Living Hope

1 John 4:1-6 Test before you trust. That’s a good mantra for just about anything, isn’t it? Sometimes there’s a need to test things out before you buy them or before you pull the trigger on a decision. Having a healthy skepticism can be a fine thing. How much more is that true when it comes our spiritual welfare. In 1 John 4, the apostle John urges us to “test the spirits to see if they are from God.” Today, we’ll look at what that means and how we go about doing it.

1 John 1:5 - 2:2 In God there is no darkness, none at all whatsoever. If God is light then he cannot contain darkness. In the Bible, light often refers to truth and good behavior. Darkness often refers to error and evil behavior. We have the darkness of sin in us, so how could we have fellowship with God, who is light? Our answer is Jesus—the purifier, the advocate, the atoning sacrifice, who takes away our sin so we can walk with God in the light.

1 John 1:1:1-4 Here’s the spiritual tension we wrestle with. It’s this – that sometimes it feels difficult for me to stake my convictions about life in this world and the afterlife on faith alone. But today, looking at the words of 1 John you will learn that you can stake your claim on the risen Christ with certainty and enjoy all the benefits of what becomes yours through faith in your risen Savior.

Job 19:23-27 Easter teaches us that Christ is the firstfruits of those who have died. Just as Christ rose, “so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). That changes everything: the way we grieve the death of a Christian loved one, the way we feel when our health fails, the way we look at the purpose of life right now. Let us rejoice in this resurrection reality: All will be made alive because we know that our Redeemer lives!

Psalm 22

Zechariah 9:9-12 What is a "prisoner of hope"? King Jesus comes riding into your life to show you the kind of hope you can have for every day.

John 12:20-33 There is a devoted commitment at the center of Christianity, but it is not man’s commitment to God. Instead, at the heart of Christianity we find God’s devotion and commitment to us. It is a devoted commitment so strong that it put God on the cross.

Numbers 21:4-9 While not every religion uses the word “sin,” they all embrace the concept. Every religion acknowledges that mankind’s flawed attitudes or misguided actions are a source of pain, both now and potentially in eternity. So, every religion offers a solution: a set of laws, a moral code, a path to more enlightened behavior. What do they have in common? We are to solve sin through human effort. Be better! Try harder! This is the heart of every false religion. Those who correctly understand they will never overcome their sin are crushed by guilt. Those who believe they have defeated their sin are killed by pride. True religion offers a better way—one that frees us from guilt and has no room for pride. Jesus teaches that the solution to our sin is not to work harder. It is to trust in the work he has done for us. Salvation comes through Spirit-wrought faith in Christ.

John 2:13-22 Person A never attends worship. He can’t see the point. Person B attends every week out of a slavish sense of obligation. Her mind wanders during the services, for she views the activities of worship merely as tasks for her to complete. Who is worse off? Rather than debating the point, let us just admit neither understand the true worth of worship. And that is exactly what Satan wants. Many think worship is about what we do for God. It is the other way around. As we gather around Word and sacrament, the Spirit moves us to love and trust in God above all things. Moved by the cross of Christ, we bow down before our God. We commune with him. And that’s exactly what God wants.

Mark 8:31-38 Today, Jesus asks us to rethink suffering under the cross. It is not pointless pain. Our crosses are not how we pay for sin. Jesus already did that on his cross. Our crosses are not redemptive, but they are constructive. Any suffering unbelievers face is only bad, a foretaste of worse to come. But the suffering believers face under the cross is only good, a way Christ connects us tightly to himself with battle-tested faith.

Genesis 22:1-18 “If God loves us, why doesn’t he remove all the trials and tests and temptations that we face?” That question demonstrates the religious assumption that those things are bad. They aren’t. In the hands of a loving God, they are tools by which he refines our faith. He uses tests as a way to compel us to be less self-reliant, and instead trust in his strength. He uses trials to teach us that this broken world is not our true home. God even takes Satan’s temptations and uses them for our good. Trials, tests, and temptations are not exceptions to God’s love. That’s a false assumption! These are examples of God’s love. Proof is that God allowed his beloved Son Jesus to face trials and temptations, so that he might be our perfect savior and substitute.

John 4:5-26 Jesus traveled through Samaria. No one expected him to go there. The Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along. But Jesus took the difficult route no one expected because there was a certain woman at a well who needed to meet Jesus that day. Sometimes as we spread the good news of Jesus it might mean taking the more difficult or more inconvenient route. But there are more, like that Samaritan woman, who need to meet Jesus today too.

Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Today’s Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy contains a promise about a great prophet who would come to speak for the Lord and have the words of the Lord in his mouth. The echo of that promise reaches all the way to Christ and he proves himself to be the true Prophet who speaks God true Word for us. And, in Christ, that word is full of grace and forgiveness for his people.

2 Corinthians 1:18-22 “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Today we get to explore the amazing answers our God gives us in his Son Jesus. In Him we find the answer to his every good promise. God’s answer is always “Yes!” in Christ.

Mission Sunday 4 Lessons This is a service to refocus us on our mission as a church. 4 Lessons on each of Living Hope's core values. Hymns are interspersed between the lessons.

Isaiah 49:1-6 In this Epiphany sermon series we’ve been looking at the identity of Christ, and this week he shows himself to be the secret weapon of the Lord—unleashed at just the right time to destroy our enemies. He also shows himself to be the true Servant of the Lord. He is what Israel was supposed to be. He displays God’s grace and power to all the world. We have echoes of Christ’s identity for our own callings too. God uses us as his unassuming secret weapons in the fight against sin in this world—pointing others to Christ. As the Lord’s servants we shine his light to the world.

Numbers 24:15-17 We need a star and a scepter. Or, what we really need is someone to act as a star and a ruler holding a scepter for us. As a human race, so often we’ve lost our way. We need the bright Morning Star. We also need someone with a mighty scepter to rule over us and protect us from our enemies. Through the words of an unlikely messenger for God, we get to hear about the one who will be the star wielding a scepter for us.

Luke 2:1-20 The first Christmas Eve looked like a train wreck. No room in the inn. A baby born in a cold, smelly barn. Rough shepherds the only ones there to celebrate the birth of God’s Son. A wicked king who wanted to kill every baby boy in town. A mess... But out of that mess comes our unexpected hope. A Savior who enters into our messy world to save us from our own personal train wrecks. He knows you. He gets you. He saves you. Christmas means there is always hope because He has come to be with us. Let's gather around the manger tonight to celebrate the gift of unexpected HOPE.

Luke 2:28-32 Simeon was ready for the Lord to dismiss him from this world in peace because he had seen the salvation and glory of God in Jesus. He had all he needed now and could look forward to the result of the salvation God had shown him – eternal life in heaven. Unless the Lord comes back within the next 100 years, all of us here today will also make our departures. And so we want to become like Simeon. He was ready to depart in peace because he’d seen God’s salvation for him. Today we’ll explore Simeon’s song so we too can be fully at peace even right now. So we will be ready to be dismissed whenever God calls us.

Luke 1:67-79 Even as we confront doubts in our own life, Zechariah’s song can be our song when we see that God always keeps his promises.