Hope Has a Name
We are all living through a heartbreaking historic moment in the world. One that will fundamentally reshape life as we know it. And in the midst of these chaotic turbulent times, our world is desperately searching for hope. Where do you find hope when it looks like all hope is lost? Join us Easter Sunday, as we discover how the single most significant historic moment of the world offers fresh hope for you today. At the center of Easter is HOPE, don’t miss it!
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Teaching Notes
Where do you find hope in a hopelessly broken world?
How do you hold onto hope when it looks like all hope is lost?
At the center of Easter is HOPE.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” [1 Peter 3:15].
DEFINING HOPE:
Hope is the confident EXPECTATION that a better TOMORROW awaits.
- Hope is fundamentally built on a PROMISE.
- Hope is only as STRONG as the ONE who is making the promise.
- Hope disappoints when the PERSON or THING our expectations are centered on let us down.
How can you be confident that a better tomorrow awaits?
THE HOPE OF EASTER & THE RESURRECTION THAT LED TO JESUS’ CRUCIFIXION: John 11
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
Jesus answered, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Jesus wept.
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
IN THE RESURRECTION:
Hope moved from a PROMISE to a PERSON.
- Hope has a NAME
- Jesus defeated the GRAVE.
Where do you find hope in a hopelessly broken world?
Jesus is the HOPE of the world.
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
How do you experience hope personally?
If you have Jesus you have HOPE, LIFE, RESURRECTION.
“The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
Do you believe this?
Martha’s response:
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
You do not have to find hope. Hope has come to find you in the person of Jesus.