10 results found

I’m Bound for That City

December 31, 2023 | family, heaven, hope, new jerusalem, one year bible, revelation

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2 ESV). I’m on my annual study retreat this week and I’ve been working on a sermon series about heaven for Spring 2024. So when the New Testament reading from the One Year Bible yesterday was

Overwhelmed by Depression

April 24, 2020 | control, depression, hope, jesus, prayer

“Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die. Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.” –– Psalm 143:6-8 (NLT) This coming Sunday, we are continuing our

Easter Means Hope

April 17, 2020 | 1 Peter 1:3-5 | easter, hope

What is hope? For many of us, hope is made of flimsy, fragile stuff. Kind of like a thread. For many, their hopes are like wishes, and their hopes are often broken. Their “thread” of hope is easily broken.

But when the Bible speaks of hope, it speaks of much stronger stuff! For biblical hope is more like a rope! It’s a living hope anchored in Christ’s resurrection and extending through our present and into Christ’s future return.

Hope in Him

February 11, 2018 | Daniel 2 | exposition, hope

Where is your hope? Hope is an expectation of a future fulfilled desire. Where do you put your hope when the world around you seems to be falling apart? Do you put it in a bank account? In a job? In your spouse or other loved one? Where do you put your hope? Daniel and his friends put their hope in the Lord.

In the book of Daniel chapter two, Daniel put his hope in the God of heaven, who revealed to Daniel that in the end He will replace all human kingdoms with His own everlasting kingdom. As Christians, our hope is in Christ alone whose coming kingdom will replace all earthly kingdoms and endure forever.

Leaving 2016

January 1, 2017 | future, God, hope, jesus, memories, New Year, painful memories, past, present, worry

“For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard” (Isaiah 52:12 ESV). We’ve all heard the cliche, “Out with the old, and in with the new.” Yet, people are not computers with hard drives that can be erased

Easter means… hope

March 24, 2016 | Christ, easter, God, hope, jesus, living hope, resurrection, return

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV). “My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest

Visiting the orphan with gospel hope

October 31, 2014 | adoption, Christ, fatherless, Gary Combs, God, gospel, hope, jesus, orphan, widow

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27 ESV). This coming Sunday is “Orphan Sunday.” Our church is joining churches around the country by setting apart the first Sunday in November to focus on

My hope is built on nothing less

April 18, 2014 | Christ, easter, Gary Combs, God, hope, jesus, living hope, Lord, resurrection

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV). “My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare

Hope at Easter

April 12, 2009 | 1 Peter 1:3-13 | easter, hope

On Being Human

June 8, 2007 | conflict, hope, humanity, iraq, neighborhood

Psalm 8:4 (NIV) What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? This past week my cell phone kept ringing with the caller ID “Name Unknown 777-777-7777.” I didn’t answer it the first few times. All of those sevens were kind of disconcerting. At first I