We seek to bless the greater Carlisle area.

Tag Archives: hope

//Hope in Relationships

February 28, 2010 – 2:51 pm

Background Noise…living proof of our need for hope.
Week 4: Hope in Relationships
February 28, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Luke 14:25-34

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Hope in Relationships

1 Peter 3:1-5
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands,

1 Corinthians 7:12-16
To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Questions for you to ponder during today’s talk.

  1. What hope do these passages offer for our relationships, if our hope is in God?
  2. How do these passages challenge our typical views of relationships?
Community Group Discussion Guide

Getting Started
While God intended our relationships with others to be wonderful and beautiful experiences, sin often enters in and distorts them, sometimes to the point of breaking them. The problem is that sin shifts the locus of our identity from God to ourselves or to others.

  1. Consider the person whose identity is wrapped up in another person. What motivates her? What is her primary concern? How would you describe this person? What kind of problems does this attitude create in relationships?
  2. Consider the person who is self-sufficient and doesn’t need anyone else. What motivates him? What is his primary concern? How would you describe this person? What kind of problems does this attitude create in relationships?

From the Book

  1. Read Matthew 10:37-39. What is Jesus saying to the person who locates their identity in another person? What is Jesus saying to the person who is living for himself?
  2. Read Galatians 2:20 and Ephesians 2:1-10. What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? What does it look like to live “by faith in the Son of God” and to be “alive in Christ?” If we lived in this way, what impact would it have on our relationships?
  3. Read Colossians 1:3-6a. According to this passage, where did the Colossians’ “love for all the saints” come from? If God were truly the source of our love, what hope would that give us in our relationships? How would it change the self-sufficient person? How would it change the overly dependent person?

So What?

  1. ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY: In your community group, count off by threes. All of the ones will play a self-sufficient person, the twos will play a dependent person, and the threes a person whose identity is rooted in God. Pair off with someone who is playing a different role, and then choose one of the following scenarios to role-play: (a) A husband and wife who disagree about the best way to discipline a rebellious child (b) Best friends where one has started dating someone the other thinks is bad for them (c) Siblings - one is more ambitious than the other and is trying to convince them to “do something” with their life.
  2. Write down Ephesians 3:16-19 on a small piece of paper. Carry this prayer with you all week, remembering to pray it for yourself and others. Think about the hope you would have for relationships if God were to truly answer this prayer.
By admin | Posted in Podcast | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

//Hope in uncertainty and change

February 21, 2010 – 10:01 pm

Background Noise…living proof of our need for hope.
Week 3: Hope in uncertainty and change
February 21, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Isaiah 43

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Hope in uncertainty and change

Questions for you to ponder during today’s talk.

  1. What are you most afraid of as you think of change or uncertainty in your life?
  2. How could knowing God’s vision of the future give you confidence, stability, and hope in your present circumstances?
  3. How would your attitude be different if you could trust God with your fears and anxiety as you face uncertainty and change?
By admin | Posted in Podcast | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

//Suffering and Hope

February 14, 2010 – 4:20 pm

Background Noise…living proof of our need for hope.
Week 2: Suffering and Hope
February 14, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Romans 8

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Suffering and Hope

Questions for you to ponder during today’s talk.

  1. Is hope growing in you?
  2. According to the bible what ultimately causes suffering?
  3. The early Jesus followers risked death and died taking care of the sick during the plagues of Rome? How did their hope motivate them to make such a sacrifice for people who didn’t even share their beliefs?
  4. How is hope demonstrated in your life?
  5. How is lack of hope demonstrated in your life? The only way to tell is to reflect on what happens to you when you are stressed, in a crisis, experience loss, or deep disappointment.
  6. How could your family, your career, your church, your marriage, your attitude, your relationships be different if you were growing in hope?

Book:
Where is God when it Hurts–Philip Yancey. This is a classic book on suffering, God, good, and evil? It seeks to cut to the heart of the classic arguments about God and suffering. How can God be good and allow suffering? How can God be all powerful and not stop it? Ticked at God or know someone who is because of suffering in their past? Read or recommend this book.

Community Group Discussion Guide

Getting Started

  1. Consider the following quote: “Hope in a glorious future gives us a deep and driving motivation to persevere through present difficulties and to make the hard, almost impossible decision to continue on our narrow path.” Do you think this is true? How have you seen hope sustain and motivate someone who was suffering? Have you experienced this yourself?
  2. How can having a personal hope in God change our attitudes and motivations when times are tough?

From the Book

  1. Read Genesis 2-3. God originally created us to be in relationship with Him, but our disobedience has caused a break in that relationship. How has this resulted in suffering? How has your own broken relationship with God resulted in suffering?
  2. Read Romans 8:18-32. What is the hope and expectation that Paul is writing about here? What resources does God provide us with as we wait hopefully? What is the anchor of our hope?

So What?

Take some time to consider God’s vision of the future. What will it be like to have a new body, free from decay and disease? How wonderful will the world be without violence and destruction? What will it be like to live without fear and anxiety, and in a very present and real communion with God? Allow God’s vision of a new body, a new earth, and eternal goodness to grow in you a longing for that day. May that hope carry you through the temporary trials you experience here and now.

By admin | Posted in Podcast | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

//Hope for screw ups

February 7, 2010 – 9:34 am

Background Noise…living proof of our need for hope.
Week 1: Hope for screw ups.
February 7, 2010
Pastor Jon Hand
Colossians 1

Podcast Listen to Sermon: Hope for screw ups

Description
Ever meet someone who always had to have background noise in their life? They can’t study or eat dinner or even sleep without music or t.v. or some noise running in the background. Our souls have white noise running in the background and most of the time we don’t even realize the constant interference. Economic downturns, disasters in Haiti, life disappointments, death, and a whole host of other things not going our way can often turn into background noise in our soul—making us jaded and cynical about life itself. It’s easy for us to lose hope. Throughout the New Testament people compelled by Jesus find hope is something that just sort of spills out of their lives. Life is too short to let the background noise win!

Dig Deeper

For Starters: Counterfeit God’s: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters — Tim Keller — This book is an easy to read book on what is hope, where it comes from, and how most things we think give us hope–don’t. It’s an honest reflection on what we place our hope in. Don’t read this book if you don’t want to be challenged!!

For heavy hitters: Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church– N.T. Wright–This is a rich theological book on how a Christian view of heaven and the afterlife gives us hope in the everyday grind of life.

Watch the movie Seven Pounds - Watch the movie Seven Pounds and discuss how Will Smith’s sacrifice is a symbol for what Jesus did for us?

 

Community Group Discussion Guide

Getting Started

1. What literal background noise do you have in your life (e.g. music, AC unit, refrigerator, etc.)? Do you ever have times when you find spaces free from this noise? If so, what’s it like?

2. When have you experienced failure? How did you react? What is your perspective on that experience now?

3. What does our culture teach us about failure? What do you think is God’s perspective on failure?

From the Book

1. Break into three groups and each read one of the following passages: (1) John 4:1-38 (2) John 13:31-38, 18:15-18, 18:25-27, 21:1-19 (3) Luke 15:11-32 For each of these passages, who is the person who has experienced failure? What was the failure? What is Jesus’ reaction to their failure? In light of these stories, what can we learn about God’s perspective on failure?

2. Jon said that often those who have sinned the most are the ones most eager for hope and open to God. Do you think this is true? Read Luke 7:36-50. What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “But he who has been forgiven little loves little?” Do you see yourself as someone who has been forgiven much or forgiven little?

3. Read Colossians 1:3-5, 21-23, 27-29. In these verses, what hope is Paul writing about? How did the people from Colosse come to experience this hope? What was the fruit of this hope?

So What

1. As Christians, what is our hope …for our past failures? …for our present lives? …for the future?

2. If you were 100% sure that Jesus was raised from the dead and that He would one day return to establish a new and perfect world, how would that change the way you live? What difference would it make …in the way you think about work? …in your relationships with other people? …in how you choose to spend your time? Pray every day this week that God would show you the truth about the resurrection of Jesus.

By admin | Posted in Podcast | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

//We Crave Hope

November 1, 2009 – 4:08 pm

We Crave Hope
November 1, 2009
Pastor Jon Hand
Philippians 1:12-26

Podcast Listen to Sermon: We Crave Hope

Look, part of being human beings means we have longings and cravings and desires that if filled we think make life worth living. These longings are good, but they can have a dark side when we try and satisfy those desires on things that ultimately leave us empty. Engage is starting a series called CRAVE. We crave experiences and meaning and value and hope yet we don’t always find fulfillment of those cravings in the one source or person who satisfies our soul. So how do we deal with the stuff and disappointments of life in light of our cravings? We are spending the month of November actually going through the book of Philippians. The book reveals that things aren’t going too well for Paul. In fact, he writes the book while incarcerated in a disease infested sewer system known as Mamertine Prison in ancient Rome. Yet somehow, even though life is not what he expected it to be, there is something to look forward to. Rotting in jail, Paul finds hope in someone beyond his circumstances. His hope stems from the promise of another world beyond this life that is better than we expect. The promise of hope gives us motivation to be a different kind of person even in circumstances we don’t want to be in.

We try earning hope.
Most of what we hope in fades with time.
Ultimately, lasting hope can only be found in knowing God.

Books: In a Pitt with A Lion on A Snowy Day: How To Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars - Mark Batterson. The hardest part of your life in the present or the most painful part of your past are opportunities that can become the most hopeful part of your future. This book will help you understand how to see the painful events of your present or past as crowning glories of hope for your future when we find ourselves pursuing Christ who turns pain into opportunities of hope. Read this book.

By admin | Posted in Podcast | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)