Podcasts about new hope church

This sermon was delivered by Pastor Cory Klein at New Hope Church of Oxford on May 4, 2025. The text of Scripture is Exodus 20:1-3.

This sermon was delivered by Pastor Cory Klein at New Hope Church of Oxford on April 27, 2025. The text of Scripture is Exodus 19.

If you've always wondered about baptism, here are the basics—we're calling it “Baptism 101,” and it's all the stuff ChatGPT can't tell you.

This sermon was delivered by Pastor Cory Klein on Good Friday, April 18, 2025 at New Hope Church of Oxford. The text of Scripture is Luke 23:44-49.

This sermon was delivered by Pastor Cory Klein on Easter, April 20, 2025 at New Hope Church of Oxford. The text of Scripture is Luke 24:1-48.

If you've ever felt confused by what's happening in your life—maybe even to the point of questioning your faith or feeling deep sadness—know this: God is still at work.Even when we can't see Him, He's moving behind the scenes to bring about His purposes. We'll explore this important, biblical truth as we look at Luke […]

Our culture desperately needs a biblical perspective of the “Power of God.” Join us this week as we examine that very element in a Palm Sunday venture into a fresh view of Jesus!

This sermon was delivered by Pastor Cory Klein at New Hope Church of Oxford on April 13, 2025. The text of Scripture is Ruth 4:13-22.

This sermon was delivered by Aaron Jerome at New Hope Church of Oxford on March 30, 2025. The text of Scripture is Ephesians 3:1-10.

This sermon was delivered by Pastor Cory Klein at New Hope Church of Oxford on April 6, 2025. The text of Scripture is Ruth 4:1-12.

If you are finding life empty and without meaningful purpose, join us as we dive into Ecclesiastes and hold on for the...

This sermon was delivered by Pastor Cory Klein at New Hope Church of Oxford on March 23, 2025. The text of Scripture is Ruth 3.

Although the kings of the earth came to sit at the feet of Solomon and hear his Proverbs, Scripture tells us that...

Daily Dose of Hope March 27, 2025 Day 5 of Week 25   Scripture:  Job 40-42; Psalm 150; Revelation 22   Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the daily Bible reading at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  You guys, we have made it.  Today is the last devotional for our reading plan.  Of course, we are starting a new one on Monday on the Gospels and Acts BUT let's not discount what we have done together.  We have read the entire Bible in a year.  What an accomplishment!  I am so proud of all of you.   Our final Old Testament reading is in Job.  We are finishing up the book by reading chapters 40-42.  God asks Job if he wants to run the world for a time based on the strict principle of justice that he and his friends believed in and professed.  Should every evil deed be punished and every good deed rewarded?  The world and humanity are so much for complicated than that.  The world is beautiful and orderly in some ways, but also dangerous and without order in other ways.    Of course, we end with the big question – why is there suffering in this world?  God doesn't really give an answer.  What he does say is that we live in an incredible world, with lots of amazing things, but at this point, it isn't designed in such a way that people can avoid suffering.  God simply asks Job, as he asks us, to trust in His wisdom and character.    In the end, Job responds to God with humility.  He is sorry for ever questioning God.  God admonishes Job's friends, who did not get anything right.  What's interesting is that God praises Job for his ability to question God and his honesty about what he was dealing with.  God obviously wants us to bring him our struggles and trust that he cares and hears us.  Ultimately, Job recovers.  His body heals.  He has more children and his wealth and wisdom expand.  Yet, this does not feel like resolution.  What are your thoughts on all of this?   Our New Testament reading is the last chapter of Revelation, which also happens to be the last chapter of the entire Bible.  In this chapter, we find another metaphor for the new creation. It is the river of life, crystal clear and flanked on each side by the tree of life, which provides abundant fruit. The number twelve represents the sufficiency of these fruit, they will provide nourishment to God's people for ever and ever and ever. The leaves of the tree are like medicine, providing healing to the nations. These beautiful images immediately remind the reader of the original Garden, Eden, the way the Lord intended his world before the fall. Human beings will find their ultimate purpose and will live without suffering, but rather total contentment and satisfaction, something that could never be achieved before the curse.   As we finish up the book of Revelation, and John's visions conclude, we are reminded of the choice we have. Do we want to take up residence in the Babylon of today, in those things the world promises, OR do we want to seek a life characterized by holiness, pursuing God, and ultimately residing with him in the perfect city, the new Jerusalem, the city created and sustained by God? The book continually reminds us that the choice is ours.   Okay, this is the last devotional of the last week of our journey all the way through Scripture.  I am honored that so many of you stuck with me.  I have learned a lot and I hope you have as well.  It's truly a miracle that Scripture is one continuous story.  Yes, it's 66 separate ancient texts that together, tell God's story and ours for that matter.  How many times did we read about something and find ourself right there in the midst of it?  Scripture is truly alive and active.  It is unchanging and yet speaks to us in many changing circumstances.  It is TRUTH.    Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope March 26, 2025 Day 4 of Week 25   Scripture:  Job 37-39; Psalm 103: Revelation 21   Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the daily Bible reading at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  Tonight is Recharge night so please come and join us at 6:30pm in the Garage for community, worship, fellowship, and study.37-39.    The Old Testament Scripture is Job 37-39.  The first chapter is the continuation of Elihu's response.  Then, we hear from the Lord.  He speaks directly to Job.  God basically asserts his authority.  He speaks of how he is creator and knows everything about the world.  He asks Job if he was there when the ocean was created, when the morning was spoken into being...  Basically, he is asking Job, who are you to question me???  God is sovereign, he is in control, and Job is not.  These are questions not meant for Job to actually answer, but to humble him.  I'm not sure what I think about this yet.  More tomorrow.   The New Testament passage is Revelation 21.  John's final vision is that the redemption of creation is now complete. The old earth and creation, that which was broken and sinful, has passed away and a new earth has come. Finally. this is what we have been waiting for. God's people reside in this new earth.   There is no more populace simply mechanically following the ways of the world. There is passion. God's people dwell with the Almighty himself, his glory fully revealed. And now, there will be no more tears, suffering, or loss. All is new, all is healed, and all is redeemed.   Then, there is a description of God's Holy City. Please be sure to read through this beautiful vision. This city is a place of perfect worship, where humanity is not seeking achievement but rather exists to worship God in the presence of God. God's Kingdom is fully revealed and it is incredible.   I have a seminary professor who used to tell us that our lives, as believers, are intended to be a preview to the world of the perfect world to come. So very convicting! If someone were to look at your life, what might they deduce about God's perfect world to come?   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

One thing everyone desires is to know that God is with us on earth! As we study E2E Pt 84 this weekend,...

Daily Dose of Hope March 20, 2025 Day 5 of Week 51   Scripture: Job 24-27; Revelation 17 Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that goes along with the Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  Our Old Testament reading is from Job once again.  I don't know about you, but this is really hard to read.  Job is heartbroken and struggling with why the evil seem to prosper and God doesn't seem to provide any kind of punishment for those who do evil.  Where is God's justice?  He certainly hasn't experienced it.    Job's friend answers him in chapter 25 saying that God is all-powerful.  Nothing is good compared to God.  I'll be honest.  I'm not sure what his point is, except maybe to pour salt in Job's wounds.  No one is righteous in God's eyes, according to this friend, and that includes Job.    Our last chapter for today is Job's reply to this.  Yes, God is bigger and more powerful than everything.  He is in control of the universe and everything in it.  There is no way we will understand why or how he does anything.  What's amazing here is this – after all Job has gone through, after all his lament, he concludes that God is filled with wisdom and he simply has to trust because God is in control.    The New Testament reading is Revelation 17.  In this chapter, John is invited to witness the downfall of Babylon. He sees the image of a woman sitting on red beast with seven heads and ten horns. The woman, very seductively dressed, has a name written on her: Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes, and of the Abominations of the Earth. She slept with the kings of the world and was drunk with the blood of God's people. Babylon was a seductive society and a very powerful one. It conquered many of the nations around it and others were seduced by its influence and wealth.   While the woman in the vision obviously represents Babylon, it goes so much deeper. How many Babylons have existed since then? How many great civilizations have risen to power, only to reject God and serve themselves? We could probably generate a pretty long list: the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, various European empires, maybe even the United States of America? Where do you see the evils of Babylon around you? How should we respond as God's people?   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope March 19, 2025 Day 4 of Week 51   Scripture:  Job 21-23; Psalm 101; Revelation 16   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  It's Wednesday but we DO NOT have Recharge tonight.  It was canceled due to Hillsborough County Spring Break.  So take this time to do something fun!  Now, we move to our Scripture reading.   For our Old Testament reading, we are back in Job.  These continue to be hard chapters with more back and forth between Job and his so-called friends. Neither Job nor his friends understood God's ways. But there were significant differences between how Job and his friends approached Job's situation. First, his friends confidently and arrogantly asserted that they did understand God's ways, claiming that God punishes the evil and blesses the righteous. Job, on the other hand, admits his confusion and frustration, citing many examples of evil and sinful people living good lives and escaping calamity just fine. Second, for Job's friends, these were somewhat abstract questions of moral theory and interesting discussion topics; for the seriously suffering Job, these were questions with real-life application that affected how he processed the world and his faith in God.    In the midst of really hard life experiences, have you ever met someone who seemed to “understand” just what God was doing in your life?  I haven't commented a lot on what Job's friends are doing but I can't help but at least say something.  The reality is that because of the pervasiveness of sin, we live in a very broken world. Bad stuff happens and there isn't always a reason. Often, we have more questions for God than answers. And how God works in the midst of it all is much more complex than we can dare to comprehend. What we can trust in is that God is loving, trustworthy, and always good. He does not cause bad things to occur in our lives. In fact, he often takes the bad and uses it for his good in some way. The hard part is we may not see or understand this for a long, long time. As Christians, let's try to NOT look anything like Job's friends but simply be willing to listen and love as our family and friends experience hardship and heartache.    Our New Testament reading is Revelation 16.  It's getting ugly. God has assured his people that they are safe but really no one else is. God's wrath is about to be poured out on those who were marked by the beast, aka the evil one. Throughout the chapter, we read about the cups of God's wrath being poured out. I don't know about you, but I find it very hard to read. While I don't think these images in Revelation are meant to all be taken literally, we do have to come to terms with the fact that Jesus will return and he will judge us. Those who belong to him will be safe and protected. Those who don't belong to him will face the wrath of God. Will that mean boils and fire? Probably not, but these cups of wrath do represent something real, something we don't understand. I want to highlight verse 15 today, “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed. Think back to the teachings of Jesus. Matthew 24:42-44, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.   Jesus, in his earthly ministry, made many references to being ready for the coming reign of God. As much as it makes us feel uncomfortable, he also spoke of being ready for the coming judgment. Notice how now, in Rev. 16:15, the resurrected Lord is saying that he will come like a thief; blessed is the one who stays awake and remain clothed. I think we need to stop and reflect on this issue of being ready. Some people may say that we've been waiting for Jesus so long, he will never come. But the Bible clearly says he will. Certainly, we aren't to sit around and be scared, nor are we to watch the clouds and wait (as many of the early Christians did.) We are to simply do life, expanding his Kingdom, living as he called us to live. But there is something to this whole idea of readiness. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Spend some time in prayer about this today.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope March 17, 2024 Day 2 of Week 51   Scripture: Job 15-17; Revelation 14 Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that goes along with the Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  Today, our Old Testament reading is back in the book of Job.  In chapter 15, we find one of Job's friends answering his lament.  It isn't pretty.  He accuses Job of being sinful; I mean, he must be, right?  And yet, as Job replies in chapter 16-17, it's easy for someone else to make such claims.  When it happens to you, it's different.  He doesn't understand why God's anger has been lashed out at him.  Job's pain is palpable.  His confusion is real.  Why is this happening to him?  Is there any hope at all?  And again...all we are left with is questions. Our New Testament reading is Revelation 14.  Chapter 14 is another interlude, a reprieve of sorts, before the pouring out of the cups of God's wrath in the next chapter. The interludes provide a respite for God's persecuted people before the next bout of suffering, assuring them of God's divine protection for them. The interlude scenes in this chapter are visions of comfort. Again, remember the original audience and what they were enduring. They needed to know that God was going to keep them safe in the Lord. This doesn't mean they would not experience hardship, pain, and even torture, but they could be assured that God ultimately would care for them. The first vision of comfort is the Lamb with the 144,000, standing on Mount Zion. This image would have been incredibly reassuring to those listening to this message. Mount Zion represents the hope of what's to come, the final safe dwelling place for God's people. The 144,000 are the “first fruits” of God's people, those who have gone before, most likely through martyrdom. Even for those experiencing severe persecution, this vision points to how there is something amazing ahead, don't lose hope. The second vision of comfort is the angel flying in midair. This angel is proclaiming the Good News to all the earth. A second angel follows with more excellent news, Babylon has fallen. Babylon, the place of Israel's exile, was a symbol for paganism, hedonism, and immorality. Finally, a third angel warns against being swayed by the temptation of the evil one. This would have been a warning to the faithful to not swear allegiance to the corrupt worldly system. As it is for believers right now, how easy it would be for those who professed faith in Jesus to gradually be absorbed into the majority culture, looking more Roman than Christian.(Umm...this was a bit convicting.) The third and final vision of comfort consisted of one like the Son of Man standing on the clouds with a sickle. He is wearing a victory crown. The Scripture says that the time to reap has come and the Son of Man reaps the grapes from the earth. Some see this as representing the time when God will gather up all the believers from the earth. Another angel comes together a second harvest and those grapes are thrown into the winepress of God's wrath, another way of describing the judgement of the wicked. There is this emphasis on being found faithful and righteous when God returns so that we can be ripe for God's harvest rather than his wrath. And the visions of comfort are done. Prepare yourself, tomorrow will be a toughie. Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

If you could have one wish, what would you ask for? That's the very scenario that plays out in 1 Kings, and...

If you need a strong reminder of the activities of God on your behalf, this is for you! Psalm 110 is an...

Daily Dose of Hope March 6, 2025 Day 5 of Week 49   Scripture:  Nehemiah 7-9; Psalm 140; Revelation 7   Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope!  This is the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.   We head back to Nehemiah for our Old Testament reading.  Let's start with chapter 7.  Nehemiah knows that there are still dangers outside (and maybe even inside) the city. Thus, the leaders must be chosen carefully. Obviously, they needed to be competent. But more than anything else, they needed to have character and love the Lord. Those in charge of the city required more than professional skill; they required integrity.   That's certainly just as important for us today. If we think of those who are in charge of our nation, our states, our cities, and even our churches, integrity matters. It isn't just about voting record, we need to think of how these individuals actually live their lives. How have they treated their employees, their spouses, and their children? Are they honest? Are they respectable? What is their faith journey like? Integrity matters.   There is also a discussion about the times during which the city gates will be open. This may sound strange to us but it really makes perfect sense. Nehemiah is delegating some of the city protection tasks out to various trustworthy people in the community. They are to keep watch and keep the large city gates closed during the busy times of day and only open them during the hottest hours. During that time, the enemies and opponents are going to be less active; it is truly the safest time of day. The men watching the doors can let their guard down for just a moment. Basic commerce can occur and some people will be allowed in and out. But those chosen to guard should come from inside the city, particularly those who live close to the gate. These are people who have a vested interest in keeping that area safe.    Chapter 8 is an incredible chapter.  Ezra the priest brings out the Book of the Law and begins to read it to all the people who could understand. Verse 3 of this chapter states, He read it aloud from day break till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. I've been trying to visualize thousands of men, women, and children, listening to the reading of the law. Most likely, it had been years since they had heard God's Word read out loud. Some may never have heard it. Remember, they had been in exile and then they moved to a very disheveled and chaotic Jerusalem, where survival was precarious. They had become disconnected from God's Word for generations. And they begin to weep. They were both distraught and heartbroken at how far away from God's Law they had moved. But Nehemiah gets up and tells the people not to weep. Rather, this was a holy day of celebration. They don't need to grieve because God is joyful at their new found obedience. They need to rest in that and allow God's joy to be their strength.   In chapter 9, we read that as God's people stood and listened to the Book of the Law, they knew that things needed to change. After listening to God's Word, they corporately spent time in confession and worship. And then, they began to move toward aligning themselves with the law. This was repentance. Repentance is more than being sorry for something.  It's when we move away from sin and wrongdoing and move toward God. When we repent before God, we are saying that we will change. When we repent of our sin, we cannot go on consciously committing that sin without remorse. Repentance brings results that affect our behavior. When we continue to live in sin, we are short-circuiting God's power in our life. Lack of repentance can keep us from thriving and experiencing true awakening. Sin is like a millstone around our neck as individuals and as a church.   For what do you need to repent? Let's confess our sin, repent of it, become cleansed and available for the Holy Spirit to fill us and use us.   Let's head over to Revelation 7.  The first six seals have been opened. Before the seventh is opened, however, John takes an interlude. There is something else that needs to be shared. It starts with a vision of four angels standing at the corners of the earth. God is in control over all the earth. These angels emphasize that. Then, the text speaks of putting a seal on all of God's people.   I don't know about you but over the course of my life, I've heard people speak of the mark of the beast (or the evil one) far more often than the mark of God. We will discuss the mark of the beast more when we get to chapter 13 but certainly it's worth noting that some in religious circles stir up fear. “Be on the lookout,” we hear Bible commentors say. What is our infatuation with things that are dark, mysterious, and sinful? Perhaps we should be more interested and passionate about ensuring that Christ-followers are living in such a way that the world around them will notice the mark of God in their lives. As ones who belong to Jesus, we don't have to be fearful of Satan. We have the Spirit of the Living God within us and there is power in that! Ephesians 1:13-14 states, And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory. The mark of God is far more powerful than the mark of the evil one, yesterday, today, or tomorrow.   The chapter specifically mentions the number 144,000. Literal interpretations of this number have caused all kinds of problems throughout history. The Bible does all kinds of things with numbers that we don't totally understand in our 21st century context. Obviously, 144,000 is 12 squared. Both the numbers 12 and 10 often represent completeness in Scripture. As we work our way through the chapter, we find that the heavenly population is expansive. Verse 9 reads, After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.   Heaven is larger than our ability to fathom. There are no limits in relation to size and numbers when we are talking about God and heaven. All people from all tribes, nations, tongues, and time periods are invited to receive Jesus and spend eternity in glory. Think about the awesomeness of that truth! People from across the globe will spend eternity worshiping God together.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

Daily Dose of Hope March 5, 2025 Day 4 of Week 49   Scripture:  Nehemiah 4-6; Psalm 98; Revelation 6   Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope.  The Daily Dose is the podcast and devotional that goes along with our daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.    For our Old Testament reading today, we are back in Nehemiah, specifically chapters 4 though 6.  In chapter 4, we find that when we are doing God's work, there will always be opposition! Here we have Nehemiah and the residents of Jerusalem working day and night to rebuild the wall. This would provide fortification for the city, the residents could prosper, and the city could flourish. God's city could flourish. Of course, the evil one doesn't want that.   But while obstacles should be expected, we should also expect that God will provide the answers. Nehemiah prays to God and God gives him the wisdom to fight against the enemies. They would guard the walls day and night. They would work with their weapons. They would never let their guard down. God gave them the plan, the strength, and the courage, they needed to persevere. As a result, the enemies eventually backed down.   How has God called you to do his work? Have you experienced obstacles? Please trust God to give you the plan, courage, and strength to finish the work. Don't be discouraged! God is with you. The same God who was with Nehemiah is with you.   Chapter 5 is distressing.  There is tremendous disunity among God's people, which also threatens to hinder the completion of the wall.  Satan does not need to raise up enemies against God's work if he can turn God's people against each other. Many of the poor families were complaining against the rich. They were struggling to feed their children. Instead of the rich helping them, they were exploiting them. The poor Jews needed to eat. The rich Jews offered to help them, but did so at a price and it was a heavy one. The rich Jews forced their poorer brethren to mortgage their own property in order to get money to eat. That in itself wasn't the worst of it. When property wasn't enough collateral they took their children as slaves. In addition, they charged such heavy interest that the poorer class had no hope to get out from under this burden of debt. The king's tax seems to be the catalyst for all of this. It seems that the royal tax was very high. This was what caused the people to get into debt at the beginning. Rather than help them get out of debt, the rich added to their burdens. It was a classic case of “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”    Nehemiah takes action.  He immediately speaks out against the wealthy.  He calls them to repentance and asks them to do right, to give back what isn't theirs, and to stop taking advantage of the poor.  They promise to do so.  But Nehemiah is quite clear – he will hold them to it.    Let's move over to chapter 6.  Here we see that Nehemiah's opponents, people like Sanballat and Tobiah, continue to do all they can to intimidate him. They schemed to take his life, they sent ugly letters, and they hired crooked prophets to prophecy against him. They didn't let up. And yet, God's work continued. God had given Nehemiah wisdom. Nehemiah had to constantly be discerning what was safe and what wasn't. He had to constantly listen to God rather than those around him.   There must have been times in which he was scared or unsure. After all, he was only human. But he knew that God was bigger than his fear. God was bigger than these men who were plotting against him. God was bigger than whatever they threw at him. He knew this, he believed it, and he trusted it. As a result, the wall was completed. The enemies grew scared and everyone knew it was the work of the Lord.   As I write this, I'm thinking that there are some people who need to know that God is bigger than whatever you are going through. God is bigger than your diagnosis, God is bigger than your grief, God is bigger than your pain, God is bigger than your financial worries, God is bigger than whatever burdens or worries you carry. Can you know this, believe this, and trust this truth?   Our New Testament reading is Revelation 6.  In this chapter, we find Jesus Christ receiving a preview of world history from the first century to his return. Each seal he opens reveals something different over the course of human history, none of which are desirable. As you read through the text, try not to get stuck in taking the words literally. Simply try to visualize what John is describing. Each aspect of the text has deep meaning but wasn't intended to be taken literally. What these visions symbolize, however, are quite extraordinary.   When Jesus opens the first four seals, each action brings forth a rider on a horse. The first four riders represent pretty horrible things for humanity, such as military conquest (the first rider), warfare (the second rider), famine (the third rider), and death (the fourth rider). Wherever the first three go, death is sure to show up as a result. As horrible as these four scourges are for the human race, the symbolism here indicates that Christ limits their power. They could be worse. God allows these aspects of our sin and brokenness to exist but he will not allow them to overtake the world.   Just a small but interesting point: generally, we think of the number 4 in the book of Revelation as representing the world or the things of the world. The first four horsemen have trampled all around the world throughout the course of history, devastating humanity. But Christ has and will continue to limit their power. He is the one who holds the keys to death (John 1:18). Remember the first listeners to this message. These words would remind them that there was more going on in the world, particularly in the spiritual realm, than they could see. All the horrors they were experiencing on earth were real but there was something bigger going on. Oh yeah, and Jesus would have the final word.   After the fifth seal was opened, something else shows up on the scene–an altar. Under the altar were the martyrs of the faith. These were people who had been slain for their belief in Jesus. They call out to Jesus, calling him Sovereign Lord, righteous and true. But these souls are asking Jesus for justice, when their deaths will be avenged? This is a grim reminder that Christians have and will continue to be killed for their belief in Christ. How easy it is for us as Americans to set this reality aside, to forget that believers are being killed, tortured, or oppressed for their faith right now in various parts of the world. What might God be calling us to do about it?   The sixth seal isa reminder of the natural calamities that have devastated the earth over thousands upon thousands of years. Humans react by hiding or blaming God. But before Jesus' second coming, we can be assured that the earth will continue to experience disasters of all kinds. The last line of the chapter is worth a mention. It expresses that the day of the Lord's wrath is coming. The world will experience military conquest, warfare, famine, death, martyrdom, and natural disasters between Jesus' first and second coming. These things are part of being human and part of living in this world. But ultimately, Jesus will prevail. He will come in all his glory and judge all of the world.   I know we struggle with concepts like judgement. But we have nothing to fear if we belong to Jesus. While trouble is guaranteed as part of life, Jesus' people can rest assured that we don't have to be afraid. We know the one who saves. We know the one who will have final victory. We can seek God's Kingdom now and actively look for glimpses of the new creation to come. Rest in that.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki    

Daily Dose of Hope March 4, 2025 Day 3 of Week 49   Scripture:  Nehemiah 1-3; Revelation 5   Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.    Today, we start the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.  The way that Nehemiah came to be a leader of his people was by the influence exerted on him by a fellow Jew named Hanani, who is mentioned at the beginning of this book. Hanani came to Nehemiah with a report that the Jews in Jerusalem were struggling and experiencing great distress. The year was 445 B.C. By this point, it had been 90 years since Cyrus allowed the Jews to leave Babylon and begin to rebuild in Jerusalem and it had been 70 years since the completion of the temple. The Persian Empire was at its height but the small Jewish community in Jerusalem was hurting badly; survival was precarious.   Nehemiah was a faithful Jew who knew and studied the Law. But he was also the cup bearer for the king. He lived well. He could have ignored the report from Hanani but he didn't. He was grieved by the distress of his fellow Jews and he decides to do something about it, regardless of the consequences. He begins to pray and fast and trusts that God will provide both direction and provisions.   How often are we deeply moved by something in the world–homelessness, human trafficking, families in crisis, suicide–and we do nothing because we just aren't sure what to do. It's complicated to care. We spend a few moments distressed by the topic and we move on. What would have happened to the fledgling Jewish community in Jerusalem if Nehemiah had simply been distressed but then moved on? History may have been different. God used Nehemiah. God wants to use us too. He has called us to live out his mission in this world. If God lays something on our heart, there is a reason for that. He doesn't want us to move on but to get moving, praying, fasting, and listening. What has God put on your heart? Even if it's a complicated problem, God can and will make a way.   Nehemiah knows he has to do something.  But he has an important job working for the king of Persia.  Nehemiah must have been truly admired by the king. The king actually notices because Nehemiah looks distressed and he asks Nehemiah what's going on. Nehemiah could have just said, “I'm fine.” After all, he feared the king. The Scripture actually says that Nehemiah was very much afraid. Keep in mind, the Persian king had absolute power and literally held Nehemiah's life in his hands.   But here we see a turning point in Nehemiah. Rather than give into his fear, he speaks up. He prays to God, listens to God, and speaks up. He is honest and tells the king what's going on in Jerusalem. He asks if the king would allow him to take a leave of absence (of sorts) from his job as cup bearer to help his Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. Friends, that took courage. I think I should reiterate: Nehemiah was fearful BUT he prays to God, he listens to God, he trusts God, and he speaks up. Let that sink in. How often do we give in to fear and not speak OR we speak too quickly before praying and listening to God?   In chapter 3, we find God's people getting to work rebuilding the wall around the city of Jerusalem. What's fascinating to me about this text is the detail. We can see how individual people are given credit for their contribution to this important work. This wall they were rebuilding would protect the city and its inhabitants from invaders and those who opposed them. Before anyone could sleep well at night or prosper at all, they needed protection.   These men of God ensured that happened. The author lists the names. I love this! Each contribution was important. These were real people who stopped their lives for a period of time to do God's work. They didn't work on the wall to get famous (I'm guessing they had no idea their name would show up in the best-selling book of all time!) They did what they felt God calling them to do–the humble but necessary work. Think of all those people who have gone before us, who did the humble and necessary work, to invest in our lives, our Christian journeys, and this church.   As I think about my last 18 years at New Hope, many faces and names come to mind, people who led my Bible studies, prayed for me, invested in me, fed me, led this church, took care of my children in the nursery, and basically created a way for me to learn, grow, and prosper in my faith. These were real people who made what may have seemed like humble or simple contributions but yet changed the course of my Christian walk. What about you? Who are those people who made the humble and necessary contributions which led you to where you are right now? Take a moment, name them, and give thanks for their lives. If possible, reach out and tell them the difference they made. If that isn't possible, just give a prayer of gratitude and thanksgiving, giving glory to the God who created them and placed them in your life.   Our New Testament text is Revelation 5.  Yesterday, in chapter 4, we read about and visualized the never-ending worship of God which has gone on in heaven forever. Today, the scene shifts a bit. Now, the Lamb of God, obviously slain from his time on earth, enters the picture. The voice John hears says that it is only the Lamb of God, only Jesus Christ himself, who is worthy to open the judgment scroll, sealed by God. In fact, it will be Jesus who will eventually enact the coming judgments.   The twenty-four elders worship the Lamb in the same way they had worshiped creator God on the throne. But now they are singing a new song, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” In this new song, we see Jesus being praised for redeeming people from all tribes, languages, and nations. All people on the whole earth are invited to receive salvation and redemption from Jesus Christ. Try to wrap your brain around this: Jesus died to save the whole world, every person from every nation from every time period that has ever existed. Jesus is worthy to be praised.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

We all worship something. It’s at the core of what it is to be human. Understanding why we worship God is driven...

Daily Dose of Hope March 2, 2025 Day 1 of Week 49   Scripture: Esther 7-10; Revelation 3   Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  We are in week 49 of 52!  Good job, everyone.  We have almost read the whole Bible in a year.    Today, our Old Testament reading is finishing the book of Esther.  Let's start with chapter 7.  Esther was risking her life by approaching the king and she has no idea how the king will react. We know from previous chapters that he is prone to rash, angry decisions. First, the king does not know that she is a Jew. Second, Esther doesn't know if the king will choose her over Haman, his trusted advisor. If the king chooses to side with Haman, then Esther and her people will be killed.   But she must have courage and take the risk–the stakes are too high. God calls all of us to take risks. Let's hope our risks aren't quite as scary as Esther's but they might be! The reality is that the Christian walk was never intended to be comfortable and easy. The Holy Spirit is constantly prompting us to take risks: go talk to that person, volunteer for that organization, reach out to that neighbor, offer to pray with that person over there, give money here...you get the idea. The big question is are we listening and are we obeying?   Back to the Scripture...Esther again puts herself out there, asking the king one more difficult thing. The king had decreed that all Jews would be eliminated. Thus, another edict must be made that superseded the previous one. Esther knows this so she pleads with the king to overrule the horrible decree made by Haman so her people could be saved. The king basically allows Esther and Mordecai to create the new decree themselves and hands over his signet ring so they can seal it on behalf of the king. The new decree was strong. It guaranteed that the Jewish people could protect themselves, giving them the right to annihilate and plunder any group who tried to conquer or harm them. It even designated a specific date on which the Jews could attack their enemies.   In chapter 8, we read about Mordecai. He has the privilege of delivering the news of the new decree to the Jewish people. By this point, the roles have been totally reversed for Mordecai. No longer does he need to sit by the king's gate in ash cloth. No longer does he need to worry about his life or the fate of his people. He is the victor, but only because a young queen was willing to do the right thing and risk it all for the sake of her people. What is God calling you to do right now? What excuses are you making? How does this text inspire you to step out in faith?   As mentioned, the new decree, written by Esther and Mordecai, allowed the Jewish people a specific day on which to attack their enemies, the 13th of the Jewish month Adar. As you read through chapter 9, you find that is exactly what occurred. The Jewish men assembled and killed thousands of their enemies. Then, on the following day, they rested and feasted.   This was the beginning of an annual celebration for the Jews called Purim. Purim means “lots” in ancient Persian. The holiday was thus named since Haman had thrown lots to determine when he would carry out his evil scheme. Purim is still celebrated among devout Jews. On the eve of Purim, they read the book of Esther and then do so again on the following day. There is also much gift-giving. They are to send monetary gifts to at least two poor people and then two food gifts to at least one other person. There is also much feasting and celebrating.   I have to admit when I first read about this, it sounded a bit gory. Are they really celebrating the death of all those people? But I had to reframe it. The Jews had been oppressed. They had received a death sentence. And then, they were freed from it. They had the ability to protect their families. They knew God was with them. This was worthy of celebration.   Let's move to the final chapter in Esther.  Not unlike Joseph in an earlier Old Testament text, Mordecai moves from lowly and close to death to the king's right-hand man. While God isn't explicitly mentioned, we know that God acted extraordinarily to orchestrate the events of this story.   Today's chapter was short but it gave me pause to reflect on the book of Esther as a whole. What can we learn from this book? ·If you are a Christ-follower, God has a purpose for your life. You exist to love and glorify God AND to demonstrate his love and goodness to the world. •God didn't make a mistake where he has you today. God put Esther exactly where he needed and wanted her to be. God has you where you need to be as well. How might God want to use you right now? •Sometimes, living into your purpose means making big, difficult decisions but it is often lived out in the small, everyday decisions of life.   Our New Testament text is Revelation 3. Here, John continues to proclaim the visions that Jesus has given him about the churches. Chapter 2 focused on Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira. This chapter addresses the rest of the churches of Asia Minor, including Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Since we focused on the structure and flow of the letters on Thursday, I wanted to highlight the message to one particular church today–Laodicea.   I think it is incredibly important for all of us who are part of the American church. Laodicea was a very wealthy city. It was on a main trade route and it had several prosperous industries. It was known for its banking. It was also known for a black dye that it produced which was used to make black wool, quite a luxurious commodity in those days. It also had a respected medical school which developed an eye medicine that was quite sought after. But despite its wealth, the one really big problem that Laodicea had was lack of a water supply. Its northern neighbor, Hierapolis, had these amazing hot springs. It's other close neighbor, Colossae, to the east, had a lovely refreshing cold water supply. As a result, Laodicea built an elaborate system to pipe the water from both those places into their city. But by the time it got there, it was not hot, nor cold, but simply lukewarm. Jesus has harsher words for Laodicea than any of the other churches. He says that just like their water, they are lukewarm! Hot water heals, cold water refreshes, but lukewarm water is useless. They are spiritually lukewarm; they are spiritually useless.   The thing is that they looked good on the outside. They went through all the motions. They worshiped, read Scripture, and sang hymns. But it was phony piety. Their hearts were far from God. There was no passion for Jesus. And they didn't even realize this. In fact, because of their wealth and prosperity, they thought they were doing quite well. Largely sheltered from the persecution that other Christian communities in the area experienced, they were free to do as they pleased.   And what they were doing was not pleasing to God. They were self-reliant, complacent, lazy, and passionless. Not good traits for a church. But despite their spiritual mess, Jesus loves them and still yearns for them. He stands at the door and knocks, waiting for them to answer it. He wants a real relationship with them. He wants them to be passionate for his love.   Think about the American church. Think about our church for that matter. Are we lukewarm? Do we resemble Laodicea. In which ways? I'm not saying this to be critical but because I'm convicted. Do we serve God with passion? Are we simply going through the motions? Have we become stagnant?   Rate your passion level based on the following: -Do you experience joy and excitement in your prayer life? -Do you read Scripture with expectancy of hearing from the Lord? -Do you have spiritual conversations with non-Christians? -Do you actively seek out relationships with non-Christians so you can demonstrate the love of Christ to them? -Do you look for ways to serve Jesus and reach out to those who are struggling/hurting in our community? -What's the last time you felt really excited about your spiritual walk with Jesus? -As a church, are we passionate about being disciples who make disciples?   Are our hearts close to God? I'll stop there but do take some time to let this all sink in a bit. God wants our whole heart and life, not just some of it. He wants us to be passionate as individual believers and a church.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope February 26, 2025 Day 4 of Week 48   Scripture:  Esther 1-3; Psalm 139; Revelation 1   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope!  This is the devotional and podcast that goes along with the Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.   Let's start with our Old Testament reading in Esther.  It was in 539BC that King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon. A year later, he allowed the Jewish people to end their exile and return to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 36). But not all of them went. They had lives and livelihoods and the journey to Jerusalem would mean picking up and moving after generations in Babylon/Persia. Esther and her family, who this book is about, for whatever reason decide to stay put. They give us a picture of what it looks like to be a faithful Jew in a foreign land.   In the first chapter, we meet King Xerxes, who ruled Persia from 485 to 465BC. It was a very large kingdom and Xerxes expanded its borders quite a bit, all the way to what it now Pakistan to the east and Ethiopia to the south. While he may have been a good military commander and strategist, he struggled in the “don't get drunk and mess up your marriage” area, as we can see in today's text. Xerxes had thrown a huge banquet with many diplomats and important people from all over the region. He flaunts his wealth and then wants to flaunt his wife.   Most Jewish scholars think that when Xerxes asked Vashti to display her royal crown, it meant that he wanted her to appear naked in front of this large group of inebriated men. Vashti, his wife, isn't having it. Women in those days had almost no say so in marriage, particularly if one was married to the king. And yet, something gave Vashti courage to say I'm not going to be paraded around like property before this group of drunk men. Maybe this had happened before. Regardless, it was a recipe for disaster and it would have been against custom of staying covered.   But Xerxes had unilateral power. To refuse a command of the king, especially in front of others, would most certainly have consequences. Vashti was willing to subject herself to them. She would rather lose her position in society than lose her dignity. She was brave, and while she knew it would mean something harsh, it was worth it to her. Sure enough, the king, probably under the influence of alcohol and without giving it much thought, decrees that Vashti is never to be in his presence again. Vashti has courageously served and now exited. God is making a way for someone else who will serve for a very specific purpose.   In chapter two, the search is on for a new queen. It's quite the process as well. Beautiful virgins from far and wide are brought into the palace for all kinds of exceptional beauty treatments. Esther is one of those women. Esther was a Jew. She didn't reveal her identity to anyone but she was part of the Jewish diaspora, the Jews who were spread outside of Jerusalem, trying to live faithfully in pagan lands.   She had been raised by her cousin, Mordecai, who we also meet in this chapter. He loves Esther like his own daughter and is filled with much advice for her. Esther is exceptionally beautiful and she catches the eye of the king more than any other woman. We also know that God is ensuring that she is chosen to be queen because there is something important that Esther will need to do for her people.   While God is not explicitly mentioned in the book of Esther, it is certainly a book that demonstrates the sovereignty of God. What does it mean that God is sovereign? It means that God is all-powerful and authoritative. He is ruler of the universe and is in all and over all. No matter the situation, God is present and God is at work. But unlike Xerxes, who uses his power selfishly, God uses his power in a moral, righteous way. He seeks what is best for his creation.   There is an interesting subplot at the end of the second chapter, in which Mordecai saves the king's life. This is a small but important piece to remember and tuck away for later in the book.   In chapter three, we meet Haman.  Haman is a real piece of work. He hears that Mordecai won't kneel down before him and he is enraged. Of course, we know that Mordecai is a Jew. He is only supposed to bow down before God. I'm thinking this plays in to Mordecai's refusal but it could be that Mordecai knows Haman is a royal jerk and he simply won't give him the pleasure. One can't help noticing the similarity between Mordecai and Vashti in this story. Both refuse to honor men who do not deserve to be honored and they do so knowing there will be consequences.   And there are consequences. Haman, who seems to be evil inside and out, decides he doesn't just want to punish Mordecai but his whole people group. He wants to ensure that all the Jewish people are killed. Let's think about the absurdity of this: Haman wants to kill all the Jews in the kingdom because one Jew, Mordecai, refused to kneel before him. Haman senses that Mordecai is a threat to his power and he wants to punish that threat mercilessly. Thus, Haman devises a plan. He presents this idea to King Xerxes. There is a “certain group” of people who contaminate his empire and it is not in his best interest to tolerate them. Haman has a ready-made plan for elimination and it even involves a monetary bribe. Xerxes either doesn't want to be bothered or is incredibly gullible. He basically passes his authority to Haman and says “do what you will” with an entire group of people.   Most of us will read this with a certain amount of horror. How appalling it is that a whole people group could be eliminated with nothing more than a flip of the hand. And yet, this scene, with different characters, has been repeated throughout human history over and over again. What is it about us as humans that we demonize whole groups of people? That we fail to value human life?   For our New Testament reading, we begin Revelation, one of the most difficult and misunderstood books of the Bible. It's going to be a great journey! The book was written by the apostle John, much later in his life, while he was exiled on the island of Patmos. Revelation was sent as a circular letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor, to be passed from church to church and read aloud. It was intended to address the real needs of real people. For some churches, it was a word of encouragement in the midst of terrible persecution to give them a bigger perspective; there was more going on in the world than they could see or imagine. To other churches, it was a word of conviction. But most of all, it was prophecy.   Let's be careful to not mix up prophecy with prediction. Prophecy is a divine message. Thus, Revelation is a word from God by his angel to John. It is God revealing that which was previously unknown. The beginning of today's chapter, verses 1-8, serves as a kind of prologue. It introduces the author and general theme of the book. Then, the book goes right into four visions that John received from the risen Lord.   In our culture and reading style, we tend to be very concerned with words. Revelation is really more about images. My encouragement would be to not get caught up in taking the words literally but focus more on the images that your mind sees as you read the passage. Remember, this was intended to provide a broadened perspective, a more eternal one, for people who were being harshly persecuted and even tortured for their faith. This book demonstrates that while evil may feel overwhelming, it will NOT have the final word. There is more to the world than that which we see with our human eyes. There is a battle going on. And in the end, Jesus wins.   One additional note for today. The Scripture says that those who read it will be blessed, as are those who hear it and take it to heart. First, try to imagine how those words must have resonated with the first hearers of this message. It was the end of the first century and Christians were very much harassed and oppressed in many of these areas. How encouraging it would have been for them to hear this word of promise and blessing. While we live in a different time and culture, the Scripture also applies to us. I trust that we will also be blessed by reading this book and blessed as we try to understand it and take it to heart. I ask that we all pray for open hearts and minds as we begin this journey into this exciting and complex book of the Bible!   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope February 25, 2025 Day 3 of Week 48   Scripture:  Ezra 5-6; 3 John   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope!  This is the devotional and podcast that goes along with the Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.   Our Old Testament reading is Ezra 5 and 6.  Work on the temple had been delayed (due to the opposition) for about sixteen years. Now, it was time to get back to work, time for a new beginning. However, the restarting of construction arouses suspicion among the pagan politicians of the area. Thus, they inquire of the Jews about the building project.   The Jewish leaders quite eloquently laid out a brief history of the temple, why it was destroyed, and why they were rebuilding. But the governor of the area is determined to get to the bottom of the situation. He actually sends a letter to the king to verify that Cyrus really did give permission for this work to take place. But we see God's hand of intervention here. The governor does not stop the work, he allows it to go on as they are waiting to hear back. Keep in mind, it could take five or six months to simply receive a reply. The Jewish people are faithful, they keep working hard on the temple, unsure of what the king's answer will be. Ultimately, they trust God. They forge ahead, trusting that God is the one who has authority over every human king and governor.  The Lord of all will ensure that HIS will is done.   In chapter 6, the decree from King Cyrus was found in the royal archives and sure enough, it was clear that Cyrus had given permission and resources for the Jewish people to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. King Darius wrote back stating that the Jews were to be left alone in the building, no more obstacles, and that their expenses were to be paid from the royal treasury! Wow! God is pretty amazing. Thus, work resumed on the Temple until it was complete.   When they finished, there was a big celebration. They dedicated the house of God with many animal sacrifices, by properly installing the priests, and then celebrating Passover with one another. This got me thinking about celebrations. How important it is for us to celebrate together as a people of God. We need times of fellowship and joy as a way to remind one another of the amazing work of our God. In the midst of everyday tasks and the struggles of daily life, we forget. We have short memories. Friends, we need to celebrate. We need to come together, to laugh, to dine, to say, “Our God is so good!” Honestly, I don't think we celebrate enough. We need to work these experiences into the rhythm of church.   John's third letter is the shortest book in the Bible. Unlike 2 John, which is addressed to a whole church, this letter is addressed to an individual named Gaius but also includes references to two other people–Diotrephes (the troublemaker) and Demetrius (probably the bearer of the letter). There isn't a lot of theological meat in the letter but it does give insight into church dynamics, particularly personality conflicts and the fact John fears his authority is being dismissed.   If you read through the text (and I hope you all have), the general sense of the letter is one of encouragement and praise up until we get to the main issue. It seems there is a problem that John feels the need to address. Diotrephes is refusing to host the missionaries that John is sending to the church; a failure to show hospitality would have been shocking in their culture and certainly embarrassing for John. The phrase “who loves to be first” might be better understood as the one who wants the authority for himself. His refusal of the missionaries wasn't just a rejection of the missionaries but truly disrespect and rejection of John himself. Plus, Diotrephes is spreading gossip and refusing to welcome other believers. He is ruling the church with an iron fist. No wonder John feels the need to address this issue immediately. This has the potential to destroy the young church and damage their witness for Jesus in the community.   I know this will be shocking but ambition, arrogance, and gossip still have a tendency to find their way into the church (I know, gasp!) They are just as damaging, just as destructive, just as heart-breaking today as they were then. I'm guessing that all of us know at least one person who was hurt by a church-goer who was too heavy-handed, patronizing, dehumanizing, or just plain mean. People leave churches all the time because of these things. For me, it is literally painful to think about. And yet, I totally get it. Churches are filled with humans and humans are sinful.   So what's the answer? How do we get a group of sinful people to live the faith and not be all about themselves? The only answer is Jesus within us. It was the only answer in John's day and it's the only answer now. We must actually have the desire and the motivation for Jesus to transform us, I mean really change our hearts. We have to repent of our selfishness, humble ourselves, and allow God to use us as HE pleases.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

If you've ever sought your own way when you know it's contrary to God's will, you are a rebel at heart! Stunningly,...

Daily Dose of Hope February 20, 2025 Day 5 of Week 47   Scripture:  Zechariah 6-8; 1 John 4 Hello, everyone.  It's Daily Dose of Hope time!  Welcome back to the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.    Our Old Testament reading is Zechariah 6-8.  In chapter 6, there is another vision.  This one involves Joshua, the high priest, who is presented with a crown.  He is a symbol of the future Messiah.  But God makes it clear through Zechariah that all of these visions/dreams will come to fruition only if the current generation of God's people are faithful and obey the covenant.  Then, in chapters 7-8, we have a conclusion to the visions, well sort of.  The people, much discouraged, ask Zechariah if the Kingdom is going to come soon; can they stop grieving for what was lost?  He responds that the Kingdom will come only when they become the kind of people who will be faithful to God and ready to participate in his new Kingdom.  Interestingly, being this kind of people isn't about fasting and following rules.  It's goes so much deeper.  I think we see this in chapter 7, verses 8-10, And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.'   Our New Testament reading is 1 John 4.  I think I need to provide some more background for this letter. 1 John was written by the apostle John specifically to the Ephesian church in the late first century.  Some false teachers had infiltrated the church, causing really serious issues, and a schism occurred in their church.  A lot of people left the church fellowship and those remaining were shaken.  It's like the foundation was ripped from underneath them.  And so John sends this letter, in order to encourage them and offer truth that would give them something solid to stand on again.    Let's talk about chapter 4.  John wanted to make sure that those to whom he was writing understood that God's love wasn't some abstract concept.  The false teachers would have said that God's love was not concrete but simply theoretical.  If you deny Jesus coming in the flesh, then you certainly can't understand the extent of God's love, and you are walking in darkness.  If you think sin doesn't matter, then you certainly can't understand God's love.  Not really.  And if you don't understand God's love, then you aren't going to understand living his love out in community.    John tells the church at Ephesus and he tells us today that true love has its ultimate source and origin in God.  God is the definition of love; love expresses who God is.  Of course, God's love that John is speaking of isn't like human love.  It's agape.  God's love, agape, is sacrificial, pure love, that isn't connected to emotions but is a choice to love, even when that love is not returned.   God's love is not some abstract concept as the false teachers would have you believe.  It's expressed in action.  God made love real and present by sending Jesus to live among us and to die for us on a cross.  We continue to see God's active love among us through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This week, I ran across this statement, “God's love is a truth more basic and reliable than the ground we walk on and the air we breathe.”   And yet, we struggle with this.  I've seen this over and over again.  We have a really difficult time understanding that God loves us, just as we are.  The world hasn't always been kind.  We grow up thinking we have to measure up, that love has conditions.  To be loved and accepted, we have to look a certain way, meet a certain standard, and it usually is above what we can reach.  Because this is the truth:  God's love does not depend on our initiative not how worthy we are.  We don't have to reach out to God or even believe in God to be loved by him.  He is the one chasing us!  God loves us before we ever get our act together.  We don't have to measure up or meet any criteria or standard to be lovable.  God just loves us whether we deserve it or not.  Which is good, because none of us deserve it.    And this is how he showed us his vast, amazing love:  He sent Jesus. Remember Jesus was God with flesh on.  He came voluntarily to demonstrate a different way of doing life AND then he went to the cross.  He died, serving as the final, ultimate sacrifice for sin.  You see, when Jesus died on the cross, his blood atoned for our sins.  For all of our sins.  When we open ourselves up to God, what we find is that even the darkest places and the ugliest parts of ourselves are not beyond God's reach.  Nobody is so broken or dirty or flawed that God cannot touch them, redeem them. So, if we believe in him, turn away from our old way of doing life, then we receive salvation.  You see, when we believe in Jesus Christ, God no longer sees our sin and our mess, he only sees the blood of Jesus.  And it gets better - not only does this ensure that we get to spend eternity with Jesus, we receive new life right now, today.  The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God himself, comes and dwells within us, changing us from the inside out.  We have the ability to live differently and to love differently.  We are upheld, surrounded, and totally encased in God's sacrificial, active love.    And of course we struggle with this, because nothing on earth is this extraordinary.  This is the best news in the history of the world.  We can walk with Jesus.  I can walk with Jesus and experience his incredible love.  You can walk with Jesus and experience his incredible love.  And it's a free gift.  We just have to say yes to accepting it.   Accepting God's love and saying yes to Jesus is step one.  You aren't done there though.  I think too often we have treated salvation as the destination of our faith.  It's really the foundation of our faith, it's the starting point.    Here is the rest of it --- since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  Because God loved us so sacrificially, we are to love others.  This is the thing:  to know God's love is to overflow with God's love.  Such life-giving love is much too powerful to keep to ourselves.  And God never intended for us to keep it to ourselves.    Let's go back to John's context.  These first-century Christians were shaken.  It probably felt like there were people trying to destroy their church family.  I'm guessing they weren't feeling too loving.  And here John is saying to them, “Since God loved us, we ought to love one another.”  I'm thinking this may have reminded them of a few things that Jesus himself said about loving your enemy and praying for those who persecute you.  Matthew 5:46-47,  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  By our nature, human love tends to be selfish and conditional.  We love those people who love us.  We love those people we like, who think like us, who make us feel comfortable.    And yet, just as God's love has no boundaries, Christian love has no boundaries.  We are called to demonstrate love to those we might think are unlovable.  We are to love those who think differently, act differently, and look differently.  We are to love self-righteous people and love obnoxious people.  We are to love those who vote differently than us.    I will say this:  Loving someone doesn't mean you have to agree with their behavior, speech, or lifestyle.  Love has gotten a bit obscured in progressive Christianity.  Just because God loves someone doesn't mean God wants them to continue in sin.  It's not a blanket acceptance of all behavior policy.  Afterall, God loved me enough that he didn't want to leave me the way he found me.  And he is still shaping me, convicting me, and molding me so that I can look more like him.  That being said, we can't expect unbelievers to speak or behave like believers.  Rarely are people lectured into the Kingdom, argued into the Kingdom, and they are never ever shamed into the Kingdom.  They are almost always LOVED into the Kingdom.    Just as God's love isn't passive in our lives, our love should not be passive when it comes to those around us.  Because of what God's love has done for us, we are driven, compelled to demonstrate ACTIVELY God's love toward other people.  We might even say that love is the litmus test of an authentic relationship with God.  Demonstrating Christian love is what confirms the reality of our spiritual walk with God.  There's one scholar who defines the word Christian love as a “consuming passion for the well-being of others,” and this love obviously has it's wellspring, its source, in God's love for us.    Here's our question:  Do you have a consuming passion for the well-being of others?    Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

Daily Dose of Hope February 18, 2025 Day 3 of Week 47   Scripture: Haggai, Zechariah 1, Psalm 138, 1 John 2   Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the Bible reading plan for New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  We have a lot of Scripture for today so let's get started.   The book of Haggai has two chapters.  It takes place around 520BC, seventy years after the exile.  After Persia conquered the Babylonians, the Jewish people were allowed to return to Jerusalem to try to rebuild their lives.  We read about this in the book of Ezra.  Things seem like they are getting better, but maybe not so much.   Haggai, the prophet, has some words from God to the people.  First, he accuses the people of caring more about building their own homes and providing for their own well-being than about rebuilding the Temple.  Afterall, the Temple is still in ruins.  It's for this reason that God has allowed them to continue to struggle with famine and unproductive lands.  The people hear Haggai and are compelled to start the rebuilding of the Temple.   In chapter two, we find the people are discouraged.  The new Temple doesn't look anything like the splendid old one (this was in yesterday's reading as well).  Haggai has to reinvigorate the people by reminding them of God's promise.  This will eventually be the place of the New Jerusalem and the establishment of God's future Kingdom.    But then there is this discussion of purity laws and while it seems somewhat confusing, Haggai is making a point.  When the Jews touch a dead body (unclean of course) and then touch food, that food becomes unclean.  Likewise, when these people work on the Temple in a state of bitterness and apathy, that also becomes contaminated.  God wants his people to be faithful and repentant.  That is the only way God will keep up his end of the deal.  Similar to the covenant before them, their faithfulness and obedience will lead to blessings.  Of course, the opposite is also true and they need to remember that.   From there, we head to the book of Zechariah, the first chapter.  Zechariah is also a prophet and priest, and was a contemporary of Haggai.  Through God, Zechariah gives a warning to the people.  Don't be like your fathers who disobeyed God.  Remember what happened to them?  The people seem to respond well to this.  They repent and humble themselves (or seem to do so).    And then, later in the chapter, Zechariah begins to have dreams through which God communicates to the prophet.  These dreams will last through the next several chapters.  They are kind of weird, as dreams tend to be.  In this first vision, there are several horsemen declaring that the world is at peace.  The Kingdom of Persia has made sure this is so, but it is really God's hand.  The second vision includes horns (remember that horns often represent Kingdoms.)  These horns represent Assyria and Babylon who conquered Israel.  But now they are also conquered and scattered, as Persia is the dominant Kingdom.  More on the dreams tomorrow...I'm hoping we will begin to put some of these things together so they make more sense.   Let's move on to our New Testament reading, 1 John 2.  John continues his letter in this chapter, focusing on what it means for believers to walk closely with God. We find John telling the readers not to love the world or anything in the world AND if they do love the world, it's an indication that God is not in them. Those seem like some harsh words.   Let's unpack this a bit. What does John mean by the world? Surely, he is not referring to the world as a whole.  Afterall, there are many wonderful things in the world that God created. Rather, John is using the term to refer to desires of the flesh (which are exactly what you are thinking), desires of the eyes (anything one sees and wants/covets), and things that activate our pride. These three elements are all self-focused rather than God-focused. They are all activities that lead us away from God rather than toward God. In addition, these all lead to words and behaviors that provide a terrible witness for the faith. John closes these verses by stating that worldliness will pass away but God is eternal. This world, certainly our lives, are all temporal. But God is eternal. Thus, we must prioritize accordingly.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope February 17, 2025 Day 2 of Week 47   Scripture:  Ezra 3-4; Psalm 92; I John 1   Welcome back, friends, to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  Happy Monday!  I do hope you are getting off to a great start this week.   Our Old Testament Scripture reading for today is Ezra 3-4.  In chapter 3, we see the new Jewish arrivals begin the process of rebuilding the Temple.  It's going to be a major undertaking.  They begin by rebuilding the altar and they sacrifice burnt offerings.  They even celebrate the Festival and Tabernacles.  The Scripture says that even though they are scared of the local residents, they do these things anyway.  They feel that God has called them to rebuild and fear is not going to get in the way.  How often does fear get in our way of doing what God has called us to do?   The other interesting thing in this chapter is that the older priests and Levites cry when they see the Temple's foundations.  They remember the grandeur of the earlier Temple and they are incredibly distressed.  But the younger ones, those who don't remember, praised God and shouted for joy.  The older Jews remembered the extravagance of the old Temple, but did they remember the idolatry and extreme disobedience of the people?  There was a reason that the exile happened.  There was a reason that God lifted his hand of protection.    How often we idealize the past.  “Those were the good ole days!  When the pews were filled, when we only sang hymns, when all my neighbors attended church.”  And yes, there were some wonderful things about those days.  But there were also some aspects that weren't so wonderful – cultural Christianity and all that brought with it, segregated churches, among other things.  Whether in Ezra's time or ours, God is always ready to do something new right now.  We can remember certain aspects of the past with fondness but we can't get stuck there.  We have to be ready for a new movement of the Holy Spirit.  To me, it's exciting.  What are your thoughts on how God is at work now?   In Ezra 4, work on the temple has begun and there is much opposition. The chapter begins with the enemies of God's people saying they wanted to help with the building. But their motives were not genuine. They may have acknowledged the Lord God but they also worshiped many other gods. Zerubabbel, Joshua, and the heads of the other families declined their offer of “help.” Then, the enemies of God's people began to do all they could to discourage the building of the temple. The rest of the chapter lists the many ways, under several different kings, that the people tried to thwart the temple progress.   Whenever spiritual work is being done, wherever God's Kingdom is being advanced, there will be opposition. That is guaranteed! The enemy likes nothing better than to try to stop the forward progress of God and his people. But God is faithful, powerful, and will always prevail! Maybe you are going through a spiritual battle right now; I think many of us are. Keep in mind that opposition is inevitable but discouragement is not. God is with us, friends.   Today, we begin John's letters for our New Testament reading. These were written by the apostle John when he was much older, probably in Ephesus (some scholars think that John himself may not have written the letters but rather a community of believers who formed around his name and teachings; there is no real way to know). Regardless, the letters communicate important truths of the faith, especially to those with a non-Jewish background.   Today's chapter starts off by stating that God is light and in God, there is no darkness. Another way we might think of this is that God is truth or that what is true can only be seen in light of Almighty God. Think about what light (or truth) does. It helps you avoid danger, it helps things become clearer, it helps you see, and it provides a path for your journey. In God, there is no darkness. Darkness is typically seen as being foreboding and scary. In God, there is no evil, no manipulation, no hidden agenda, nothing at all deceptive. When we walk closely with God, we walk in the light of his truth. If we are engaging in activities that fall short of that, then we are lying to ourselves. To elaborate, if we are gossiping, if we are lying, if we are manipulative, if we are hypercritical, if we are deceptive in any way, then we are not walking in God's light. That's all darkness, all sin.   It sounds almost impossible for us messy human beings, doesn't it? Well, it is only possible to walk in God's light because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Because of the blood of Jesus, God sees our sin no more and we can walk closely with him. Only because of Jesus. But claiming Jesus is no excuse for continuing to willfully and knowingly sin. We must partner with the Holy Spirit to allow God to transform us from the inside out. This is a daily, hourly, and sometimes minute by minute project, friends.   Whenever I sense that sometime dark or deceptive is going on (in my family, at church, etc.), I lean on this verse in my prayer life. Since God is only light and truth, I ask God to bring to the surface anything that is dark, anything that is deceptive, anything that is sinful, so that it can be brought to the light. In the light, it can be dealt with. In the light, the truth can be exposed. In the light, we can figure out how God wants us to proceed. In the darkness, things simply fester. I've found it is a powerful prayer. God often answers it almost immediately and something comes up, usually when I least expect it. If we claim to have fellowship with God but walk in darkness, then we believe a lie. God wants the truth to win out.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

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Daily Dose of Hope February 11, 2025 Day 3 of Week 46   Scripture:  Daniel 4-6; John 18   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that goes along with the daily Bible reading for New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  Let's get into our Scripture for today.    For our Old Testament reading, we are in the book of Daniel, chapters 4-6.  All three of these chapters, though different, emphasize God's sovereignty through kings and kingdoms.  In chapter 4, Daniel interprets a dream for the king about a tree that shelters the world.  The tree is cut down by an angel.  Daniel, with a fair amount of trepidation, tells the king that it means he, the king, will essentially lose his mind.  He will become like a wild animal and eat grass in the pasture.  Daniel implores the king to stop sinning and get right with God.    Everything that Daniel interpreted in the dream eventually came true.  The king lost his sanity and became like a cow in the field.  But in time, Nebuchadnezzar came to and began to worship the one true God.  He gained his sanity and gave praises to the Lord.   By chapter 5, there is a new king, Belshazzar.  He holds a big feast and decides to use the vessels from the Lord's Temple to drink from.  A hand appears and begins to write on the wall.  The king's magicians can't understand it, so the king calls for Daniel.  Daniel boldly tells the king that God isn't pleased with his arrogance and how he is drinking from cups taken from the Temple while giving praise to false gods.    The message included these words: numbered, weighed, and divided.  Daniel interpreted what they meant.  Numbered indicated that the king's days were numbered and would end soon.  Weighed means the king was weighed on the scale but did not measure up.  Finally, divided means that the kingdom will be divided between the Medes and the Persians.  King Belshazzar died that very night and Darius, the Mede, was made king.   Chapter 6 is a passage that most of us are familiar with – Daniel and the lions' den.  When the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar initially conquered Judah, Daniel and his friends would have been about 15.  Now, time has passed.  A lot has happened.  God has been faithful to these Jewish men living in exile.  They have remained faithful to the one true God, Yahweh, despite all the idolatry around them.  They have moved up the ranks and now fulfill very high positions in the Kingdom, despite the many political changes that have happened around them.    By now, Daniel is in his early 80's.  He was still exceptional, moving up, getting promoted, and the other administrators were jealous.  How in the world has this foreigner done so well and soon he is going to be placed over the whole Kingdom and be their boss. They look for a way to trap him.  But Daniel did not have any skeletons in the closet (don't you wish we had politicians like this in our world today) – no skeletons, there is nothing they can blackmail him with – he has such high integrity.  He is a Godly man.  But then they are like, “well, that's where we are going to have to set him up.  We know he will not betray his God, so that's it!  That's where we are going to cause his downfall.”   But they have to get the king onboard, and King Darius really liked Daniel.  But, if you want to sway someone in a high position, then what do you have to do – appeal to their ego, right?  They come up to him and say, “King, aren't you the highest and greatest in the land?  Aren't you the one who deserves worship?”  And the king, in all his arrogant glory, is like “yeah, yeah, I am…”  They get the king to issue a nonreversible decree that for thirty days, no one can pray to anyone but the king.  If they break the decree, they will be thrown into a den of hungry lions.  The king was obviously arrogant but he might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed either.    But Daniel was obedient to God.  He continued to get down on his knees and pray three times a day.  How easy would it have been for Daniel to just say, “Well, for 30 days, I'm just not going to pray so that I can stay safe.”  He could have said, “I'm going to just pray in my heart and no one will know.” He could have gone into an inner room where no one would have seen him.  But no, he goes up the stairs, opens his windows, and prays publicly.  He chose not to take the safe route.  I once read that we think of the miracle as Daniel being saved from the lions' den but the real miracle was that Daniel stayed true to his convictions and kept praying knowing that he would face death.  The real miracle was that he had made a decision to trust God no matter what.  He was not going to allow some human king to tell him when and to whom he could pray.  He had one Lord and it wasn't King Darius.   We all know how the story ends.  Daniel is saved from the lions.  But what do we learn here? I keep thinking how God's people should expect opposition.  When we live for Jesus Christ, then there are forces in this world that hate that.  Whenever we have a huge spiritual victory at New Hope, we typically see some kind of big issue afterward or in the midst of it.  If you have a personal spiritual victory, please know that the enemy is going to try to make a mess of it or discourage you or lead you astray.  Be aware and be vigilant. The other big thing to mention here is trust.  Maybe you've noticed, but trusting in God is the thread that has woven together the first half of the book of Daniel.   We can trust God because God can and will deliver believers from any danger we face.  We serve a God who is trustworthy.  We serve a powerful God.  We serve a God who cares for his people.  Now, I say that and I also know that how God chooses to deliver us from our lions' dens may not be the way we want him to deliver us from our lions' dens.  In this text, God chose to send an angel to close the mouths of the lions.  It could have had a different ending.  Here's our big question - do we trust God, even when we don't know what the ending will be?  With that, let's move to the New Testament.  Our text is John 18.  Jesus has been before the Jewish high priest and the Jewish ruling council.  They can't stand him.  They not only feel threatened by him, but they are appalled about how he speaks of forgiving sins and being like the Father.  They want him to die but they don't have the power to execute him under Roman law.  They have to take him to the Roman governor, who happens to be Pontius Pilate.  As you will see, Pilate does not find Jesus to have done anything worthy of death at all but he is scared of the Jewish leaders.  We could go in a lot of different directions with this.  But I want to focus on a portion of verses 37-38, ...Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked... Jesus came to testify to the truth.  Pilate questions if there can be truth.  The Greek word for “truth” is aletheia, and it means something like “divine revelation.”  It literally means “what can't be hidden.”  The Hebrew word for “truth” is emeth, which means firmness and immovability. Truth is not relative, nor does it change from person to person.  Truth can be offensive to some because they simply don't like how it makes them feel.  The reality is that many things can have some truth but there is only one TRUTH.  For believers, TRUTH is Jesus Christ.  John 14:6 reads, Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Jesus is the map that leads us to all truth.  Blessings, Pastor Vicki        

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Daily Dose of Hope February 4, 2025 Day 3 of Week 45   Scripture:  Ezekiel 37-39; Psalm 87; John 13   Welcome back, everyone!  It's Tuesday and it's time for the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that goes along with the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  Let's get into our Scripture reading for today.   Today's Ezekiel reading is some of my favorite Scripture.  In chapter 37, the prophet Ezekiel has a vision in which he is in a valley filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dry bones. The Scripture is clear that these are very dry bones. They may have been the bones of a defeated army from a long time ago, simply left for dead, and many years have passed. There are no signs of who these people were; the flesh has decomposed and dried up, and all that's left are these piles of bones.   God is walking Ezekiel through the bones, back and forth. Then God asks Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" I can't help but wonder what's going on in Ezekiel's head. He responds, "Only you know that, God."  Then, God then tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones. He tells Ezekiel to tell the bones that they will come to life-that tendons will form, skin will cover them, and breath will fill them." This is where you know that Ezekiel is really obedient and faithful, because he doesn't ask questions, he doesn't hesitate or raise an eyebrow, he simply does it. After all the things God has had Ezekiel do, this one might even be fairly easy.    When Ezekiel prophesies to the bones, there is a rattling sound as the bones begin to come together. I love how the Scripture includes the sound effects. Rattle, rattle, creak, creak. The bones do come together and there are tendons, flesh, and skin. But at this point, there isn't real life in them. They are simply bodies with flesh and bone. I picture that museum exhibit at MOSI about human bodies, where they use real human bodies that have been preserved but they are not alive. For something to have real life, there must be breath and there is still no breath. God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones again. God tells him to say this in verse 9, "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live."   The Hebrew word for breath that is used here is ruach and it means breath, wind, or spirit. So Ezekiel prophesies and God's spirit or God's breath comes from all four directions and enters the lifeless bodies. This is the same word used in Genesis 2 when God breathes life into Adam. Here, God breathed life into these bodies. Then, imagine this, standing before Ezekiel was a whole army of people. No more lifeless bones but a whole army, living beings, come alive with the very breath of God.   Then, God tells Ezekiel that the bones were the people of Israel. Remember, these are the people who were hopeless, existing in exile but impoverished, emotionally and spiritually dead; separated from their land, separated from their God. God tells Ezekiel to communicate to the people that God will restore them. He will put life back into them and will return them to Israel. And I love verse14, "I will put my Spirit (my ruach) in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.'   Obviously, this is an Old Testament passage and the message was to the Israelites. But I think it's impossible for us, for me, to read this and not connect it with the new, better thing God does through the person of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. New life, resurrection, God's Spirit in-dwelling his people. These themes are so vivid in this passage and there are so many Scriptures that these themes bring to mind. I think about Jesus saying in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." It's not the same old, dry bones existence, but new, abundant life in Jesus. I think about Acts 2, the early Christ-followers huddled in the upper room, knowing they are supposed to wait for something big but unsure what's next. Then, there is a loud, violent wind sound and what look to be tongues of fire. God's Spirit, once again, comes and is present among the people. It's different than before. It's a new thing. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, now God dwells in his people transforming them from the inside out. New life, a new kind of restoration. I will say it again: our God is still in the business of restoration.   So that's a lot of words to make this point. God knows your dry bones, the dry places in your life. God's Spirit has the power to restore your life. God's Spirit has the power to restore us as a church. But this is important-the transformative work of God is not about putting things exactly the way they used to be. Rather, it's about allowing God's Spirit to blow within us and do a new thing. You feel like your marriage is dead, like there is no life left? I have a very good friend who had filed divorce papers, the marriage was in shambles, both of them had extra-marital affairs, and many horrific things had been said. Words that literally took the breath out of their marriage. But at just the time when all seemed lost, God's Spirit blew into that couple and began to change them from the inside out. It was slow, it was excruciating at times, it wasn't the way they imagined, but they are together. Where God's Spirit blows, there can be life. God can do a new thing.   Now, chapters 38-39 of Ezekiel are a little different.  He is now speaking to the nations.  God will defeat the evil present in other nations as well.  Evil in these chapters is personified by a ruler named Gog, and that name is somewhat fictious, as it comes from a genealogy of ancient lands and he is an archetype of sorts of evil.  Gog, in this allegory, allies himself with many other nations.  But eventually, God defeats Gog through a series of calamities.  There is a lot of symbolism here, but the point is that God will defeat evil in the end.   Our New Testament passage is John 13.  Jesus has done the unexpected, as he often does.  The time for the Passover meal has come, the disciples are sitting and reclining at the table, and Jesus himself gets up to wash their feet.  This might not sound that odd to us, but foot-washing was a lowly task in 1st century Palestine.  Think about it: their feet were very dirty; the men wore sandals, they walked everywhere, and the roads were filthy with dirt, dust, and animal droppings.  Thus, this was the job usually saved for the lowliest of servants.  Peers did not wash each other's feet.   In Luke's Gospel, the disciples start arguing about who is the greatest among them; their attitudes certainly indicated that they weren't going to stoop so low as to wash each other's feet.  And so when Jesus gets up to wash the disciples' feet, in the Scripture that was just read, the disciples are shocked.  How could he?  Of course, Jesus always has something deeper in mind.  Jesus is a perfect example of humility and selflessness, which will ultimately be demonstrated in its most extreme form on the cross.    What is it about us as human beings that we so often struggle with truly loving one another?  Yes, I'll love that person, as long as I don't have to make a sacrifice.  But Jesus is the epitome of a perfect loving sacrifice and he calls us to be as well.  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”   Blessings, Pastor Vicki      

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Daily Dose of Hope January 21, 2025 Day 3 of Week 43   Scripture: Ezekiel 7-9; John 3   Welcome, everyone, to the devotional and podcast called the Daily Dose of Hope.  This complements the Bible reading plan for New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.    For our Old Testament reading, we are in Ezekiel, this time looking at chapters 7-9.  First, Ezekiel is again experiencing visions from God.  At first, he is taken to see the abominations occurring in Judah.  There is an Asherah pole at one of the Temple entrances.  For those who aren't familiar with Asherah, she was a Canaanite fertility goddess and the Asherah cult became very popular in Israel.  When you read about temple prostitutes in the Bible, they were often part of Asherah worship.  You can see why God was disgusted by this.   Then, Ezekiel was brought to a place inside the Temple in which the elders were worshiping many other gods and burning incense to them.  Next, there was a visit to another Temple gate where woman were worshiping Tammuz, a Babylonian fertility god.  And finally, outside the Temple, were Jewish men worshiping the sun god.  What a mess.  How did it get to this?   So, God is enraged and he wants Ezekiel to communicate this.  Chapter 9 is a vision of an executioner who will kill most of the people in Judah for their idolatry and disobedience.  Only those marked with an X will survive.  It is a bit disconcerting that God tells Ezekiel not to feel sorry for them, as they have earned this punishment.  Wow.  I struggle with this.  It makes me so grateful for the cross of Jesus.   Our New Testament text is John 3.  In this chapter, we meet Nicodemus, who is Pharisee and a member of the ruling council.  He is someone who is well-trained in Jewish law and tradition and most likely held in high esteem in his community.  And he comes to see Jesus at night.  To me, it's interesting that the Scripture points this out.  Obviously, Nicodemus is intrigued by Jesus.  He has seen the miracles and listened to Jesus' teaching.  He knows that Jesus knows God in some way, Nicodemus acknowledges that, but he is probably a bit leary of being connected with Jesus.  After all, what will the others think?   We don't know if there is some pleasant chit chat between Jesus and Nicodemus, there may have been, but in the Scripture it seems that Jesus wastes no time --- he gets right to the point.  He says to Nicodemus, “no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  Then, there is that interesting back and forth dialogue in which Nicodemus says, “well, how in the world can someone enter into their mother's womb a second time?”  And Jesus doesn't even respond to that, he says it again “Dude, you can't get into the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  You must be born again!”   Now, Nicodemus would have probably thought that salvation was his because he was born a Jew.  He was one of the “chosen people.”  Or, he would have thought salvation was his because he knew a whole lot about the law, he had accumulated a lot of information about God, and he was trying hard to apply it.   Jesus is pushing back against that.  He says you must be born again.  Yes, Nicodemus, you were born a Jew in your first birth but that isn't enough for you to be saved and to enter God's Kingdom.  Yes, Nicodemus, you have lots of information about God, you may even be a really good person and attend synagogue, but that isn't enough either.  Jesus is saying to Nicodemus that you have to be spiritually reborn. Jesus knew that Nicodemus needed a change of his heart—a spiritual transformation that could only come from above.   The phrase “born again” can be translated “born from above.”    This is what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus:  Just as your mother gave physical birth to you, if you want to receive salvation and have eternal life, you need the Holy Spirit to give you a spiritual birth. Jesus says, flesh gives birth to flesh but only the Spirit can give birth to spirit.  This rebirth is when we go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive in Jesus Christ.  And there is a certain mystery to it.  Just as the wind exists in the earthly, physical realm but there is mystery to where it is going and coming from; so there is the same mystery with the Holy Spirit and how he moves and works.  How can this be?  That was the question Nicodemus asked.  Yeah, how can this be?   Let's unpack this a bit more.  When we were born the first time, we were born inclined to sin, inclined to make bad choices.  Think about a toddler.  Why do we have to put safety plugs in all our electrical outlets?  Because no matter how many times we say no, our little ones defy us and they go straight for that outlet.  Because they don't know what's best for them.  Our natural inclination is to do what we want to do.   From the time of the fall in Genesis to right now, this very second, we as human beings are sinful, broken people.  Look at our world.  We miss the mark of God's full intention for our lives.  Even when we are generally good people, we are far from perfect.    And our sin, our brokenness, creates a barrier between us and God.  God is holy, totally without sin, and we are a hot mess.  We all are.  And we can't jump that barrier between us and God.  Nothing we can do will close that gap.  No striving to be good.  No racking up spiritual merit badges.  Not being born into a Christian family or having a really strong Christian mama.    God made a way for us to be right with him, to eliminate that barrier.  God himself made a way for us to walk closely with him.  You know God's solution to our sin ---- Jesus.  (If we were to continue with today's Scripture, then we would read the best known Scripture verse in the world.  John 3:16 ---- For God so loved the world, that he…)   Jesus was God with flesh on.  He came voluntarily to demonstrate a different way of doing life AND then he went to the cross.  He died on that Roman cross, serving as the final, ultimate sacrifice for sin.  You see, when Jesus died on the cross, his blood atoned for our sins.  For all of our sins.  So, if we believe in him, turn away from our old way of doing life, then we receive salvation.  We are spiritually reborn.  Born again by the Spirit.  Jesus did the work and the Holy Spirit applies the blood.    You see, when we believe in Jesus Christ, God no longer sees our sin and our mess, he only sees the blood of Jesus.  Not only does this ensure that we get to spend eternity with Jesus, we receive new life right now, today.  We become new people, new creations (2 cor. 5:17).  The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God himself, comes and dwells within us, changing us from the inside out.  Being born again means: 1-       Acknowledging your sin, turning away from your old life and turning toward God (repentance) 2-       Saying yes to Jesus!  3-       Being filled with the Holy Spirit.    Have you been born again?  That's a question we all have to answer.    Blessings, Pastor Vicki    

In 2 Samuel 13 we see the effects of allowing “temptation” to take control. Scripture assures us that there is no temptation...

Daily Dose of Hope January 19, 2025 Day 1 of Week 43   Scripture:  Ezekiel 1-3; John 1   Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  Happy Sunday!  I do hope I will be seeing you in worship this morning.  Our sermon is on growing faith.  It seems appropriate to mention that here because reading the Bible is one of the main ways we can grow our faith and grow in our walk with Jesus.  So great job to all of you!    Today, we are starting the Old Testament book of Ezekiel.  Ezekiel was a priest living in Judah during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem.  He was part of the first wave of refugees taken to live in Babylon.  Ezekiel's book opens up by telling us that he is living in an Israeli refugee camp of sorts in Babylon and it's his 30th birthday.  This is important because it's the day he would have officially been installed as a priest if he were still in Jerusalem.  But God has other plans for Ezekiel.   It's on this day, the day he turned thirty, that God shows up to call Ezekiel into his service.  But, not surprisingly, it's a bit unconventional.  He sees this highly unusual vision.  It was a large cloud with four large, winged creatures and each creature has four faces. Under each creature is a sparkly wheel.  And the creatures wings were supporting a throne with a human-like figure who was full of light.  Ezekiel realizes this is the glory of God.  And this is kind of surprising.  What is God's glory doing in Babylon?    These first three chapters are really Ezekiel's commissioning as a prophet.  God has called him to warn the Israelites that there are consequences coming.  They have broken covenant, they have worshiped other gods, and they are oppressing the poor.  God has allowed one successful Babylonian attack but there are more coming.  Everything will be destroyed and God wants Ezekiel to boldly share this with his people.   One interesting piece is when God has Ezekiel eat the scroll.  The scroll represented the words of God that Ezekiel was going to share with the people.  It tasted like honey.  I can't help but draw a comparison between Ezekiel eating God's words and our need to digest God's words too.  Unless we consume the Word of God, we can't live it or share it with those who need to hear it.  Does God's Word taste like honey to you?   Ezekiel is a very interesting prophet.  I think we are going to find it fascinating.  I'm not saying you will like it but you will find it fascinating.   We are also starting the Gospel of John in the New Testament.  We are looking at chapter one. God's Word in the Old Testament was his self-expression. Here, the apostle John is referring to the Word as God's ultimate self-expression, Jesus Christ. If we are to know God, we need to look at Jesus. Jesus is God and God is Jesus. God loved the world so much that he provided a way for all of us to know him and be reconciled to him. God took on human form and moved into our neighborhood. God walked and talked among his people, demonstrating the full extent of his love. We have seen the Father through the life of the Son.   Let's take a moment and read this classic Christmas text from Matthew 1:18-24 and then we will return to John 1, This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).   Jesus was Immanuel, meaning God with us. Christmas is not simply about a little baby being born and laid in a manger. Christmas is about God coming down to be with his people, to live among us, and to demonstrate the full extent of his love. Everything that Jesus did, from healing people, feeding people, loving the poor and the outcast, dying on a cross, and defeating death through the resurrection, illustrated God's incredible, amazing love for his people. We could go much deeper than that, there is certainly a great deal more to say, but I'm going to stop there for today. Spend some time in prayer and simply think about the wonder of the incarnation.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Daily Dose of Hope January 16, 2025 Day 5 of Week 42   Scripture: Jeremiah 50-51; 2 Peter 3 Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope.  This is the devotional and podcast that complements the Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  It's Thursday so that means you will have two days, Friday and Saturday, for catch up, rest, or getting ahead.  Our Old Testament reading today is Jeremiah 50-51.  These two chapters prophecy the fall of Babylon.  God used Babylon for his purposes but they were a sinful, violent society.  We get the impression that God had always planned to punish Babylon for their sins, which included conquering Israel and many other nations.  So what happened?  Cyrus the Great (of the Persians) marched into Babylon and took the city in 539BC.  Cyrus was proclaimed king and he freed the Jewish people.  What we know from later books, such as Nehemiah, is that not everyone came back to Israel.  They had now been in exile for seventy years.  People had put down roots.  But others did venture back to Jerusalem...more on that soon. Our New Testament reading is 2 Peter 3.  This is a urgent plea to be ready.  Jesus is returning and we don't know the day or the hour.  Peter was dealing with scoffers/false teachers who didn't believe in the second coming.  Peter wanted the Christians to stay strong in their faith.  He noted that God is not bound by time in the same way as humans.  To God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day.  One commentary I read about this chapter said that the last days basically started when Jesus ascended into heaven.  Peter was living in the last days when he wrote this letter and we are living in the last days right now.  If that is the case, then how should we live our lives?  Peter stresses that we should seek to live holy and Godly lives, as people waiting for a new heaven and a new earth. What does this mean to you?  Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

In 2 Samuel 12, Nathan did not have to tell David he sinned—David knew intuitively. Where does that come from? Find out...

Daily Dose of Hope January 6, 2025 Day 2 of Week 41   Scripture: Jeremiah 37, 21, 34; Psalm 79; James 5 Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional that complements the daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  Let's get into our Scripture for today.   For our Old Testament reading, we have three more chapters in Jeremiah – 37, 21, and 34, in that order.  In chapter 37, we read about the things that lead up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.  It appears that Egypt very briefly comes to the aid of Judah, which simply puts off the Babylonian conquest; it does not prevent it.  Jeremiah is put in prison briefly but eventually is cared for by the current king.    The next two chapters are really interesting.  Things are getting heated in the city of Jerusalem.  They are actively fighting the Babylonians.  The Lord speaks through Jeremiah and tells the people that those who continue to oppose this, who insist on fighting and staying in Jerusalem, they will eventually die.  But those who surrender will live.  He promises the same to the king.    And then there is this interesting passage about freeing the slaves.  God wants the Jews to free the Hebrew slaves among them and surprisingly, they agree.  Briefly that is.  They free them and then take them back.  This greatly angers the Lord and he promises that they will face harsh consequences.    Our New Testament reading is James 5.  James closes out his letter with a strong command to pray. If you are suffering, then pray. If you are cheerful, then pray. If you are ill (physically or spiritually), then be sure to pray and have people pray over you. For prayer is powerful and the prayers of righteous people make a big impact!   Do you believe that your prayers make a big impact? Do you believe that the prayers of the faithful people around you can accomplish big things in God's Kingdom? I have witnessed firsthand the power of prayer. I should mention that God often doesn't answer prayer the way we want it answered but God always answers. Prayer makes a difference–for the person or situation we are praying for AND in our own hearts. When we pray, God changes us!   Who do you need to pray for today?  Lord, hear our prayers.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

Guest Speaker Dr. Emerson Eggerichs will be joining us today. Looking at a key theme drawn from 2 Corinthians 8:21, which emphasizes...

Daily Dose of Hope January 5, 2025 Day 1 of Week 41   Scripture: Jeremiah 27, 28, 29, 24, James 4 Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional that complements the daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  Let's get into our Scripture for today.   For our Old Testament reading, we are back in Jeremiah.  Again, we are bouncing around the chapters.  In chapter 27, Jeremiah prophecies that the king of Judah, as well as the pagan kings surrounding Israel, will soon be serving King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  He makes a yoke and wears it, as a beast of burden would use in the fields, and uses it illustrate his point.  They will be bound to the king of Babylon.  And if they refuse, life will be even worse for them.  They will experience drought, famine, and warfare.    In chapter 28, Jeremiah deals with a false prophet named Hananiah.  He disputes Jeremiah's prophecy and says that the king of Babylon will fall.  To make matters worse, he takes the yoke off Jeremiah's neck and breaks it.  As a result, he faces what God calls a “yoke of iron” and he died that same year.  His lies led to death.   Chapter 29 jumps ahead.  All of a sudden, we find Jeremiah sending a message of God to the exiles who are being carried off into Babylon from Jerusalem.  He tells them to settle down, as seventy years is a long time.  But after the time is up, God will provide a way back for them.  And then in verse 11, we have that very famous verse, “I know the plans the Lord has for me, plans to prosper me and not harm me, plans for hope and a future.”   This is one of those verses that we totally misinterpret.  We see it on graduation cards and baby blankets.  But this was a prophecy to the people who are about to spend seventy years in exile in Babylon.  They are going to be outsiders among pagans.  They have to totally rebuild their lives.  Yes, God will remember them and provide a way back in two generations.  God will keep his promise.  But first, they must experience the consequences of their own bad choices.    And then, finally, we end today's Jeremiah reading in chapter 24.  Again, it's after the Babylonian conquest.  God is speaking to Jeremiah about the exiles.  He is using two baskets of figs as an illustration.  The good figs represent those who will head into exile; these are the people who God sees as worthy and faithful.  Those left behind, including the king and his officials, are like the bad figs and they will be dealt with severely.   Our New Testament reading is James 4.  Apparently, James is writing to a group of people who have had some pretty nasty conflicts, even possibly violent ones. As with the previous few chapters, James is warning against community strife. In chapter 3, James spoke of the damage that careless words can cause. These careless words, the misuse of the tongue, can then lead to disputes and heated arguments. We don't know what the specific disputes were about in James' day, but we do know and understand the damage that ugly words and violent disputes can cause in the Christian community. It happened 2000 years ago and it still happens today.   Isn't it ironic that people who profess a faith that so fundamentally involves loving one another, being peaceful, gentle, and joyful, can then treat each other with such malice and carelessness? I've been on a church staff for 17 years now and I've seen people who call themselves Christ-followers be downright hateful and mean toward one another. And oh the ugly things I've seen people carelessly post on Facebook!   Most of the time, these disagreements were over miscommunications or relatively insignificant things. But they have the potential to cause true damage to our Christian fellowship. Friends, they must stop. That being said, there are times in which we must stand up for what is right and speak truth. But even then, we can speak the truth in love.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki    

Daily Dose of Hope January 2, 2025 Day 5 of Week 40 Scripture: Jeremiah 25, 35, 36, 45; Psalm 133; James 3 Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that goes along with the Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  Let's get right to our Scripture for today.   We are back to Jeremiah; again, we are skipping around.  Let's start in chapter 25.  Verses 8-9 are really scary, “Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy[a] them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.    God has warned and warned.  He has said that destruction will happen if the people don't change their ways.  Now, we get more specifics.  God will use King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians to conquer Judah.  There will be mass carnage and seventy years of exile.  This accounts to slightly more than two generations.  And a lot can happen in two generations.   Chapter 35 is kind of interesting.  God has Jeremiah summon the Rekabites.  The Rekabites were a nomadic Israelite tribe with very strict rules about alcohol consumption and home building.  Even when Jeremiah tempts them, they refuse to break their rules.  God uses them as an example of faithfulness.  Why can't God's people keep covenant?  Others have kept even more difficult guidelines.  God holds this small tribe up as an example to his people.   As we move into chapter 36, things are heating up, literally.  Jeremiah has a scribe named Baruch to write down God's message on a scroll; the message is quite clear what is going to happen to Judah.  But the king burns it when he hears what's on it.  He doesn't want to hear the prophecy.  The level of arrogance of the king is scary.  He has totally lost all fear of God.  As a result, God has Jeremiah ask Baruch to transcribe the scroll once more.    Chapter 45 jumps to Baruch's reaction.  He isn't too keen on continuing to have to write out the scroll.  He is doing this at serious risk to himself and probably his family.  God tells Baruch that He is sovereign, powerful, and He will make sure that Baruch is saved when the conquest occurs.   James 3 is our New Testament passage and James is speaking about the tongue. Such a small body part can do so much damage!  Think of the times in your life in which the careless words of another person hurt you to the core. I'm sure each of us have faced the consequences of a reckless tongue and have inflicted pain with our own wagging tongue. I've worked with people who can still hear the mean words of a parent from thirty or forty years prior. The old rhyme, “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me” is such a lie. Words can hurt. Ugly, careless tongues can create wounds that last a lifetime.   But words can also heal. The kind, encouraging word of a friend can change our whole outlook on life. The words “I'm sorry” can change a relationship. The words “You are loved” can ensure that someone knows they are valuable and worthy. Sharing the words of Jesus can be life-changing for someone.  How will you choose to use your tongue?   Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

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