New Hope Church

“The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his words are upon my tongue. The God of Israel spoke. The Rock of Israel said to me: ‘The one who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is like the light of morning at sunrise, like a morning without clouds, like the gleaming of the sun on new grass after rain.’ —II Samuel 23:2-4 The sky is clear and blue this morning with the sun shining brightly. I do not see any clouds in the sky. The spring grass is a dark green with dew upon it. It is a beautiful morning, a peaceful morning— a morning that brings…

So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God. —John 5:18 Original Word: ἴσος, η, ον Part of Speech: Adjective Transliteration: isos Phonetic Spelling: (ee’-sos) Short Definition: equal, identical Definition: equal, equivalent, identical. http://biblehub.com/greek/2470.htm This verse above and others (John 1:1; Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:1-14; I John 1:1-2), show us that the Son is equal to the Father. The Jewish people understood what He was saying in the verse above and wanted to stone Him for it. They wanted to stone Him again in John 10:31-33—“Again…

Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.” —John 4:39-42 How many people have believed in the Lord Jesus because of my witness about Him? How many have believed because…

Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. —John 4:36-37 Both the sower and reaper are needed for a crop to be harvested. If one does not sow the seed there will be no harvest and if one does not reap the field there will be no harvest. Both are needed for there to be a harvest and both are to be glad together for the harvest. Remember, it is not just the one who is present that is glad when…

And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment. —John 3:36 Most people live in denial, denial of what is going to happen after death. Those same “most people” also deny what the Lord Jesus has done at the cross for them so they could be forgiven of their sin, turn from their sin, have relationship with God through Jesus, have eternal life and be with Jesus in heaven after they die. Most people are just living life the way they want to live life. They may be religious or not. Actually,…

And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. —John 3:14-15 When the Israelites were bitten by poisonous snakes, they would die unless they were obedient and looked at the bronze snake that “Moses lifted up” while they were in the wilderness. The people were complaining once again that they did not have any food or water. They asked Moses why he brought them out in the wilderness just to die. This complaint was actually against the Lord and He sent venomous snakes among the…

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. —John 1:12-13 It is a marvel to see a child born into this world. For a baby to come out of the womb and into contact with the air for the first time is wondrous. Seeing the child for the first time is such a joy. So too is it when a person is reborn or born again into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The first birth is physical and when a…

“Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things.” —Luke 24:46-48 Your sin can be forgiven in Jesus if you will repent (turn from your sin, evil ways, and have a changed mind about sin) and follow God’s ways. If this happens in a person’s life then their life will be transformed over time. There will be evidence…

But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. —Luke 24:11 Global warming is a nonsense claim. Back in the early 70’s we were told the earth was going to enter a new ice age. Now global warming is being called climate change. That seems to cover all the bases regardless of what type of weather we have. This is plain nonsense. In the context of the verse above the men in the upper room believe it was nonsense when the women came back from the tomb and told them Jesus has risen from the dead. They did not believe it. The fact of the…

Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again… For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.” But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will. —Luke 23:20, 22, 23-25 I was watching a live feed of the Baltimore riots. We are talking about…