TEXT: Acts 1:8
The God we serve never fails. It is not in His habit to fail concerning a promise.
There are so many things around us that subtly show us the important characteristics of God, if only we will pay attention.
For example, you cannot plan an orange seed and expect to find apples grow.
This shows us that God’s counsel concerning certain things will never change. He’s the creator of all things, and everything in nature points to Him. They point to His likeness and His character.
No matter how much you fast and pray, you can never stop the sun from shinning.
God’s will always comes to pass for those who believe.
But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”
ACTS 1:8
As a child of God, it is important that you wait on God until you receive this power. But not just power, you should also receive the ability that comes when the Spirit comes upon you.
When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you receive a natural ability to do things that are not possible to the ordinary man.
This power allows us to become witnesses of hope in a world that desperately needs to experience power.
Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word];
Hebrews 10:23
A time has to come in your life that doubt must never rear its head.
Even if there are evidences that people did something and failed, you must know that you are different because you focus on what heaven has said concerning you.
Don’t waver, don’t doubt, forget about your plan B. The scripture calls you a witness of hope.
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him]
Isaiah 40:31
Will gain new strength and renew their power;
They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun];
They will run and not become weary,
They will walk and not grow tired.
We live in a world desperate for hope. A world that is increasingly filled with despair, division, and darkness.
We need to begin to encourage people and show them there’s hope.
Families have broken, there’s so much discouragement and pain, people are searching for meaning.
As followers of Christ, we are not supposed to sit on the sidelines and observe things quietly, instead, we are supposed to be active peddlers of hope.
God wants us to show forth his power and glory.
We are called not to hide what He’s done for us but to show the world that there’s hope in Jesus, to share boldly, compassionately and even faithfully that God is alive.
As a Christian, where’s your hope and desire for God?
Hope is not wishful thinking or optimism but assured confidence that God is alive.
What you need to know about this hope
1. Hope has a Source
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in His promises.
Rom 15:13
Hope is not an emotion you manufacture but an experience you encounter.
Jesus Christ is the source of our hope. It originates from Him and is sustained by God.
Hope is the confident expectation that whatever God has promised us must surely come to pass.
The whole essence of Christianity is that we live in this hope. Everything else may fail but Christ remains faithful.
When you understand this well, you’ll always point people to the source of hope, which is Jesus Christ.
2. The Holy Spirit has Empowered Us
As witnesses of hope, we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to testify.
Every witness of Christ will receive power from the Holy Spirit, He’s the source of the power for witnessing.
Therefore, you must be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit because that gives you divine enablement to transform situations.
Without Him, we’ll become timid, discouraged, and ineffective. Our message to the world will lack any ability to make impact.
Without the Holy Spirit energizing us, we cannot effectively share our hope.
3. We Must Be Bold to Speak
[I am writing about] what existed from the beginning, what [a]we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life [the One who existed even before the beginning of the world, Christ]— 2 and the Life [an aspect of His being] was manifested, and we have seen [it as eyewitnesses] and testify and declare to you [the Life], the eternal Life who was [already existing] with the Father and was [actually] made visible to us [His followers]—
1 John 1:1-2
We must be bold enough to speak of what we’ve seen or heard.
Our testimony must never be a thing of shame for us.
Speak of the things you’ve seen live as a reflector of hope that when people see you, they see hope.
We proclaim Him out of our personal encounter with Him. when people see that we are genuine with our hope in Christ, it’ll draw them to Christ Himself.
So never hide your testimony, live your life in such a way that people will ask you how you have this kind of peace and joy.
We are bearers of light in this darkness and we carry a message that the world desperately needs.
So be an ambassador of God. Represent God’s light and say no to anything shady.