"Overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Rom. 15:13

What a great year verse. Who doesn't want to overflow with hope, specially when it comes from the Holy Spirit! Let's hang it on our wall. Let's print it on our T-shirts. We want it to encourage and even inspire us. There are enough other things to discourage us, so let's be encouraged. We are confident in the message of hope. It is neither wishful thinking nor blind faith. It is the word of God given to us and for us. For the year 2012, it is our banner verse.

However, the reality is that it is often difficult to be hopeful in all areas of our lives. Often there is a disconnect between the declaration of hope, and a genuine embrace of hope in a particular situation or circumstance of our lives. We can hope in general, but not in this particular aspect. We can be hopeful in some areas of our lives, but then there are those difficult situations. In fact, we label them "hopeless."

Let's get real. Real hope...in real life. Let's talk about the "hopeless" situations: when discouragement mounts, or injustice mounts, when we see no answers to our prayers, when things are getting worse not better, when hope seems to deny the reality of our lives.

Beginning this Sunday and over the next two months we will look at Hope, In Real Life. We'll take the declaration of God through his holy Scriptures and apply it to the reality of our lives and our world. We will ask the tough questions and face the answers head on. The difficult situations and circumstances of our lives are real. It would be false to deny that, but the message of Jesus and his Kingdom is always hope. In fact this is why Jesus came: to bring hope to the hopeless and the hopeless situations. A real God and Savior, a real Kingdom, and real hope applied to real life. We invite you to join us this Sunday and for the whole series. 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.