{"id":22943,"date":"2022-08-11T16:27:18","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T23:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2022-markcain-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-08-11T17:02:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T00:02:10","slug":"2022-hope","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2022-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope is an olive leaf"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">Max Lucado<\/p>\n<h1>Hope is an olive leaf<\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22944 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-1-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Noah pulled a dove out of the bowels of the ark and ascended the ladder. With a prayer he let it go. All day he looked for the dove\u2019s return.\u00a0You\u2019ve known your share of floods. Flooded by sorrow at the cemetery, stress at the office, anger at the disability in your body or the inability of your spouse. You\u2019ve likely seen the sun set on your hopes as well. You\u2019ve been on Noah\u2019s boat.<\/p>\n<p>And you\u2019ve needed what Noah needed; you\u2019ve needed some hope.\u00a0\u201cThat evening it came back to him with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth\u201d (Genesis 8:11 NCV).\u00a0The bird brought more than a piece of a tree; it brought hope. Hope is an olive leaf\u2014evidence of dry land after a flood. Proof to the dreamer that dreaming is worth the risk.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22945 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-2.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-2-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h1>Receive God\u2019s Great Promises<\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22946 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-3.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-3-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>According to Peter, God\u2019s promises aren\u2019t just great, they are\u00a0\u201cvery great.\u201d They aren\u2019t just valuable; they are \u201cprecious\u201d\u00a0(2 Peter 1:4 NIV).\u00a0It is God\u2019s great and precious promises that lead us into a new reality, a holy environment. They are direction signs intended to guide us away from the toxic swampland and into the clean air of heaven. They are strong boulders that form the bridge over which we walk from our sin to salvation. Promises that are the stitching in the spine of the Bible.<\/p>\n<p>Receive them. Allow them to soak you like a spring shower.\u00a0Let\u2019s be what we were intended to be\u2014people of the Promise.\u00a0Fill your heart with hope, and let the devil himself hear you declare your belief in God\u2019s goodness.<\/p>\n<p>Because God\u2019s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22947 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hope-4-e1660262493439.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":22944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[35],"class_list":["post-22943","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-english-writer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/22943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/22943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22948,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/22943\/revisions\/22948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22943"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=22943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}