HAVING A CONFIDENT EXPECTATION

(Highlights from Pastor John Keatings’s Sunday message on November 10, 2024)

Our slogan, here at Hope Centre, is “When we have given HOPE, We’ve given Christ.” HOPE is so important for us today. We all should have HOPE for a good day, for a good and prosperous future, Young people HOPE for a good career, for marriage, and to have a loving and happy family. We should HOPE for peace to be present in our country, that we have no wars. We should also pray and HOPE for peace to be established where war is present now. Psalm 122:6, God commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

I believe that a serious lack of HOPE is one of the many social and spiritual problems in our country today. There is a lack of knowledge of God, so hopelessness is present. When people are hopeless, they do many things, driven by despair. We hear of various hideous crimes committed and we ask how people can do that to each other. (School shootings, suicides murder/suicides and the list goes on).

Our country has forsaken God in our schools, so unless kids have parents that know God, they grow up not even knowing the Ten Commandments, John 3:16, or the Lord’s Prayer. Mostly, when they hear God mentioned, it is a swear word or it is in scorn. That makes the work of the church crystal clear. The message of the love of God, is one that gives HOPE to all that hears it. With God in our lives, we always have a person to cry out to and it brings HOPE.

The biblical definition of HOPE is having “a confident expectation” that the promises of God are true and will happen for us.  Psalm 39:7 says, “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.” In the New Living Translation, it says, “ And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.”

The “HOPE” that the Bible is talking about is a HOPE in Yahweh in the old Covenant, and Christ in the new Covenant. Romans 8:24-25, “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”

This kind of hope is a hope in the character of God. As we know Him better, our hope grows.  We know that it is impossible for Him to lie, so His promises are assured.

Jeremiah 17:7 - “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river…”

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

When we know the character of God better, we know that we can have a confident expectation of what God promised in the Bible is a sure thing. We can trust God that if we know the will of God on what we are asking for, we will have it.

Yes, He will never leave us nor abandon or forsake us. He has never forsaken anyone in the past and he will never forsake any of us either. The Lord is really my helper, so I will have no fear.

Some people give up and loose HOPE, coming to the conclusion that God has abandon them. Of course, this is a lie from the enemy. I don’t know why some people have to wait a long time to get their prayers answered. I think the prudent thing to do is to examine oneself to see if something comes up. If you ask the Lord and there is, I believe He will show it to you. The Bible mentions unforgiveness as a hinderance to prayer. Also, do you have a pure heart? The Bible terms it “asking amiss”. It means asking with the wrong motives. Maybe there is nothing wrong, but a lengthy wait is so that the virtue of patience will be matured in us. (James 1:2-8; 2 Peter 1:5-9)

When Heather and I started coming to Hope Centre, our confident expectation was and is, that we will be used here in some way to affect peoples lives and encourage everyone we encounter including new people to develop a closer walk with God. He is faithful to encourage us and to reassure us, that we are in His will. I know He has more, we cannot effectively encourage others by ourselves, that would be human effort. Drawing close to God is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. We are confident that Holy Spirit will effectively influence people to experience God and to know Him better.

We have a confident expectation that everything we have placed in His care will be ours. By faith we have received it already. Faith brings it into the present. Even though we do not have it in the physical now, faith brings it in the present in the spirit realm. My encouragement for us today is to hope in the Lord. Do not waver in that hope. Believe God through the testing times, not being double minded. You will receive what God has for you. He is a trustworthy God.