Share a Little Hope Today

1THESS. 4:18

Subject: The Rapture

Theme: Our Rapture Hope gives encouragement and strength when facing challenges, and the coming of our Lord Jesus fills each day with strengthening  anticipations.  

Introduction:

If you asked the average well-informed person, “What is hope?” They would basically say, “Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.” (Wikipedia) Natural “hope” is typically used to indicate a wish: its potency rests in the strength of the person’s desire. Also, it is largely dependent upon positive external developments or conditions. This is the extent of natural hope. In contrast, it is in the Bible that spiritual Hope is presented as the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in the well-documented faithfulness of Almighty God.

“Hope” is commonly nothing more than wishful thinking or earnest desires. Again the Word of God; however, portrays the confident expectation of what God has promised. The Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary says,

Hope: Confident expectancy. In the Bible, the word hope stands for both the act of hoping (Rom 4:18; 1 Cor 9:10) and the thing hoped for (Col 1:5; 1 Peter 1:3). Hope does not arise from the individual's desires or wishes but from God, who is Himself the believer's hope: "My hope is in Thee" (Ps 39:7). Genuine hope is not wishful thinking, but a firm assurance about things that are unseen and still in the future (Rom 8:24-25; Heb 11:1,7).

“Hope” then is a fascinating concept found throughout the Scriptures and certainly in this passage (1Thess. 4:13-18). Biblical hope points to a sure expectation of good and positive developments; it is far more than merely desiring or wanting something favorable to happen. God primarily uses the term to give promises and discuss events that will occur...it’s just a matter of when and not if. God gives His people hope; He is the Source of all meaningful hope in this life and the next! With regards to our salvation, believers have a joyful and confident anticipation of full eternal salvation—forever with the Lord. Repeatedly, in our New Testament, hope is identified with the consummation of our redemption promises at the coming of the Lord Jesus in the Rapture. Beloved, we have glorious anticipations because of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Hope is a much-needed ingredient in our modern culture. Despair is the sense of no hope or of not having any hope left. Despair means to lose hope and often refers to the complete loss or absence of hope. Desperation, despondency, and hopelessness are painfully very real, and even people of great wealth, fame, and celebrity have fallen prey to its incredible power. Actor and comedian Robin Williams, actress and model Marilyn Monroe, famous novelist Ernest Hemingway, Olympic medalist skier Jaret “Speedy” Peterson, and scores of other celebrities took their own lives while in the grips of despair and depression. Suicide is the fruits of despair and persists as an alarming problem in the USA and the world,

There is 1 suicide for every 25 attempted suicides. Males make up 79% of all suicides, while women are more prone to having suicidal thoughts. 1 in 65,000 children ages 10 to 14 dies by suicide each year. There are 2 times as many deaths due to suicide than HIV/AIDS. Over 38,000 Americans die by suicide every year. In the U.S., suicide rates are highest during the spring. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15 to 24-year-olds and 2nd for 24 to 35-year-olds. On average, 1 person dies by suicide every 16.2 minutes. (DoSomething.org)

Atheism and other systems of non-belief not only deprive its adherents of viable faith-answers but leave them with zero hope. This is difficult because hope is what helps people continue without giving up or quitting on life. Hope moves us to dream big and pursue our greatest aspirations. Hope enable us to complete the degree programs, launch meaningful careers, and envision a better future. Hope gives us reason to live...to continue to live--suicide ceases to be an option where hope thrives. Too many young people take their lives essentially because they have no sense of hope. With that being the case, how can we share a little hope today?

Lesson:

The Obligations to Share Our Hope (Vs 18)

1Thes 4:18, Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The word "wherefore" points us back to the Rapture hope Paul has just disclosed. This hope comforts us in death and affords us a wonderful anticipation every day of life. Knowing this incredible truth is great, but it is better to share it with others.

The word “comfort” means to console, encourage, and strengthen by consolation or instructions. It is similar to the Holy Spirit who comes along side His people as the Great Comforter. God is telling us to become ‘comforters,’ Purveyors of Hope, to each other with our Rapture Hope!! Our obligation is to spread, tell, and transmit this hope to others, especially the hopeless. Beloved, we are to seize occasions to spread the hope of Jesus Christ and His coming for His people in the Rapture. So, when should we be busy with this ministry of comfort and encouragement?

IN TIMES OF SORROW, RECALL YOUR COMFORTING HOPE (Jn. 14:1-6)

We are not to let our hearts be troubled; instead we are to believe God and Christ Jesus! Our Lord said He would come for us and He will in due time. The Rapture is the reason we do not sorrow in a hopeless and despairing fashion (1Thess. 4:13). While it is perfectly normal to grieve over deceased love ones, we have no reason to hopelessly despair. God and Christ are our HOPE! We have the wonderful hope of seeing our family members and fellow church family again. God gave us such hope in the promise of the Rapture. We must take responsibility to hope in the Lord and draw encouragement from truths like these biblical promises. 

                      1.  Learn to Encourage Yourself with This Hope

Remember David in Ziklag—1Sam. 30:1-10, (v. 6) “...but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” As much as possible, cause your mind to concentrate and meditate on Rapture passages along with other hope-filled promises of God. Use these to lift your own spirits...to think on the truth, which frees us from despair. Concentrate on passages of assurance and faith to ally your hope in the Lord.

                     2. Once again consider what the Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary says about the sources of hope,

Christian hope comes from God (Rom 15:13) and especially His calling (Eph 1:18; 4:4), His grace (2 Thess 2:16), His Word (Rom 15:4) and His gospel (Col 1:23). Hope is directed toward God (Acts 24:15; 1 Peter 1:21) and Christ (1 Thess 1:3; 1 Tim 1:1). Its appropriate objects are eternal life (Titus 1:2; 3:7), salvation (1 Thess 5:8), righteousness (Gal 5:5), the glory of God (Rom 5:2; Col 1:27), the appearing of Christ (Titus 2:13) and the resurrection from the dead (Acts 23:6; 26:6-7).

                     3. Passages like Romans 15:13-14 are a tremendous help stating,

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. (KJV)

Our God is the author and designer of hope, and through our faith He can cause hope to overflow in our experiences through the grand workings of the Spirit of God! Such hope will issue out in joy and peace. That is a joyous anticipation stirred by hope and a tranquil assurance also afford by this potent hope from God. Beloved, there is tremendous delight and grace ushered into our lives through confidence in the God of hope!

                      4. Also consider 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, where Paul says,

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. (KJV)

God graciously gives everlasting consolation and good hope to His trusting and abiding people. Look to Him!

                      5. This glorious hope revives our courage for the way,

When each in expectation lives and longs to see the day

When from sorrow, toil, pain and sin, we shall be free,

And perfect love and joy shall reign throughout all eternity.—John Fawcett

IN TIMES OF STRUGGLE, GIVE OTHERS THIS COMFORTING HOPE

In all the challenges of life become God’s instrument of encouragement in light of our Lord’s return for us.

                      1.  Determine to Encourage Others with This Hope in Times of Suffering, Great Trials, and Persecution. We have Hope beyond this life, which cannot be taken away; therefore, we can boldly stand for our Lord and His truth.  (Paul & Timothy in 2Tim. 4:1-8)

                      2.  Determine to Share This Hope with the Lost of Your Family & Community Before it is Eternally to Late for Them! People desperately need the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and a relationship with the Father. Point them to the Source of Hope! 

Sweet By-And-By

The gifted Christian musician Joseph T. Webster was often tormented by deep feelings of depression. On one occasion, when he was in a melancholy mood, he received a visit from his close acquaintance Fillmore Bennett.

Knowing that one way to keep Webster from brooding over his problems was to interest him in writing a hymn tune, Bennett decided he’d try to pen some lyrics that would direct his friend’s thoughts heavenward. The despondent man himself unwittingly supplied the theme, for when he was asked, “What’s the matter now?” he replied, “Oh, it will be all right by and by!” “That’s true,” exclaimed Bennett, “trials do generate great glory for us in the sweet by-and-by!”

Inspired by this thought, he immediately sat down and wrote several poetic verses on the subject. When his friend read them, a new look of hope came into his eyes, and his whole attitude changed. After jotting down some musical notes, Webster took up his violin and played the melody he had composed to fit the words. Within half an hour the enduring hymn “In the Sweet By-and-By” was born. –Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations

Conclusion:

Our Rapture Hope thrills, cheers, and comforts us through life and death. It brings encouragement and strength in the face of death and fills our lives with the enduring prospect of our coming Lord Jesus. Give God praise for the certainty about your eternal destiny that you as a child of God enjoy. Live this day in that confidence. Share this Rapture Hope with others, that no one you love will be left behind!

Unsinkable Ship

At the time of the sinking of the Titanic, one of our great American preachers was in Belfast, Ireland. The Titanic had been built in Belfast, and there was a great local pride over the mighty ship. She had been heralded far and wide as “the unsinkable ship.” Sixteen members of the church in Belfast, all skilled mechanics, went down with her. The mayor said that Belfast had never been in such grief as that which came over this terrible tragedy. When the news finally was verified that the gallant ship was certainly lost, so deep was the grief that it is said strong men met upon the streets, grasped each other’s hands, burst into tears, and parted without a word.

The visiting American preached the Sunday after the tragedy in the church to which the sixteen members who had been lost belonged. Not only was the building packed with peoples but on the platform were lords, bishops, and ministers of all denominations. In the audience, many newly-made widows were sitting and orphans were sobbing on every side. The great preacher took as his subject “The Unsinkable Ship.” But he did not apply that term to the Titanic which on her first voyage had gone out into the Atlantic and crashed into an iceberg, carrying her precious cargo of human lives down to watery death.

No, the preacher’s message was about that other “unsinkable ship”—the frail boat on the sea of Galilee, unsinkable because the Master of land and sea was asleep on a pillow in the afterpart of the vessel. Thank God He still lives and rides the billows and controls the storms, and when the children of men take their only true Pilot back on board, we will ride out the present storms and He will bring the vessel through to the fair harbor of our hopes. —American Fundamentalist

I challenge you likewise to be “unsinkable.” Refuse to drown in the sorrows and hard times life will hit you with. No matter how high the waves of despair may tower over you...and how hard and often they crash on the shore of your conscience, you are not defenseless. Use the hope of Christ’s coming to keep you afloat when your heart is breaking, and the pain seems too much to bare. Use God's hope like a life preserver to rescue those who are sinking in discouragement, depression, frustration, pain and sorrow. Refuse to sink under the waves of sorrows and billows of desperation; be unsinkable! Use this Hope in Christ to lift you until Christ comes and catches us away!

In every life there will be some “dark valleys.” Difficult days cannot be avoided. In fact, the lives of some believers seem to be filled with affliction and suffering. But for the child of God, there is glorious relief just ahead … the return of Christ and the promise of a land of endless delight. The prospect of Gods’ tomorrow also means a time of joyous reunion with loved ones who have preceded us. Truly “there’ll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes…”—Osbeck, Kenneth W.: Amazing Grace

Today...this day...share a little hope. First encourage yourself in the Lord, and then carry a little hope everywhere you go. You will find that you will always have a robust ministry as you whisper comfort to discouraged hearts with hope in Jesus. Be God's ambassador of HOPE today!