Hope Gives You Strength | Week 1 | Christmas at The Crossing

In this first weekend of the Advent or Christmas season, we focus on the idea of Hope.

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 (HCSB)

Hope: A Strong and Confident Expectation

7 When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of strong men perishes. The strong man hopes in his physical strength, his money, or power or position, but ultimately, it must perish.

Proverbs 11:7

Prologue

Ancient Babylon

CHAPTER 1: Hope Perseveres In Difficult Situations

11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11  NIV

1 This is the text of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exiles, the priests, the prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Jeremiah 29:1 (HCSB)

10 For this is what the Lord says: “When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore you to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:10-11 (HCSB)

12 You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you” — this is the Lord’s declaration.

Jeremiah 29:12-14 (HCSB)

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, bu shots in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

CHAPTER 2: Hope Gives Us Strength

4 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. 7 Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper.”

Jeremiah 29:4-7 (HCSB)

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah

3 The king (Nebuchadnezzar) ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his court officials, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility —4 young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace — and to teach them the Chaldean language and literature.

Daniel 1:3-4 (HCSB)

5 The king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank. They were to be trained for three years, and at the end of that time they were to serve in the king’s court. 6 Among them, from the descendants of Judah, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them other names: he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah.

Daniel 1:5-7 (HCSB)

8 Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief official not to defile himself. 9 God had granted Daniel favor and compassion from the chief official,

Daniel 1:8-9 (HCSB)

19 The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they began to serve in the king’s court. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king consulted them about, he found them 10 times[a] better than all the diviner-priests and mediums in his entire kingdom.

Daniel 1:19-20 (HCSB)

6 But if you make the dream and its interpretation known to me, you’ll receive gifts, a reward, and great honor from me.

Daniel 2:6 (HCSB)

17 Then Daniel went to his house and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the matter, 18 urging them to ask the God of heaven for mercy concerning this mystery, so Daniel and his friends would not be killed with the rest of Babylon’s wise men. 19 The mystery was then revealed to Daniel in a vision at night, and Daniel praised the God of heaven.

Daniel 2:17-19 ()HCSB)

48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.

Daniel 2:48-49 (HCSB)

CHAPTER 3: Hope IGives Us Boldness

1 King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue, 90 feet high and nine feet wide.[a] He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Daniel 3:1 (HCSB)

4 A herald loudly proclaimed, “People of every nation and language, you are commanded: 5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”

Daniel 3:4-6 (HCSB)

15 Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire—and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”

Daniel 3:15 (HCSB)

7 … strong man hopes in his physical strength, his money, or power or position, but ultimately, it must perish.

Proverbs 11:7b

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question. 17 If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king. 18 But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”

Daniel 3:16-18 (HCSB)

25 (Nebuchadnezzar) He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and called: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God—come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. 27 When the satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s advisers gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.

Daniel 3:25-27 (HCSB)

Charles Spurgeon

 Hope itself is like a star – not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity.

3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

1 Peter 1:3-4 (HCSB)