New Hope Christian Chapel Podcast

Be blessed by this practical, relatable and powerful sermon by pastor and church revitalization consultant, Shawn Keener, from the letter of 2 Peter on what church is really all about: Christ's Church Is On Mission!

On Palm Sunday Jesus' disciples provided an amazing framework for how any followers of Jesus can usher Him into all the areas of their lives as well! Small acts of faithfulness, partners in faith, generosity, serving instead of just being all talk...these are just some of the profound lessons we can learn from Jesus' apprentices on that amazing day He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. How will you usher Jesus into your family, home, relationships, city, neighborhood, and personal encounters?! Usher Jesus In!

Take a few minutes to listen to the inspiring testimony of Aaron and Sonia Amaro, of how God has led them to transform their gas station into a place of ministry and mission and hope despite all the trials and challenges along the way! God uses the most unexpected places and ordinary people to do the most amazing things, all for His glory!

Who do you think you are? Do you have purpose in your life? Do you envy others who seem to be doing more, getting more, receiving more? Do you know why God has made you...how God has made you? Who does God think you are? How can discovering the identity God has designed specifically for you be an incredible source of freedom, power, and meaning in your life?!!

Hearing the story of someone's miraculous encounter with God sometimes can sometimes feel unrelateable. Hearing Moses' story probably feels utterly impossible to match! But what if God is looking to invite us all into just as intimate and powerful a relationship as He had with Moses? What if God's progressive revelation in our own lives parallels that in Moses' experience, and the experience of anyone who has ever listened for the voice of God and passionately pursued His presence? What if the Holy Spirit is still a "burning bush", a pillar of smoke and fire, a voice from heaven, and the mouthpiece of God? What if God is calling you...even you...into your purpose, renaming, worship and identity? Perhaps you and Moses are not all that different after all?

Who names you? Who tells you who you are? What do you think God calls you? The Bible uses some incredibly beautiful words to name God's people! Oaks of righteousness, rebuilders, repairers of ruined cities, God's delight, holy people, redeemed people, sought out ones, repairers of the breach, restorers of streets to dwell in...and more! Do you see yourself the way God does? Who will name you?!

It's not possible to add more things to our lives if our lives are already full. It's not possible to move on if we're bound to the past. It's not possible to do anything new if we just keep doing what we've been doing. What would it look like if we practiced the biblical, spiritual discipline of "releasing" in order to free ourselves up for whatever God has in store for us?! What if our sorrows didn't linger and blind us to new joys? What if our successes didn't make us apathetic and miss immanent miracles? What if our lifestyles weren't permanent, rigid masters of our time? What could it look like to be free to be and to do all that God dreams for us?!

How would you define sympathy, empathy and compassion? Which of them are a divine attribute of God? Which of them implement aid and care in the world? What are the similarities and differences between them? The Bible offers the world a unique and inspiring look into a deeper meaning, source and impact of compassion! Take a few minutes with Pastor Dave to see how compassion is at the very heart of God's nature, Jesus' incarnation, and the heartbeat of every Christian!

In ancient Greek culture there were very wealthy individuals who were called upon to act as patrons of the arts, specifically funding choirs, plays, and famous Greek tragedies. These patrons were known as choregos, and they were millionaires and billionaires of their day that were hand-picked by the State. They spared no expense out of their own wealth to hire the best singers, furnish the best costumes and sets, and put on the most lavish productions they could, all for the glory of the Greek empire. Think about the awesome parallel that provides for Christians who have been chosen by God to receive the limitless wealth of His Holy Spirit so that they may spend their lives generously sharing God's spectacular power and love with a world so hungry for it! In the Bible in 2 Peter 1:5, Peter makes this exact parallel and instructs the earliest Christians to be "suppliers", "patrons", just like the choregos! Let's live lives of beauty and impact as we manifest and pour out the presence of God's Holy Spirit to the world around us!

You may want to have love, peace, joy, self-control and all the other results of our faith...but are you willing to accept the responsibility to grow them? Christ-followers are given the seeds of these attributes, but will they accept their roles as gardeners, nurturers, growers and harvesters of this spiritual fruit? And what if the primary method for tending and nurturing these spiritual qualities is through suffering and being under pressure?! Would we all still choose to become Christians if we knew that it would require suffering like Jesus...in order to experience resurrection and miracles and power like Jesus? Spiritual fruit isn't delivered fully ripened, it must be grown!

Everyone experiences temptation...the question is, how do we respond? How do you handle accusing thoughts, tempting actions, resisting desires, or negative impulses? Do you pray? Do you exert will-power? Do you hang on and hope things will be better one day? The Bible is filled with examples of people who struggled and suffered with being tempted by evil. How did they handle it? What encouragement or advice or instruction can the Bible give us for how to face, resist, or overcome the pressures and powers and spiritual attacks we will experience? And how can Jesus, who was tempted in every way yet didn't sin, provide us a pathway toward victory and freedom?!

What does humility look like? Is it a feeling? It is an attitude? Is it a self-image? Or is it more? Could you "do" humility this week? Can someone "see" humility? What if humility is actually an inter-personal skill set? What if humility is a way of treating people rather than a way of thinking about people? How could God change the world through people who "do" humility?