Bible Session - 10-8-12

FAITH – HOPE - LOVE

Bible Drill: 1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.

Message: The first part of our I Corinthians 13:13 study began last week with faith.  This week we are looking at Hope.

So what is hope?  As usual, I‘m going to Dictionary.com for my textbook answer.

1.       Noun - Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best

2.       Verb – Hope is to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence

What is something you are looking forward to?  What is something you have hoped for?

I’m focusing on these two definitions of hope (feeling like events will turn out for the best, looking forward to something believing it will happen) because it is so easy to look at the circumstances currently surrounding us in our lives and give up hope.  To quit trying.  To walk away from something important to us, because maybe right now it just seems too hard. To give up hope.

What is something you have “given up hope” on?

The Bible says, that we have been justified through faith and now have peace with God through Jesus Christ.  We not only rejoice in this, but we also rejoice in suffering, because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

Bible Drill: Romans 5:5  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 

None of us likes to suffer, to be injured, hurt, sad, and so on, but in our times of suffering, we can become stronger, and we can grow in our faith and in our hope.  Then right there in the middle of the pain, God meets us in that place of hope and fills our hearts with his love.

Bible Drill: Isaiah 49:23c  Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

What is the key here?  Hope in the Lord!  If you are hoping that someone you know breaks their leg, so you can get their spot on the soccer team, that is not “Hoping in the Lord.”  That is obviously not something God would approve of, so you may likely be disappointed.  But if your hope is that a friend will be healed, or that he or she will decide to accept Jesus as his or her savior, then that is something God would approve of and you can hope in him!  Especially if he has told you it is going to happen!   It makes the waiting seem less long, when you know that God is not going to disappoint.

Bible Drill: Psalm 62:5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

If you are feeling stressed out about something, you can find rest in God.  Your HOPE comes from him.  Trust in his faithfulness and his timing.  Put your faith in Jesus Christ and put your hope in him as well. 

MEMORY VERSE
Psalm 62:5 – Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.

Bonus Verse
I Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.