re:think hope - our hope is huge

How does the Christian Hope affect

the Whole World?

--Act I—CREATION

--Act I—

Creation – Fall – New Creation

CREATION

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth….It was good. (Genesis 1:1, 10b)

Creation -- Fall -- New Creation

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth….It was good. (Genesis 1:1, 10b)

.…God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)


“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”


So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. (Genesis 3:17-20)


What is God to do with a Good World gone

Terribly Wrong?

--Act II--Israel

--Act II--Israel

Covenant – Sin – Exile -- Restoration

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)



But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today….


….If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 7:18-20)


The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him….


The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies….(and) will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. (Deuteronomy 28:20,25,36,64)


When all these blessings and curses

I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today….


….then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. (Deuteronomy 30:1-4)

What happens whenGod’s People fail to live up

to God’s Plan?

--Act III--Anticipation

--Act III--Anticipation

Restoration – Salvation -- New Creation

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.


….He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth….(and) the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:1-4,6,10)


In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

(Deuteronomy 30:1-4)


The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4)


“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy….”



“….I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 65:17-18,25)

Who is this Messiah who will bring God’s Kingdom

and New Creation?

--Act IV--Jesus Christ

--Act IV--Jesus Christ

Messiah – Kingdom -- Earth


“I who speak to you am He….”



“The kingdom of God is here. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)



“The kingdom of God is here. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)

“(Father) May your Kingdom comeand your will be done on earth as it isin heaven….” (Matthew 6:10)

--Act V--Kingdom

The Good News: What happens when

God’s Kingdom comes?

--Act V--Kingdom

Restoration – Salvation -- Redemption

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)


To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

(Colossians 1:27)


For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be

revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)


--Act VI--Future Hope

(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together….


…And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)


Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband….


“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Rev. 21:1-5)


re:think hope - our hope is huge

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