New Hope Christian Chapel Podcast

How do you feel you measure up compared to others? Be careful, comparison can be a killer! What would it look like to measure ourselves against Jesus instead of one another? How is humility the best measurement of our effectiveness and true success in life?!

Which do you know better...the Bible, or the God of the Bible? Which do you have more experience with? Which do you worship? How can we get the most out of both our Bibles and our relationship with the triune God?!

The Bible is loaded with specific moments of revelation and inspiration where God connected uniquely with His people! If God has spoken and moved in specific, personalized ways with people in the past, why do we settle for a generic, general, abstract, vauge approach to our prayers and faith? Jesus offers each person a uniquely personal connection with God through the Holy Spirit...don't settle fo...

As American Christians who have grown up within a democratic society and are used to giving our opinions and shaping laws by our votes, is it easy or hard for us to accept Jesus as our Lord & King, our monarch, as having the divine right to tell us what to do...without us getting a vote or a say in it!?!

Jesus didn't come to start a new religion, He came to start a new Kingdom, to establish a promised Kingdom made up of the most unlikely people from every nationality, age, gender, and backgrounds! And Jesus is still building that Kingdom through His followers today! So how does being a citizen of Christ's Kingdom influence your affiliation with the government and politics of the country you live i...

This past Sunday one of our missional communities was surprised by a knock at the door that was both an answer to their prayers as well as a great teaching moment for us all!  Take a few minutes to hear the story and reflect with Pastor Dave on how it continues to confirm for us the direction that God is guiding our New Hope church family!

Dig deeper into the concepts of confession, vulnerability, and close Christian community from Pastor Dave's sermon "Bad Resumes, Failed Background Checks & Poor References", by hearing excerpts from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, "Life Together".

A typical resume would give your greatest strengths and abilities to help qualify you for a new job...but for an apprenticeship with Jesus, the resume we submit must be a list of our greatest weaknesses and needs! When you come to Jesus, what's on your resume? (A sermon by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Chapel)

True or False: The word "apprentice" is perhaps the best modern translation of the Bible's term "disciple" and the modern term "Christian"? How would your concept of faith in Jesus change if you viewed it as an apprenticeship rather than a belief system? How do we move from knowing about Jesus to participating in life together with Him?! (A sermon by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Cha...

Christians shouldn't settle for simply being acquaintances, or even just friends...we should crave true, deep fellowship/partnership/unity/communion! But what does deep Christian fellowship look like, and how can we nurture it together?!

What do you hang on to when life is confusing? What is your confident foundation that you can always go back to? How do you decipher the truths from the lies in everything you see and hear? The Bible is packed with truths that we can trust...what truths does the Bible have in store for you today?! (A sermon by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Chapel)

What is the name of your church? What is the name of your missional community? What names did the earliest Christians go by? How do our names define our identity and our mission? Is your church or missional community more of a destination or a location? (A sermon by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Chapel)

As we seek to foster home church expressions that will inspire and empower our children to grow in their faith and use their gifts let's not think that we are any different! That same child-like faith is what Jesus calls all of His disciples to have! The same five values for children in missional community apply to adults as well: -Ownership -Experiencing God -Being Seen-Heard-Known -Giftings -1:1...

Do you value the children in your missional community, your home, your life? What are you doing to help them grow in their relationship with God? What are the core values that can help guide our development and investment in our children? Let Mikayla offer the thoughts that God has put on her heart to help us all find direction and powerful impact for the children God has blessed us with!

Has the church taken a step backward or a step forward during these past months of the coronavirus? Has the church been held back, or has it advanced? It probably depends on your definition of "church", so what is the Bible's definition of church? What is New Hope's definition of church? And even more importantly, what is your role within the church?!

What comes to your mind when you are asked what things you need to be saved from in 2020? Is it illness, poverty, politics, fear, racism, depression? Doesn't God promise not just to save our souls, but also to save and deliver us from trials in our lives? Do you think of your salvation in the "past tense", a prayer or baptism from a long time ago, or do you think of 'being saved" as the descriptio...

Are you known for being a person who keeps your promises? If you say something do you follow through? How does your promise-keeping reflect God's character of faithfulness in all of His promises? What would nuturing a promise-keeping culture look like in your family and church? (A sermon by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Chapel)

What is the relationship between race, culture, and faith? Is your culture something you are born with or something you create? How does a "Jesus culture" offer the solution to racism, hypocrisy, failure, prejudice, inequality, and inability? Create a Christ-focused kingdom culture in your world this week! (A sermon by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Chapel)

Has anyone provoked you recently? Did it lead to anger or love? What would it look like if we provoked one another to love and good deeds?! What if we kept on prodding and pushing one another to realize our God-given potential in an eruption of love?! (A sermon on Hebrews 10:22-25 by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Chapel)

Have you ever considered that your personal attitudes on wearing masks and on Sunday worship services might be opportunities to share your faith and honor God?! In this message, Pastor Dave explores how ethical challenges the earliest Christians faced have direct parallels to our current experiences with coronavirus masks and corporate Sunday worship services! May your faith shine brightly this we...

Self-control seems to be a lost virtue these days. What would it look like if everyone had self-control over their speech, their actions, their temptations? For Christians, is self-control just will-power, or do faith and grace play a role?

Do your words and actions, reactions and responses set you apart as a Christian in the world today? What would it look like for people to glorify God by seeing how we act and respond in times of intense pressure and tension? What advice does the Bible give?! (A sermon by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Chapel)

Do you have hope? What would it take for you to be filled with hope?! What would it look like for you to speak and live hope in our world that seems so hopeless? What advice would the Bible give?

Our world increasingly divides, segregates, categorizes, and judges...do you? Do you think of people in terms of categories, or individuals? How does God see people? How did Jesus see and treat the people around Him? What would we act like if we truly understood how grace relates to the power of sin? (A sermon by Pastor Dave Stratton, at New Hope Christian Chapel)

In a time where our world is so openly struggling with violence, racism, anger and apathy, Jesus and His message of radical, powerful, life-changing love is more needed than ever! Jesus never advocated either agression or passivism...He advocated a third way, standing up for what is right. He doesn't want us to resort to our basic fight or flight responses, but through God's strength to stand up f...