One does not have to look far to notice how the world lacks hope.  Depression, feelings of loneliness, abandonment, neglect, lost joy, broken relationships, and suicide are common outcomes of a life lived with no hope.

Even as Christians, it can be hard to live with hope in God if things do not seem to be going our way.

In Hope Stands: Ten Reasons Why You Must Not Give Up, Sam Kee offers ten rock-solid reasons we can have a confident hope in Christ, stemming from the resurrection.  Sam approaches the subject of hope from several different angles, explaining the hope of Christ through  our relationship with Him and our new relationship with sin, fear, doubt, and sorrow.

We chose Hope Stands to be the first recommendation as a part of the Open Book Forum in March to remind believers of the awesome hope we have in Christ leading up to the Passion Week and Easter Sunday.

Colin Smith says this about our selection, “Sam Kee is a gifted writer with a compelling message.  He will grab your attention on the first page and pull you towards light and hope in Jesus Christ.  If you are battling with despair–or know someone who is–read this book.”

We hope that you will join us this March for the first month of the Open Book Forum.

Below is a video with Sam about Hope Stands:

To purchase a copy of the book and join the Open Book Forum, please click on the link: Hope Stands: Ten Reasons Why You Must Not Give Up

Join the Discussion:

1. Why do you think the culture we live in seems more and more hopeless each day?
2. What in Sam’s book encouraged you the most?
3. On page 68 it says, “Hurt people hurt people…If hurt people hurt out of their brokenness, then perfect people perfect out of their wholeness.  We all know that no one but One is perfect…  Jesus was the only perfect person.  Thus, he is the only one who can make us perfect.  Perfect people perfect people.” How can we receive this perfecting from the perfect person (Christ)?  How does Christ perfect Christians?
4. “External threats such as job loss, loneliness, reputation, and physical security are all sparks of fear.  They are not the fuel of your fear.  Your fear is fueled by a host of things going on inside of you.  The main one, as I see it, is a lack of knowledge of how much you are loved and cherished by God.  Perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18).  You were built to run on perfect love from God, not these foreign fuels from our fallen nature.” (page 89)  How does one best go about reminding themselves of how much we are loved by God?

Leave your comments and thoughts below!