HOPE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH

HOPE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH
  • 5.0 (17)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Know. Grow. Serve. HOPE is here.

  1. 6d ago

    Living in Between: Holy Living in Between

    1 Thess. 4:1-8 Big Idea: God alone has the authority to tell us how we ought to live, and He gives us His Spirit and His grace to walk in it.   1. Your Lifestyle Matters (1-2) 2. Your Sanctification Matters (3-6) 3. Your Calling Matters (7-8)   Reflection Questions START: Read through 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 Where do you see our culture being selective about its "oughts"? Why is God's authority a better foundation for how we live than cultural values that shift over time? Paul uses the image of a "walk" to describe the whole Christian life. Which area of your lifestyle (time, money, relationships, entertainment, thought life) do you find hardest to submit to God, and why? Paul commends the Thessalonians ("just as you are doing") but still urges them to grow "more and more." Where are you tempted to settle for minimal holiness, and what would growing "more and more" look like for you this month? Why do you think sexual immorality is so closely tied to sanctification in this passage? How does sexual sin affect not only us, but others (v. 6)? Verse 8 is both a warning and an encouragement. How does knowing that God gives you His Holy Spirit change the way you face your struggles with sin? What is one practical step (prayer, Scripture, accountability, community) you can take this week to walk in that grace? Close your time in prayer: Lord Jesus, You are holy. The angels cry out unceasingly before Your majesty, singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts." Make me holy, as You are holy. Help me put to death the sin that so easily clings to my life, and let me live in victory over it by the power of Your Holy Spirit. When I fall short, help me cling to Your grace and get back up in faith, knowing that You are not finished with me yet. May Your mercy fill me, and may Your grace empower me. You are my God. Amen.

  2. Sep 15

    Living in Between: Turned From Idols to Serve God

    1 Thess. 1; Acts 17:1-11 Into and Series Set Up:  Joy in Affliction (1:6, 2:1-2) Turned from Idols to Serve God (1:9b-10)   Conclusion:  Reflection Questions   START: Read through 1 Thessalonians 1 together, and skim Acts 17:1-11 to remind yourselves of the persecution and conflict this young church was born out of. This is week one of a new series through 1 and 2 Thessalonians. What's one thing from the intro or background this week that gave you a new appreciation for these letters? Paul says the Thessalonians received the word "in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit" (1:6). Those don't usually go together. When have you felt real joy in a hard season? The sermon named idols as the little kingdoms we build with our time, talents, and treasure. What's a modern idol that's easy to build a life around without noticing? Read Exodus 20:1-6. How does it connect to Paul's language of "turning from idols to serve the living and true God"? The sermon drew a line between a transactional faith (pay for what you want, get what you paid for) and serving as investment (pouring your life into something bigger). Where do you catch yourself treating faith like a transaction? Close your time in prayer: Living and true God, thank you for calling us out of idols and into your service. Forgive us for the small kingdoms we keep building for ourselves. Give us joy in affliction, and give us hearts that serve you first, not because we have to, but because you laid your life down for us. While we wait for your Son from heaven, let us be found faithful.

  3. Sep 9

    Pray Earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest

    The Lost Sheep The Plentiful Harvest The Lord of the Harvest   Reflection Questions START: Review the storyline by reading through Matthew 9:35-38, and take a moment to skim back through Matthew 8-9 to remind yourselves of the string of healings and miracles leading up to this summary statement.   Share something you’ve learned or grown in from the Daily Prayer series or from the Daily Prayer guide.  Jesus describes the crowds as "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." What's an example, from the news, your neighborhood, or your own life, of people who seem to fit that picture today? The sermon walked through the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son as pictures of Jesus's compassion, one that acts, and one that moves first. Which of those two stories do you relate to more, and why? Jesus tells the disciples the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few, and his very first instruction is to pray about it, not to strategize. Why do you think he starts there instead of somewhere else? As a group, is there one specific need, in our church or in this community, that we could commit to praying for together this week?

  4. Sep 2

    The Answered Prayer

    2 Kings 19:14-19, 32-37 Intro: Assault Address (v. 14) Adoration (v. 15) Awareness (vv. 16–18) Appeal (v. 19) Outro: The Answer Reflection Questions START: Review the storyline and plot by scanning through 2 Kings 17-19 (also, interestingly this account is also recorded in 2 Chronicles 32 and Isaiah 36-37)    Who's the most intimidating or mocking person you've ever had to stand up to, and how did you handle it? (imagine being in Hezekiah’s shoes)  The sermon made the point that the real crisis in this story wasn't Assyria's army, it was Judah's sin and wrestling before a holy God. Why does Scripture so often frame our problems that way, as ultimately about our standing before God rather than just our physical circumstances?   The sermon tied Hezekiah's deliverance to the cross, God defeating His enemies through weakness/sacrifice rather than raw force. Why is that such an unexpected way for God to win and triumph, and what does it say about how He works in our lives too?   What's one area of your life where you've been trying to fight your own battle instead of laying it before God the way Hezekiah did? Is there a "Rabshakeh" voice in your head right now telling you resistance is pointless or that God won't come through? What would it look like to answer that voice with prayer instead of fear this week?

  5. Aug 25

    The Nevertheless Prayer

    Habakkuk 3:1-19 Crash Course: Who Is Habakkuk? Getting Up to Speed (Chapters 1-2)  The Prayer of Faith (Chapter 3)   Defiant Nevertheless: Choose Joy (Hab. 3:17–19) Reflection Questions START: Read Hab. 3:17-19 Not every prayer of complaint is a lack of faith, Habakkuk brings real complaints to God and God engages them. What's the difference between honest lament and outright doubt? Where's the line for you? Read Habakkuk 2:20: "The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him." When does that look like for us to actually sat in silence before God rather than filling the space with your requests or complaints? What makes silence hard for you? Karl Barth wrote that joy "is a defiant 'Nevertheless!' that Paul sets like a full stop against... anxiety." Does that description of joy as defiant surprise you? How is that different from how our culture usually talks about joy or happiness? Read Romans 3:23–26. Habakkuk asks God to "remember mercy" in the middle of deserved wrath. How does seeing that prayer answered at the cross change the way you read Habakkuk's fear and trembling in chapter 3? Read Philippians 4:11–13. Paul says he has "learned" contentment, meaning it wasn't automatic for him either. What is one practical way you could "learn" contentment in God this week, rather than just wishing you had it? If a close friend came to you this week and said, "I don't think I can keep trusting God through this," how would Habakkuk help you respond to them?  Close your time in prayer.  "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk 3:17–18

  6. Aug 18

    Praying For Help

    The Wrong Place to Look (vv. 1–2) Look to God for Help (vv. 2–8) Willing to Ask for Help How to Ask in Faith Reflection Questions START: Read Psalm 121 together before you begin. The Incas sacrificed their own children to mountains they believed were gods, trusting the gods of the mountain could save them. What are the modern “mountains” we sacrifice for, hoping they'll come through for us? Read 1 Kings 18:20–40. What does Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal reveal about the emptiness of false gods compared to the living God? Of the ways God “keeps” you in this psalm (immovable, never sleeping, your shade, guardian from evil, keeper of your going out and coming in), which one do you most need to hear right now, and why? Peterson asks whether this psalm means Christians never get hurt, never struggle, never suffer. Have you ever felt like the promises of Psalm 121 or the bible didn't match your actual experience? What happened? How would you answer the cynic inside of you?  Of the “three kinds of hope,” no hope (doubt), false hope (pride), or true living hope (childlike trust), which do you default to when you're struggling?  Read Matthew 7:7–11. Do you actually believe God is a good Father who wants to give you good things? What makes that hard to believe sometimes? Luke 18:1–8 describes the persistent widow. Is there something you've been praying about and have been tempted to give up on? What would it look like to keep asking, like she did?    Close your time in prayer.  “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

  7. Aug 12

    A Prayer That Resists Efficiency

    You Are God, the Eternal One (1-2) We Are Dust, Time Comes For Us All (3-10) Teach Us - A Different Kind of Prayer (11-12)  Satisfy Us - The Heart of the Prayer (13-17) Reflection Questions START: Read Psalm 90:1-17 together before you begin. Warming Up  Western, American life trains us to optimize almost everything - our schedules, our health, our careers,even our faith. Where do you notice that same pragmatic instinct creeping into your prayer life or worship,chasing a result instead of simply enjoying God? Looking at the Text “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations… from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:1-2) Psalm 90 opens with Moses adoring God’s eternity before he asks God for anything. Why do you think he starts there instead of leading with requests? Why is this a good place to start in prayer?  The Key of the Psalm: Verses 12 and 14 “So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Moses doesn’t ask God for more time in verse 12 - he asks for a different heart. What’s the difference between wanting more time and wanting wisdom to rightly use the time you have? “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” (Psalm 90:14) The sermon distinguished “praying to get” from “praying to be.” What would it look like this week to pray simply to be with God, rather than to get something from him? Living It Out The sermon talked about the temptation to “stockpile” our days - treating security or certainty as something we can control for ourselves (see the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21). Where are you tempted to do this right now? Closing in Prayer Close your time by praying verses 12 and 14 together, out loud, as a group: “Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

  8. Aug 4

    Prayer That Reaches Heaven

    Ephesians 3:14-19  I bow my knees. (vv. 14-15) I ask for power in the inner man. (v. 16) Christ makes his home in me. (v. 17)   Reflection Questions What has prayer taught you that study never could? Paul had the whole treasury open to him and he chose to ask for strength in the inner man. Why do you think that was his first request instead of relief from prison? What does that tell us about what he believed we actually need most? Jesus taught us to say Our Father and then immediately, hallowed be your name. How do you hold nearness and reverence together in the same prayer? Which one comes easier to you, and what does the other one protect you from? The whole Bible builds toward the question of whether God will live with man again. Garden, mountain, tent, temple, and finally a human heart. Why do you think God chose people as his dwelling place instead of a building? What does that say about how he sees you? (Eph. 3:17)  Christ did not make Gentiles into Jews. He made one new people out of two (Eph. 2:15). What does that ask of us in a church where people come from different backgrounds, generations, and histories? Where is that hardest to live out honestly? (Eph. 3:15)

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Know. Grow. Serve. HOPE is here.

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  • Creator
    HOPE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    HOPE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH

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