Hope For the Holidays, Part 1: Hope Remains // Jamie Nunnally

What is hope? Why do you need it and where do you get it? In this message, Pastor Jamie Nunnally kicks off our new Christmas series Hope for the Holidays with a message called "Hope Remains”.

1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
 
Hope is confident, patient expectation that something good is going to happen. Hope is not simple optimism or wishful thinking; it’s looking forward to something good.
 
You need hope: 
Prov. 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”
A lack of hope causes emotion sickness.
Psalm 27:13
Hopelessness leads to disappointment, discouragement, doubt, and despair. 
 
How to get Hope:
1. Trust God’s promises.
Hebrews 6:13-18 “For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: 14 “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” 15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. 16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone
greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. 18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.”
Our hope is not based on our emotions, feelings, or opinions - it's based on God’s promises.
2 Peter 1:4 
When you find yourself worried, anxious and hopeless, find a promise in God’s word and meditate on it until you beieve it.
 
2. Adopt God’s perspective.
When you pray for fruit, God gives a seed. 
Hebrews 10:23 – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”  
 
3. Embrace God’s presence.
Hebrews 6:19 “This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.”
If you have hope, when the winds of life kick up, you won’t stray during the storm. 
 
Hope Remains:
So when the pressure’s building and I can feel the weight.
I know my God still loves me, I won’t hold back my praise.
When disappointment finds me and things don’t go my way.
My joy will not be stolen, no one can take my faith.
And I won’t stop pursuing, no I won’t be afraid
Though I’m not sure what’s coming, I know that hope remains.
 
Does hope remain in your life?