September 1 Sermon and Announcements

 CERRO GORDO CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN

September 1, 2024

The Lord Promises to Give Us Hope

Isaiah 40:31

Depending on the version of the Bible you use, the word "hope" can be

found 130 times in the King James version and as often as 167 times in

the New International version. There are different reasons in scripture

the word hope is used. The most common reason has to do with God’s

peoples’ trust and belief in God. This sentence most accurately states

the reason this word is used so often in scripture. Simply stated. In the

Bible, hope is often used to mean a confident expectation of what God

has promised. That gets back to our sermon title. Our hope is based on

God’s promises to His people.

Almost all of us use the word hope on a regular basis. Whether

someone is a Christian or not, in many of the situations we all face in

life, hope will enter our discussions. When we see someone we haven’t

seen for a while we often times will try to catch up on what has been

going on in their life. If a difficulty becomes part of the conversation

many of us may end our conversation with that person with, “I will be

praying for you and I hope everything works out for you.” Whether it

has to do with health, finances, relationships, a change of jobs or a

move, we will often say to one another, “I hope everything will be

okay.”

Let’s look at just a few places in scripture where the Lord used God’s

people to build up those in despair with hope. Job was the most

devastated person in scripture. Virtually everything was taken from

him. We have talked of his trials before. To begin with some of his

“friends” were not any help. But the Lord brought others into his life to

encourage him to continue to trust in the Lord. At one point a man by

the name of Zophar said this to Job, “You will be secure because there

is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.” Job was a

long way from believing this would ever happen again for him, but the

Lord reminded Job there is hope if you trust and believe.

In Psalms King David says, this, “Love the Lord, all you saints; the Lord

preserves the faithful but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and

take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”

In the midst of Israels captivity, Jeremiah says this in chapter 17, verse

7. “Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord

is.” In that particular verse, the NIV translates hope in an even stronger

way by using the word confidence. The Living Bible covers all the bases

by saying whose hope and confidence is in the Lord.

These are just a few examples of the hope mentioned in the Old

Testament. Jesus did not use the word hope much at all while he was

teaching the people, because God was there in the flesh with the

people. However, after Jesus’ death and resurrection the apostles

spoke of our hope many, many times. After Jesus ascended back to the

Father, the message of hope is what the apostles shared with the

people. It was a positive message assuring the people you can put your

trust, your hope in Christ.

In Romans 5:1—2 Paul is encouraging the believers in Rome this way.

He says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we

have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we

have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And

we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

The last verses I will share with you today is found in Hebrews 6. These

verses talk of the certainty of God’s promises to us. Beginning with the

17 th verse we see this promise to God’s people. “Because God wanted

to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of

what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. 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 offered to us may be greatly

encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and

secure.” The hope being mentioned is salvation through Jesus Christ

our Lord. All throughout scripture we are told we can trust in the Lord

for our future is in Him and in Him alone.

I hope you have been encouraged by the promise of God’s hope for all

who believe. In some ways I should have begun our look at God’s

promises with the promise that God gives us about hope because hope

is the starting point for believing and receiving all the other promises of

God.

In closing I would like to go back to the scripture we started with today.

However, I am going to go back 2 more verses and beginning with verse

29. “He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the

weak.” Have you ever been there, felt like that? Let us go on. “Even

youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but

those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on

wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and

not be faint. Amen.”

Pastor Larry

Announcements:

Sunday School 9:00

Tuesday 9:30 Bible Study

Thursday, September 5 6:00 Commissions and Board

KYB is on-going at the Brethren Church on Wednesdays after

school for 3rd through 5th graders.

Hard copies of the September/October newsletter are in the

back.

We need volunteers for the children’s message during worship

and for story lessons in the nursery. Please sign up.

Pastor Larry Traxler (217) 454-2362

Donation Box for September: utilities

First Sundays: Food Bank donations

Keep in Your Prayers

Ruth Siburt; Sharon Traughber; Dorthea Wood; Mike and Kathy

Gentry; Steve Needham; Larry Traxler; Nancy Fansler; Stacie

Warren; Nancy Gorrell; Nora Hanaver; Ron and Kathleen

Petersen; Doug Larrick; Shirley Clarkson; David and Jan Bower;

Debbie Garvey Leibrock; Mike and Carol Seidenstricker; Adiline

Young; Mayo and Darlene Hanaver; many unspoken requests;

victims of shootings and of natural disasters; shut-ins; the

Nigerian church; the Haitian church; those in the middle of war

and violence; military and other services and their families;

Brethren Volunteer Service workers; Disaster project workers

District Prayer Calendar: Pray for the Rock Community

congregation in Fairfield, and for the Church of the Brethren in

Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.