Don’t Slam the Door in God’s Face.

This morning we want to talk about hope.
Call up ushers to hand out glow bracelets to parents.  Kids we are going to learn something very important with these glow bracelets and so you need to be ready to put them on when I tell you. [warn about coming darkness]
A biblical definition of hope is full assurance, or strong confidence that God is going to do good to us in the future. 

Let me help us understand something about hope we may not have understood before. 
In Vanderhoof growing up it would get very cold in the winter and my mom would make me wear long underwear. When you wear long underwear in a warm house they are uncomfortable and annoying especially when they are a size too small. But when I would step outside into 40 degrees below zero temperature that can freeze exposed skin in minutes these long underwear became to me a source of warmth.
I would say that most of us have a pair of running shoes. When we are running or walking a long distance and our feet are placed under stress, pounding, twisting, flexing that we experience our running shoes and their design as more than merely a trendy brand name running shoe but also a support and protection for our feet.
Just as long underwear or running shoes greatly benefit us in difficult conditions, as someone has said “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”
Hope is a strength when everything is hopeless. In seemingly hopeless situations we experience the strength of hope. 
As adults we know that life is filled with difficult situations, unfortunate and even tragic circumstances, disappointments and difficult people. And it is easy for our minds, especially when we are tired and discouraged, to begin to focus on the negative, the impossibilities, the overwhelming odds set against the preferred outcome we long for.
And we say, “It is hopeless” and despair begins to lull our mind into indifference.
When we say and feel in our hearts, “It is hopeless” we are slamming the door in God’s face.
Turn lights out
And we are then resigning ourselves to the darkness of despair.
And we curse the darkness, [close the doors] “Nothing ever goes right for me!” “Why am I met with resistance at every turn!” “Why is God so far away and so helpless to help me!
Think of a situation in your life that seems hopeless. As you look into the future there is nothing but the darkness of uncertainty, fear and confusion. This may be an illness, a broken relationship, the death of a loved one, the death of a dream.
The hopeless situation may be an obsession, a secret sin, an addiction and the shame and guilt and fear associated with it.
You feel that God has abandoned you. Some how you are cut off from God. 
And despair has already begun to lull your mind into indifference and you have very little motivation or desire anymore to even try.
Children put on your glowing bracelets and hold them up high. Each bracelet represents hope. Remember hope is the confident expectation that God is going to do good to us in the future. When everything is hopeless hope begins to be a strength.
We need to find the bridge from despair to hope. The bridge is trust in God. We will not find this bridge on our own we need truth like a flashlight [Mag-lite] to guide us to trust in God, the bridge between despair and confident hope.
Here is truth that can guide us from despair to hope.
Read together with me out loud Isaiah 40:12-31
Isaiah wrote Isaiah 40 for the Israelites in exile in Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon surrounded Jerusalem with his army and conquered it and over time took all of the people of Jerusalem, except the very poor, as captives to Babylon.   
And so the Israelites are forced to leave behind all that they have ever known and face the very real possibility of death, mistreatment and poverty in an unfamiliar land without the support of family or community. And as they enter this strange kingdom of Babylon far from Jerusalem, they are traumatized by violence and bloodshed, the loss of loved ones through separation and death and loneliness and despair leave them listless and weak.  
Isaiah wrote Isaiah 40 85-100 years before the exile took place to bring them from despair to hope.  

Read out loud together Isaiah 40:12-31

The truth guides us to trust in God which becomes for us the bridge from despair to hope.

We move out of indifference: Opening doors: “I will reconnect with this person.” “I will begin to make some changes I need to make.”

Conclusion: Turn lights on.
It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent.   
I want to leave us 12 promises for us to claim. A promise from God is a statement we can depend on with absolute confidence.

God’s presence: "I will never leave you" (Heb. 13:5)

 God’s protection:"I am your shield" (Gen. 15:1)

God’s power: "I will strengthen you" (Isa. 41:10)

God’s provision: "I will help you" (Isa. 41:10)

God’s leading: “When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (John 10:4) 

God’s purposes: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jer. 29:11) 

God’s rest: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) 

God’s cleansing: " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) 

God’s goodness: "no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless." (Psalm 84:11) 

God’s faithfulness: " For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people..." (1 Sam. 12:22) 

God’s guidance: "He guides the humble in what is right." (Psalm 25:9)

God’s wise plan: " And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Rom. 8:28) 

And so in seemingly hopeless circumstances do not slam the door in God’s face.

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”