New Hope Church

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. —II Corinthians 1:21-22 `Wow… brothers and sisters, fellow followers/disciples of Jesus, listen to this— “it is God who” — These truths are echoed in Ephesians 1:13-14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those…

Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!  We have no desire to know your ways.  Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?  What would we gain by praying to him?’ —Job 21:14-15 Humility is the fear of the Lord… —Proverbs 22:4              There are those who just don’t want anything to do with our Lord.  They want to be left alone.  They do not want to serve Him.  They do not want to talk with Him.  They are like Pharaoh when he said to Moses and Aaron, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and…

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me! —Job 19:25-27              Does your heart also yearn to see our Lord God Almighty, our Redeemer and Friend?  With all that Job was going through, even though he had many misconceptions in regard to why these things were happening to him, he knew that “in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.” …

In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. —Job 12:10 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. —Job 14:5 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. —I Corinthians 15:49 Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.  You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.…

Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. —Job 8:13 Surely God does not reject one who is blameless or strengthen the hands of evildoers. —Job 8:20 If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. —Job 9:34 “Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? —Job 10:8 If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me. —Job 10:16 “If he comes along and…

Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.  Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees. —Job 4:3-4 Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. —Job 7:11 The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what is just. —Psalm 37:30              Job was “in the anguish of my spirit” with all that happened to him.  He lost everything.  His— Someone might say, “Why does God allow evil things to happen to good people?”  At least that is what we would say…

One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”   Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” —Job 1:6-8 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”  Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? —Job 2:1-3              Satan is not like God who is everywhere. …

Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. —Psalm 37:1-2              We live in a fallen, sinful and wickedly dark world.  But, “Do not fret,” get upset or worried about them.  Nor should we be envious of evil doers.  God’s Word is clear— “for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.”  It won’t be long before our Lord sets all things right and all will be perfect.  No more murder, no more adultery, no more stealing, no…

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place… —Esther 4:14              As it was with Esther, so it is with us.  If Esther did not act to save the Jewish community from destruction at that time, God could have had another way to do so.  But she was faithful, even under the possibility of death, and God worked through her to save the Jewish community.              Now, God has work for us to do as well— “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians…

Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring.  Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their…