Sunday Morning Sermon Notes: 1/18/15Love you all!The Word For The Year: “hope” (part 3)Colossians 1:3–23 [NIV]1. Intro: There is something harder than losing weight…it is living out these sermons!a. It is like asking for directions: Have you ever stopped and asked someone for directions and then they said, “From here? No from your house. Then people ask the more ignorant question, ‘Do you want to know the shortest way?’ ‘Well no, I have a full tank of gas. Take me through [Atlanta].’” i. How about when you “dial the wrong number? Hello [Lynette?] ‘This ain’t Lynette.’ Sorry brother, I dialed the wrong number. ‘What number did you dial?’ …did it wring at your house…I don’t know I just picked seven numbers…” ii. “There are people who make a career out of being unhappy. I just don’t ask them anymore…cyst on back and my wife Pear tried to lance with a lid from a can of tuna fish and now it got a little infected…why did I ask…” (Ibid.)iii. I can either by hopeful or “hateful.” (Ibid.)1 Thessalonians 5:18 [***New Living Translation]No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.1 Timothy 2:12 [***New Century Version]I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave me strength, because he trusted me and gave me this work of serving him.b. Last week: The higher the view of JESUS, the more “hope” we will have!i. How? When we see life from JESUS’ view, “hope” comes out in various ways.2. Main Idea: When “hope” increases due to a high view of JESUS, so does our “thankfulness.” (v. 3)a. When we see JESUS “high and lifted up” in every circumstance then we change!i. Think about it…Paul was saying he was “thankful” for a community where the numbers were dying and city was going to become nothing big. 1. GOD was working even though what someone might see was death. In other words, there was a “good report.” ii. Why? Paul knew it is not the size of the community that made him “thankful,” but the size of the HOLY SPIRIT’s presence!b. How do I know I am “thankful?”i. A “thankful” heart is a praying heart! (v. 3) Remember, true “thank[s]” goes to the source.ii. A “thankful” heart rejoices in what JESUS rejoices in “faith and love.” (vv. 4–5)1. A “thankful” heart realizes two things: (1) that “faith” in JESUS is the only person we should have “faith” in and (2) when we really “love” JESUS we will really love others. (v. 4)a. “The Greek word denotes caring love, the love that counts no sacrifice to great for the one loved.” (Vaughan, 174)iii. A “thankful” heart always increases in “hope.” 1. “hope” is meant to increase because there is a storehouse of it! (v. 5) “heaven” will blow our minds!a. “A more literal translation is ‘on account of the hope’….” (Curtis Vaughan)2. The result: Where “hope” increases so does “faith and love.”a. “‘Faith’ (pistis), which is commitment to, or trust in….” (Vaughan, 174)b. This “in” is not just “in Jesus Christ.” “In this passage the Greek is different (en with a locative), pointing to Christ as the sphere in which faith operates.” (Vaughan, 174)c. Being “thankful” allows us to rest and be “‘anchored’ in Christ.” (Vaughan, 174)3. Application: I must “stop bringing [JESUS] down to the level of my unbelief.” John 14:1–3 [***New King James Version]1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.