Valley Hope Church

Do you have a hard time remembering God’s promises and nature in times of struggle and doubt? If so you are not alone, the nation of Israel were a forgetful people too. The good news is we serve a God who does not forget and is faithful to his faithless people. Samuel reminds us of the God we serve as we continue our series, The Search for a Better King.

Israel demands a king, so God lets them have their king. Where do they find their valiant hero? Faithfully, almost obsessively, tending his herd of donkeys. And he's not sure he wants to switch jobs.

1 Samuel 8 stands in contrast to the victory we saw in 1 Samuel 7. Many years after their victory, Israel turned to a much older Samuel to ask for a king. God laid out parameters for a king for Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. So why is this request not greeted warmly? What's the bad news in Israel's request?

In this next week of our series on 1 & 2 Samuel, Israel sees God thunder on their behalf. Samuel judges and Israel sees victory after their previous catastrophic defeats. Join us we move on in this story of Israel’s search for a king.

Warfare and worship are wrapped up together in the Old Testament. One has to do with the other. Our next installment of our series in 1 Samuel is all about misguided warfare and worship. Death and glory. How do the two meet?

In the second week of our series on 1 & 2 Samuel, we get to know a little bit more about Samuel himself. What happens when something "goes bump in the night," but that "something" is actually "Someone" and the "bump" is a Voice calling a name?

Fourth and final Sunday of Advent. Israel was looking for a king to come and liberate them and rule justly. We will look this Sunday at a big reason why they were looking for such a king... and why we should too.

Week Three of Advent! What can we look forward to but the Hope of the nations? What does Jesus come to do? The freeing of prisoners, the healing of the wounded, the consolation of the mourning. Join us as we look to His coming!

Take comfort! This second week of Advent, we look back on the way that God comforts His people and presents Himself as the Good Shepherd that we’re all hoping for.

Advent is here! Before Christmas is a season of waiting and expectation. In a culture gone mad with instant gratification, come to church and wait with us. We’ll spend the next four weeks listening to Prophets and Psalmists and Gospel writers telling us to check our appetites and be sure to hunger for what is lasting.

This the last of our five-week series in honor of 500 years of Reformation. The last "Sola" (or "soli," in this instance) is really the heart of all the others: Soli Deo Gloria. Glory to God alone. Johann Sebastian Bach put "SDG" on all of his works to write this refrain on everything he did. But what exactly did the Reformers mean when they emphasized this and why do some consider it the lifebloo...

"The article by which the church stands or falls." Justification by faith alone. Why did Luther and the other Reformers put such weight on this doctrine? And what does it mean for people today if we don't feel that we can always muster up the right kind of faith? What is faith, anyway?

Grace alone! What did the Reformers feel they were rediscovering in this doctrine? And what makes it so amazing?

Week 2 in our series on the Five Solas of the Reformation: Solus Christus. What did the Reformers mean when they insisted on Christ Alone? What were they getting at?

We all know what we celebrate on October 31st. Reformation Day, right?! Ok, maybe that's not on most people's minds, but this year marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. There are some undesired negative consequences to the Protestant Reformation, but there are also many real and beautiful truths that the Reformers celebrated and elevated. For the next five weeks, we'll mark a...

Buried treasure. That's what the Kingdom is like. We close our series on the parables with a look at two short parables that speak of the exceeding value of Jesus' kingdom.

Last week, we saw the picture of God as wastefully loving father. This week? A king who burns the city down and kills guests to his party. How do we make these images fit? Do we have to choose? Or is the father from Luke 15 somehow also the angry king?

In Luke 15 Jesus tells us of the character of our King, one who pursues his lost children with a passion. A father who is outspends our sin with his generosity and love.

Luke 16 is a story of who winds up in the Kingdom. There's a rich man and a poor man and there's judgment and vindication. What does this parable tell us about Kingdom identity? And where are we in this story?

Our second week in the parables is the strange story of the Unjust Judge. How does this story of a reluctant, selfish judge encourage us to "not lose heart?" What does this say about the nature of the Kingdom and the place of prayer in it?

Today we start our new series on the parables. First up? A couple short parables that talks about how Jesus' kingdom grows: Slowly and quietly. Agonizingly slowly, it seems!

"Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil." Evil within and evil without. Our stories prime us to look for the Hero that rescues. Increasingly, the world says "You are the Hero." But something in our guts says this isn't true. Jesus teaches us to pray for a real Deliverer.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." The phrase sounds so open-ended. What exactly are Christians praying for when they pray this prayer? In our society that indicates the autonomy of every person's will, what does this counter-cultural prayer teach us about the nature of what Jesus wants to do?

What does it mean for God’s name to be hallowed? How does he want it that to happen? We will explore this as we begin our four week study of the Lord’s Prayer.