New Hope Church

A PRAYER ACKNOWLEDGING GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY  The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.  The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.  He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. —-I Samuel 2:6-8              This portion of God’s Word above is from the prayer of Hannah after the Lord answered an earlier prayer.  She praises Him for Who He is and what He does.  She previously had been “praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard” (I…

DON’T BE KNOWN AS BITTER! “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. —Ruth 1:20             Bad things happen in a fallen, sinful world.  Death has happened ever since sin entered the world.  Sin has caused our world to degenerate from the glory of Eden to what we have today with all the sickness, sadness and violence.  Man was warned this would happen if they chose their own way and not God’s way (Genesis 2:15-17).  Yes, disobedience brought sin and death into this world.  Let us not blame God.  Mankind/We brought this on ourselves.  Now… do we think God’s way…

WE ARE FOR OR AGAINST JESUS, OBEDIENT OR DISOBEDIENT TO HIM “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” —Luke 11:23, 28             Are you not with Jesus?  Then you are against Him and that is not a good place to be.  Are you gathering with Jesus?  If not then you are scattering.  When you hear the Word of God are you obeying what He says?  If so you are blessed.  Sheep are to gather with the Shepherd, not scatter from Him!             There will be evidence in…

EXTEND MERCY And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” —Luke 10:25-29             Jesus told the lawyer that if he wanted eternal…

LEADERSHIP VOID LEADS TO EVIL In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. —Judges 17:6             When no leadership exists there is chaos.  When everyone decides what is right for them to do and they do it, it is chaos.  When there is a vacuum of leadership or poor leadership, then evil will prevail.  People will be encouraged to be out of control and will do evil as well.             Governments are put into place for the intention of being no “terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in…

THOSE NOT AGAINST YOU ARE FOR YOU! “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”  “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” —Luke 9:50             What kind of mindset do you have?  Are you sure your denomination is the “right” one and others got it wrong?  Do you think others are against you just because they do not agree with you or your denomination in various areas?  Is it your thought that the local church you attend is the one that has it all together and others…

LISTEN! Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. —Luke 9:23-26 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I…

REMEMBER! And the people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side. —Judges 8:34 “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. —I Corinthians 11:24-26 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through…

PERSEVERE But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. —Luke 8:15  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. —Matthew 13:23 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain…

LOVE FOR GOD REVEALED BY SERVING HIM! When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.  When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would…