New Hope Church

BE A JOY AND REFRESHMENT TO OTHERS By God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. —Romans 15:32             Let me ask you— Do you know faithful followers of Jesus that bring you joy and refreshment to be in their company? Are you a faithful follower of Jesus that brings joy and refreshment to other faithful followers of Jesus when they are in your company?             There is great joy and refreshment when we are in the presence of those who are faithful followers of Jesus. It is refreshing as they share their relationship with the Lord and how He is working in…

HIS WORD GIVES HOPE! For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. —Romans 15:4 When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18 —Psalm 105:16-17 They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips. —Psalm106:32-33             So the Word of God that “was written in former days” should have an impact on us today. How?…

THE CREATIVITY OF WORK Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening. —Psalm 104:23             Work is not a “necessary evil.”   It is what God has designed us for.   We are created after the image of our Creator to be creative in work and life. Not only that, but “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).  So what are the “works” God has prepared for you and for me in advance for us to do? May we be faithful in them!             God had work for Adam,…

LIVE A BLAMELESS LIFE I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.   I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. The perverse of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with what is evil. Psalm 101:2-4               Hmmm… Am I careful to live a blameless life? Do I conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart? Do I look on anything with approval that is vile?…

  HATE EVIL AND CLING TO WHAT IS GOOD O you who love the LORD, hate evil! —Psalm 97:10 Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. —Romans 12:9 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. —Romans 12:21             Do you love the Lord our God? Then you are commanded to “hate evil.” Not only are you to hate evil, but you are to “cling to what is good.” In Proverbs 8:13 we read “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”   So if the Lord truly is loved by us then we will hate…

ALL KNOWLEDGE COMES FROM GOD He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge— the LORD—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. —Psalm 94:-11             Where does knowledge come from? Does it originate with man? No it does not. “Can anyone teach knowledge to God?” (Job 21:22). Of course they cannot. Yet so many people live like they know better than God. They actually think they are smarter than God. How ridiculous is that?            A person cannot even understand who Jesus is unless “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give…

  GET READY TO FLY AWAY The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away….  So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. —Psalm 90:10, 12             When you are 65 years old, as I am, this passage becomes very sobering. I read that in 2016 the average life expectancy was 72 years of age in this world.   In 2020 the average life expectancy is 72.63 years. But what is the reason to consider one’s age? It is to “teach us to…

MAKE KNOWN OUR LORD’S STEADFAST LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. —Psalm 89:1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPJt13P7Nyk             He has been faithful to generations before us, He is faithful to us and He will be faithful to all the remanding generations to the end of this age. He has given us, brother and sister, the responsibility to make known His love and faithfulness to the generation we live in and those that follow. Let us be faithful in this.             Let us proclaim that we are “convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels…

OUR LORD IS GOOD, FORGIVING, LOVING, A TEACHER, MERCIFUL… For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. —Psalm 86:5 Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. — Psalm 86:11  “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” —Romans 9:15 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. —Romans 9:18             “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Those who call on His Name…

  GOD IS FOR YOU! If God is for us, who can be against us? —Romans 8:31 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 8:38-39             So tell me… why are you fearing? Who is it that can triumph over us? What is it that can triumph over us? We are already on the Victor’s side (I Corinthians 15:57). We are already overcomers in Him. (I John 5:1-4).  …