Memory Text: Romans 15:4 NIV “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Sunday, May 20 The Comfort of the Scriptures
What hope is presented to us in the following verses?
A. Romans 3:26 NLT “And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.”
1 Peter 3:18 NLT “Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.”
B. John 16:13 NRSV “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
2 Timothy 3:16 NRSV “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”
2 Timothy 3:16 COMMENTARY JOHN WESLEY NOTES The Spirit of God not only once inspired those who wrote it, but continually inspires, supernaturally assists, those that read it with earnest prayer.
C. Luke 18:29-30 MKJV “29 And He said to them, Truly I say to you, There is no one who has left house, or parents, or brothers, or wife, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the world to come everlasting life.”
1 John 5:13 MKJV “I have written these things to you who believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have everlasting life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

Monday, May 21 Hope of Forgiveness
Acts 26:18 KJ21 “to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith that is in Me.’”
Ephesians 1:7 KJ21 “In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace,”
Ephesians 4:32 KJ21 “and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Colossians 1:14 God’s Word to the Nations “His Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven.”
Colossians 2:13 God’s Word “You were once dead because of your failures and your uncircumcised corrupt nature. But God made you alive with Christ when he forgave all our failures.”
1 John 1:9 God’s Word “God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong.”
1 John 2:12 God’s Word “I’m writing to you, dear children, because your sins are forgiven through Christ.”

Tuesday, May 22 Hope to Overcome Sin
Proverbs 24:16 ESV “for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”
Proverbs 24:16 COMMENTARY FAMILY BIBLE NOTES The just man falls for his discipline, and God will raise him up again; but the wicked falls for his destruction.
1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:57 COMMENTARY BY WILLIAM BURKETT all believers…may triumph over death through Christ, because…he has destroyed it by his resurrection.

Wednesday, May 23 Provision and Protection
Psalm 37:25 NKJV “I have been young, and [now] am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.”
Hope from Jesus – Matthew 6:25-34 God’s Word “25 ¶ "So I tell you to stop worrying about what you will eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes? 26 "Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or gather the harvest into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 "Can any of you add a single hour to your life by worrying? 28 "And why worry about clothes? Notice how the flowers grow in the field. They never work or spin yarn for clothes. 29 But I say that not even Solomon in all his majesty was dressed like one of these flowers. 30 That’s the way God clothes the grass in the field. Today it’s alive, and tomorrow it’s thrown into an incinerator. So how much more will he clothe you people who have so little faith? 31 "Don’t ever worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ 32 Everyone is concerned about these things, and your heavenly Father certainly knows you need all of them. 33 But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you. 34 "So don’t ever worry about tomorrow. After all, tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:32 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES those destitute of the true doctrines of religion, unacquainted with proper dependence on Divine Providence, make it their chief anxiety thus to seek food and raiment. But you, who have a knowledge of your Father in heaven, who know that he will provide for your wants, should not be anxious.
What hope can you get from these verses?
Psalm 46:1-3 NLT “1 ¶ God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. 2 So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. 3 Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude”
Psalm 46:2 COMMENTARY TREASURY OF DAVID (Spurgeon) And though the mountains be carried into the middle of the sea; though the firmest of created objects should fall to headlong ruin, and be submerged in utter destruction. The two phrases set forth the most terrible commotions within the range of imagination, and include the overthrow of dynasties, the destruction of nations, the ruin of families, the persecutions of the church, the reign of heresy, and whatever else may at any time try the faith of believers. Let the worst come to the worst, the child of God should never give way to mistrust; since God remaineth faithful there can be no danger to his cause or people.
Psalm 34:7 ASV “The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, And delivereth them.”
Psalm 34:7 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE I should rather consider this angel in the light of a watchman going round his circuit, and having for the objects of his especial care such as fear the Lord.
Psalm 91:4 NLT “He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”
Psalm 125:2 ASV “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So Jehovah is round about his people From this time forth and for evermore.”
Matthew 28:20 NIV “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."”
Personal Experience of God’s Care – As missionaries in Malawi, Africa, we were stationed at Malamulo Mission on a plateau near the Shire River. Cholera is water-borne and often makes its way up the rivers, dealing out death and destruction. One day we had to leave quickly for Blantyre, a city 40 miles away, to get our monthly provisions because cholera was slowly and surely coming up the Shire River valley, and we might be quarantined for months if the disease struck with full force. Well, the disease came upriver all right and stopped right at our mission. Only one person was admitted to our mission hospital with cholera. The Lord had overruled.

Thursday, May 24 Hope of Everlasting Life1 Corinthians 15:51-58 MKJV “51 ¶ Behold, I speak a mystery to you; we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed; 52 in a moment, in a glance of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality. 54 But when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality, then will take place the word that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where [is] your sting? O grave, where [is] your victory?" 56 The sting of death [is] sin, and the strength of sin [is] the law. 57 But thanks [be] to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 ¶ So that, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not without fruit in the Lord.”
The English poet John Donne wrote (abridged):
DEATH, be not proud, though some have callèd thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so…
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NKJV “13 ¶ But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive [and] remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:14 COMMENTARY BY BARNES The doctrine of the resurrection of the saints so certainly follows from that of the resurrection of Christ, that, if the one is believed, the other ought to be also. Which sleep in Jesus. A most beautiful expression. It is not merely that they have calm repose--like a gentle slumber--in the hope of awaking again, but that… his death and resurrection are the cause of their quiet and calm repose. They do not "sleep" in heathenism, or in infidelity, or in the gloom of atheism--but in the blessed hope which Jesus has imparted. They lie, as he did, in the tomb--free from pain and sorrow, and with the certainty of being raised up again. They sleep in Jesus and are bless'd, How kind their slumbers are; From sufferings and from sin released, And freed from every snare.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN shout--Greek, "signal shout," "war shout." Jesus is represented as a victorious King, giving the word of command to the hosts of heaven in His train for the last onslaught, at His final triumph over sin, death, and Satan.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 COMMENTARY JOHN WESLEY NOTES All the church, the saints of past ages, and the saints of the last age, shall ascend together to meet the Lord. So shall we ever be with the Lord. That glorious meeting shall never end.

This has been such a wonderful lesson! Where would we be without hope? It is more than just hope that we have. We have the certainty of God's promises, and they will not fail!

God bless,

Beryl