope, when we see and enjoy. Last time I checked we are still here on this earth so for me in the present state all three of these words are paramount for our existence today.

As I talk to people, as I observe the world… there appears to be an overall lack of hope, even despair. In our natural and cultural mindsets we have placed hope in the might of men, government, elections, activity, wealth and so on.  Our culture is best described by this verse:

Proverbs 13:12a NKJV

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in a person’s life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. Hoping for the right things in the wrong places creates hope deferred.

Let me take you to a place in Scripture to a group of people who found themselves a bit hopeless.  You have heard of them, the Children of Israel, in their story we find the foundation of hope.

Jeremiah 29:8 NLT

This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams,

Jeremiah 29:9

because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the LORD.

Jeremiah 29:10

This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Israel found themselves in bondage, a bind…or as we say in Arkansas a “fix”.  As was often the case their present outcome was the result of their own actions. Yet in their present state they were hearing false things about their future and how they should respond to their present.  God takes them from what others are saying to “His” will and plans!

Question: What is the foundation of Hope?

The Foundation of Hope

• TRUTH is the foundation for HOPE!

Its NOT rocket science, its simple, if its NOT true you cannot place any hope or trust. If you’re believing a lie, there is no hope there.

The Practices of Hope

Hope is not a philosophy; it is the outcome of practices.  We have been tricked and toyed with by those who talk hope as an idea and forget hope is something to be implemented.

For example, if you hope to have a great marriage, yet neglect your spouse, you’re missing it. If you hope to have money but do not honor biblical principles, you’re missing it. If you hope to have friends but do not show yourself friendly, you’re missing it. If you hope for God to bless your life yet ignore His Word, you’re missing it!

Deuteronomy 30:15 MSG

Look at what I’ve done for you today: I’ve placed in front of you, Life and Good, Death and Evil.

Deuteronomy 30:16

And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.

Deuteronomy 30:17

But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods,

Deuteronomy 30:18

you will most certainly die. You won’t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

Choices always precede practices (vs.15) – It’s not enough to believe in a town called Hope, you have to belong to the practices of hope.

Three Practices of Hope

1. Love God – (Passion)

• Moses said it like this –

Exodus 20:3 ESV “You shall have no other gods before me.

• Jesus said it like this -

Matthew 22:30 -38 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.

When I talk about loving God and letting your love for Him begin your hope journey… I am talking about a complete commitment to loving God, heart and soul; I am talking about making him FIRST in your life!

If you want hope in your life today, you must have Passion for God.

2. Listen to God – (Prayer)

Matthew 26:36 NKJV

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”

Matthew 26:37

And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Matthew 26:38

Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

Matthew 26:39

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

As you review the life of Christ, you observe that when He was faced with an outcome that appeared to lack for hope – HE PRAYED.  We see Him here in Gethsemane – approaching His horrific death. He wasn’t thinking, he was not plotting he was PRAYING! He was looking to pray by Himself as well as in community with his disciples, Jesus models for us that in times we need hope PRAYER is our lifeline!

Prayer is the doorway to discover His purposes for our lives and finding hope!

3. Live for God – (Practices)

PS 16:9 NKJV Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.

Psalm 39:7 NKJV

“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in You.

Psalm 39:8

Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.

Finding our Hope in Christ will come down to our living out His plans for our life.  We cannot put our hope in Him and not place our daily lives in Him.

1 Timothy 1:1 NKJV

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,

All hope begins and ends with Jesus Christ!

Closing verse for today.. Love- Listen – Live

Psalm 34:17 MSG

Is anyone crying for help? God is listening,

ready to rescue you.

Psalm 34:18

If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there;

if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.

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