If you have been around Hope for any length of time, you have probably heard us talk about the “functional centrality of the gospel” from the pulpit and in our mission groups. Starting the last week of August we’ll be unpacking what it means that the gospel is central and functioning as it should in our lives and church. My desire is that this short series serves to help people connect with one another as we begin our mission groups and welcome those who are new to Hope....
In Psalm 90:12, Moses lays out a long list of petitions, asking God to act. What does he request of God? I suggest that each of you read these and pick out one or two of them to focus on this week. They can serve as a starting point to recalibrate 2019 in light of who God is and who we are....
Many of my books sit on the shelf only being referenced once every year or two, as need arises. There are other books like "Jonathan Edwards on the Christian Life," by Dane Ortlund that I come back to again and again. And there is one chapter in this book that I find exceptionally helpful to me personally as I seek to grow in my faith; his chapter on "Gentleness: The Aroma of the Christian Life."...
By “reason,” I mean rational thinking and God-given common sense. Proverbs 3:5 does not say, “do not use your understanding” but rather, “don’t rest on human understanding, don’t make it your ultimate rule; don’t put all your weight upon it!” Instead, put all your trust in God who rules and over-rules all human decisions. There are always gaps in our knowledge. Even the most logical decisions necessarily have some unknown factors. So what is the proper role of reason? ...
Of all the issues that cause stress and confusion among Christians, the question of divine guidance must be near the top. How can I know God’s will for me? Are there certain steps we need to learn in order to access information from God that we would not otherwise know? How does God guide me?...
The garage door went up and out went our minivan. For the first time in nearly 8 years, I wasn’t going to church. I was scheduled to preach, but stomach issues laid me low, so home I sat (providentially with an internet outage to remove the temptation of NFL Countdown)....
Grace is enough for even the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). It is sturdy. It can withstand the most difficult suffering and trials. It is enough on our best days, when we think we earned something, and enough on our worst days, when we wonder how God could possibly love us....
This Sunday, we will have the 1-2 Thessalonians ESV Scripture Journals for sale for $3. These are a great resource for our new series “Don’t Give Up: Messages from 1 Thessalonians” which will enable you to see the text of scripture as well as take notes....
We’re always looking for peace in our lives, but can’t find it because our hearts are always shifting allegiances. None of the things we set our shifting hearts on can cancel out the noise in our lives. Psalm 131 shows us that calm and quiet souls are possible. ...
Psalm 46 shows us that God created all of us with the need to be still and know that He is God and we are not. ...
Jesus is reigning. He is king. In order to reign as king he must be alive. Verse 34, "David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." Imagine a kingdom where there was a king who reigned as a tyrant for many long years. He had no patience or mercy for anyone who crosse...
Keep ReadingVerse 32 says, "This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses." The disciples all saw the risen Jesus as did more than 500 other people. Tim Keller wrote, "Even if you propose the highly unlikely idea that one or two of Jesus's disciples did get the idea that he was raised from the dead on their own, they would never have gotten a movement of other Jews to be...
Keep ReadingIf the whole plan was of God for the crucifixion and the resurrection, it makes sense that the Bible is unified in the story of redemption-- of it's promise and fulfillment. In verse 25, Peter quotes Psalm 16, which is seen as fulfilled in Jesus. David, as a picture of what the Messiah would be was dead and had been for a long time. Death held him in the tomb and it was...
Keep Reading"God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it." It is impossible for Jesus to be held in the grip of death. The same word for "pangs" here is used elsewhere of labor pains. Labor pains on a pregnant woman indicates that there is going to be a baby born. Pregnancy by it's very definition is not permanent. Jesus is un...
Keep ReadingPart 2 of our Easter series of posts about the truth of the resurrection: I heard a speaker say recently that it was not as if the disciples were sitting around on Saturday night after Jesus died on Friday having a party saying, "I can't wait until tomorrow!" The disciples, though Jesus had clearly taught of his coming death and resurrection, didn't "get it" until he ap...
Keep ReadingOver the next few days we're going to walk through Acts 2 to see how this first sermon by Peter speaks so clearly about the resurrection and why it is essential to Christianity. To do so, each point will fill out the acronym "R.A.I.S.E.D."...
Keep ReadingA few years ago I asked a friend about some good research on Pontius Pilate and the events surrounding the crucifixion of Christ and he recommended Pontius Pilate: A Novel by Paul L. Maier. He explained his unique recommendation by telling me that Dr. Maier was a top-notch historian who wrote a historical novel about Pontius Pilate in order to help people understand the h...
Keep ReadingConcerning serving others,the over arching question we could ask ourselves is about our understanding of how the gospel informs our service of others; "Do I see the gospel as both the remedy for my sin of selfishness and the motivation for Christlike service?" When we see the gospel as the solution for our sin and the motivation for serving others we can then ask ourselv...
Keep ReadingJonathan Dodson: "Contextualization is the intentional process of communicating the historic gospel and teachings of Jesus in contemporary cultural forms. [3] This may result in churches gathering in white tents or rodeo arenas, to hear how the grace rebuffs bootstrap religion among country folk in rural areas of Texas (also known as Cowboy churches). Alternatively, it may...
Keep ReadingA Short story for children (and adults!) that was written by Pastor Jeff Brewer about Amanda Snidefeller, the little girl who was positively fed up with Christmas. It was shared on Christmas Eve at Hope Fellowship....
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