SUFFERING AND FRUITFULNESS The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” —Genesis 41:52 How do we respond when we are going through suffering? God’s capability to bear fruit in our lives can happen at any time, whether in good times or suffering. So many times God works though suffering in our lives for fruitfulness to occur. Just take a look at the lives of some of the people in God’s Word. Noah— wow… that was a long time on the ark in those conditions! Abraham journeyed and made his home as a stranger in a foreign…

FROM REPULSIVENESS TO RIGHTEOUSNESS But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death…. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also. —Genesis 38:7, 10 What do you do with these verses? How do you respond to the Lord putting these two brothers to death for the wickedness? We do not grasp the awesome holiness and glory of God and so we wrestle with verses like these. How would you feel if you came to the dinner table and plopped down in front of you on your dinner plate was a very fresh and…

HATRED’S EVIL ACTIONS When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. —Genesis 37:4-5 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. —Genesis 37:8 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. —Genesis 37:11 But they saw him in the distance, and before he…

GIVE IT TO JESUS! “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” —Matthew 11:28-30 Are you weary and do you have burdens? Do you just have a tiredness that won’t go away? Is there a burden you are carrying that just seems so heavy? There is an answer—- “take the yoke of Jesus on yourself.” Listen to Him and take to heart what He has to say.…

THE KING OF WRESTLING! Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” —Genesis 32:29-30 We do not and cannot understand the glory of God! He is so far beyond us. So glorious is His glory that if He were to appear to us in His full glory we would instantly die (Exodus 33:20; I Timothy 6:16). Yet in veiled form He wrestled with Jacob as mentioned above. He had appeared to Abraham before that (Genesis…

AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” —Genesis 30:1-2 “Am I in the place of God?” It is God who enables children to be born or not. Satan became what he is because he desired to take God’s place and this ensured his forever fall. Satan wanted to be worshipped as God and he still does today. One way people worship…

Join us for: Dinner & A Movie! Pizza (6:00 PM) & Movie (6:30 PM) New Hope Church – Saturday, January 13 at 6:00 pm 34 Raymond Road, Nottingham, NH 03290 Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/rhe8KhSxWGo Synopsis: An investigative journalist and self-proclaimed atheist sets out to disprove the existence of God after his wife becomes a Christian. Based on a true story about former Chicago Tribune writer Lee Strobel.

A HEART FOR SINNERS As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call…

TRUST HIM! He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” —Matthew 8:26 You of little “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). This little faith is lack of confidence in who God is, what He has said and that His plan is perfect. This little faith lacks assurance in what we do not see. This lack of faith brings doubt, fear, depression and so many other negative outlooks. The above verse in context is when Jesus was in the boat with His disciples when a fierce storm swept in on them. Waves were sweeping over the boat. In…

THE LAMB PROVIDED “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” —Genesis 22:8 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. —Hebrews 11:19 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. —John 3:16 Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! —John 1:29 God did indeed provided the lamb to be offered as a sacrifice instead of Isaac and Abraham name the place “The Lord Will Provide.” And…