Victory Life KY

Light/Hope

Episode Summary

If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—SHINE!!

Episode Notes

• Matthew 5:13-16,MSG- Let me tell you why you are here...  You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. 
• If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—SHINE!!

• Jesus says this in John’s gospel, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me walks in that light."

• I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but light never tries to be light.

• If I make you light-bearers, you didn't think I would hide you under a bucket, did you? This is why our hope has to stay fixed on Him.

• Here’s the thing, if you're born again, you are light, and people will be drawn to it.

• God designed it this way because He created humanity.  He knows that in the heart of every human lies the desire to be connected to Jesus, even if they don't realize it yet.

• And regardless of your style, or personality, the power of the gospel will work through anyone who will trust in it more than their own abilities.

• So be light. And I really think the fire that keeps our light burning is God inspired hope.

• Vines dictionary, HOPE- a favorable, fixed, confident expectation. The happy anticipation of good.

• Think about it, what if you were overflowing with hope? I know I would much rather hang around those kind of people.

• Hebrews 10:23-25,NKJV-  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 
• And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 
• not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

• Remember, hope is this fixed, confident, expectation. But I can’t help but wonder of there are some who may have lost their hope, either in the middle of the storm, or for some because things have gotten nice and comfortable.

• Maybe this is why in v.35 the writer reminds us to hold fast our confidence. Why God? Because your My light in this dark world. And your hope in Me keeps your light burning. 

• Remember what Jesus told us in Matthew, If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—SHINE!!

• For the born again, this kind of hope, or should we say expectation, allows us to see into God’s world. After all, He is the God of hope.

• Romans 15:13,AMP- May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing, through the experience of your faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.

• Story about a survivor of a shipwreck. He found himself stranded on some small island. 
• After several weeks, discouragement set in. Heaven seemed silent and he was on the verge of giving up. 
• As he set there distraught and broken,  seemingly hopeless, a small thunderstorm rolled through and lightening struck the roof of his thatch hut and it caught fire. 
• As he sat on the beach crying a coast guard boat pulled on to the beach.
• "How did you find me?"
• "We saw the smoke from the fire you built signaling for help.”

• Here’s the thing, even when it looks its worst, never forfeit your hope. This is why it’s so important to have people around you that will encourage you.

• God asked Abraham, is anything to hard for the Lord? 

• Let this truth settle into your thinking, we are people of God. And of all people, we should be the ones overflowing with a confident anticipation of good. Bubbling over with God inspired hope.

• What if we were a little more intentional about helping one another stir up a little confident anticipation that God is still the Almighty.

• Here’s one thing for certain, the more we allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us, the brighter our hope, our confidence in Him shines.

• A major key to keeping this kind of God inspired hope up in our lives is by allowing the Holy Spirit to inspire our thinking.

• Remember what Jesus told us, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me walks in that light."

• In Matthew and Luke, Jesus said, “The light of the body is the eye, and if the eye is single, the whole body will be full of light.”

• Our challenge today is that we’re so double, triple, minded. Seriously, who knows how bombarded our minds really are with everything but Him. 

• This is why Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4, “Stop going along with the empty-headed, mindless crowd.”

• We have to make room in our thinking for some God inspired hope.

• After all, it’s only God inspired hope that faith can actually be the substance of according to Hebrews 11.

• Romans 4 reminds us that when everything was hopeless, Abraham believed God anyway, choosing to live his life solely on what God told him.

• This is why He inspire us to be transformed. To get our expectations up.

• Seriously, today’s the day the Lord has given us, so why not start right now getting our hopes up?

• Remember hope, a favorable, fixed, confident expectation. The happy anticipation of good.

• The Bible is full of inspiring stories of how to tap into this kind of hope, right in the middle of very challenging circumstances.

• Acts 16:25-26,NIV- About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 
• Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.

• This is why Paul instructed us to cast down every though that tries to exalt itself above who we are in Christ. And help each other stir up hope.

• Right now we should be expecting the God of the Bible to be exactly that?

• Let me ask you this, would you say you’re overflowing with expectation right now? 

• Do you have a happy anticipation of good in this current situation?

• In other words, you got any hope?

• One certainty that God has shown me as I grow closer to Him is that He wants us in total expectation and dependency on Him.

• One of my favorite statements from King David is, “I will pitch my tent in the land of hope.”

• Here’s thing, it takes absolutely no faith to be negative, discouraged, unbelieving, critical and judgemental, but that’s not who we are! Let’s stop allowing the things around us dictate who and what we are!!

• Psalm 37:1-6,NKJV- Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 
• For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. 
• Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 
• Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 
• Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 
• He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.”

• We’re the light of the world. This is why God tells us, IfI make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—SHINE!!