Hope: The Oxygen of the Soul
Introduction: Restoring Oxygen
Pilots are trained that if cabin pressure drops, put your own oxygen mask on first. Why? Because confusion sets in quickly when oxygen is low. Many people aren't sinful; they're suffocating.
Christmas is God restoring oxygen to humanity. Jesus didn't come to decorate life. He came to restore breath to dying souls.
For four hundred years there was silence. No prophet, no new word, no breakthrough. Then heaven broke the silence.
A cry pierced the night. A baby's breath filled Bethlehem. And hope broke through like dawn after a long night.
Christmas is God announcing that no situation is hopeless anymore, because Hope has arrived.
Hope is the oxygen of the soul. People don't fall apart because they run out of time. They fall apart because they run out of hope.
"Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]." (Hebrews 11:1, AMP)
Main Text: Abraham's Hope Against Hope
"This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God's promise arrives as pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that's reading the story backward. He is our faith father.
We call Abraham 'father' not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, 'I set you up as father of many peoples'? Abraham was first named 'father' and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, 'You're going to have a big family, Abraham!'
Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, 'It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.' Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That's why it is said, 'Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right.' But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God." (Romans 4:16-25, MSG)
Point 1: Jesus Is Hope Wrapped in Humanity
Jesus didn't just bring hope. He is hope.
"God [in His eternal plan] chose to make known to them how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in and among you, the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory." (Colossians 1:27, AMP)
Hope is not positive thinking. Hope is not wishful feelings. Hope is a person stepping into impossible moments.
Jesus entered our humanity so hope could enter our reality.
Where Jesus is present, hope becomes possible in:
- Broken places
- Barren seasons
- Dark nights
- Painful memories
- Confusing transitions
Jesus is proof that God still has a plan even when you don't understand the moment.
Point 2: Hope Is Anchored in God's Promises, Not Your Problems
"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." (Hebrews 6:19)
An anchor does not stop the storm. It stops the drift.
Hope doesn't remove storms. It prevents storms from removing you.
Everything else changes: feelings, people, finances, health. But God's Word does not.
"God is not human, that He should lie..." (Numbers 23:19)
"So is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty." (Isaiah 55:11)
When your hope is tied to God's promises, your soul stops drifting.
"You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my source of hope." (Psalm 119:114, NLT)
How Do You Walk This Out?
When fear comes: 2 Timothy 1:7, Psalm 23:4
When lack comes: Psalm 23:1, Philippians 4:19, Psalm 37:25
When anxiousness comes: Philippians 4:6, John 14:27, Isaiah 26:3
When enemies come at you: Isaiah 54:17, Romans 8:31, Romans 8:37
When you feel alone: Psalm 46:1
When you feel lost: Psalm 37:23, Jeremiah 29:11
When you feel like you're worthless: Genesis 1:26, Psalm 139:14
When you feel like you can't do it: Philippians 4:13, Genesis 18:14
Point 3: Hope Works in the Dark Even When You Can't See the Light
Hope is not a spotlight. It's a seed.
Seeds grow in darkness before they ever reach the light. Just because you don't see progress doesn't mean hope isn't working.
"For in this hope we were saved... if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." (Romans 8:24-25)
Weeping has a season, but it is not permanent.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:5)
Hope quietly strengthens, patiently waits, silently grows, and stubbornly believes that God is not finished.
Point 4: Jesus Specializes in Hopeless Cases
The Bible is full of people who opened the package of hope:
- Sarah: Barren at 90, holding a baby
- Joseph: Betrayed at 17, promoted at 30
- Moses: Fugitive at 40, deliverer at 80
- David: Shepherd boy, anointed king
- Mary Magdalene: Delivered and restored
- The thief on the cross: Saved in the final hour
Why? Because hope isn't intimidated by human limits.
When Jesus is present:
- Dead things resurrect
- Lost things return
- Broken things mend
- Empty things fill
- Weak things strengthen
- Impossible things bow
There is no situation beyond hope, because there is no situation beyond Jesus.
"What is impossible with man is possible with God." (Luke 18:27)
"I am the resurrection and the life." (John 11:25)
Point 5: Hope Is a Choice Before It Becomes a Feeling
Hope is not something you wait to feel. It is something you choose to hold.
"Why, my soul, are you downcast? Put your hope in God." (Psalm 42:11)
Hope is a declaration, a decision, a posture, and a weapon.
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)
Hope refuses to die quietly.
Application: How to Walk in Hope
- Speak hope daily
"The tongue has the power of life and death." (Proverbs 18:21)
- Limit hopeless voices
"Bad company corrupts good character." (1 Corinthians 15:33)
- Remember past victories
"David said, 'The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.' And Saul said to David, 'Go, and may the LORD be with you.'" (1 Samuel 17:37, AMP)
- Fix your focus on Jesus
"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." (Hebrews 12:2)
Closing Scriptures on Hope
"He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:3)
"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." (Romans 15:13)
"Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from Him." (Psalm 62:5)
"Plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." (Isaiah 40:31)
Discussion Questions
- The Oxygen of the Soul: The sermon teaches that "hope is the oxygen of the soul" and that "people don't fall apart because they run out of time—they fall apart because they run out of hope." In what area of your life are you currently "suffocating" or running low on hope? What would it look like to let Jesus restore breath to that dying situation this week?
- Anchor, Not Spotlight: The message explains that "an anchor does not stop the storm—it stops the drift" and that "hope doesn't remove storms—it prevents storms from removing you." What storm are you currently facing that is trying to make you drift from God's promises? Which of the scripture references from "How Do You Walk This Out" do you need to anchor your soul to right now?
- Hope Works in the Dark: The sermon states, "Hope is not a spotlight—it's a seed. Seeds grow in darkness before they ever reach the light." What situation in your life looks completely dark right now with no visible progress? How does understanding that hope works like a seed (growing underground before it breaks through) change your perspective on waiting? What would it look like to "stubbornly believe that God is not finished"?
- Abraham's Hope Against Hope: Romans 4 shows that "Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence" or "survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up." Instead, "he plunged into the promise and came up strong." What impossible situation are you facing that mirrors Abraham's experience? Are you focusing on your limitations or on God's promises? What does it mean to "plunge into the promise" rather than "tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions"?
- Hope Is a Choice: The sermon teaches that "hope is not something you wait to feel—it is something you choose to hold" and that "hope is a declaration, a decision, a posture, and a weapon." Looking at the four application points (speak hope daily, limit hopeless voices, remember past victories, fix your focus on Jesus), which one do you most need to implement this week? What specific action will you take? What hopeless voice do you need to limit, or what past victory do you need to remember?