Prisoners of Hope (Becoming Hopeful and Full of Hope)

Prisons of Hope: (Becoming Hopeful)

Prisons due to hopeless hope!

Proverbs 13:12 (NIV)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Isaiah 29:15 (New International Version)

15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” Hope

1. a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen."he looked through her belongings in the hope of coming across some information"

synonyms: aspiration, desire, wish, expectation, ambition,

Hopelessness: the despair you feel when you have abandoned hope of comfort or success

• It looms

Mass Killers

• Portrayed as socially isolated loners, but that's not quite accurate, said Katherine Newman, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University who has studied high-school and university shootings.
• "In fact, they are very rarely loners," Newman said. 
• But in general, their social experience is not one of easy incorporation."
• They experience rejection by their peers...They believe they're perceived as insignificant, Newman told LiveScience.

➢Virgina Tech; Sandy Hook; Columbine; Aurora Theater

➢62 mass shootings in the United States, from 1982 through 2012. 

➢In Chicago, 400 people in 2013 be cause for relief with the 503 killings of 2012

■ Biblical hope isn’t built upon an ideal future; but rather the promises of God.

Matthew 4:15-17 (AMP)

15 The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, in the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles [of the peoples who are not of Israel]—

16 The people who sat (dwelt enveloped) in darkness have seen a great Light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death Light has dawned.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, crying out, Repent (change your mind for the better, heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 

Matthew 4:15-17 (MSG)

12-17 When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah’s sermon: Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, road to the sea, over Jordan, Galilee, crossroads for the nations. People sitting out their lives in the dark saw a huge light; Sitting in that dark, dark country of death, they watched the sun come up.This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

➢Jesus was Hope!

• Messiah for the Jews
• Light for Gentiles in Darkness
• Salvation for ALL

■ Hope, in Scripture, is referred to as an anchor of our soul.

• An anchor looks @ future promises in order to gain inspiration for current adjustments in attitude, lifestyle, priorities, decisions, covenants, choices and actions.

• Anchor in scripture is considered to be steadfast and unmoveable

• Based upon a promise and oath from God

Hebrews 6:18-19

18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

Romans 5:2

2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Colossians 1:5

5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel

Zechariah 9:12

12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
    even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

➢When the gospel comes to any place, to any soul, light comes, 

➢a great light will shine more and more. 

➢It should be welcome others like a beacon or lighthouse...offering safe passage

➢His Light brings its own evidence with it. Truly this light is sweet.

➢ Having seen the LIGHT should inspire us to share it with those that sit in darkness, and we should readily entertain it, both because if is of such sovereign use to us and 

✔ Jesus making his 1st appearance in Zebulun and Naphtali reminds us that those who were once judged are redeemed!

✔ The message of Gospel should be hopeful and good news or it isn’t gospel

Challenge: Who are you called to share light with? What do you need to do so?