New Hope Church

I AM FREE! For freedom Christ has set us free… —Galatians 5:1  For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” —Galatians 5:13-14              I am free! Jesus has set me free! He has set me free with purpose! He has set me free to serve others. He has set me free to love others. I am not to use this “freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.”             So how am I doing with my freedom? How am I…

WHERE MY FAITH IS PLACED The righteous shall live by faith. —Galatians 3:11             “For we live by faith, not by sight” (II Corinthians 5:7).  “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).   “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17). “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because…

READY FOR THE COMING JUDGMENT For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low. — Isaiah 2:12 And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. —Isaiah 2:19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_gBpvihKcQ&list=UUf1NPIFOBwzTLVQiEDnq4Cw               God is a God of love— “God is love” (I John 4:8).   But God is a God of wrath and judgment as well to all who are against Him— “But those enemies of mine who…

BY GOD’S GRACE YOU ARE! But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. —Galatians 1:15-16             God had a plan for Saul in His timing as He does for us (Acts 17:26).   He drew him to Jesus as He did us (John 6:44). And so it is with others who have not responded to Jesus yet but will. They will respond by our taking the message to them as our Father works in us…

DO A SELF TEST! Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. —II Corinthians 13:5-8             This is a test… but it is a self test. Is…

HIS GRACE IS ENOUGH! So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I…

BE READY TO MEET HIM! The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. —Ecclesiastes 12:13-14             What is the duty of man to God? It is obedience. This is an obedience out of love for God and love for people (Matthew 22:37-40). It is not obedience out of an attitude of “I have to” but out of a grateful heart of “I want to, I desire to.” It is not a drudgery in obedience, but a joy to be obedient.…

LACK OF LAW ENFORCEMENT ONLY INCREASES EVIL Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. —Ecclesiastes 8:11             When evil is not dealt with speedily by the authorities, then evil will increase.   We have seen this in the U.S. with these riots that are taking place. Because the authorities are not doing much about it these riots have increased by spreading to many cities. There are those whose hearts are “fully set to do evil.” Many people, from what I read, are traveling from places they live to these cities where they do…

INTERDEPENDENT AND NOT ISOLATED  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.   But how can one keep warm alone?   Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. —Ecclesiastes 4:9-12              How much easier it is when doing a job when another is there to help? Think about it— A person putting siding on a house by himself…

GENEROSITY— LET THAT BE YOUR LIFE’S FOCUS! A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. —Ecclesiastes 1:4 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die… —Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may…