Posted on by Pastor Steve

Hope is More Than OK

Some years ago I was preaching in evangelistic meetings in Haiti. One of the deacons from the church I was working with asked me how I was that night. I answered using a common Haitian expression pa pi mal which translates into, I’m not bad or I’m OK. According to some sources the idea behind the expression is that no matter how bad it is, it can always be worse so I’m pa pi mal. I’m not yet the worst of the worse.

I had heard people use the expression literally hundreds of times and I had used it often in conversation. So I was not expecting Brother Jean Jeannot’s reaction when he admonished me, Pastor Steve a Christian is NEVER pa pi mal!

I’ve thought about that exchange several times over the years and I realize that my dear brother was right. A Christian is never just OK because we have something no one else has. We have Jesus and with Jesus we have Hope.

Don’t bring Jesus (or your Hope)

down to just being OK.

Don’t bring Jesus (or your Hope) down to just being OK.

Even in the hardest times in life we have Hope. Even in the darkest days we have Hope. Even when we can’t see light at the end of the tunnel we have Hope. And that should make us, not just OK, it should cause us to rejoice because for the Christian there is always Hope.

In Romans chapter 5 the Apostle Paul reminds us that because we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Our Hope is not that life will get any easier or that God will remove all of our problems. Our Hope is in God’s glory. There is no uncertainty here (as the English language sometimes implies by the word hope). Our destiny is to share in the inexpressible glory of God himself (Romans 8:28-30).

In the very same passage the Apostle tells us that problems produce perseverance which leads to godly character, which in turn leads to our Hope which will never disappoint us.

So no matter what you face today or this week, it’s worth remembering that we are not just pa pi mal, we are rejoicing in what will be as we anticipate participating in the glory of God.

Hope is more than OK.

Thank you brother Jean Jeannot.

Stay in the Word

Pastor Steve

Posted on by Pastor Steve

People Need Hope

I’ve thought for many years that what people need most in their lives is Hope. We live in a world that seemingly has lost, if not all Hope, then certainly a large measure of it.

We might sing what the world needs now is love sweet love, but the reality is that if you don’t have Hope, love won’t make much difference.

It’s true that God says love is the priority (1 Corinthians 13:13), but He does list Hope in the triad of essential characteristics. There seems to be a link between them that binds them together, so that one without the other cannot fulfill its purpose.

WITHOUT QUESTION, HOPE IS A MAJOR

ASPECT OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND FAITH.

GOD KNOWS WE NEED IT.

Even Christians, people who have experienced the ultimate in love seem to be desperate for something to hang onto – for Hope.

The Bible refers to God as the God of Hope (Romans 15:13). He is the One that gives us Hope (cf. Jeremiah 29:11) and He is the One who is the object of our Hope. The Apostle Peter tells us that we have been born again to a living hope (1 Peter 1:3). The Hope of the Christian is alive, it has the quality of life inherent in it. And in Romans Paul writes that it is through the encouragement of the Scriptures [that] we might have hope (Romans 15:4).

Without question, Hope is a major aspect of the Christian life and faith. God knows we need it.

Why is it then, that so many Christians struggle to have the Hope that God wants for them?

Look again at Romans 15:4, this time the entire verse: For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

To have God’s Hope requires two things – endurance and the encouragement of the Word of God. The Christian must stand steadfast in his or her faith and put themselves in the place where Hope is found, the Word of God.

The Bible becomes key here. It is the Word that teaches us the necessity of Hope and it is the Word that gives us the encouragement we need to live in Hope. Without saturation in the Word of God it is impossible for either endurance or encouragement to exist and therefore for the Christian to have Hope.

God will give us what we need when we do what He wants us to do. It is possible to have Hope but only on God’s terms.

What the World needs now is the Hope that only God can give.

Stay in the Word

Pastor Steve