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You Can Be a Messenger of Hope!
The Bible is filled with paragraphs that tell amazing things about the Triune God,
Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
Below are just a few of them. As you open up these texts,
ask yourself
and then ask a friend,
What impresses you about God from this text?
The question and the texts below provide you with a resource for your personal reflection, for family time around the dinner table or for time together with a friend that will tangibly bring Christ into the center of your conversation.
2016
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Revelation 3:7–13 - Jesus Christ will make the overcomers into “pillars in the temple of His God”!
Isaiah 33:14-16; 20-22 - God is our righteous judge who protects us and justly punishes sin!
Isaiah 53:1-12 - Jesus’ death and resurrection were planned by God as the guilt offering for our sin!
Mark 8:27-38 - We follow Jesus, the Christ, who died and rose again!
Matthew 14:22-33 - We don’t need to doubt, but can have more than a little faith that Jesus truly is the Son of God!
Psalm 34:1-14 - Let us exalt His name together!
John 14:23-27 - Jesus and God the Father live in us today by their Holy Spirit they have sent us!
Philippians 2:5-11 - God exalted Jesus for humbly dying to saving us!
Romans 1:16–23 - God’s great power as Creator is also seen in His power to save!
John 17:1–8 - To intimately know the only true God and Jesus Christ is to have eternal life!
Colossians 1:3-13 - The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world!
Romans 13:8-14 - Loving our neighbors fulfills God's law and makes us look like Jesus!
John 14:15-21 - Obeying God shows that we really love God!
Mark 12:28-34 - True love, truly fulfills God's law!
John 16:20-28, 33 - Jesus Christ is the source of our peace while living in a world of trouble!
Matthew 6:25-34 – If your heavenly Father feeds the birds, surely He will care for you!
Psalm 100:1-5 – The Lord is good, His love endures forever!
John 14:15–21 – The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ makes a love relationship with Him possible!
Ezekiel 34:11-16 – Our Risen Lord is the Shepherd who finds us and looks after us!
Psalm 51:1-12 – Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (Old and New)!
John 4:28–30, 39-42 – Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, really is the Savior of the world!
John 14:23–31 – The Holy Spirit, our Counselor, will teach and remind us of our Lord’s teachings!
John 16:5–15 – The Holy Spirit takes from what belongs to Jesus and makes it known to us!
John 13:33–14:3 – We must love because we have been so greatly loved by Christ!
John 12:27–36 – By His death on the cross, Jesus has driven out the prince of this world!
John 17:9–19 – Jesus Christ intercedes in prayer on our behalf to protect us from the evil one!
John 17:1–8 – To know God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, is to have eternal life!
2015
Romans 6:15–18 – I once was a slave to sin, but now I am a slave to Christ. Hallelujah!
Luke 2:8-20 – It is the joyful news that the Anointed One who is the Lord has come to be our Savior!
John 12:31-36 – Christ surprised darkness by shining His light the brightest from the cross!
John 1:29–39 – Jesus Christ was seen by witnesses willing to testify that He is the Son of God!
Psalm 39:4–13 – Our Lord alone is worthy to be the sole object of our hope!
Hebrews 4:12–16 – God’s Word cuts to the heart of the matter!
2 Corinthians 9:6–15 – Our worship of giving supplies needs and generates thanks to God!
He is worthy to open the scroll of God’s judgments and blessings!
Colossians 1:15–20 – Jesus holds all things together!
Isaiah 58:6-11 – Spending ourselves in behalf of the hungry and oppressed turns our night into day!
1 Peter 2:4-6, 9-12 – God makes us into a holy and royal priesthood with a mission to glorify Him!
Psalm 107:1-9 – Our Lord pours out upon us His unfailing love and wonderful deeds!
Philippians 2:12-18 – The joy of our relationship with Christ makes the sacrifice to make Him known!
Colossians 3:1–4, 12-17 – O, what a difference Christ has made in my life!
Psalm 115:1–14 – The LORD our God is our help and shield!
Psalm 52:1-9 – We trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever!
Galatians 3:19–25 – Jesus Christ is the only hope for all of us prisoners!
Micah 7:14–20 – Our Lord is the faithful Shepherd who leads us to fertile pasturelands!
Psalm 144:1-10 – The Lord, our loving God and fortress, it is He in whom we take refuge!
Psalm 25:8-15 – The Lord honors the humble and teachable!
Psalm 119:33–40 – It is God’s Word that God uses to turn our eyes away from worthless things!
Psalm 110:1-7 – The Lord who sits at His Father’s right hand will one day crush His enemies!
Worship text for February 1, 2015 was repeated on February 8, 2015
2 Peter 1:16-21 – God the Father testified that He was well pleased with His Son!
Isaiah 30:18-21 – The Lord will guide those who cry for help!
Philippians 1:3–11 – We have a partnership with Christ where we share together in His grace!
2014
Psalm 119:1-8 – A life lived in obedience to God’s Word is a blessed life!
Isaiah 7:10-17 – The Lord will give us the sign of His Son, Immanuel, being born of a virgin!
Psalm 108:1–13 – We will praise the Lord among all nations!
Daniel 3:19–26 – Rescued or not, Daniel’s friends would bring glory to God from the blazing furnace!
Isaiah 55:3-7 – It is our Lord who moves His message through His messengers!
Exodus 20:1-7, 18-21 – When we rest in the fear of God we will resist the desire to sin against Him!
Mark 1:14–20 - Jesus walks among the people to find His disciples!
Daniel 3:13-18 - The God we serve is able to save us from our enemies!
Zephaniah 3:14-20 - Because our Lord is with us, He will rejoice over you with singing!
Isaiah 42:8-13 - Let us give glory to the Lord and proclaim His praise in the islands!
Hebrews 12:1–6 - The suffering love of Jesus has always inspired faithfulness in godly believers!
Isaiah 58:1–6 - Our Lord delights when we loose the chains of injustice and set the oppressed free!
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 - Jesus died for us that we may live together with Him!
1 Peter 3:10-17 - We love others, even suffer for it, because we belong to Christ!
Isaiah 44:1–6 - God delights in His servants by pouring out on them the blessing of His Spirit!
Psalm 118:13-24 - Jesus is the rejected stone that became the Capstone of the building!
Isaiah 43:8–13 - We are witnesses that the Lord is God and there is no other!
Isaiah 40:6-11 - Our Lord Jesus compassionately comes to us like a shepherd to rule and reward!
Psalm 107:23–32 - The Lord intends that as we participate in His works that we call out to Him!
Psalm 19:1-6 - The heavens declare the glory of God with a voice heard in every language!
2 Peter 3:1-9 - The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, rather, He is patient for our benefit!
2013
Psalm 46:7–11 – When Jesus, the Lord Almighty, is with us, He will be exalted among the nations!
Isaiah 51:11–16 – I will not forget my Maker who comforts me and tells me I belong to Him!
Exodus 3:11–15 – God wants to be known from generation to generation as I AM!
Hosea 2:19-23 – Our relationship with God is likened to a marriage, “You are mine, I am Yours!”
Matthew 20:21-28 – Jesus sets the example of becoming great by being a sacrificial servant!
1 John 5:9-12 – God has testified concerning His Son that in Him is life and that life can be ours!
Isaiah 1:15-20; 53:4-6 – God has made away for our sins to be forgiven!
John 15:12-17 – Our sacrificial relationship with Christ will bear fruit that will last!
Psalm 119:65-72 – The Lord even uses our difficult experiences to increase our hunger for His word!
Isaiah 64:1-9 - O Lord, You are our Father. We are all the work of Your hand!
Isaiah 57:14-19 - Our Lord God revives the heart of the lowly and contrite!
Isaiah 26:1-9 - Our Lord keeps in perfect peace those who steadfastly trust in Him!
Isaiah 59:14-21 - Our Lord God on His own worked salvation so that we might speak of His glory!
Psalm 100:1-5 – The Lord is God. He made us. We are His. We are the sheep of His pasture!
Isaiah 40:6-11 – Our Lord cares for us like a shepherd who carries His lambs close to His heart!
2 Corinthians 5:17–21 – God made His Son, Jesus Christ, who had no sin to be sin for us!
Isaiah 40:9–14 – Our God is like a shepherd who carries us close to His heart!
Psalm 84:1–12 – Better is one day in the courts of our Lord than a thousand elsewhere!
Isaiah 45:16-25 – There is no God apart from the God of Israel, a righteous God and Savior!
John 5:24–30 – God the Father has given His Son the authority to judge!
Hebrews 9:24-28 – Christ’s sacrifice took the place of the judgment we deserved!
Psalm 95:1-9 – Our Maker is our Sustainer thus worthy of our worship!
Psalm 48:1-11 – Good people rejoice to know that God is a righteous Judge!
Isaiah 48:17-21 – Our Lord gives us peace and righteousness for our obedience!
Psalm 65:1-8 – When we come to God in humble prayer, He forgives our sins!
Psalm 3:1-8 – Our Lord is a shield around us to preserve our lives while in the battles of life!
Psalm 32:1-5 – Our Lord delights to grant us forgiveness upon our confession of our sins!
Psalm 32:6-11 – The Lord our God is our hiding place where we have joyful protection!
Psalm 98:1-9 – Christ is coming UPON the world in righteousnes and with equity!
Psalm 67:1-7 – May God bless us so that unbelievers around us will fear and believe Him!
The following are excerpts from David Bryant’s book, Christ is all, page 302. This book is now available from Logos Bible Software Library to add to your digital library collection using the Libronix platform by logging on to www.logos.com.
What does it mean to be a witness to Christ inside the Church?
Drawing its meaning from the legal sphere the purpose of a “witness” in a court of law is to contribute toward a verdict from the hearers. At a trial a witness steps to the stand, raises her or his right hand and swears to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. A witness is called upon to help a lawyer sway the decision of the jury by an honest recitation of firsthand observations. Witnesses do not call attention to themselves but point to something far more important. Witnesses testify to what they have seen and heard, as Peter and John claimed to do before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4).
As Messengers of Hope we should bear witness first of all to other Christians, eventually inviting them to render fresh a verdict about the supremacy of Christ: Is He really who He claims to be? Is He all that He claims to be?
In this analogy a witness is never asked to play the role of an attorney. A witness is not pleading a case for Christ’s supremacy with their hearers. That’s the role of the Holy Spirit, and He advocates well (Jn. 16). The “courtroom” (the Body of Christ) should sense, however, that the witness wants to influence the jury (his fellow believers) with his or her Message of Hope. The witness is intent on persuading them to “rule in favor of” the truth about who Christ is as the Son of God, where He leads in the Purposes of God, how He imparts the Resources of God and what He receives from the People of God (the four components of our original definition of supremacy). Our first job as witnesses remains persuasion by life and lip, leading believers to exalt in God’s Son for all that He is. The contemporary collapse of Christology in our churches requires this.
The Church also must witness to unbelievers by word and deed in our neighborhoods as well as among unreached peoples throughout the nations. In no way do I depreciate the critical need for many more evangelistic outreaches everywhere. But our top priority is clear: In compelling ways we must bear witness to Christ to each other as believers. We must challenge one another to live out the fuller implications of His supremacy day by day. God’s Word is our portfolio. It can stir up holy expectations toward Jesus that transform all areas of discipleship and evangelism.
Otherwise, considering the significant loss of Christ-inspired hope and passion in the Church, I ask you: How else will a revived spirit of evangelism surface among us? Where else will the hundreds of thousands of new missionaries come from, so urgently needed at this moment to complete the Great Commission?
This was Jesus’ game-plan in Acts 1. Providing His disciples with convincing proofs of the Resurrection, Jesus stayed on after Easter for an additional forty days! Why that long? After three years of disciple-making what was still missing in His ministry to them? What could possibly require so much additional input? A study of Luke 24 and Acts 1 strongly suggests He stayed behind to better prepare His disciples to be Messengers of Hope. According to Acts 1 He did so by exposing them to unexplored dimensions of His Kingdom purposes. He spent time convincing them that now that He had prevailed as sole conqueror of death for the entire universe, His very person was the “linchpin” of that Kingdom. Prior to this season with Him in post-Easter dramas, how could they have grasped such awesome truths?
Finally, Jesus concluded His 40-day tutorial by commissioning them to be witnesses of all they had seen of the vastness of His victories. “Witness” wasn’t what they were to do. “Witness” was what they had already become by dwelling in His presence and beholding His risen glory.
Ten days after His Ascension the disciples rose up to speak about Him with a level of boldness never seen in them before. They testified to His coronation at the Father’s right hand. They broadcast promises guaranteed by His position on the Throne. But notice — their ministry began in Jerusalem and then spread to Judea, moving on to Samaria. Only then were they to go to the ends of the earth — to unreached peoples. In other words, their first assignment was to testify to the people of God, many of whom gathered at Pentecost to hear them.
The emerging 1st century church maintained the pattern of Acts 1. Throughout the rest of the book, planting and growing a Message of Hope always began with insiders first. It focused on those who regarded themselves as the Chosen of God so that they might discover the new life that God’s Kingdom (and King) offered His people. In turn they could become a blessing to the families of the earth. (See the conclusion of Peter’s sermon to insiders in Acts 3.) As Paul put it, the witness was always “to the Jew first” (Rom. 1) — to the insider first. There’s no less of a need for this kind of consistent witness inside the Church to the people of God today.
If we are serious about a reformation of Christology, we must recommit to the diligent practice of being Messengers of Hope to each other, starting with our gatherings every Sunday morning. We must aim also to get Christ back into the conversation at the dinner table with our families as well as in everyday exchanges with Christian friends. [1]
[1]Bryant, D. (2004). Christ is all! : A joyful manifesto (302). New Providence, NJ: New Providence Publishers.