This Saturday, April 27th, we will be having a de-clutter day at Central. We will be going through various parts of the buildings and removing or re-purposing items in the buildings that have exceeded their purpose.If you could share some time this Saturday, please meet at the building at 10:00 am. This is open to anyone who could share a few minutes to help with this clean-up effort . Men & Women are welcome.

What do you hope for? What do you wait for?

1 Cor. 13:13 that the 3 spiritual gifts that will remain are faith, hope, and love.

• Hope: 
  • • Hope is the desire for something good in the future.
    • Hope is the good thing in the future that we are desiring.
    • Hope is the reason why our hope might come to pass.
• Worldly Hope:
  •  
  • Uncertain. 
• Biblical Hope: 
  • It is certain. Like a rope under tension, about to break.
    • Biblical hope is waiting with a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future. 
  • Because God is certain.
    • Exodus 34:6-7a-“The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished,” 
    • Heb 6:17-20- In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to the heirs of the promise the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and reliable and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

What does the Bible say Christians hope?

• In Jesus and His Resurrection
  • Romans 3:23- for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
  • Eph 2:12- having no hope and without God in the world.
  • Is 11:10/Romans 15:12- “THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM WILL THE GENTILES HOPE.”
  • Titus 2:11-14- For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds.
  • 1 Peter 1:3-5- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

• For Our Resurrection:
  • New Life and New Body
    • John 11:25-26- Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
    • 1 Cor. 15:42-49- So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
• New Heaven and New Earth
  • Rev. 21:1-5- Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” 5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
  • Rev. 21:22- I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

v. 1- “My only hope is you, Jesus. My only hope is you. From early in the 

morning, to late at night, my only hope is you.”

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