Hope Church Mill Creek

Pastor Ethan Riddle from Hope Church Stokes County delivers a message on Ephesians 4: 7-16. As we continue reading through Ephesians, we find that Paul discusses the gifts God gave to the church and the importance of uniting as the body of Christ to work together for His good.

Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Church of God, Church of Christ... and that is just to name a few! So many denominations, and so many schools of thought - is it possible then to get along? How? Why should we even try? We'll discover this week that we may be many in number, preferences, and opinions, but we are also one in Jesus Christ.

Paul once again covers his beloved Ephesian brothers and sisters in prayer. And yet once more, he doesn't flutter about with fluff and non-particulars. Instead, he lovingly intercedes for them to the Father through the Spirit by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He writes this specific prayer down, so that now, we modern-day believers can gain much needed encouragement, insight, and helpful corr...

Last week, the Apostle Paul painted a structural metaphor for us made up of walls and houses. This week, it's all about the mystery of God. Specifically, how God mysteriously works behind the scenes, creating unexpected beauty with unsuspecting (and many times, undeserving) people. How did God bridge the unbridgeable divide between Jews and Gentiles? With this mysterious plan and beautiful bod...

This week in the book of Ephesians, Paul is involved with the tearing down of walls and the building of houses. Just as with the remodel of any structure, it must get worse before it gets better. Paul reveals just how bad it was for us outside of Christ, then he leads us into the beautiful body that now exists and continues to grow in Christ Jesus.

Based on our reading of Ephesians, there is no doubt the apostle Paul loved this group of believers, and it's evident by his letter. After presumed dead by his Ephesian family, they received welcome news that Paul was, at the time, still alive and actively thinking and praying for them - what an encouragement that must have been! This week, we pore over Chapter 2: 1-10 where Paul breaks down t...

This week, we are starting a brand new series out of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. This book towards the end of the Bible is rich with sound theology, teaching, and encouragement. This book will no doubt bless us in many ways as we navigate through it together.

We are ending our sermon series, "Twisted Scriptures," with a sermon on how to study the Bible. As we end this series, we discuss ways to study the Bible through Scripture, observation, application, and prayer. May we all seek to be more like Jesus as we learn more about Him through His Word.

What can a Christian do? What can a Christian not do? What substances can a Christian partake in? What festivities can Christians partake of? At the end of the day, should they? Are these the right questions, or is there a bigger question we should be asking? We attempt to answer these questions and more with this continuation sermon of "Your Body is a Temple."

Does our Father want to bless His children materially and financially? Many times, the answer is yes. However, as we will hear today, what He desires much more is that we become more like Him. Through trusting, serving, committing, speaking truth, and simply being faithful, we begin to embody the Spirit of Christ and become the people we were meant to be from the very beginning.

"Your body is a temple" - that is what they say. Actually, that is what the Scriptures say. What does that mean exactly? And what are we supposed to do with that information? Do we have a responsibility to care for our bodies, or does God even care about what we do with them? You may be surprised today as we read and discover what these words mean, and as we will yet again see, context i...

Does God want conflict in His church? Probably not! Does conflict ever happen among the church's body? When people of different ages, backgrounds, races, opinions, etc. all connect and serve together, you can expect this to happen. Does that mean the church itself is bad? No! What we will discuss in this sermon is that dealing with conflict the right way (the Jesus way) actually strengthens th...

What Scripture are we untwisting this week? How about the colloquial, "God won't give us more than we can handle?" The question is then, "Well, does He?" As we continue our Twisted Scriptures sermon series, we dive into 1 Corinthians 10:1-14 to untangle this Scripture.

Have you ever wondered what certain often-quoted Scriptures really mean? Do you think it is possible that Scripture is ever weaponized wrongfully? Maybe you've witnessed this personally in your lifetime. As we start a new series titled, "Twisted Scriptures," we will do our best to untangle these Scriptures and find their true meaning.

We are wrapping up our sermon series entitled, "Rescue," with a sermon about Jesus' resurrection. We explore questions such as these: Can we trust Christ's resurrection really happened? Why were the graphic details of the crucifixion recorded in the Bible? What do I do when Jesus seems far away? If it's so easy, why doesn't everyone believe in Jesus? Whether it's your...

We're coming to understand that our God is a God who is in the business of rescue. That "rescuer" - is none other than Jesus himself. He rescues us by his beautifully divine life on earth, which is, at the same time, plagued with vulnerability, temptation, limitation, and suffering. But that is not where it stops. He is now headed towards the ultimate suffering of His death on the cr...

At Easter, the church celebrates Jesus' death and resurrection. At Christmas, the church celebrates His birth. Week to week, the church talks about His teachings in the Bible. But in all of this, do we unconsciously miss the importance of the life of Christ? Did His 33 years on earth hold significance? The beginning and the ending matters, but what about the dash in between the dates?

How can we trust that Jesus was the Messiah, our "rescuer"? As we continue through our sermon series, Rescue, we try to answer this question from 3 different angles: ancient prophecies, New Testament affirmations, and people like us who have been changed by Jesus. People are transformed only by Jesus Christ. Without Him, all of this is impossible. Jesus Christ is our rescuer.

Who is God and what does He do exactly? If a child were to ask these questions, they may well stop us in our tracks, even though they may seem simple. In addition to other things, it seems like one of those things God does is to write the real, tangible concept of redemption into the story of humanity. For the month of March leading up to Easter, we will be going through the sermon series titled,...

Where do you live? Not necessarily the road, location, or type of structure, but where do you live in your soul? Where we live has a lot to do with where we are going, the personalities we meet, and the opportunities we will make or miss. The last verse of 1 Corinthians 13 says that the three siblings called faith, hope, and love - abide (or live) together. Apparently, there is a hierarchy, and th...

Would you rather be a partial person or a whole person? Would you rather go through life living vibrantly to your fullest potential or simply existing? Unfortunately, many people, including Christians, live the latter lifestyle. It is so incredibly difficult to admit lifelong error and change course that many choose to live in the fog for fear of being judged by others. As we read through 1 Corint...

Love is what all humans long for in one form or another. It seems as if the desire and capacity for love is built into our DNA. What does Scripture say about his holy virtue? Does the Word articulate what love is, what it isn't, and how we can share in this with God and others? Join us over the next month as we dive into I Corinthians 13 and read exactly what the Word says about love.

When we think of "sin," we often think of evil acts and behaviors that disappoint God. But at its root, what is this thing we call, "sin?" Simply, it means to miss the mark or target. This can look like "missing the mark" that is right and good and "missing the mission," which is what ultimately matters. As Christians, we are called to strive for the highest...

In this sermon of the DNA Series, we discuss two more points of Hope DNA: rolling stones and differing opinions. Some of us have experienced church hurt. Sometimes the error is on the side of the church body, but sometimes it is on the side of the individual. Unfortunately, much hurt from church has stemmed from dogmatic stances on non-doctrinal, secondary, and wholly unimportant issues. These are...

Who are we as Hope Church? Christians have the Spirit of Christ living in them, but without consistent guidance, help, and support from the body of the local church with its biblical, doctrinal reinforcement, we run the risk of making up our own rules and living in the flesh. In this sermon of the DNA series, we discuss two more important points of Hope DNA: being the Church and making disciples....