Talk

You Should Get Your Hopes Up

Grant Partrick

January 12, 2025

The years to come will have uncertainty, yet we can stand firm in the promise of Hebrews 6:19—that there is an anchor for our souls, Jesus, who is firm and secure. Though disappointments can be harrowing, Grant Partrick reminds us in this talk that God is the trustworthy source of hope in a broken world.

Key Takeaway

He is the source and the supplier of hope, and He gives enduring and abundant hope.

It's tough to get your hopes up and then be disappointed.

Maybe you were rejected from your dream school, or perhaps that person you liked ended things with you. Maybe you have a parent who promised one thing and did another. A spouse who said I do, but then they didn't.

As a result of these many disappointments, to guard our hearts against future potential disappointments, we end up living with little to no hope—no sense of expectation that what is ahead will be good or enjoyable.

How is your hope?

Read Romans 15:1-13.

1. God is the only trustworthy source of hope.

Webster defines hope as " a desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfilment to want something to happen."

But biblical hope is more than a simple wish; it entails certainty based on God's demonstration of faithfulness to people in the history of salvation as recorded in the Scriptures and as experienced by the Church.

John Piper says, "Biblical hope is biblical faith in the future tense."

Hope is the result of trusting in God.

He produces hope, is the object of our hope, and is the only source of hope. And yet, we have looked to a million other sources to produce hope for us, haven't we?

Many of us feel hopeless because we have hoped and trusted in less than God.

We see warnings against this throughout all of Scripture.

Read Jeremiah 2:11–13.

Israel had rejected God, from whom water continuously flowed, and sought to replace Him with cracked and leaky cisterns, which would always be empty.

They trusted themselves instead of God and faded into hopelessness because what they built couldn't sustain what they desired.

Read Psalm 33:12–22 and Psalm 20:7.

Horses represented strength, status, and prestige. They were the most feared military instruments of the day and represented victory.

Psalm 33:16 again says, "A horse is a vain hope (a false hope) for deliverance (victory). Despite all its strength, it cannot save (rescue).

What are you putting your trust in?

Like the Lord said to Jeremiah—they hold no water. It's not trustworthy or dependable. It can't hold you.

If hope is a confident expectation in the future, then to be hopeless is to be insecure about the future.

The dependability of what you trust in determines the durability of what you hope for. So, if you trust in money, the volatility of interest rates and markets will short-circuit your hope. If you trust in people, when they change their minds, you lose your hope.

The soil you planted your trust in isn't sturdy enough to bear the weight of your hopes.

Read Hebrews 6:18–19.

We are hopeless because we have hoped for less than the "one thing."

2. God is the Supplier of Hope

Here is the Good News—the God of hope is also the giver of hope. You can leave today having hope that is eternal, secure, unchanging, unshakeable, dependable, and durable.

The SOURCE is also the SUPPLIER. He will fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.

Trust is the root. Hope is the fruit.

We need hope because life is hard.

This year will likely not turn out the way you want it to—it will have hardships, unexpected calls, disappointments, letdowns, or failures.

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

We read doom into this text, but the point is peace.

Read Romans 15:4.

If you want to have hope, you have to love this Word. In Him, we have an enduring hope.

Read 1 Thessalonians 1:3 and Romans 5:1–5.

Suffering can only steal false hopes. It can't diminish true hope.

Read Lamentations 3:1,5,16-17, and Lamentations 3:21-24 (ESV).

We look to him as the source of our hope. We sink our roots of trust deep into the soil of God's love, and He supplies us with hope. He is the source and the supplier.

You won't escape pain and suffering, but it's certain that if your hope is in Christ, you will have a hope that endures through the pain and suffering, giving you joy and peace.

Don't we all want joy and peace? The world is searching for it.

In the same way that hoping is not wishing, joy is not happiness.

Happiness is circumstantial—joy is anchored, rooted, enduring, and tethered to the immovable Rock of God and His promises.

John 14:27 and Ephesians 2:14.

Peace and Joy are inseparable.

C.H. Spurgeon said it this way, "Peace is joy resting. Joy is peace dancing."

3. God's hope not only endures—it abounds.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13 (ESV)

Joy and peace would be enough, but the word abound is "Perisseuo" in Greek—it means to have an abundance—plenty, more than enough, over and above, too much.

It's the same word used in the accounts of the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14.

Read Matthew 14:20.

He gives more—this is the kind of God that we serve.

“

Hope is the result of trusting in God.

”

Grant Partrick

Discussion Questions

Have you gotten your hopes up for something recently and been disappointed? What was that experience like for you?
How has disappointment impacted your ability to hope?
What have you been putting your hope and trust in other than God? What has been the result?
Have you been wishing for desires or hoping for God's promises? What do you think the difference is?
What do you need hope for right now?
Re-read John 16:33. Why do we often try to leave God out of our lives when we're feeling hopeless?
Do you see a correlation in your level of hopelessness and your relationship with God?
Grant Partrick distinguishes happiness from joy. Have you been seeking happiness or joy more? What does joy give you that happiness does not?
What are you hoping for others around you?
Read Ephesians 3:20. Do you believe that God can do even more than you ask for? What's stopping you from believing that He is the God of abundance?

Scripture References

1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

2Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.

3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,

6so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

8For 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

9and, 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.”

10Again, it says,

“Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”

11And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;

let all the peoples extol him.”

12And 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.”

13May 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.

11Has a nation ever changed its gods?

(Yet they are not gods at all.)

But my people have exchanged their glorious God

for worthless idols.

12Be appalled at this, you heavens,

and shudder with great horror,”

declares the

Lord

13“My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns,

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

12Blessed is the nation whose God is the

Lord

the people he chose for his inheritance.

13From heaven the

Lord

looks down

and sees all mankind;

14from his dwelling place he watches

all who live on earth—

15he who forms the hearts of all,

who considers everything they do.

16No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

17A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;

despite all its great strength it cannot save.

18But the eyes of the

Lord

are on those who fear him,

on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

19to deliver them from death

and keep them alive in famine.

20We wait in hope for the

Lord

;

he is our help and our shield.

21In him our hearts rejoice,

for we trust in his holy name.

22May your unfailing love be with us,

Lord

even as we put our hope in you.

7Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the

Lord

our God.

16No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.

19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

3We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

3Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

4perseverance, character; and character, hope.

5And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

1I am the man who has seen affliction

by the rod of the

Lord

’s wrath.

5He has besieged me and surrounded me

with bitterness and hardship.

16He has broken my teeth with gravel;

he has trampled me in the dust.

17I have been deprived of peace;

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

21Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:

22Because of the

Lord

’s great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

23They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

24I say to myself, “The

Lord

is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him.”

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

20They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Grant Partrick

Grant Partrick is a part of the team at Passion City Church and serves as the Cumberland Location Pastor. He is passionate about inspiring people to live their lives for what matters most. Grant and his wife, Maggie, live in Marietta, Georgia with their daughters, Mercy, Ember, and Charleigh. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned a masters of theology degree.