Highlights
Theme 2023
BRING PEOPLE
Hope
1 Peter 3:15 – “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…”
Pastor's Heartbeat
Senior Pastor
Rev. Tan Hock Cheng
Do you ever wonder why are some people so relentlessly positive?
I think it all stems from a little word in the Bible: Hope. “To live without hope is to cease to live,” wrote Fyodor Dostoevsky. “What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life,” wrote Emil Brunner.
Our world has been shaken since Covid-19. Many people see only a hopeless end, but with Jesus, you can enjoy an endless hope!
This hope is not wishful thinking. It is rooted in what God has done for us and is doing in us. The apostle Paul prays, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow [“bubbling over”, AMP] with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). As Nicky Gumbel put it, “the origin of hope is the God of hope. The reason for hope is Jesus. The source of hope in you is the Holy Spirit.”
Dear friend, Jesus wants to fill you with hope today. Hope in the midst of suffering and despair. Hope in spite of the brevity of life and the inevitability of death. Hope in the ultimate triumph of good over evil. However bad your current situation is, never give up hope. Jesus sets the prisoners free from “their hopeless cells” (Zechariah 9:11, MSG). We are “prisoners of hope” (v.12).
In fact, the purpose of the Bible is to give us hope (Romans 15:4). Ask God to speak to you as you read it. It is through the Scriptures that you know about Jesus and the hope that is in Him. This hope leads to “all joy and peace as you trust in him” (v.13). Our hope is in Jesus, the King, who will one day return and establish His Kingdom forever!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You that You are the God of hope, and for giving us a living hope through Jesus and His resurrection. Thank You that You have given me your Holy Spirit to help me abound in faith, hope, and love for You and for others in 2023.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Hock Cheng