Hope Christian Fellowship

Buying a used car can be an adventure. They generally do not have a warranty, so you have to decide if you believe that the car isn’t hiding some expensive problems. If you’re a mechanic, you know how to look inside and see for yourself. But for most of us, we have to do our best to asses from the outside. Jesus talks with religious people about this dynamic in the spiritual realm. Many people liv...

There is no end to laundry. We all know it and somewhat resent it – especially if we are the ones responsible in the home for making sure there are clean clothes. You wash them only to see them get dirty again and need more washing. In Jesus’ ministry, He is calling people to come and be washed. He uses a few images to describe how this washing is eternally different than the way their religious e...

If you drink bottled water, you may be someone who cares about the source of the water you are drinking. Regulations require that something labeled as “spring water” must come from directly from an underground water source. If your bottle says “purified” instead of “spring water”, then it was taken directly from a municipal tap water source and put through a purification process. Maybe it makes no...

One basic of following Jesus is prayer. Of course, all religions have a form of prayer. Many in certain forms of Christianity think that you need to recite prayers or that the prayers of certain people matter more than others. Jesus actually taught on prayer and gave an example of how to do it. In Luke, His sample prayer is followed by some very important ideas on the topic. As we think about our...

In our lives, we consume information and surround ourselves with noise and stimulation. We know that we can’t possibly take in everything available, but we join the chase anyway. Many times, becoming a part of a church just changes the list of the things we’re trying to know and do. But there is a really important truth that Luke shows us in an episode around a couple of Jesus’ close friends. One...

Many people believe that being a Christian is an exercise in rule keeping. Make sure you do all of the right things and avoid all of the wrong things. Jesus famously uses the Sermon on the Mount to demonstrate the real problems with that way of thinking. In this episode, Jesus has someone come to ask what the most important rule is. And Jesus pointedly turns away from rules to a mindset and value...

What makes you happy? Many people spend their free time chasing the answer to this very question. In fact, it is very common to justify choices by asserting that a specific choice “makes me happy.” Luke stitches together a few statements by Jesus that talk about great joy, full joy, and being blessed. The thread through all of them is that we can find true joy in some things that last. Jesus even...

Jesus came to give an invitation to every person on earth. He gave His very life so that they could be redeemed, forgiven, and have eternal life. The restoration of God’s original design and the desire of His heart is made possible by Jesus’ sacrifice. But most people reject this offer. Somehow, they believe they are better off without Jesus. As Jesus sends out His messengers to share this news (w...

Following Jesus is the greatest thing you could ever do. In theory, we all agree on this. But there are places in Jesus’ ministry where He describes the cost of doing exactly that. If we’re honest, we’d like to ignore the price we are called to pay to be a Christian. More than that, we probably do not fully understand what Jesus is saying as He talks about what we will give up or lose when we choo...

Many people throughout history have claimed to be ‘great.’ Names that come to mind are Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, and of course, Alexander the Great. A boxer claimed to be ‘the greatest.’ Each time, the understanding of greatness was based on the idea of domination, power, influence, and fame. That is our default understanding of what it means to be amazing as a human. As Jesus teaches...

Power outages are quick reminders of how much we depend on electricity. If it happens at night, we are a bit overwhelmed by the darkness. Our food might go bad. If it’s in the summer, the house will probably get unbearably warm. We take power for granted until we don’t have it. As we continue studying Luke’s eyewitness account of Jesus’ life and ministry, we are pointed to the power in Jesus. Ofte...

Raising children is not for the weak. With each passing day, what the world throws at young people is more and more difficult to deal with. Children naturally recognize their need for protection, provision and most times, guidance. Today, we will look at how Jesus invites children into his presence and how they model the faith He is looking for from all of us.

We are embarking on our favorite week of the year. We love spending time with all of the precious children that join us. We love the music, the games, the laughter, the friendships, the energy and everything else that comes with being a part of VBS. But we don’t do all of this for the experience. We do it for a bigger and more enduring reason. What we’re doing this week reflects the very essence o...

Today’s world is filled with power struggles. They think that the way to win is have and use more human strength than the next person. Wars are fought with this understanding. Political campaigns often run in this mindset as well. Most people generally accept that the person with the most power wins. Then the God of the Universe shows up in human flesh and sets His power aside. How do we make sens...

Many people today call themselves Christians. Basically, they are saying that they follow Jesus. But do we know what it means to follow Him? Jesus describes it in these verses, and it seems like most “Christians” would be shocked at what He says. Instead of talking about what someone gets, He talks about the price someone has to pay. He describes a seemingly impossible situation where a person los...

Have you ever thought you saw someone you knew only to realize when you approached them that you were mistaken? Something about what they looked like resembled your friend so much that you were sure it was them. While those misunderstandings are generally low-stakes, the passage we read today is about the highest stakes. Do we recognize Jesus? Some people think they know who He is, but they are mi...

Planning a party can be stressful. Imagine that you are hosting something and you don’t know how many people are coming. What if it could be 50 people – or 100 people – or 1000 people. How do you get ready for something like that? In this story, the disciples didn’t even know that a party was coming – and then Jesus told them to feed everyone. It seems like the disciples thought Jesus was joking a...

Being a father is a high calling. It takes courage, strength, integrity, and honor. Unfortunately, many of these are in short supply today. But perhaps the greatest secret is that most fathers wonder if they have what it takes to step into all that they want to be as a dad. The ache in our soul is there, but is it possible to find a way to be all of that? What we read today teaches us that Jesus e...

We all know what hopeless looks like and feels like. We witness it from afar, hearing about things broken beyond repair in someone else’s life. But it hits differently when it’s our own life. Most of the time, it shocks us because we never thought we would be facing something like this. Some of the time, we have lived with the problem for long enough that it feels settled: we will always have this...

What would you do if Jesus Himself walked into your kitchen as your family was sitting down to dinner? There would probably be a million thoughts running through your mind at the same time. You might wonder if you’re in trouble, if He is here to give you something, or if you are hallucinating. You may try to figure out what to say or what He might want to eat. You’d probably get a chair for Him at...

We often call trials and struggles in our lives “storms.” It is a word that seems to fit because it describes the feeling of danger and chaos. It also sums up our powerlessness in the face of the circumstances. Since this is such an easy-to-understand picture, it is not a mistake that several stories of Jesus’ time on earth have to do with storms. In this one, Jesus give direction right into a sto...

In this second installment of the famous parable, we are going to take a closer look at the different types of people that Jesus describes. He makes it clear that the difference in fruitfulness is not a difference in sower or seed, but in the type of soil it lands on. Jesus explains this parable to His disciples to show what He is illustrating with each type of soil. The clear question to us is th...

The story that Jesus tells about the Sower and the Seed is one of the most famous in the Gospels. It is found in three of the four of them. In Luke, it takes up a lot of space, so we’re going to take two weeks to try to digest the message of Jesus in this parable. This week, we’re going to focus on the invitation that is embedded in the story. Some people think that only certain people are eligibl...

As we set aside a day to celebrate and give thanks for the mothers in our lives, we recognize that the One who came up with the whole idea of motherhood is God Himself. Most moms feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for a precious child. Likewise, it is not unusual for dads to feel unprepared and unqualified. But what we’re going to see in Scripture today is that this feeling is a re...

(Hosea 1:2-3, 5:4, 6:6, 7:11, 2:14-20, 3:1-3) Golden calves, statues of giant bulls, some guy named Baal: it can be all too easy to laugh and belittle the idol worship of the Old Testament. How could anyone bow down or devote themselves to a man made thing? Meanwhile we nervously check our bank accounts, meditate in front of endlessly scrolling social media feeds, and evangelize our politics onlin...