Hope Christian Fellowship

Many people come to Hope and talk about how it feels to come for the first time. We love the feedback that our church feels welcoming and warm. We are thrilled that Hopers own the calling to step towards someone they do not know and try to help them feel like they belong. But this feeling does not happen by accident. It is something we intentionally build. We are going to have a different service...

Can you imagine if you were sick and needed some life-saving treatment, but had no way to pay for it? It would be torture to feel doomed while knowing that it was just money in the way of having what you needed. Now imagine that some person with lots of money stepped in to pay for everything. You receive the treatment and you are saved. How grateful would you be? When the stakes are high and but r...

Communicating with others is a challenge. They don’t think like you do and they don’t express themselves in your ways, so it can be hard to hear them and for them to hear you. Misunderstanding is at the root of so much of the conflict that happens in our lives. Mature people know how to backtrack and figure out where things got disconnected and misconstrued. As we celebrate Easter, we are going to...

As we begin Passion Week, we are coming into our celebration of the most important events in the history of the world. The death and resurrection of Jesus demand response. Jesus confronted people all through His ministry on their need to respond to Him. In this episode, we see two different responses. One group embraces Jesus and the other rejects Him. Jesus points out the hypocrisy of their rejec...

Falling as an infant or toddler is a part of life. Falling as an elderly person can mean the end of your life. Not all falls are the same, but all of them stop our forward progress. Jesus uses the picture of stumbling to describe what can happen when a person looks at Jesus but misses out on the Good News. That is the most catastrophic fall of all time. Instead of recognizing the One who can save...

Everyone knows what it feels like to be hopeless. All the way back in school, there were times we felt like we’d never understand what we were supposed to be learning or we’d never remember what we studied for the test. Throughout life, we are faced with too little time, too little money, too much conflict, and too much hurt. Hopelessness is almost an old friend, or it would be if it weren’t so po...

Who is in charge? In any formal situation, that is a question that demands an answer right away. At work, you need to know who is in charge of what you will be doing. In homes that effectively raise children, it must be clear that the parents are in charge. When people reject this concept, chaos reigns. For God’s people in Jesus’ time, they believed that they were acknowledging God’s authority by...

In so many parts of our lives, titles are given to define roles, assign responsibilities, and maintain a sense of order. Navigating life and the many lanes that we operate in can feel overwhelming, whether it be with family, friends, work, church, or even in our neighborhood. Jesus, by his life, gave us a road map on how to live a life that is worthy of our calling, in whatever space we occupy. Th...

Whether it is fair or not, we tend to evaluate a person’s character by what they say. The words that come out of our mouths are thought of as a good indication of what we are all about. Jesus has some comments about how words can both expose what is inside of us and/or can be an attempt to deceive others about what’s inside of us. For all of us who follow Him, His words here are convicting. They a...

Most people assume that being color blind means that a person only sees in black and white. But the truth is most colorblindness is about being unable to distinguish between reds and greens. There are glasses that can correct this issue and enable someone to see the full spectrum. Imagine what changes in a person’s mind when everything they have been looking at suddenly looks drastically different...

When people don’t like you, it is normal to not like them back. When someone makes you their enemy, the natural response is to defend yourself and to fight back. Somehow, Jesus has an entirely different take on all of this. For those of us who choose to follow Him, we will need to pay attention to the instructions He gives. But we need to pay even more attention to the reasons He gives because we...

We can go to churches or watch online and hear all kinds of ideas about God’s blessings. It seems like most people think that blessings are when God makes your life exactly like what you want. Bills are paid. Loved ones are healthy. Problems are far in the rearview mirror. But Jesus talked about those who are blessed in a very different way. In fact, His description is so shocking, it is hard to r...

Jesus’ mission on earth was the most important ever undertaken. He came to give His life for our redemption, but He also came so that people would know the way to the Father. His plan included appointing twelve men to be apostles. With so much at stake, it would be wise for us to look at how Jesus made these selections. What do we learn about the kingdom of God from the men that Jesus chose and th...

Communication is always a challenge. Every person you talk to is different than you are. We generally do better when we know each other, but our conversations can go off the rails anyway. Throughout time, humans have struggled to understand our Creator. Some people try to build their understanding of God from what makes sense to them. Others actually read God’s Word for themselves, but they don’t...

“This is the way we’ve always done it.” How often have you heard something like that to reject a new idea? It can be frustrating if you are the person most affected by the unwillingness to consider change. Of course, all of us get stuck in old ways. This is true even in religion and in church. Jesus came to Israel with the Good News, but many of them saw it as something to fear or to silence. They...

Whoever said that God never gives you more than you can handle has clearly never read the Bible before. God’s story is full of situations where his people are faced with overwhelming odds, and if we are honest, our lives mirror that pattern. Whatever challenge or calling God has placed in your life it is all too easy to feel unprepared and unqualified. We can compare ourselves to others or look at...

Most of us know the pain of following someone that proved to be untrustworthy. Humans struggle with power because it seems to always grab the part of us that is self-centered and ready to use whatever power we have for our own purposes. Whether you agreed to follow that person or not, the feeling of injustice is unbearable. Those in power can take our money, our freedoms, and bring unwanted change...

When a child is born, there is a sense of all the possibilities that their life can hold. All of their days lay before them unwritten and full of potential. Many know this feeling from their own experience even though they would struggle to put it into words that fully express it. Can you imagine how much harder it is to put into words what it would mean for God Himself to come to earth as a baby?...

When we are little, we struggle with the fear of noises in the dark and the monsters we imagine. Almost always, the thing that calms the fears of children is the presence of a parent. We grow up and we grow past our childish fears. But life still brings us plenty of reason to worry, stress, and fear. What we thought was a reason to be afraid as a kid gives way to the real-life experiences of betra...

Did you ever have big dreams for your life? I know I have!! While we make so many plans for our family, career, and wealth, we often end up in situations that we didn’t plan for or never saw coming. Do we allow our faith to look past our challenges and still pursue the Lord? In this text, we see Jesus in a tough place facing tough decisions.  No better time than now to look to the example of Jesus...

The last holy habit we’re going to look at is the practice of giving. There are plenty of ways to give away what has been given to you, but we are going to focus on the Biblical teaching about money. It is ironic that the vast majority of Americans have more than almost anyone else in the history of the world, but we all feel like we need a little bit more to be OK. Perhaps you can feel the trap o...

People generally do not see serving as an upgrade to their lives. If anything, it carries a feel of being made lower than others. But Jesus said that He came to serve. If serving is a bad thing, why did Jesus choose to do it? The truth is that serving is central as a habit for those who are disciples of Jesus. If we are following Him, then we serve. It truly is that simple. In order for serving to...

Those who follow Jesus worship Him. What does that mean? The Bible talks often about a physical response to Jesus like bowing down and worshipping or singing songs of praise to Him. Ultimately, it means living a life that brings glory to Him, testifying by our decisions and choices that He is right about what is good and that He is worthy of following and of our devotion. Too many believers think...

There was a time before everyone had a smart phone with a map app that it was possible to get lost. You would have some directions in hand, but eventually, you would find yourself unable to figure out where you were and how exactly to get back on track. Truly it is easier to stay on the path than to get back on it once you’re off. One of the holy habits of disciples is to become regular readers of...

Some people think the world is divided into leaders and followers. But the truth is that many people don’t realize that they are already leading. They may be leading in an unhealthy or dysfunctional way, but they are having an influence over those who are following them. Most people are both followers AND leaders. We submit ourselves to those in charge in some areas, and we find ourselves setting...