Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “Hope and Courage.” As we live our lives on this land, we should not lose hope. If we lose hope, our future will be darkened and the light of life will disappear. If we lose hope on earth, we can no longer expect tomorrow. We can challenge and win a victory only if we have courage no matter whichever enemies or obstacles may be in our way. If we have hope, we can have courage; with hope and courage in our hearts, we can hold each other’s hands and then we can bring new change and creation. According to a recent research, 9 out of 10 office workers has the impulse to quit. The top reason given for turning in resignation is when people feel there is no vision in their job. It is not their low salary nor frequent night overtime but a job without any vision that makes people thrust in their resignation. Even if life is difficult and tiring, we can overcome any present difficulties as long as we have hope that tomorrow will be better than today. However, if we lose hope, we will become helpless and finally give up on everything. A life without hope loses everything. We must look up to the tree of hope. The Jewish people in the era of Jesus regarded the cross of Jesus as a symbol of curses. Deuteronomy 21:23 says, “You must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.” Nevertheless, the cross becomes a tree of hope for us. It is because Jesus took all our curses and liberated us from them so the cross is changed from curses to hope. When we come before the cross of Jesus Christ, we can find it marvelous. It is because through that tree of the cross, the hope of the Fivefold Gospel and the Threefold Blessing overflows into us. When we look at the cross of Jesus there is the forgiveness of Jesus’ blood and a hope of righteousness. Even sinners who are sinful, unrighteous, filthy, and deserve death can have the hope of forgiveness and righteousness. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.” Any sinner can have a hope when he comes before the cross. He can have the hope of being forgiven and receiving righteousness. Furthermore, there is the hope of the holiness of the blood and the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ blood makes clean all our deeds and as a result He gives us the grace of the fullness of the Holy Spirit so we can have the hope of life in the Spirit. Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” When we look up to the Lord, the blood of Jesus actually cleanses all our sins. The Holy Spirit renews us so we can receive Him into us. When we come before the cross, by the redemption of Jesus’ blood we can have the hope of healing. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” There is hope. Even if you are sick and depressed and discouraged and doctors say desperate things to you, when you come before the cross, you can find a hope there. We can proclaim a hope. “By His stripes you are healed.” Therefore, we can be hopeful. Nowadays there are several times when some critical patients who have to receive an operation come to our church and receive prayer for their healing and then their diseases are gone! It is widely known, so many patients come forward to receive prayer for their healing with hope in their hearts. It is joyful and thankful that we can have a hope! Next, the Bible says that Jesus’ blood on the cross settled all our curses. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." In the Old Testament, Adam and Eve fell and as a result of their sins their descendants were all cursed. In the New Testament, Jesus took all human's curses and was crucified so He gave us the blessing of Abraham instead of curses. We have a hope that we can enjoy prosperity after settling all our curses. And then the Bible speaks about the hope in which we died, under the cross and were buried, but came back to life. Romans 6:22 says, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Hope! Because of Jesus, we can dream of a life where we may enjoy good health and that all may go well with us, even as our souls are getting along well. The Gospel of the cross of Jesus has opened the world of hope for all of us so widely. All these blessings are given as a gift of grace and love so we can possess them by faith. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--” When God’s gift is given by His grace, we have hope that can receive it by faith. Even if the world says that it is the era without hope, the greatness of Jesus’ cross lies in that when we hold the cross, a great hope comes from it. We can receive the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, being washed and clean and holy, the fullness of the Holy Spirit. By His stripes we will be delivered from curses and healed from our diseases. There is also another hope of being resurrected and eternal life. Christianity is a faith totally surrounded by all hope! Next, as we have hope, we must live with courage and strength and boldness. Acts 4:31 says, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” The disciples of Jesus gave up Jesus out of fear and ran away from Him and were scattered. But when they gathered together and prayed, the Spirit of God came upon them and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them and became very bold. Once they were so hopeless, but as they regained hope and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they were encouraged and strengthened so they went out of their house and began preaching the gospel of Jesus. 1 John 5:4-5 says, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” After they believed that Jesus is the Son of God, they received courage as a reward. When Jesus was arrested, His disciples ran away, but after they received the Holy Spirit, they preached the gospel of Jesus with boldness. When we are all alone, we are meager and weak. However, if our almighty God is with us, we will never be helpless. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Even people can be powerful as they stick together. Furthermore, when almighty God is with us, there is nothing we fear. When Israel occupied the land of Canaan, Caleb came to Joshua to allow him to conquer Hebron in spite of his old age of 85. In Heron at that time, there lived the Anakites who were so huge and mighty in battle. Nevertheless, Caleb boldly said, “Now give me this hill country.” From where came his courage? It came from his faith, “God is with me!” Joshua 14:12 says, “Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said." He could not conquer the Anakites in human perspective and calculation. However, if God is with him, he could conquer them more than enough no matter whatever difficulties and obstacles may be. We can have hope through the grace of the cross and receive courage through the fourth dimensional spirituality and then get the things that are not as though they were. After believing in Jesus our thoughts should be changed. We can have positive, active, and creative thoughts because through the hope of the cross, we can become positive, active, and hopeful. Therefore, we must take good care of our thoughts. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” When we have time to spare like that, we can think of the cross; through the thought of the cross, we can have hope in our hearts and the hope will bring courage. When we have hope in our thoughts, it will bring courage. That courage will give us a dream. Anyone who has courage will plan spiritual, material, and physical prosperity and actually practice it. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Whosoever wants to live with God, he/she must have bold dreams. God uses our dreams as His vessels. When we have dreams, we have vessels for God’s answer. Without vessels of dreams we can’t receive anything from God. The Lord says, “It will be done according to your faith.” It means “It will be done according to your wish and dream!” Therefore, we must dream so God will use it vessels for His answer. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” The desires of one’s heart means one’s dreams. When we delight in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Mark 9:23 says, " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." We must in the world of faith. We must manage our thoughts and dreams and then believe and pray that our dreams will come true; then it will be accomplished. We must speak its accomplishments in advance. We should proclaim it positively and creatively. Numbers 14:28 says, “So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say.’” In the Bible, our God always worked through the very things we said. When we come before the Lord, He always asks us, “What should I do for you?” “Lord, I believe.” “It will be done according to your faith!” Like this way God wants to work through us. Therefore, when we think and pray for our dreams, we have conviction about it. When the words such as, “I can make it. It will be done. Let us do it now!”, come out of our mouths, they will bring changes and miracles. Joshua 1:1-9 says, “After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them--to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates--all the Hittite country--to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.’" Those who are with God must be strong and bold. Think and dream strong and bold. Believe and speak strong and bold. Therefore, when we have dreams and courage, we can become strong and bold. In our life, there are so many difficulties. Job 14:1 says, "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” There is no one who can be totally free from worries and anxiety. Sometimes, our problems seem to be so overwhelming that we feel an invincible Goliath stand before us. However, we must keep in mind that not only Goliath stands before us but also God is beside us. When we look down on the earth only, there are so many enemies like Goliath. Don’t look down but raise your head and look up to heaven and see our God who is enthroned in heaven and walk with the Holy Spirit who holds our hands now; then we can defeat our enemies like David. Don’t look at your circumstances only and be discouraged while focusing on them. We must keep in mind that there is God’s help always. In difficult times if there is no one who can help us, it will be very unhappy. Pascal said, “Anyone who hasn’t met God is a miserable orphan in the universe.” Nevertheless, we are not alone. Jesus said in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” He has sent the Holy Spirit to be with us. Therefore, when we face troubles, we should not focus on the circumstances only, but must say, “The Holy Spirit who is with us now, please be with us by Your mighty power.” Then the Holy Spirit will answer, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be alarmed. I will be with you.” We can manifest marvelous power. No matter whatever situation we may be in, we should remember that we are not alone. Only if we have hope then can we have courage; our hope and courage will give us positive thoughts and dreams and faith so we can boldly confess our faith and move forward! In any circumstances we should not forget that the Lord is with us. The Lord said, “And surely I am with you always.” We must think that the Lord is just beside us all the time. Dream it and believe it and speak it out. We are living a life of faith through our mouth confession. “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” “It will be done according to your faith.” What should we believe? As we first believe and speak it out, the Lord says, “It will be done according to your faith.” Therefore, we must hold our faith tight and believe the word of God and then confess it with our mouths and then dream about it. We Should dream our desires and then pray with faith. Afterward as we confess it with creative declaration, changes and creation will come to us. We Christians must not focus on any religious forms or rituals. With great courage we must change our circumstances and make the things that are not as though they were. Therefore, only when we have the Lord with us then can we live a new life with great changes.