As Jesus encounters a marginalized social outcast in Mark 1:40-45 we learn the truth, where life contaminates, Jesus regenerates…and our part to walk in newness of life in sin infested world is to Face the Reality of Sin’s Contamination and Embrace the regeneration of Jesus Touch.

Too often we think hope is found by packing more into our lives, yet true hope is found in holding onto Jesus. Simeon shows us how… to have a Good Grip on Faith in God, a Good Grasp on the Guidance of the Holy Spirit, and a Good Hold on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hope seems to fade when we fail…and the truth is we fail a lot! Failed companies, failed dreams, failed marriages, failed families, failed courses, even failed attempts to get closer to God…sure these failures can send us off into vortex of discouragement, for failures of life deflate, yet God’s hope fills to overflowing. King Dave experienced this overflowing hope even as he failed epically. How? His life reveals two choices to hold onto hope when we fail; Hope in Forgiveness (Psalm 51) and Hope in Surrender (Psalm 139).

We live in a world where we no longer have to wait. We actually don’t like to wait. We feel waiting is inconvenient, a bother, a waste of time, unnecessary and actually hope draining. Yet that is not God’s view of waiting. Waiting is a precious hope instilling time seen in the stories of Jesus’ genealogy. In the story of Abraham and Sarah (Luke 3:34/Gen 12-22) we discover three ways to hold onto hope in times of waiting as we Wait with Trust Depending on the Promises of God (Prov 3:5-6), Wait with Integrity Following the Precepts of God (Prov 13:14-19), and Wait with Wisdom Leaning on the Power of God (Isaiah 4:29-30).