Title: With a Living Hope...
Contents
Text: 1 Peter 1:3-6
With a living hope...
We have just entered the new year of 2011. When the year changes and a new year arrives, people replace everything with something new and start anew with a new feeling. When we are in the Lord, we can experience all new things. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." This word invites everyone to something new. Today's text is the lyrics of a hymn introduced by Peter. The text begins with the words 'Blessed be you' and hopes that the reader will sing praises with the following content.
Its content is to praise God, who through the resurrection of Jesus Christ has regenerated us to a living hope. From these words, we can see that there is a living hope in the life of being born again. Here is the living hope, as verse 6 says, although we had to be grieved for a while due to various trials, but rather we rejoice greatly and endure all kinds of trials with our faith, which is more precious than gold refined by fire. Hallelujah! And as verse 9 says, 'the end of your faith, that is, the salvation of your soul'. If I summarize this precious mountain wish,
First, living hope does not perish.
Standing water rots, but running water does not rot. If you draw natural mineral water and leave it for a few days, the water will rot. However, the water on a ship sailing the sea does not spoil even after several months. Why? Floating water in the house is stagnant water. It will rot soon. However, the water on board does not rot because it is always moving with the waves of the sea. Living hope always moves like this. It makes you run towards the target to get it. Therefore, believers with hope are stagnant and do not decay. I pray in the name of the Lord that all of the Seongsan family will have a living and living hope that will not stand still in 2011.
Second, living hope is not defiled.
If the religious life is stagnant, it will not grow and will rot and become dirty. Therefore, Christians who look to heaven and have the hope of salvation must wash their hearts to keep a clean heart with a renewed heart every day. That's why Revelation 22:14 says, "Blessed are those who wash their robes." Christians with a living hope are not defiled. I hope that you have a living hope in the new year 2011, in the name of the Lord.
Third, a living hope enables us to inherit God's heritage that never fades.
The heart of the saints who have a living hope does not fade, so they will inherit the inheritance of God that does not fade. Hallelujah! Even if you retire at an old age, there are plenty of places to serve in the inheritance of God's kingdom. Those who have a living hope will carry out their mission well until the Lord comes again, and when they stand before the Lord, they will receive the praise of the Lord, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant, since you were faithful in small things, I will entrust you with great things. It's possible.
Hallelujah! Then what kind of hope should the saints have? Faith, hope, and love will always exist, and the greatest of these is love. You misunderstand the words of 1 Corinthians 13:13, and you think that faith and hope are nothing but love. This is a misunderstanding. Think about it, everyone! Faith is the substance of things hoped for, that is, is not faith the substance of hope? And love is the fruit of hope. So, faith, hope, and love always coexist, and from the perspective of hope, believers must always have two hopes.
① You must have the hope of faith.
The hope of faith is obtained as a gift of grace, and it is the hope of eternal life. The hope of eternal life is the hope of a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no tears, no more death, no more mourning, crying, or pain. The pursuit of worldly happiness is the process leading to death. It's just a temporary wish. But the true hope is the living hope of Jesus Christ, who illuminates the dark places of society and heals the sick. Now we must preach the gospel, the living hope. That living hope is the hope of eternal faith, that is, the preaching of the gospel, the news of eternal life. I hope you have the living hope of faith, I bless you in the name of the Lord.
② We must have hope for love.
Since love is manifested as the fruit of hope, the seed without hope does not germinate, flower, or bear fruit. Since the 1970s, Korea has been living in the image of rushing with catchy phrases such as 'faster than others', 'bigger than others', and 'higher than others' amid changes in growth and expansion. Therefore, we have become a society that does not consider and care about others and struggles to survive mainly by competition. Where this love dries up, the church's mission is to spread the gospel of the love of the Lord Jesus, which is like lubricant for machines. In the new year of 2011, let's love more in 2010 than last year. Images of love spread quickly. I bless you in the name of the Lord that you spread the hope of love and the gospel to our homes, our churches and departments, our neighborhoods, and our country.
I will conclude
In the new year of 2011, let's build our church as a factory of living hope that supplies fresh energy. So, in the name of the Lord, I bless you in the name of the Lord that you have a blessed 2011, Blessed Seongsan Church, blessed saints, who inherit the inheritance of the incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading kingdom of God and share the hope of faith and love.