Transforming Hope
Isaiah 40:27-31 – New International Version (NIV)
27 Why do you
complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from
the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the
earth.
He will not grow tired or
weary,
and his understanding no one can
fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like
eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
What does Israel say is “disregarded” by God (verse 27)?
What has the Lord created (verse 28)?
Who can understand what the Lord understands (verse 28)?
What does the Lord
give to the weary (verse 29)?
Who grows “tired and weary” (verse 30)?
Who will “renew their strength” (verse 31)?
Who will “soar on wings like eagles” (verse 31)?
Who will “run and not grow weary” (verse 31)?
Who will “walk and not be faint” (verse 31)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how is hope revealed in
this passage?
Luke 1:26-38 - New International
Version (NIV)
26 In the
sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to
Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged
to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s
name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said,
“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was
greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might
be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be
afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You
will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He
will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God
will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he
will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How
will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The
angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be
called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your
relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to
be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no
word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am
the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then
the angel left her.
Who did God send “to Nazareth, a town in Galilee” (verse 26)?
How was Mary described (verse 27)?
Who was with Mary (verse 28)?
What “greatly troubled” Mary (verse 29)?
Why was Mary not to be afraid (verse 30)?
Who is Mary to call “Jesus” (verse 31)?
What will Jesus be called (verse 32)?
When will Jesus’s kingdom end (verse 33)?
Why will the “holy one to be born” be called the Son of God (verse
35)?
Who is going to “have a child in her old age” (verse 36)?
What will never fail (verse 37)?
How does Mary respond to the angel Gabriel (verse 38)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is hope revealed in this passage?
In your opinion, how is Mary in Luke 1:26-38 an example of what it means
to “hope in the Lord” as described in Isaiah 40:27-31?
Romans 8:18-27 - New International Version (NIV)
18 I consider that our present sufferings
are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For
the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be
revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to
frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected
it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be
liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory
of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has
been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present
time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for
our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For
in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at
all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if
we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us
in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the
Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And
he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the
Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
What is “not worth comparing with the glory that will be
revealed in us” (verse 18)?
Who does “the creation” eagerly expect (verse 19)?
What was “the creation” subjected to (verse 20)?
What is “the hope” that the creation will be brought
into (verses 20 and 21)?
How is “the whole creation” groaning (verse 22)?
What do “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the
Spirit” groan inwardly for (verse 23)?
What is hope that is seen (verse 24)?
When do we wait patiently for what we do not have (verse
25)?
How does the Spirit intercede for us when we don’t know
what to pray for (verse 26)?
How does the Spirit intercede “for God’s people”
*verse 27)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how
is hope revealed in this passage?
In your opinion, how
is hope “in the Lord” in the midst of the agony of separation from God for
Israel in Isaiah 40:27-31 shown to be necessary for the creation and all Christians
in Romans 8:18-30?
In your opinion, what
does the presence of the Holy Spirit in both Luke 1:26-38 and in Romans 8:18-30
teach us about the Holy Spirit’s role in our expectations and hopes?
Romans 15:7-13 - New International Version (NIV)
7 Accept
one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise
to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant
of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to
the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and, moreover, that
the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:
“Therefore
I will praise you among the Gentiles;
I will sing the praises of your name.”
10 Again,
it says,
“Rejoice,
you Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And
again,
“Praise
the Lord, all you Gentiles;
let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And
again, Isaiah says,
“The
Root of Jesse will spring up,
one who will arise to rule over the nations;
in him the Gentiles will hope.”
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.
How are we to “bring praise to God” (verse 7)?
Why did
Christ “become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth” (verse 8)?
Why might
Gentiles “glorify God” (verse 9)?
Who are the
Gentiles to rejoice with (verse 10)?
What are “all
the peoples” to do (verse 11)?
Who will the
Gentiles hope in (verse 12)?
What is the
Paul asking for the God of hope to fill his readers with (verse 13)?
How will the
readers “overflow with hope” (verse 13)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how
is hope revealed in this passage?
In your opinion, how are the outcomes of hope in God
similar in Isaiah 40:27-31 and in Romans 15:7-13?
In
your opinion, how is the transformation of Mary in Luke 1:26-38 an example for those
in Romans 15:7-13 described as accepted by Christ and to be transformed by the “God
of hope”?
In your opinion, how
does Romans 15:7-13 show us how the hope that Romans 8:18-30 indicates we can
have while we wait for “the redemption of our bodies” can transform our
lives today?
In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Isaiah, Luke,
Romans and Romans teach us about the importance of hope in Christian lives?
In your
opinion, how is hope transforming people today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
