MAGNIFY THE LORD And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” —Luke 1:46-47 Then Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD, My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. “There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.” —I Samuel 2:1-2 What is the biggest focus in your life right now? Is it some problem you are dealing with— health, job, relationship or something else that just seems enormous and time consuming? Are…

TRUST AND OBEY FOR WHAT WE KNOW TODAY The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. —Deuteronomy 29:29 Avowed atheist Stephen Hawking recently died at age 76. He was called “science’s brightest star, renowned scientist, famed physicist, one of the brightest minds…” He has said, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail,” he told the Guardian. “There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” http://time.com/5199149/stephen-hawking-death-god-atheist/ Hopefully…

IT IS FINISHED! With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. —Mark 15:37-38 For us He cried Jesus Christ died The veil torn wide He is alive Seen with our eyes At Father’s side In Him abide Blameless His bride Heaven to reside “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body” (Hebrews 10:19-20). Jesus wept over Jerusalem on Palm Sunday… they would reject Him. He, the Creator of all, would…

THE GUILTY SET FREE! Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of…

YOU ARE INVITED! Jonathan & Joyce Lueken will be with us this Sunday (18th) to share about their work in the South Sundan http://fromjoninafrica.blogspot.com/. This March we have been focusing on works to the most needy among us. On March 4th Pastor Berry from Skowhegan, Maine shared about their very effect ministry to the homeless. On March 11th Conrad Mandsager from ChildVoice spoke to us about resueing and working with girls from the most horrible of situations in Uganda. These are times of challenge, encouragement and are very informative. You will not hear these things on the news. You are welcome to join us this Sunday 10am at New Hope…

SO AWESOME! But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death. —Mark 14:61-63 There are those who have said that Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God. Here He says, “I Am” and…

INFLUENCE & IMPACT Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.” —Deuteronomy 20:8 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great…

YOUR WORDS When (the king) takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. —Deuteronomy…

BE HONEST! Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. —Deuteronomy 16:19 Woe to those who are in positions of authority that pervert justice. Woe to those who show partiality. Woe to those who accept bribes to blind their eyes. Woe to those who twist the words of the innocent. How sad it is to see these things happening regularly in our culture today and not much is being done about it. But God knows and nobody is getting away with anything. He will do what is right… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Zep3-pOo4&index=1&list=RD7_Zep3-pOo4 If…

PREACH THE GOSPEL! And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. —Mark 13:10 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. —Matthew 24:14 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. —Luke 24:46-48 How are we as individuals and local churches involved in preaching the gospel “to all nations?” In what way are…