Why Hope? ( 6 of 30)
Series: Navigating Home
Scott Maze
1 Peter 1:13
Sometimes our hope is invisible. The last words of dying people have always fascinated me. They are so revealing of a person's heart and soul. John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Lincoln said only two words at his death: ''Useless. Useless.'' These are words of hopelessness.
Fox News has reported this past Wednesday (August 20, 2008) Yemeni police have detained at least nine people this year for converting from Islam to Christianity, a security official said Tuesday. The nine were arrested between May and early August and remain in police custody, said the official. Converting from Islam to any other religion is illegal in Yemen and can be punishable by death. But in previous cases, those arrested are usually released after they revoke their new faith and pledge to return to Islam.
Our focus is on only on verse today: ''Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.'' (1 Peter 1:13)
For the first time in this letter Peter gives his readers a command It's a command: ''Hope fully.'' Or: ''Fix your hope completely.'' So the first command in this letter is an action you do with your mind and your heart. It's a command to hope.Hope is not an action of the body. It is an experience of the soul.
1. Hope Is Powerful
When tragedy comes our way, we fix our hope on something in order to get through the difficult times. On April 16, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King writes ''A Letter from Birmingham Jail.'' The letter was written to clergy who had called on King to be patient and stop his nonviolent protests. Writing from a jail cell in Birmingham, King would inspire many as well as enrage others: ''Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, ''Wait.'' But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at ...
Series: Navigating Home
Scott Maze
1 Peter 1:13
Sometimes our hope is invisible. The last words of dying people have always fascinated me. They are so revealing of a person's heart and soul. John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Lincoln said only two words at his death: ''Useless. Useless.'' These are words of hopelessness.
Fox News has reported this past Wednesday (August 20, 2008) Yemeni police have detained at least nine people this year for converting from Islam to Christianity, a security official said Tuesday. The nine were arrested between May and early August and remain in police custody, said the official. Converting from Islam to any other religion is illegal in Yemen and can be punishable by death. But in previous cases, those arrested are usually released after they revoke their new faith and pledge to return to Islam.
Our focus is on only on verse today: ''Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.'' (1 Peter 1:13)
For the first time in this letter Peter gives his readers a command It's a command: ''Hope fully.'' Or: ''Fix your hope completely.'' So the first command in this letter is an action you do with your mind and your heart. It's a command to hope.Hope is not an action of the body. It is an experience of the soul.
1. Hope Is Powerful
When tragedy comes our way, we fix our hope on something in order to get through the difficult times. On April 16, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King writes ''A Letter from Birmingham Jail.'' The letter was written to clergy who had called on King to be patient and stop his nonviolent protests. Writing from a jail cell in Birmingham, King would inspire many as well as enrage others: ''Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, ''Wait.'' But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at ...
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