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Fresh Hope. A Study in Ezekiel 36 & 37 Ezekiel 37:1-3. Fresh Hope.
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Fresh Hope A Study in Ezekiel 36 & 37 Ezekiel 37:1-3
Fresh Hope Rom 5 3 We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. 4 And patience produces character, & character produces hope. 5 And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us. NCV
Fresh Hope Hope: the confident expectation & anticipation of good, improvement or a positive end result to a desire.
1) Fresh Hope is Built On An Honest Assessment of Our Lives- Eze 37:1-3 1 The hand of the Lord came upon me & brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord & set me down in the midst of the valley; & it was full of bones.
1) Fresh Hope is Built On An Honest Assessment of Our Lives- Eze 37:1-3 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around & behold, there were very many in the open valley; & indeed they were very dry.
1) Fresh Hope is Built On An Honest Assessment of Our Lives- Eze 37:1-3 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
Hope always looks forward, but from where? To make your situation better or worse than it is, delays or kills our hope. An honest assessment of our condition gives us a solid starting point for God’s work & focuses our hope in the right direction.
To make our condition worse than it is denies God’s goodness in our lives & does not acknowledge the potential of God’s work
To make our condition better than it is rests our hope on our pride, thinking more of ourselves than we should
a) Guided by God 1 The hand of the Lordcame upon me & brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord &set me down in the midst of the valley; & it was full of bones.
a) Guided by God Hope cannot be guided merely by my own thinking. Allowing God to show us what we need to see is part of understanding where I stand.
a) Guided by God Heb 4 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked & open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
b) God Reveals the Condition 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around & behold, there were very many in the open valley; & indeed they were very dry.
b) God Reveals the Condition God, because He is all-wise, can reveal the truth to us unclouded by our rigid thinking, biases, sins or strongholds
b) God Reveals the Condition Rev 3 17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, & have need of nothing'--& do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, & naked--
b) God Reveals the Condition Rev 3 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; … & anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
c) God Lets Us See Our Limitations 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
c) God Lets Us See Our Limitations Hope cannot be limited by what we can know or even believe.
c) God Lets Us See Our Limitations Eph 3 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted & grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width & length & depth & height--
c) God Lets Us See Our Limitations Eph 3 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
c) God Lets Us See Our Limitations Eph 3 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever & ever.
1) Fresh Hope is Built On An Honest Assessment of Our Lives- Eze 37:1-3 Am I allowing God to honestly assess my life so I can have true hope or do I believe my own assessments of who I am & what can happen?
Fresh Hope A Study in Ezekiel 36 & 37 Ezekiel 37:1-3