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Sunday 3/01/26
Title: The Bricks in our House of Hope
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The Bricks in our House of Hope
We’ve been learning more about faith for nearly two months now and we have learned some things!
We’ve learned that faith is the support for our hope in Hebrews 11:1 –
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:2That it is THE way all those who went before us obtained a living testimony which pleased God
“By it the elders (those who have gone before us, having run the race to the satisfaction and delight of God our Father) obtained a good report or living testimony.”
Hebrew 11:6
And that without faith – which is just relational trust in what we have come to know of God is one of the primary ways to please Him –
“Without faith it is impossible to please God FOR WHOEVER COMES TO GOD”which is part of what pleases Him. “must first believe He even exists, but also that He will reward the one who comes.”
Taking all of this together with the fact that is was through a compromise in trust which caused our fall from God in the garden – we know that God is pleased by being sought after and believed in.
God rewards all such seeking in trust!
Now since trust IS tied forever to Hope you really can’t teach one without the other.
As I told you over the course of the last several weeks, there are 3 basic sources of Hope in relation to God.
- God’s inspired, written word.
- The inward witness, leading, counsel and teaching of the Holy Spirit.
- What we have come to experience of God ourselves.
The 2nd and 3rd in this list NEVER go beyond what the written word has already revealed!
But the most powerful of all three is our experience!
James temptation – draw away – deceived – gifts – His Creatures – receive word – hear & and do
Now last week we spent time in James who taught us about faith during trials.
We covered how temptations come for the express purpose of drawing us away from relational trust in God. Which means, there must be a dimension in which you we already close to Him or there would be nothing to be drawn away from.
Also, that this relationship is a threat to the ongoing expression of the devils influence over us which is why he is attacking it – so this is WHY we can count it JOY. Not because we have an opportunity to defeat the devil in our lives, but because when the approved character of our faith and hearts is established through this temptation, God will honor us with knowing Him more!
The devil sees something in your intimacy with God that is a threat to his kingdom advancing in your heart and it is rooted in knowing God relationally. So when you are being tempted realize, there is something of tremendous value in your immediate relationship with God which is worth launching an attack against.
Again, the joy is not found in the threat to the enemy, but in our intimacy with God!
Then James encouraged us to NOT fall for the lie that the devil, in his temptation of us, will attempt to deceive us into believing – namely, that life can be found elsewhere.
What did James say? “Don’t be deceived EVERY GOOD gift and perfect gift comes from above, down from the Father of lights in Whom there is no variation, and not chance of being different”
We discovered that “good” and “perfect” were speaking about that which is TRULY and HONESTLY profitable to us as God’s children. Also that which can cause us to reach maturity and be found in want of nothing in regard to our Soul Health – also known as “ Christ being formed in us”!
This is why the next words James said were that it was God’s idea, not ours, to recreate us so as to become creatures who are LIKE HIM.
The rest of the chapter capitalized on this truth!
Now we did this so as to better understand HOPE, because FAITH is the foundational support beneath our Hope in God. But we have to be careful to not be deceived into thinking the things the devil is tempting us with are those things. If it is coming from God – it will be good and perfect, meaning it will be what is truly good for your spiritual health and it will mature you into Christ’s image!
This week we are going to go a little further with this by reading 1 Peter chapter 1.
It has a direct connection with what we have been learning for weeks, but specifically what we covered last week.
James told us to receive with a meek, quiet and teachable heart the engraved word which is able to save our souls, by not only hearing, but producing fruit from the word which was sown into our engrafted onto our souls!
This is a fanciful and metaphorical way of saying “producing Christ in you”.
One of the BIG lessons from last week is that all of our little expressions of hope in God need to be linked to our GREAT hope in God.
Our great hope is “Christ in us” according to Colossians 1:27.
So if the house of hope which faith is supporting as a foundation IS our maturation into Christ’s image, then all the bricks of hope which make up that structure must in SOME way be connected to the final product of Christ in us.
Offer examples: Salvation of a loved one, financial blessing (testimony, able to give…etc.), healing…etc.
So, have you arrived at 1 Peter 1 yet?
1 Peter 1:1-25,
“(1) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ: To the temporary residents of the Dispersion in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen (2) according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and set apart by the Spirit for obedience and for the sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
(3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a LIVING HOPEthrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, (5) who are being protected by God’s power through faithfor a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
(6) You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to be distressed by various trials (same word as in James) (7) SO THAT the genuineness of your faith–more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire–may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Remember that James told us that this trial proves YOU. Peter here says it proves your FAITH.
“(8) You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, (9) because you are receiving THE GOAL OF YOUR FAITH, THE SALVATION OF YOUR SOULS.”
“(10) Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. (11) They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow.
(12) It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you concerning things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.
Angels desire to look into these things.
(13) Therefore, get your minds ready for action, being self-disciplined, and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
This is both a progressive day-by-day occurrence and a once and done one at His return!
“(14) As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance (15) but, as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; (16) for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.”
“(17) And if you address as Father the One Who judges impartially based on each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during this time of temporary residence.
(18) For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things, like silver or gold, (19) but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.
(20) He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the times for you (21) who through Him are believers in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, SO THAT YOUR FAITH AND HOPE ARE IN GOD.”
“(22) By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, (23) since you have been born again–not of perishable seed but of imperishable–through the living and enduring word of God.
(24) For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower drops off, (25) but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached as the gospel to you.”
Blessings!
