A Voice of HOPE

A Community of Faith, Love, and Hope PART 3

“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and
Father, your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

To be a Voice of HOPE

Every believer in Christ knows the meaning of Hope. Every Christ follower knows what life was like before their
encounter w/ Jesus. We can look at our lives of the past and look at our lives now in Christ and see Amazing Grace, Amazing Love - and our lives now are filled w/ hope, b/c of the gospel, the message and life of Jesus Christ.

When this gospel is born in our hearts, it gives us a picture of who we can become in Christ and what God can accomplish thru our lives. The gospel has the power to take the orphan and make her a friend of the fatherless; to take the brokenhearted, the outcast, and the lonely and make them
instruments of peace, forgiveness, and healing.

We understand that a Christless world is a hopeless world. At the same time we seem to forget that a Christ-filled world is a hope-filled world.
Somehow we’ve lost the mandate given to us by God to stand in a desperate world and offer hope.

What is the Gospel? Good News

We know that, we teach it, but we often do not communicate it as good news. When we speak the gospel of Jesus Christ, we seem to somehow get logjammed around the message of sin, damnation, and hell - no wonder so many people feel that the church has nothing but bad news to tell.
(video - "real christian of genius")

The gospel, as given to us by Jesus, is supposed to be good news. Jesus himself said, I have not come to condemn the world, but to give the world life.” John 3:17; 10:10
(world beats us up)

What would happen if people heard the message of Christ as a message of hope and not a message of judgement?
How many times have you heard Christians described as hypocritical and self-righteous? How could a message of hope cause us to be perceived in this way?
Could it be that people do not hear us acknowledging our own sinfulness, but only identifying theirs, so they call us
hypocrites.
Could it be that those receiving our message feel that we are standing as judges over them rather than servants under them?

The message of Christ and the need for repentance are inseparable, but even in that, the Bible is clear in how we are to relate to people.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that it is the loving kindness of God that brings us to repentance - we are to speak the truth in LOVE - it is a message HOPE! The best indication that we are communicating the gospel effectively is that broken,
sinful, and despairing people receive it as a word of good news.

I think it’s important to remember that the people Jesus continually offended were the religious.
Sinners seem to warm up to Him quite easily.(why)

The gospel, in it’s essence, is a message of hope to a world full of despair.

A great story in the life of Jesus is in John 8, where the
religious leaders confronted Him, wanting to condemn an adulterous woman. Look at how Jesus when others tried to force Him into meanness, would not allow it. If there was ever a perfect opportunity to bring down the wrath of God on a sinful woman, it was right then. And yet from that encounter w/ this woman caught in adultery, thrown down before Him, we have some of jesus’ famous words - watch this
“Where are they?” “Who condemns you?” She stood there almost dumbfounded, astonished, maybe almost paralyzed over what just happened, it begins to settle in on her,
“no one”
Jesus revealed the heart of God when He told her He didn’t condemn her. He simply said, “Go and sin no more”

This is an important guide for each of us.

We are God’s voice of HOPE

stats - 200 mill. m,w,c lost in Amer. today
closer to home - 7 out of 10 you know lost

Those who have known nothing but condemnation and shame will find a new beginning in Jesus Christ.

God's Message:
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future. Jer. 29:11

The natural outcome of being connected to God is being optimistic about the future. When this permeates a biblical community, optimism and enthusiasm prevail in the church. The church of Jesus Christ is always looking forward. It
always believes in the promise of tomorrow and is never overwhelmed by the difficulty or even failure of the present.

This should be one of the markers of a New Testament community - We are to be a voice of hope b/c we are a
people of hope.
A follower of Jesus Christ has no excuse for pessimism.

God has called us to be a Voice of HOPE

Who do you know that needs to hear that?
who needs a shot of hope injected into their lives?

Faith, Love, and Hope are not just foundations or pillars; they are wellsprings - It is our identity our DNA
The deeper the church digs these wells, the more rich and resilient they become.




“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
   But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
 "No one, sir," she said. 
      "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." John 8:1-11