Hope Church Blog
Luke 13 continues to hone in on Jesus’ message about the presence of sin in our lives, God’s solution, and the responsibility for the believer as a result. Jesus also teaches about how faith works when we allow it to penetrate us and permeate our lives. A miracle shows someone able to stand tall because…
Luke 12:40 Today marks the third Sunday in the season of Advent. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Advent means expectation since it is a time of preparation for Christmas. We remember the past as people expected the coming of the Messiah. Now we expectantly await the return of King Jesus to set everything…
Luke 12 picks up directly where chapter 11 left us yesterday, but this time Jesus’ teaching is directed toward those following Him. We get teachings on hypocrisy, fear, greed, trust, patience, and division. He is obviously preparing His followers for the difficulties to come while pointing them to the reality of God’s Kingdom. As you…
Matthew 11:28-30 Wednesdays are usually very long but very good days. I get to see the PreK kids learn about Jesus all around me. Our staff meets about upcoming opportunities for ministry. We have a crew from the staff that generally goes to lunch afterwards where we get to spend time together on a personal…
Luke 11 highlights Jesus’ teaching on prayer. We get Luke’s version of The Lord’s Prayer, followed up with teachings on persistence and trust. Interestingly, we read about Jesus being challenged as to the source of His power and He used that opportunity to point to God’s greatness. Jesus calls out the people who were looking…
Hebrews 11:1 We often connect how we see faith and peace. We tend to believe that a peaceful life gives us faith in a caring God. Experience often decries that when we realize faith does not protect us from problems, which deep down we almost always think it should. Jesus said He gives peace to…
Luke 10 has fewer sections than we have encountered in previous chapters, but this makes it no less significant. We see Jesus deploying an even greater number of disciples to put into practice what they’ve learned. Jesus gives some great advice about how to witness to people by building relationships, as well as what to…
Philippians 4:6 ‘Tis the season to be jolly, but it can be stressful getting into the Christmas spirit managing everything that goes with it, can’t it? Things like traffic; the expense; finding time to decorate, shop, wrap, bake, and attend parties; supply chain problems making some highly desired gifts scarce; and putting in extra time…
Luke 9 brings us to the turning point in his Gospel. We see the disciples provided with the opportunity to put into practice what they’ve observed and learned; a miracle of multiplication that means a whole lot more than just bread and fish; and an exorcism that seems to change Jesus’ tone and approach. The…
Jesus told us to shine and shine brightly for God. When we shine, we show people that God is good. This is important because of the darkness all around us. When you let your light shine for others, it penetrates and disperses the darkness. It’s important to remember that we are not the light ourselves.…