God’s instructions always require faith. “Noah, build a boat big enough to hold pairs of every animal in the world.” “Moses, go down to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let my people go.” “Joshua, march around the walls of Jericho once a day for 6 days, and on the 7th day, march around it 7 times and then blow trumpets at it and shout.” “Gideon, your army is too big. I want you to send all but 300 of them home, then go fight the vast army of Midian with just them.” And on and on we could go. Jesus regularly told people things that had them thinking, “No way!” They could not accept his instruction unless they had faith, not in themselves, not their stuff, and not in other people, but in Him alone. Faith! Faith in God! It is not an option for the people of God. It is NOT an option for us!!
Think about the church today. What does God want for the church of Jesus Christ? What does God want for Hope Community Church? Where will we put our faith? We must not put our faith in our building or in our budget or even in our talents and strengths. We must not put our faith in our pastor or our elders! No! Our faith must be in God who provides these things! But never in the things or people themselves! I don’t mean that our leadership is not faithful. What I mean is that the best we have when we lay it all out before the Lord is still just a little oil, as Elisha asked of the widow in 2 Kings 4. Friends, that is all we have! We are needy! We are poor in Spirit! We are the mourners and meek and hungry and thirsty! So, when God instructs us to do something, may we simply bring our faith and choose to obey!
Worship
Pastor Glen will continue the sermon series on the powerful letter of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians. His sermon this Sunday is: “Pressing On,” based on Philippians 3:12-16. Please read this text in preparation for worship!
Adult Sunday School
Our Adult Sunday school class will meet this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in the large Sunday school room. Please join Lowell Gross and others for a wonderful time around God’s Word!! We will continue our study of the Acts of the Apostles. This Sunday we will focus on Acts 18: Encouragement and Breaking with the Past! Please bring your Bible.
Women’s Bible Study
Join us for our morning or evening Women’s Bible Study! A 7-week study by Jennifer Rothschild, “Missing Pieces”
When? Wednesday Mornings at 10:00 a.m. February 14th – March 27th
OR
Thursday Evenings at 6:30 p.m. February 8th – March 21st
Please contact Marty Porter at (540) 471-2619 with any questions.
Men’s Bible Study
Our Men’s Bible Study meets every Tuesday from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. in the Community Room at Panera Bread. We are currently driving down Rt. 66, exploring the 66 books of the Bible. This Tuesday we explore 2 Peter. All men are invited and encouraged to join us!!
Easter Lilies
According to the Christian calendar, we just entered the season of Lent, and as we approach Holy Week and Easter, if you would be interested in ordering an Easter Lily to beautify our sanctuary on Easter morning, please place orders by March 3rd. There are two sizes to choose from: 6-1/2″ = $8.00 and 10-1/2″ = $19.00. Make checks payable to HCC or put cash in the offering box in a marked envelope.
Tithes and Offerings
An offering box is available when you enter or exit the sanctuary. Additionally, Online Giving
Are You Receiving Church Emails
If you or someone you know would like to receive periodic emails, including This Week @ Hope and the weekly Prayer Requests and Praise Reports, please provide your first and last name, as well as your email address. You may give this information to one of our elders: Albert Danraj, Marty Porter, Tim Stewart, or Bob Simmons. Thank you so much!
Golden Oldies
March 13 from 2 to 4 pm, meet at Hope Community Church with our Kim Holman as the speaker. Come and learn about our Hope Community Church website! Bring your phones, tablets, or laptop computers. Also, please email Kim, vamountains@hotmail.com, so she can confirm that your correct email address is in the church directory. When you email her, in the email itself, type the address you want her to use. Each spouse can have their own login.
April 10 at 11:30 am. Dutch treat luncheon will be held at Sooner BBQ, Stuart’s Draft.
May 8 at 10:30, meet at Panera Community Room with our speaker, Richard Ammons.
June 12 at 10:30, meet at Panera Community Room to play Bingo! We request for everyone to bring a wrapped gift so all can be winners! $10 max amount of gift. No meeting in July, as we will travel to Lancaster, PA. See Janet or Harold Coiner to sign up for the fun trip to see Daniel and Sound of Music!
Hope Security Team
Our Session agreed with a recommendation from the Security Team to have the church security system automatically re-arm each night at 10:30 p.m. Doing so will more fully ensure that the security system is armed during the overnight period just in case the last person leaving the church forgets to arm the system as they leave.
We DO want to continue to manually arm the DSC system as being done now with their assigned, uniquely issued user code (not the general code used in earlier times) when closing up the church.
The auto re-arming is simply a fail-safe. Should a person plan/expect to be in the building at 10:30 p.m, they need to alert Richard Ammons, Blake Porter, or Rod Campbell ahead of time so the re-arming will be delayed or canceled (it can be done remotely). Should you be in the building at 10:30 p.m. and have not arranged for a delay/cancellation, get to a panel and enter your assigned unique code at 10:30 p.m. or when the panel is alerting and being armed. Please stay at church and call one of the three contacts or wait for a Police Officer to arrive; he or she will want to be sure all is well and you are not a trespasser, etc.
Questions? Check with one of the three contacts (Richard, Blake, or Rod). Thanks so much! We desire for everyone to be safe when attending church services or other activities at our church facility!
Prayer Concerns and Praise Reports
If you have any concerns you would like to add to the Prayer Concerns and Praise Reports list or give an update, PLEASE contact our prayer coordinator, Janet Coiner (540.447.0918) by THURSDAY at 10:00 a.m.!! Thanks so much!!
Driver Assistance
If you or someone in our congregation needs a ride to a doctor’s appointment or other appointments, please call Tom Reider (540.649.5162). He has agreed to coordinate rides. He has a list of those who have volunteered to give those rides. We are grateful for this important ministry!!
Mission Corner
Love INC
Redemptive Compassion Class
Redemptive Compassion is an 8-week study offering a biblical perspective on how the church is called to holistically help people in need. Redemptive Compassion challenges many of the traditional ways of addressing needs through the following core principles:
1. Everyone has value … therefore,
2. We invest relationally in others
3. Everyone has capacity and potential
4. Mutual participation is required
5. We pray for wisdom and discernment
6. we serve in ways that transform
I hope these core values sound familiar to you! The cost for the class remains steady at $15, and this money pays for the book and other class materials.
Hands-on Ministry Opportunity
We have an exciting, hands-on, ministry opportunity in March. On Tuesday, March 12, we will provide dinner for the Love INC program. We are making a baked potato bar. Starting this Sunday, there will be a sign-up sheet for items you can bring, or to volunteer to serve. We will need the following: baked potatoes, cookies or brownies (no nuts), chili, sour cream, cheese, bacon, butter, and onions. Also, we will need 12 people who can serve that evening. This will be a great way to not only serve but to get to know each other better. We look forward to you participating with us!
Comfort Care
It has been exciting to see how many have participated in the baby bottle campaign this year!! There are still eight baby bottles that have not been turned in. Please bring them to worship this Sunday or contact Pat Layne (540) 942-2600). Thanks so much!!
The Missions Team is active keeping in touch with our missionaries and other ministries. Please keep updated! You can visit our website and go to the Outreach page
February Birthdays
Orville Bame (2/28)