Recognizing the key role that hope plays in our lives, we encourage each other by saying, “Keep your hopes up!” We also realize that a situation is lost if someone gives up hope. With so many difficulties in our lives, we need hope to keep going. In I Peter 1:3-12, God calls his people to be a hopeful people, but not based on wishful thinking but on his own work for us.
God’s choice of Saul to be Israel’s first king anticipated the eventual arrival of the coming King and also Christians’ royal calling.
If we invest in making disciples, our lives become bound up with theirs to die and live together.
Continuing the final conversation with his disciples in John 14:15-31, Jesus told them how to show their love for him and of the gifts...