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September 19, 2025 19 mins

In this episode of 'Joy in Every Step', Sarita explores the concept of hope from a biblical perspective, emphasizing the importance of true hope rooted in God's promises. She discusses the story of Joseph as a powerful example of maintaining hope in the face of adversity, highlighting the distinction between optimism and biblical hope. The conversation encourages listeners to reflect on their own hope in God and the assurance that comes from His faithfulness.


Takeaways

  • Hope in God is a confident expectation of receiving future promises.
  • There are three types of hope: no hope, false hope, and true hope.
  • True hope is rooted in the word of God and His promises.
  • Biblical hope is stable and constant, unlike fleeting optimism.
  • Self-talk is essential; we must encourage ourselves in hope.
  • God's promises provide strength and encouragement during difficulties.
  • Joseph's story illustrates God's faithfulness in our lives.
  • Hope in God guarantees that our future is secure.
  • We should explore God's promises for a deeper understanding.
  •  True hope is alive because the God we serve is a living God.
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Introduction (00:03):
Welcome to a place of peace, hope, and divine
encouragement. This is Joy inEvery Step with your host,
beloved preacher, retiredteacher, and faithful faithful
servant of the Lord, SaritaBernadette. Each week, Sarita
shares heartfelt messages rootedin the word of God, filled with

(00:24):
wisdom, joy, and the gentlereminder that God cares deeply
for you. Whether you're walkingthrough the valleys or dancing
on the mountaintops, Sarita'svoice will guide you back to his
promises step by step. So openyour heart, settle your spirit,
and take the next step in faithwith Joy in Every Step.

Sarita Bernadette (00:53):
Hi, I'm Sarita Bernadette, and welcome
back to another episode of Joyin Every Step. I'm glad you're
here. In the last couple ofepisodes, we talked about the
grace of God. It's the gracethat saves us and it's the grace

(01:15):
that sustains us and enables us.Yes, grace.
The unmerited favor of God is asource of hope for us as
believers. I'm aware that manyof us are finding it difficult
to remain hopeful right aboutnow. That is to say, maintaining

(01:35):
our hope in God is not comingwith ease. If we're being
honest, we're clinging moreclosely to His word and His
words now more than ever before.There's a verse in Psalm 42 it's
Psalm forty two and five and itsays, Why are you cast down, O

(01:58):
my soul?
And why are you disquietedwithin me? Hope in God for I
shall again praise Him, my help.Yes, he is our help. Note here
that King David does fourthings. He asks a question first

(02:20):
and so I would ask you belovedthink about what you're thinking
about.
Then he commands his soul tohope. He commands it. Next he
looks forward to praising Godagain. He knows he's going to
get up out of that place he'sin. Then finally he expresses

(02:42):
confidence in God as his help.
King David sums up what selftalk sounds like here. He

encourages himself (02:50):
Beloved, we can take a lesson from the
psalmist right here. We musthang on to hope in God. Let's
dig a little deeper. There arethree types of hope documented
in the Word of God.
First is no hope. That's whenone does not know the Lord and

(03:14):
is separated from him. And thereare indeed people who are
without hope and God in thisworld. Then there's false hope.
This hope is based on lies ormisplaced trust.
Often people who have this typeof hope are following false
prophets and or basing theirbeliefs on unreliable sources.

(03:39):
Lastly, there is true hope. Thisis the hope rooted and grounded
in the Word of God and Hispromises. So let's zero in on
true hope. True hope.
That's the biblical hope whichwe can further define as a
confident expectation ofreceiving future promises from

(04:02):
God. It's a hope based on Hisfaithfulness and His character
rather than a mere wish oroptimistic desire. Hope God
doesn't just wish for somethinggood to happen. Hope in God
expects that something good willhappen. You see, beloved, God

(04:23):
has a track record.
If you look back, you can seewhere He's come through and made
ways where we didn't see away.Biblical hope can be
distinguished from the hope wehear about in the world. You see
optimism is fine, but asbelievers we have to move beyond

(04:45):
just positive thinking. Optimismor positive thinking can be
fleeting. It can waver based onwhat's going on around us.
It can be based on feelings. Andwe know feelings are fickle.
Hope in God however is stableand constant. Optimism is

(05:08):
passive. Hope in God is active.
Hope in God requires activatedfaith while optimism permits one
to move based on howcircumstances look. Biblical
hope is built on a solidfoundation. First Corinthians

(05:29):
three and eleven For no one canlay any foundation other than
the one that has been laid. Thatfoundation is Jesus Christ.
There's an old hymn I've beenhumming lately.
It was written back in 1834 byan English gentleman named
Edward Mote. He got the idea forthe chorus on his way to work

(05:52):
one day and by the end of theday he had written several more
verses. The song was inspired byMote's experience as a
Christian. Some of you know thesong I'm speaking of: My hope is
built on nothing less thanJesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetestframe, but wholly lean on Jesus'

(06:19):
name.
On Christ the solid rock Istand, all other ground is
sinking sand all other ground issinking sand. These are the

words of the second verse (06:33):
When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.Yes, on Christ the solid rock I
stand, All other ground issinking sand. True hope,

(07:00):
biblical hope, is built on God'spromises.

Romans fifteen and thirteen (07:04):
May the God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace in believingso that you may abound in hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.When Paul refers to the God of
hope who will make the peopleabound in hope, we know it's

(07:27):
because God keeps his promises.This part is important, beloved.
There are thousands andthousands of promises from
Genesis to Revelations, and somany of God's promises are
designed to give us strength, togive us encouragement, as well

(07:48):
as clarity. God's promises giveus what we need to get through
life's difficulties.
We can abound in hope as weunderstand, recall, and trust in
the Lord our God. Some of thosepromises include: promise to
always love us, His promise toprovide for us, His promise to

(08:12):
be our refuge, His promise to beour strength, His promise to be
our joy. God promises to sustainus. He promises to guide us. He
promises to always, always bewith us.
He promises us his peace. Again,there are thousands of his

(08:36):
promises in the Bible and Iwould invite you to explore them
on your own. And I would like toexplore them in more detail even
in the next episodes. I hopeyou'll come back for that. But
as for now, as for hope, thetrue hope we have is alive
because the God we serve is aliving God.

(09:01):
Speaking of true hope and theliving God there's this story in
the book of Genesis starting inthe thirty seventh chapter and
continuing on through chapter50. It's the story of Joseph,
the favorite son of Jacob. TheBible tells us Jacob loved him

(09:22):
more than any other childrenbecause he had been born when
Jacob was in his old age. SoJacob had a special robe made
for him. You've probably heardit called the coat of many
colors.
Well, this created a problembetween Joseph and his brothers.
They hated him. That's what theBible says. One night Joseph had

(09:47):
a dream and he shared thedetails with his brothers. In
the dream his brothers wereunder his authority so they
hated him all the more and theyplotted to kill him.
But one of the brothers spokeagainst that and so they settled
on selling him into slaveryinstead. However, they told

(10:10):
their father Jacob that he hadbeen killed by a wild animal.
Joseph wound up in Egypt servingin the household of one of its
officers named Potiphar. TheBible tells us the Lord was with
Joseph. The Lord was withJoseph.

(10:31):
So he succeeded in everything hedid while he was in that
household. Potiphar noticed thisand made Joseph his personal
attendant and put him in chargeof the entire household. Things
were running smoothly untilPotiphar's wife tried to seduce
Joseph. Joseph refused heradvances however she accused him

(10:55):
of rape and Potiphar had himthrown in jail. Once again, the
Bible tells us in Genesis 3nine20 one-twenty three, But the
Lord was with Joseph and showedhim steadfast love.
He gave him favor in the sightof the chief jailer. Verse 22

(11:17):
says, The chief jailer committedto Joseph's care all the
prisoners who were in the prisonand whatever was done there he
was the one who did it. Thechief jailer paid no heed to
anything that was in Joseph'scare because the Lord was with
him and whatever he did the Lordmade it prosper. Yes, beloved,

(11:42):
this is the favor of God onJoseph's life. But can you
imagine the hope in Joseph'sheart, the hope that he
experienced as these life eventsplayed out.
Beloved, there are times in ourlives when things may appear
hopeless, but when you lookback, you see that God was

(12:04):
working in the background thewhole time. When we read
accountings like this one, wesee how the Lord takes care of
his own and that my friends,that my friends shows us where
we should place our hope. Backto the story. In chapter 40, we

(12:24):
see that Joseph was still inprison and he happened to be
there with a couple of Pharaoh'sofficials. They each had a dream
and Joseph interpreted theirdreams.
A couple of years go by and thesame two men were out of jail
and serving Pharaoh when he hada couple of dreams that no one

(12:48):
could interpret. And you alreadyknow what happened. One of the
men remembered Joseph and hetold Pharaoh all about him.
Pharaoh summoned Joseph tointerpret the dreams and Joseph
tells him in chapter 41 verse16, It is beyond my power to do
this, but God can tell you whatit means and set you at ease.

(13:13):
Joseph acknowledged the factthat the power belonged to God.
Joseph's hope was in him. It wasin the Lord. So I ask, where's
your hope today, beloved? SoJoseph interpreted the dreams
and then said in chapter 41verse 28, It is as I told

(13:39):
Pharaoh, God has shown toPharaoh what he is about to do.
There will come some seven yearsof great plenty throughout all
the land of Egypt.
After them there will ariseseven years of famine and all
the plenty will be forgotten inthe land of Egypt. The famine

(13:59):
will consume the land. Josephlets Pharaoh know that God was
sending a warning to him andthat he needed to prepare. So
Joseph went on to share thestrategy God gave surviving the
famine which was to store upgrain during the seven good
years and that way they wouldhave enough to last through the

(14:23):
bad ones. Pharaoh loved the ideaso much that he put Joseph in
charge and they did as the Lordhad instructed.
During the seven years of hungerwhich had spread to surrounding
countries the only way to getfood was to go through Joseph.
Fast forward, when Joseph'sbrothers arrived in Egypt to get

(14:48):
food, they didn't even know thatit was Joseph. They didn't even
recognize him when they arrivedthere. And so he tested them to
see if their hearts had changedin those many years. First, he
accused them of being spies.

(15:10):
Then he threw them into prisonfor three days to see if they
would feel any guilt for whatthey had done to him. Then
Joseph hid money in their sacksto see if they'd keep it or
return it. And lastly, heplanted his silver cup in his
brother Benjamin's sack. Thatrevealed the change of heart

(15:34):
that Joseph was looking for.Judah, speaking for his
brothers, volunteered to remainin Egypt in order to protect his
younger brother Benjamin and toprevent breaking his father
Jacob's heart even further.
At that point Joseph had heardenough. He wept and he revealed

(15:59):
himself to his brothers and thenhe sent for his father Jacob.
Meanwhile meanwhile this is thisis huge beloved God is
sovereign. While Jacob is on hisway to Egypt, God spoke to him.

(16:20):
In chapter 46, verse two, Godspoke to Israel in visions of
the night and said, 'Jacob,Jacob.' And he said, 'Here I
am.' And then he said, 'I amGod, the God of your father.
Do not be afraid to go down toEgypt, for I will make of you a

(16:41):
great nation there. I myselfwill go down with you to Egypt,
and I will also bring you upagain, and Joseph's own hand
shall close your eyes. God istelling Jacob, now called
Israel, that he is with him andthat this was all a part of a

(17:04):
larger plan. In the end thewhole family was reunited. Jacob
passed on and Joseph forgave hisbrothers.
He told them in Genesis 50 verse20, Even though you intended to

(17:26):
do harm to me, God intended itfor good in order to preserve a
numerous people as he is doingtoday. I'm going to read that
again. Though you intended to doharm to me, God intended it for
good in order to preserve anumerous people as he is doing

(17:50):
today. Wow! The hope in thisstory stems from understanding
that God's divine purpose andwill is always at work.
He has our best interests atheart at all times. He loves us.

(18:10):
Joseph held on to true hope. Hehad an expectation that
something good was going tohappen for him. Friends, there
is joy in knowing despite thehardships.
Hope in God guarantees that ourfuture is secure. Our hope is

(18:32):
alive. You've been listening toJoy in Every Step. I'm Sarita
Bernadette and I'm grateful youchose to spend some time here
with me. You can find Joy inEvery Step wherever you listen
to your podcasts and give us afollow there.
Do check out the website atjoyineverystep.org.
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