Are you courageous? Peter and John demonstrated courage by acting in obedience to God. In Acts 4:19, when they were challenged not to speak anymore about Jesus, they replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” Not...
The Christian life can be boiled down to this; it is a question of obedience to do what Jesus calls us to do. We either live as followers of Jesus, or we don’t. Frankly, doing what God calls us to do is a BIG problem for most of us. In Acts 9, Jesus tells Saul to go...
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel begins with the disciples gathered at the feet of Jesus and with the crowds listening in. He begins by pronouncing a certain kind of person fortunate. We call these pronouncements “beatitudes” from the Latin word for...
Do you have a role model? Perhaps a teacher, a coach, a parent, or a dear friend? The Apostle Peter gives us the ultimate role model for enduring mistreatment – Jesus Christ. We read in 1 Peter 2:21, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered...
Our church’s name is Hope Community Church! That is not an accident! We are a people of hope. John Piper stated, “Christian hope is a confidence that something will come to pass because God has promised it will come to pass.” So, hope should be OUR word! As...
The Song of Moses recorded in Exodus 15 is the first recorded song in the Bible. It was the Number 1 song on the charts!! And, as we read the lyrics of the song, we sense the joy of the people! “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse...
The resurrection of our Lord Jesus adds a dimension to death that can never be erased. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul, as he wrote the Thessalonians: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as...
God has a story – a powerful story; and our job is to learn to tell it well. What would you say if someone in your current sphere of influence were to come to you today and say something like this: “You know, we’ve been friends for a long time. And you’ve never...
What is genuine worship? Genuine worship is when we enter into intimacy with Almighty God. It is not in the type of worship (traditional or contemporary . . . it’s not whether or not we are gathered in an ornate sanctuary or a room with a few folding chairs),...
One of the significant parts of our priorities at Hope Community Church is to GROW in our relationship with God and others. Part of growing in our relationship with God and others is to grow in godliness! But how are we to grow in godliness? In order to grow in...