The purpose of these pages is to engage in some group study focussing specifically on the mid-week period of Tuesday to Thursday. We will post some scripture verses, and a few thoughts before throwing the conversation over to you. This is not a teaching session, use the prompts (and Google) to explore scripture and share relevant verses. Log in to the conversation as often or as infrequently as you like and if you wish to join in put your thoughts in the comments box at the bottom of the page.
The right frame of mind
Before you start to dive into this week’s bible study, take a few moments to calm your spirit. Get comfortable with your beverage of choice, your Bible and something to write with. Pray that God would give you the time to study and put to one side the concerns of the day. Breathe deeply for a few seconds and focus on who Jesus said he was…. CS Lewis wrote:
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
When you are ready move on…
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This week we will look at Hope from three perspectives.
- What is it?
- What does it do? and …
- How do we cultivate it?
What is it?
In modern times the word hope has come to mean a weak desire that something will happen. “I hope we will win this weekend” “I really hope my child will pass his exam” – Let’s put down at the start this concept of hope and look at ‘Biblical hope’.
The biblical words translated as ‘hope’ convey a much greater degree of certainty, trust and confidence. Faith and hope are tied together. We see God moving in our lives, answering prayer and we have faith and hope for the future. Rom 8:24-25. We see and sense the Holy Spirit working, and our faith grows; our hope is a strong and confident expectation that God will do all that He promised. The things unseen.
What does it do?
Watch the overview of John’s letters…
Our hope causes us to change our behaviour and to refocus our lives. To put it another way, as the Spirit works within us we change our focus, we strive for holiness, and our hope (our strong expectation) for things eternal flourishes and grows. Read Titus 2:1-13.
What is meant by hope in this context – we see that Hope can be an activity, or an object – that which we hope for.
Hope when it flourishes in our lives brings with it other blessings. See how many you can identify from the following verses.
Make a list….. Hope brings about….?
Heb 6:18-19, Rom 5:2, Rom 15:13, Psalm 31:24, Psalm 33:18, Col 1:5, There are many more, google ‘Hope in Jesus’ and see what else you can find. Hope is mentioned about 165 times in the bible (depending on which translation you use).
How do I develop it?
Pay attention to your daily walk with the Lord, and your prayer life. There are many warnings throughout the scriptures – “The hope of the Godless will perish” – Job 8, but “how blessed is he…. whose hope is the Lord his God” – PS 146
What is the theme here… Psa 62.5, Rom 15:4, 2 Thes 2:16,
ooo ††† ooo