May 7, 2020

1 Kings 19:11-12

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

I am desperate for God to win. I want Him to tear up mountains and destroy His enemies with fire and lightening. I want everyone in the world to fall to their knees and embrace the one God who can give them what the need and what they want in unending supply forever. Yet we keep toiling in little whispers, little conversations, little blogs, little sermons heard by such small percentage of our city. 

In the story above, Elijah the prophet and Israel had just seen a triumphant display of God’s power over His enemies in fire that came down from heaven. Elijah was sure God had finally won, but the King and Queen still rejected God. Then God took Elijah and showed him a cyclone, an earthquake, and a monstrous fire, but God was in the whisper. God can work through it all, in it all. The next time your witness, your voice, seems like a whisper, remember God’s working even still.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please remind me of all the work You are doing all the time.

Daily Reading: Luke 20:27-47 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of the end of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

May 6, 2020

Matthew 4:3-4

3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

If you’ve ever felt real hunger, take a moment to understand Jesus in this story. The man had not eaten a bite in 40 days. After that length of time, Jesus must have felt a kind of hunger only felt by those about to starve. Yet when tempted He didn’t just tell the enemy, “Obviously not! You’re the devil I’m not going to do what you say.” He said He had something better than food.

When Christians fast, we put ourselves in a position to enjoy God’s grace in a physical way. When you give up food for some amount of time to enjoy God, you make something spiritual more real to you. Like taking the Lord’s Supper or baptizing someone we make a physical experience out of a spiritual reality. Is God’s goodness worth more than life for you? How about lunch?

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to remember the way you saved me so I will trust that you still love me.

Daily Reading: Luke 20:1-26 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of the end of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

May 5, 2020

1 Corinthians 15:10a

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

Do you ever wish you were someone else in God’s Kingdom? I think every one does almost all the time. If you have a position of honor, you also have a mountain of responsibilities and uncertainty. If you have a position that people don’t necessarily line up for it’s easy to feel forgotten or hard done by.

Paul wasn’t one of the 12 and wasn’t as eloquent as Apollo, but was God’s work in him and through him in vain? It’s hard to imagine a Christian that has been more useful to the Kingdom, and yet Paul had the same kind of jealousies to fight. By the grace of God, we are who we are and His grace is never in vain.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I am glad to be what You have made me. I trust Your work will never be in vain.

Daily Reading: Luke 19:28-48 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of the end of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

May 4, 2020

Romans 12:3

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

When I was a kid, my grandparents kept a peacock and I can tell you, peacocks are jerks. It’s fun to pick up some of the feathers they drop, long and interesting looking. But don’t get close or you’ll be sorry. Have you ever heard the phrase “Proud as a Peacock”? Ostentatious and down right mean, peacocks are a great symbol for pride.

When we regard ourselves more highly than we ought, we step outside God’s definition of who we are and try to create something better. By grace, God has called us His adopted children. He plans to bless us with every blessing, not even withholding His own Son. Why would we ever think we could beat that?

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to be forever satisfied with who You say I am.

Daily Reading: Luke 19:1-27 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

Next Steps Saturday

Does Christianity have facts to go with its faith? I am embarrassed by the number of things I believe with out having really dug into the facts. I believe my mechanic is telling me the truth when he quotes some new part I’ll need. I believe all kinds of things about history without having looked into source documentation. I often take the news without adding that grain of salt.

If you are a Christian, or someone looking into Christianity, have you stopped to look into the facts behind the faith? Christianity sits on a mountain of corroborating evidence. Even supernatural events like the Resurrection, have a great deal of historical evidence to back them up. Yet most Christians, out of laziness or simply not having been challenged, choose to believe without having put much time in. Many seekers tend to follow feelings more than facts. That may be why some of the seem to believe, then fall away.

Today, challenge yourself to learn. Take a topic of the faith and ask someone at Hope a question about it. Crack open a book (often going to be more helpful than the top google hit) and see if there is more to Christianity than good vibes, and in the case of Hope Church, outstanding music.

As always, if there is ever any way the leaders at Hope can follow up with you about the things we believe, shoot us an email at ben@hopechurchutah.com

And tune in tomorrow morning on YouTube Live to experience our service!

May 1, 2020

Philippians 1:9-10

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

There is a silly kind of love that doesn’t have much knowledge. Pop stars have millions of fans who love them, but it’s a shallow love because they’ve never even met. There is a cold kind of approval that knows what is good, but doesn’t do much. Looking down from an ivory tower, some people know what is good, but there isn’t a fire-in-the-belly conviction that stirs that person to action.

The gospel gives us both knowledge and passion. We aren’t drones who follow a preset path without any understanding. God wants us to see why things are good or evil, to discern one from the other. Yet, we have a love that bounces around and grows, filling us up, spilling over. We aren’t content to have knowledge without passion. Today, take your own temperature. Do you feel that love?

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to love You with a deep love that knows You.

Daily Reading: Luke 17:20-37 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 30, 2020

Acts 17:6

6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

Jesus came to bring about an upside down kingdom. In His new order the greatest has to be the servant of everyone, tax collectors and prostitutes are valued members and the religious leaders are bad guys. In His kingdom the mourners, meek, and even persecuted are blessed. In our world, His Kingdom is upside down.

When that Kingdom logic spread around with the new Christians’ lives and teaching, it didn’t just die out as upside down and weird. It turned the world upside down, or better said, right side up. When you get quiet because your Christian beliefs seem so strange in our world remember, that has happened before. And when it happened it wasn’t Christianity that changed, but the world. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank you for making me part of turning the world around.

Daily Reading: Luke 17:1-19 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 29, 2020

Galatians 4:9

9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Imagine a prisoner. He is filthy, in a cramped, lightless place with stale air and awful smells. Hopeless and chained, he only gets the miserable company of the bugs that live on him. Then the sound of the lid being pulled away, light blinds, and gentle hands pull him up to clean, feed and free him. What is the one place on the planet that guy is never voluntarily returning to? He will probably avoid closets and small bathrooms the rest of his life. 

In the same way, you and I are freed by God from the way we use to live. And it was every bit as bleak because it was enslaving, destructive, and ultimately deadly. Can you honestly admit that? If you can, even when it seems so tempting, you can walk away. It will be as easy as doing what you want to do. Employ your imagination so that you can color worldly principles the way that God sees them. Remember the bliss of being known by God. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, please keep me from returning to what will hurt me, even when it is hard.

Daily Reading: Luke 16:19-31 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 28, 2020

Psalm 1:1-2

1 Blessed is the man

    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and on his law he meditates day and night.

You can do whatever you want. But are you free to want what you want? Think about the advertising that we have shoved down our eyes and ears almost all day long. There are very few commands in those ads. Usually, they just show you how much fun, happiness, health, friends, and skinny-ness you would have if you only had that cool whatever it is. The way our lives work, we are being lead around by the desires. 

The opening of the whole Psalter, all 150 of them, is this clear either/or: if you delight in God’s ways rather than in the ways of the world, you will be blessed but if you walk, stand, and sit with those who don’t delight in God’s ways, you won’t be blessed. It’s that simple, and that difficult. What have you allowed your heart to long for? It’s a difficult question to answer, so zoom in a different way. Do you delight in God’s ways?

Prayer prompt: Lord, Your ways lead to life, pleasure and joy. Help convince my heart to delight in what is lovely.

Daily Reading: Luke 16:1-18 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 27, 2020

Romans 12:2

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

There is believing and then there is really believing. If you told me you bought me a new car as a gift, I would believe you, sort of. I would certainly believe it much more when I had the keys, saw the car, and drove it around for a couple of months. My belief would grow into certainty and my gratitude would be so much more sincere. Do we really believe, really live like we really believe God’s Word?

God has demonstrated His love, taught us His ways, and promised His return. If you are a Christian, you’ve nodded your head to each of these. But what do you live like? Do you live as though these things were really true? A big part of our walk is just remembering, soaking in, and believing what God has said. In this way, we renew our minds. We begin to see things His way, to think like He thinks. Imagine a world where people really were like Jesus. Begin that wonderful process right now.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please drive the Truth down into my mind so that I believe it all the way down.

Daily Reading: Luke 15:11-32 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

Next Steps Saturday

When we say Next Steps, we really mean just that. Salvation is conclusive. It’s like being pregnant or married. Nobody says they are sort of pregnant or only married a little. When God meets you and you believe, your account is settled. But on either side of that decision, there are degrees or steps to take.

Before you are a Christian, you have a ton of small steps to take in understanding Jesus and His offer, in understanding yourself and your need for such an offer. You have to look at evidence, expose your mind and your heart to Jesus and make a call. That takes time.

After you are a Christian, you take a pretty similar journey. Each day you open new presents of grace, find new delights and pleasures. You also have to take steps away from things that hurt you, and the cure can be painful.

What is your next step this Saturday? Make a determination. Where are you? One of the great obstacles to conversion on the one hand, or maturity on the other is a listless sort of bumping around. Today, take the step of taking charge of your search for God or your enjoyment of Him. Decide to really get moving, and let us help!

Join us weekly on YouTube Live or reach out at any time to find out more how Hope Church can help you!

April 24, 2020

Acts 2:2-3

2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

What does it mean to say God is with you? If you’re a Christian, and God promised not to leave you or forsake you, where is He now? It is so hard to be faithful to God in a real struggle when He’s just absent. The promises of the Psalms about Him being a shield about you seem hollow when you look around. The disciples had Jesus, where is God with us?

You and I need these verses. When Jesus left to go back to heaven, He said the Comforter would come. Then we get this description of what it looks like to have the Holy Spirit. A mighty rushing wind came and filled each of them with fire. God’s real presence, His voice-from-the-whirlwind, fire-on-Sinai presence is in you. If God is with us, who can stand against us? 

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to remember the way you saved me so I will trust that you still love me.

Daily Reading: Luke 14:1-24 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 23, 2020

Romans 12:10

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

What does being part of the church look like? It can get really bad. There’s a version of church that looks way more like a contest to see who can seem the most put together. It’s not about who can be most godly, but surface-level stuff like how good your kids act for 65 minutes, how snappy your outfit is, and how broad your smile can be. It becomes a battle between one proud dude who bumps chests with pristine exterior of the next more-put-together-than-you dude. Who wants that?

Paul is describing a church where the opposite takes place. A family that has true affection for each other, where each member delights to see the other lifted up. Imagine a place where people were ecstatic to see you do well, to jump on your success and celebrate them with true joy and to sit by you in your failures with genuine care and affection. That’s what God’s love does in a place. Find that church and plug in.

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to be so aware of Your love that I can show honor to others without all the competition.

Daily Reading: Luke 1:26-56 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 22, 2020

Philippians 3:20

20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

A great phrase for understanding the bible, and our place in the bible’s promises is “Already but not yet”. Jesus came to bring us salvation, true forgiveness from sin and death, to really bring us back to God. And yet, I’m not able to see Him. I already have forgiveness, God’s love, the Holy Spirit’s presence, but I’m not home.

That’s when verses like this put steel in our backbones. You can just imagine how often Paul thought about this and it kept him going. This world is terrible, but it’s not my home. Jesus came to save me, and I love Him, but I haven’t touched Him like Thomas. But I will. He’s coming. And when He comes, as Tolkein said, “All the sad things will come untrue”. Await Him with Hope!

Prayer prompt: Lord, I know the blessings I now feel are just a beginning. Help me to see what will be and rejoice in hope!

Daily Reading: Luke 13:1-21 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 21, 2020

Romans 12:1

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

There’s an old preacher saying about this verse that goes, “The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar.” Paul appeals for us to present ourselves to God, putting everything we have at His disposal, in view of the mercies He’s shown us. What are those mercies? The Romans word is Justification. He made us Just even though we are very not Just. He allows us to come into His holy presence and be His forever.

And what do we do? We crawl away. The appeal Paul makes is for us to think about and remember the mercies. That will draw us to the Father, which is the only place for us to find happiness, real security, and the love we were made for. Why crawl away?

Prayer prompt: Lord, show me Your mercies everyday, so I will run to You rather than crawl away.

Daily Reading: Luke 12:35-59 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 20, 2020

Psalm 46:4-5

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

    the holy habitation of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

    God will help her when morning dawns.

In these verses, we have a reference to something you and I probably don’t think about much. It’s the idea that your town is much harder to besiege if it has a river running through it. They may stop food from getting in, but if you have a river, you have water. It was a sign of a well tended, almost invincible city.  

The City of God is one of those cities. These verses, beautifully and poetically describe God’s city as impenetrable, a place of totally security, where all your needs are met. The Christian hope is a place where all of your fear is forgotten. In pandemic times, in violent aftershock times, find joy in remembering your true citizenship in your true city.

Prayer prompt: Lord, remind me of my true citizenship so I will move through this world, doing Your will, without fear..

Daily Reading: Luke 12:1-34 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

Next Steps Saturday

After a strange Easter, the optimists among us will be quick to point out silver linings. I count myself among their happy, unrealistic number. What was the upside to an Easter without family, physical church service, or big communal meals?

Well, depending on your family, it might be a nice thing to get away from them. And for the meals, did you really need the calories? For the church service, that’s a little harder. It is a real bummer to celebrate Easter with a screen on your couch instead of with all the people and energy of the church gathered together. What is the upside? I only know of one: sharability.

That may not be a word, but it is the best way I know to talk about an incredible benefit. Anyone, anywhere can have access to the full Hope Church Easter service. And it couldn’t be easier for them to attend or for you to invite. For the Next Step this week, make a list of 5 friends and send them the link to the Hope Church YouTube page. Take the one big advantage we see in all this and make the most of it!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQTB41oWVYs1D4hjQpkw_Tw

April 17, 2020

Luke 10:21

21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

Jesus says these words in prayer and celebration after a group of 72 of His followers return from preaching about the Kingdom. They were jazzed, as we would be, because they could cast out demons. And Jesus says, “That’s nothing, I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightening. Rejoice instead that your names are written in Heaven.” Then He sings, He rejoices over these little ones who have the Kingdom. 

There’s two options in life. You can either be the King, or bow to the King. Pride or humility. Jesus’ followers got a taste of power and started flexing, but Jesus quickly checks them. “You may be effective in ministry, but it’s only by using my name, I saw Satan fall from Heaven. Rejoice instead that you have Me.” How great is God that He would make the real joy of the Universe available to everyone? How dangerous is pride that it can keep you from it?

Prayer prompt: Lord, please protect me from pride and focus my eyes on You.

Daily Reading: Luke 10:25-42 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 16, 2020

Isaiah 55:11

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

    it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

It can seem so empty to tell yourself or others Bible verses when things are hard. In the moment of temptation, verses can sound trite or even patronizing. In the moment of deep pain, verses can sound like a platitude and insincere. In the moment of contesting for the faith, verses can seem like a weak argument. 

But remember who spoke those words, and what they’ve done so far. God, the Holy Creator and Lord of all, made everything by speaking. He upholds the Universe by the word of His power. And John started his gospel by referring to Jesus as the Word of God, the perfect expression of God given to us. To read His word, and to apply it to your life, is to touch something unspeakably powerful, something that always accomplishes what the One who spoke it purposed.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please help me remember and pray Your powerful, powerful word.

Daily Reading: Luke 10:1-24 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year

April 15, 2020

Luke 8:25

25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

What do we do with faith? It seems like a muscle we should flex. If we do it right, then miracles happen. But that’s not what this story points too. The disciples were in a boat that almost capsized in a storm. It seems really appropriate to panic. Yet, Jesus makes it clear that a little faith would have lead to entirely different reactions.

If Jesus was a man, then yes, panic. But if He’s God, why would anything make them fear? If He holds the universe together with the word of His power, doesn’t it seem silly to think He wouldn’t be aware of the weather situation and able to knock it out? If they had had faith, they could have ridden out that storm with all the joy of a kid on a roller-coaster. Marvel at God’s greatness and then watch your fears shrink away.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to live like what is true is true.

Daily Reading: Luke 9:37-62 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)  

Bible Project Video (Click or tap the Bible Project Video to watch an excellent overview of Luke’s gospel.)  

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year