New Hope Church

VAIN WORSHIP IS HOLDING TO MAN’S COMMANDS/TRADITIONS And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! —Mark 7:6-9              Do I hold the Word of God as the highest standard for life or do I have other added traditions of man that I regard…

COMPASSION ACTS When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. —Mark 6:34             When was the last time you looked on a crowd and had compassion on them?  Have you ever sat in a sports stadium and looked at the crowd?   Did you consider that the vast majority of people in the crowd were lost and on their way to hell?  Do you understand that they are “are like sheep without a shepherd?  Did your heart go out to them?             How about the person you work…

GO AND NOT GRUMBLE! So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived. —Numbers 14:36-38             Influencing a people away from our Lord’s desires is a dangerous course to take.  Twelve men were sent to explore the land and when they returned there were ten of them that made the whole…

HIS WORD IS ABSOLUTELY DEPENDABLE! And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” —Numbers 11:23             Do I trust our Lord God Almighty for the impossible?  Can I expect Him to work in ways that are well beyond me?  When a situation is far out of my control do I trust Him for it?  How much do I trust what He has to say?  Do I trust His Word to be true?             When our Lord said He would provide meat for all the Israelites “Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred…

YOUR STORY OF HIS WORK As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” —Mark 5:18-19             As we read the context of the verses above we find out that this demon possessed man: lived among the tombs, could not be restrained with a chain, had broken chains and shackles, nobody could subdue him because of his strength, cried out night and day…

TRUST HIM IN THE STORM And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they…

ONLY GOOD SOIL PEOPLE ARE FRUITFUL Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life,…

 FAMILY TRAIT— DOING GOD’S WILL! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother. —Mark 3:35             Doing God’s will bears evidence that we are part of the family of God.  Of course “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”  But the evidence of that salvation is that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8-10).  God’s will will work the works of God— “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will…

JESUS— NO OTHER GREATER NAME! And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”  —Mark 3:11 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” —Mark 3:20-21             Isn’t it interesting how the demonic world knows who Jesus is without a doubt— “they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”  We are told in James that “Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19). …

FAITH’S ACTION SEEN (Hebrews Chapter 11) And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why…