RESURRECTING HOPE: LIVING HOPE

Happy Eastertide! We are still celebrating the power of the resurrection at St. Johns. It was a glorious Easter Day and we could sense God’s power at work in many hearts and lives. We hope you are continuing to be lifted into the glorious wonder of God’s resurrection. On Easter we started our Easter series, Resurrecting Hope. Hope is one of the essential tools for finding the goodness of life. Without hope we are thrust into the depths of despair, the clutches of discouragement, and the darkness of depression. Hope is never easy.  Our second sermon in this series is Living Hope. Hope can be very circumstantial in our hearts, lives, and mind. We are more hopeful when things are going well and when we’re not confronted with severe challenges. However, keeping hope alive in the dungeons of duress, the valleys of fear, or in the deep sea of doubt can be overwhelming. God wants to give us hope, especially a living hope! God’s Word for this week is 1 Peter 1:1-9. The Apostle Peter understands the highs and lows of life. He is the “poster child” for desiring to walk on the water but becoming so distracted that he begins to sink into the waves. Something changed Peter. It was Easter morning (he was one of the first to the tomb), but it was also the experience of resurrection power that came into the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost. He writes to these struggling believers, who were being beaten down by suffering, that power is available! A living hope can now empower our lives because God has brought Jesus out of the tomb! As Peter shares this living hope with them and us, he helps all of us, not just to “keep hope alive,” but to find the life of hope that gives us victory through Jesus Christ! Our prayer for you is to experience this resurrecting hope as you read 1 Peter 1:1-9.

1 Peter 1:1-9: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, ² who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith– of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire– may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  (NIV)