Happy Reformation Day! E-News for 10/31

Announcements

Celebration-- Sunday, November 10: We'll celebrate the McMillan Building and re-dedicate it for its future use. Join us after church for this joyous occasion!

Thank you!!-- We packed 300 sack packs last night for the kids at East Brainerd Elementary!! Thanks to your faithful giving for $.02/meal and Beth Meulenberg's generosity with her time, we're able to make a huge difference in the lives of some hungry kids in the neighborhood. Thank you!

New Hope Worship-- We're blessed to have Diane Stocker leading us in worship this Sunday! Please be in prayer for Diane as she prepares to lead worship.

Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.

#10 Cans of Sweet Potato / Yams

#10 Cans of Italian Style Green Beans

No-Bake Pumpkin / Apple Pies

No-Heat Dinner Rolls

Plastic Forks, Knives, Spoons

Dinner Napkins

Heavy Duty Sectional Dinner Plates

Dessert Plates

3 Oz. Souffle Cups

New Hope News

Wednesday Bible Study-- This coming Wednesday, David Martin from La Paz will be with us.

Pray For:

Lynn Meyer, Norma Capone& Christine Dyer

The people of Haiti, that the work God is doing there may continue to bear fruit.

Kids. Kids who are hungry because they don't have enough food. Kids who have hungry souls because they don't get enough love. Kids who act out because they don't get enough attention. Kids who are depressed because they don't have enough close friends. Kids who suffer in school because they don't have enough support. Kids who contemplate terrible things because they don't have enough hope. Kids whom we forget because we think they have enough.

Links

Want to run a local 5k at 3pm on November 17? It's only $10 and benefits a local school!

Wine & the slow work of God

Do monsters point us to God?

The Outreach Foundation—how might you participate?

Haiti Outreach Ministries. Want to join in with what God is doing in Haiti?

God is all-knowing. Does this interfere with free will?

Yes, this is a pretty cool time to be alive

Why I quit Major League Baseball

Keith's Random Thoughts

The national food of Haiti, we were told, is pumpkin soup. (We had it one night for dinner. It's pretty tasty soup. It's not a pureed pumpkin, and clearly has nothing to do with the Libby's canned pumpkin that makes up our pies. Here's a recipe.)

The reason for this is that when Haiti was ruled by the French, they apparently weren't allowed to eat pumpkins. So now, whenever they get the chance to make pumpkin soup, they are reminded of their freedom. They celebrate their liberation on January 1, and the pumpkin soup is part of the ritual that reminds them of the history of their country. (I asked a Haitian what he loved most about his country. His response: The history. Here is a brief summary of Haiti's history. This is a longer summation.)

Now, the history of Haiti is not exactly a string of uninterrupted triumphs. There are some awful chapters in their history. (This is certainly true of America, too. I think it's probably true of most countries.) But I think the Haitian history is a story of people overcoming remarkable challenges. They continue to work together to overcome whatever history throws their way. From the French rule to the Duvalier reign to the recent national disasters, they have overcome. This must give them hope for the future, for they can be confidant that they will overcome whatever appears on the horizon.

As Christians, our history is important, too. The Bible is our primary history, and it tells the story of how God has always been with us, of how God has always shepherded us and how he will continue to do so in the years to come. We learn about God's promises and the wondrous story of salvation.

The Bible isn't just history, though. It's also a mission statement.

In Scripture, we learn about the purpose of the church. The church, we see, has a greater purpose than just serving itself. It's meant to participate in God's greater mission. We are called as disciples, but that calling is also a sending. We're sent into the world to tell the story of the Gospel and to demonstrate it by our works. Resting comfortably for our entire lives is not an option, though there is a place for rest. We are sent to every corner of the world, including our own backyards. Our lives are meant to be active participation in God's ongoing work of redeeming the world.

So how will we participate? Will we sit down with our neighbors and learn their story, hear their history, share their joys and struggles, building relationships through which the Gospel might spread? Will we spend time with the needy in our own towns, hearing about their history and helping shine the light of hope into their lives through our selfless service? Will we travel to distant places, partnering with individuals to learn their history and join them in looking for the hope in their own situations, sharing the love of God? The answer, I believe, is yes. There are different chapters and different seasons in which our activities may look different, but we should always have our eyes open to see what God is up to and where God is calling us.

We are invited to live the Good News in all we do. We are called into the grace of God, but we are also sent out, not to leave the church behind but to join in with what Christ's church is doing in all the world, near and far. May we be faithful to our calling and active in our service.

Text for this Sunday

Luke 19:1-10 (ESV)

He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

NewHopeChattanooga.org

New Hope on Facebook & Twitter

New Hope on iTunes

Keith's Blog & Devotionals for your Kindle

Reflections on Haiti

  It's hard to put words to the 3 days I experienced in Haiti.  I traveled with the Outreach Foundation, an organization that is seeking to partner Christians around the world to join with what God is doing.  We spent our time with Haiti Outreach Ministries, a Haitian ministry that is doing some wonderful work throughout Haiti.

  It was hard to be in Haiti.  The poverty and desperation there are so overwhelming that it is easy to throw one's hands up in despair.  We drove up a mountain and looked out over the valley in which Port Au Prince sits, and looking down on that city of several million it's easy to feel like small efforts cannot make a difference in the face of such poverty.  Driving through Port Au Prince is one continuous assault on the senses.  The smell of smog mixes with the din of throngs of people lining the streets.  The garbage strewn across the street and the density of the people pressing in tempts one to withdraw to the comforts of home, to catch the next plane and retreat, far from such chaos, where life seems to hang by a tenuous thread as flames leap up and surround, threatening to bring the entire system crashing down upon itself.

  And yet, in the midst of the tumult, God is at work doing great things.  Surrounded by poverty so desperate it makes one grateful to have a simple pair of pants, the church of Jesus Christ is tilling soil, sowing seeds, and watering the green shoots that promise peace in years to come.

  Let me say that the Haitians I met were some of the most gracious people I have ever met.  The love of God that is at work within them shines forth as they welcomed us to their country.  They were pleased for us to be there and encouraged us to bring others to come and see what God is doing.  They said that, given the choice, they would rather us spend the money on a plane ticket and come build a relationship with them than simply send them the money.  They desire relationships, trusting that those relationships will help foster the ongoing work of God in Haiti.

  It was the Haitians who kept offering signs of encouragement.  When despair seemed close at hand, they pointed to the progress that has been made, to the works of the church that are all around Haiti.  They reminded me of the children that have progressed through the school and the hundreds more that are currently enrolled.  They talked about health ministries and vocational schools that are working, one by one, to elevate Haitians to new levels of leadership.  They believe in the power of the individual and trust in God to do great things through them.

  That picture right there?  Those are pies, made by hand in Cite Soleil, the poorest slum in the poorest country in the western hemisphere.  Know what is heartbreaking?  They are made of mud.  Mud pies, eaten because there is nothing else to fill the belly.

  There are people in the world eating mud.  At this point, standing in the slum, surrounded by metal shacks smaller than my living room, with two children clutching my hands and crushing poverty all around me, I was ready to choose despair.

  It was the Haitians themselves, the ones who are hard at work investing in the lives of those around them, who reminded me of what God is doing, of the tremendous things they have witnessed over the years and of the promise of more to come.

  They invite us to partner with them, to join with what God is doing, to come and see.  Mud pies may be the present, but they do not have to be the future.  May we all seek to participate in the divine economy, where people matter more than profits, where we invest in those with whom we share this globe and trust in God to lead us forward into a future of hope.

10/24 New Hope E-News

Announcements

Trunk or Treat-- Saturday, October 26 from 2-4! Join us for this celebration! Bring your car and decorate your trunk to give away candy. If you'd like to donate candy to be given away, please speak with Lynne Brock or Judy Smith. Also, they're looking for donations of Little Debbie items for a cake walk.

Potluck!-- This Sunday!

New Hope Worship-- We're blessed to have Rev. Don Kaller leading us in worship this Sunday! Please be in prayer for Don as he prepares to lead worship.

Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.

#10 Cans of Sweet Potato / Yams

#10 Cans of Italian Style Green Beans

No-Bake Pumpkin / Apple Pies

No-Heat Dinner Rolls

Plastic Forks, Knives, Spoons

Dinner Napkins

Heavy Duty Sectional Dinner Plates

Dessert Plates

3 Oz. Souffle Cups

New Hope News

Sunday School—This Sunday, we'll continue our study the 6th chapter of Matthew, which is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.

Wednesday Bible Study-- We start our Bible study at 6:30 and will be exploring the kings of Israel.

Pray For:

Lynn Meyer, Norma Capone& Christine Dyer

Folks in your city that just don't have enough. Not enough time, not enough money, not enough support, not enough hope. It's easy to sit and judge them and offer advice about how they could gain more. It's much harder to love them and pray for them and help them.

Links

How to not be alone

Designer babies?

An interview with Obama's spiritual advisor

Our Crystal Palace

What is an atheist?

The thief that resides in your alarm clock

Ever wonder who is the 21st person in line for the British throne? Wonder no more!

Keith's Random Thoughts

(This got wordy. I'm not apologizing--just preparing you. If you're looking for some concise & wise thoughts... well, then “Keith's Random Thoughts” probably isn't the place for you!)

It's really tempting to run and hide.

Just this morning, someone got shot in bank robbery here in Chattanooga. A teacher has been found murdered in Massachusetts. I'm sure the headline violence in Syria, Afghanistan, & Iraq continues. Thousands of other events, small but meaningful brutalities, continue around the globe. Many won't even make the evening news, but they persist, trees falling in the forest of noise that ought to shock us, shake us, but instead leave us numb. We turn off the news, fade from the headlines, and the crazy world spins on.

It's so tempting to run and hide.

I'm off for Haiti tomorrow, a place that doesn't seem to know what life without chaos is like. I could list the reasons for suffering, but I doubt they can be counted. They are probably best measured by the sadness in the eyes of those who have witnessed corruption, disaster, disease and strife.

I'll be honest and admit that a large part of me doesn't want to go. I want to stay home with my wife and children, to hear the cackling laughter of my son and watch my daughter's widening eyes. I want to lock the door and leave the chaos at bay and pretend that all is well in the world. It's tempting.

I believe that God is renewing the world, and that there will be final redemption, when all the sin and sorrow will be washed clean from the earth. All residue of its existence will vanish, just as we forget about our rubbish the moment the garbage truck disappears down the street. It will simply be gone.

But I also believe that evil will fight on until the very last, thrashing about like the dying beast that it is, whipping its threatened tail and entwining countless lives in its wake. Those going about the business of life will suddenly find the chaos of evil descending unexpectedly upon them, and then there will be darkness.

I believe that God still speaks into the darkness, into the chaos, into the violence: Let there be light.

Our ultimate hope is in Christ, the light of the world. His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overwhelm it. For those caught up in darkness, Christ's light will continue to shine. Because of the resurrection, we can peel back the shroud of death and see that light shines even there. Where violence attempts to speak with finality, it finds its false truth repudiated by a greater Truth. What evil tries to crush, Christ resurrects.

We must remember this. If we forget this, we will surely despair in the face of all the evil in the world. If our fingers slip from our grip on the solid foundation of Christ's Easter hope, how can we face a world in desperate need of hope that is greater than its problems? No victor humanity can raise up is stronger than the forces of evil that bombard our every facet of life.

We must also live into this. We cannot retreat and withdraw into our fortresses, boarding up the doors and windows and hoping that evil will stay far from us. I will not pretend that I am striding boldly into the world to engage with all that is being thrown at us. We are all so very tempted to run and hide. But we must find ways to live into our hope. We must stand tall and proclaim that the chaos will not consume us, that the maelstrom will not win. We all need hope, and those of us who believe that our hope will win need to be a beacon for those who are searching for hope in the midst of the chaos.

I don't even know where to begin. I don't think we need to figure out how to fix it all at once, because that problem is more daunting than my feeble imagination can handle. Perhaps our next step is with the next person we meet, the next troubled student we come across or the next anxious soul that crosses our path. Maybe these tiny acts of selflessness that seek to shatter what isolates us will begin to spiderweb across our neighborhoods and towns and states and country, and maybe as we begin to build meaningful relationships that address the deepest hurts within our lives we'll begin to recognize the ways the light of hope is shining for us today. While I believe there is much that God is doing in Haiti and I'm anxious to see it, I don't think we all need to pick up and go to Haiti. God is at work here and now, and somehow we need the Holy Spirit strength to fight back against that temptation to run and hide. I'm no expert at this. I love pretending that I am safe. I like the thought of being safe. We all do. To a certain extent, we need this.

But we also need to recognize that in our baptisms, we have already died in Christ, and since he has been raised we, too, have been raised. Our resurrection has already taken place—death has been defeated. In Christ, the future is secure.

If we believe that is true, then the chaos and violence ought not to make us afraid. If we believe that we are alive forever, and if we believe that nothing (not even death!) can separate us from the love of God, then we are free from fear, right? Because whatever happens to us, we know the answer of God in Christ is 'Yes'.

In my head I know this to be true. I pray for the courage to let my heart believe it, to fall into the promises of God, and to be transformed by such a fact. I don't know what the future holds, and I'm often scared by the thought of what might happen. I pray for God's wisdom to change my mind and my heart, that I might trust in what has already happened, and know that the certainty of resurrection in the future might allay my fears and allow me to use my time faithfully, that I might be changed by the living hope in Jesus Christ.

Text for this Sunday

John 4:43-54 (ESV)

43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 

51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

NewHopeChattanooga.org

New Hope on Facebook & Twitter

New Hope on iTunes

Keith's Blog & Devotionals for your Kindle

Money Matters: A sermon on giving to the church (10/20/13)

Matthew 16:13-20 

  13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

  17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

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What is valuable enough for you to sacrifice for?

How many of you have ever helped a friend move?  We can all agree that it’s usually a miserable experience.  It never fails that there are at least 3 flights of stairs at both ends, it takes longer than expected, and it’s usually 100 degrees inside.  If you’re lucky, you get a free meal out of it. 

So why do we do it?  Why do we ever help friends move? 

Because we value the relationship.  If a total stranger calls you this afternoon and asks you to move, you probably won’t do it, but if a good friend asks, you might be willing, because you value the relationship to such an extent that you’re willing to sacrifice for the benefit of the relationship.  You’ll give up your energy and time because you value the relationship. 

What is valuable enough for you to sacrifice for?

I’ve read that raising a child costs upward of $250,000, and that’s just to get them to the age of 18.  We have a strict policy in our house when it comes to talking about the cost of college—we don’t.  $250,000 spread out over 18 years works out to around $14,000/year.  I have to imagine I could come up with some great ways to spend $14,000 every year.  But instead of thinking about that, we invest it in our children.  Why?  They’re important.  They’re worth sacrificing for.

We all have things we sacrifice for.  Men—ever held your wife’s purse?  You’ve sacrificed some dignity to help her out.  Women—ever pretended you were interested in whatever sports game was on television?  You’ve sacrificed some of your time to build a relationship.  We sacrifice in little ways, and we do it in big ways.  If things didn’t matter to us, we’d stop sacrificing for them.  When relationships fall apart, it’s often because the relationship has ceased to matter to us, and we stop giving of our time and our energy and our heart.  We close up shop because walls are being built.  It’s ceased to be worthy of sacrifice.

So we learn what really matters to people by how much they’re willing to sacrifice for it.  Ultimately, our checkbooks can probably tell a story of what is important to us.  The single biggest item in most of our budgets is probably housing—we sacrifice our money because it’s important to have a place to live.

So if we determine what is important to someone by what they’re willing to sacrifice for it, we can determine what is important to God by what God is willing to sacrifice for, right?

So what does Scripture tell us?

Scripture tells us a story of a God who never stops pursuing us.  From the very first sin to the last verse in Revelation, God pursues us with his amazing love.  When God could have easily turned his back on us, he continued to pour out love and grace so that we might be restored and redeemed.  God sends countless prophets and angels to open our eyes to his constant grace, and when none of those messages make it through our thick skulls, God sends his own Son, Jesus Christ.  God sends his Son not only to show us the awesome power of God, but also to prove to us his love when he ascends the cross and dies for us.  Humanity is so important to God that he is willing to sacrifice his own Son so that the relationship between God and humans might be restored.  God will pay any price to fix what we have broken. 

So the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross demonstrates that humanity is valuable to God.

So if we believe that what matters to God should matter to us, then the church ought to matter deeply to us, too.  Which means that we ought to be willing to sacrifice for the sake of the church.

Why the church?  Why isn’t this just about our individual faith?  Why can’t we just focus on personal salvation and not worry about the complicated relationships that are involved with being a body of believers?

Because nowhere in the Bible does it encourage us to shun the community of faith because they are inconvenient or challenging for us.  In fact, God makes a point of using flawed people to build his church.  Doing so, God proves that it’s not about the strength or wisdom of the individual, but rather it’s about the power of God working through people.

Here, in our reading today, Jesus tells Peter that the church will be built upon Peter.  This is the same Peter that is later found denying Christ.  This is flawed, imperfect Peter, the fisherman turned disciple.  Peter, imperfect Peter, is the rock upon which Christ will build his church.

And what a church it is. 

Do you realize that the church is the only eternal organization of which you can be a part?

Think about it—everything else you ever join will eventually fade away.  Whatever you have membership in, whatever you join, will pass away at some point, but the church never will.  Christ promises as much here in our Scripture reading—he tells us that even the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.  Nothing can stand against it, and in the book of Revelation we see the church reaching its full potential, when Christ descends from heaven to meet his bride.  The church will stand forever.

And so this is why we give to the church.  We give to the church because the church matters to God, and we give to the church because the church will last forever.  The church has a mission—to go forth and make disciples of all people.  There is no plan B beyond the church—God will use the church to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.  You have the chance to make the church important in your own life by giving to it.

Now, how do we give to the church?

We give in different ways.  We give our time to the church when we gather to worship and when we volunteer.  We give our energy to the church when we participate in Sunday School and other functions of the church.  And we give our money to the church.

All of these are important, but I want to say a few words about money in particular, for one reason.  If your child walks into the house holding a leaf and a snake, which one are you more worried about?  Do you wonder if the leaf is poison ivy, or do you go straight for the snake?  You reach for the snake, because that’s more likely to be dangerous, right?

In the same way, we need to talk about money here in the church.  In Timothy, the love of money is called the root of all evil.  Jesus talks about money constantly.  Money is powerful, and whether we are rich or poor, it can easily hold sway over our hearts and minds.  So we need to pay attention to money, and giving money away is one of the most powerful ways to combat its influence in our lives.

When we give away money, we break its allure over us.  When we give away money freely, we are making a statement that accumulating as much wealth as possible is not the single most important thing in our lives.  When we give away money, we are acknowledging that it was a gift to us in the first place, so we are freed to give some of it back.  When we give away money, we declare that what is important to Christ is important to us.  When we give money to the church, we are boldly fighting against greed.

So we give money to the church.  In doing so, we our placing the church first in our checkbooks and first in our hearts.  In doing so, we are sacrificing for something important, the only organization that will stand forever, the organization that will stand firm against the gates of hell.  In giving to the church, we are joining in the work of God’s kingdom and acknowledging Christ’s Lordship over all of our lives.

Let us pray

Oct 17 New Hope E-News

Announcements

Trunk or Treat-- Saturday, October 26 from 2-4! Join us for this celebration! Bring your car and decorate your trunk to give away candy. If you'd like to donate candy to be given away, please speak with Lynne Brock or Judy Smith. Also, they're looking for donations of Little Debbie items for a cake walk.

Money Matters-- We're going to spend the next three weeks talking about money in the church and what God's Word has to say about it. This week? Why We Give to the Church

Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.

#10 Cans of Sweet Potato / Yams

#10 Cans of Italian Style Green Beans

No-Bake Pumpkin / Apple Pies

No-Heat Dinner Rolls

Plastic Forks, Knives, Spoons

Dinner Napkins

Heavy Duty Sectional Dinner Plates

Dessert Plates

3 Oz. Souffle Cups

New Hope News

Sunday School—This Sunday, we'll continue our study the 6th chapter of Matthew, which is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.

Elder Nominations—Please be in prayer for our nominating committee as they seek out leaders for Christ's church. If there is someone you would like to see be an elder, please speak with them before nominating them. Rosie Sanislo is heading up the committee this year.

Wednesday Bible Study-- We start our Bible study at 6:30 and will be exploring the kings of Israel.

Pray For:

Lynn Meyer, Norma Capone& Christine Dyer

Our schools—for the kids, the teachers, the parents and everyone else. Pray for support and encouragement and wisdom.

Links

Worth reading—one pastor's reply to the separation of church & state

How will we feed the world?

What if Jesus meant what he said?

Want to give your input on the Eastgate Library?

Keith's Random Thoughts

Not too many random thoughts today. I've spent most of it in the car. The most pressing thought I've had recently is a recognition that I'm asking the wrong question. I always want to know if I'm good enough... I long to honor God with my life, but when I focus on knowing whether or not I'm good enough, I've got the binoculars turned around the wrong way. I'm trying to honor God by staring at myself.

The answer to “Am I good enough?” is always no. Our model is Jesus Christ. None of us measure up to him.

Thankfully, we don't have to be good enough. Jesus Christ was. He was good enough, he was worthy, and he stood in our place and took our punishment. The question we need to ask is, “Am I willing to accept his grace and trust in his love, that his strength will be sufficient, or will I keep trying to do it on my own to 'prove' to God that I'm a good disciple?” That's often what we're trying to do, but God doesn't need us to earn our way into his love. He wants us to accept his love as the unconditional gift that it is, and once we've done that we're free to let it transform us. But we have to let God do the work, rather than try and do it on our own.

It's not easy. But it's incredibly freeing. Thanks be to God.

Text for this Sunday

Matthew 16:13-20 (ESV)

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

NewHopeChattanooga.org

New Hope on Facebook & Twitter

New Hope on iTunes

Keith's Blog & Devotionals for your Kindle

Reference Points

  What's your reference point?

  Yesterday afternoon I ran a local 5k fun run that was put on by the East Hamilton Ministerial Association.  It was a beautiful day, and though I haven't run much I'm trying to get back into it.  I felt pretty good and ended up finishing the race in 24:37, a pace of around 7:57.  I finished around 10 minutes behind the winner, one of those 15 year old kids who can probably run all day and never get tired.

  Now, in the world of marathons that threaten the two hour mark, my time isn't very fast at all.  The speeds at which the fastest runners compete are mind-boggling to me.  I wish I could run like that, but I'll never get there--I just have to strive to run as well as I can.

  Compared to the race I ran a month ago, which I finished just a shade under 26 minutes, my pace yesterday was pretty good.  When I look back over the landscape of this medically-challenging year, I'm happy just to be able to run.  If I use that as a reference point, I'm feeling pretty good about my race.

  So when we look at our walk with Christ, we have to recognize there are two reference points.  We look forward to Christ, the pioneer of our faith.  He walked the perfect walk, lived the perfect life, and we can never duplicate that.  In my wildest dreams, I cannot hope to live a sinless life.  I can't keep myself from getting angry at someone or refusing to turn the other cheek.  I sin and fall short.

  But when I look back at previous years, do I see myself growing?  Am I growing up in Christ, maturing?  When I look back at the last year, and the years before that, how do I compare?  Am I taking on more of the challenge of discipleship, or am I content just to coast?  If I use last year as a reference point, how do I look?

  We have to continue to grow.  When we use our own past as a reference point, we should be able to see places where we are growing.

  When we look to Christ, it should challenge us to strive forward, to push harder, to seek continued growth in our discipleship.  It should keep us from getting lazy.  We should always remember that there is grace enough for our failures, but we cannot use that as an excuse to remain content and just coast throughout life.

  So may we strive to run our race well, that when we come to end we recognize how much we have grown, and as we look to Christ, we can see how much farther we still have to go, and give thanks for the grace to cross the divide and be made complete in Him.

Money Matters: Why We Give (A sermon for 10/13/13)

Revelation 4:1-6 

 4 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

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I can be talked into a number of things.  If you suggest something and it sounds like it might be fun, I’m usually pretty willing to try it, even if I have no prior experience or no idea how such a thing might get done.  This is how I was convinced to be a cheerleader my senior year of high school.  I believe the exact sentence was, “Keith, come and be a cheerleader with me.”  I didn’t put up much resistance.

In a similar vein, a good friend convinced me to run the Chicago marathon with her my senior year of college.  It didn’t take much convincing, but I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous about running that marathon.  The idea of running a race that would take 30 minutes to drive has always been intimidating to me.  I went running last Friday and it felt like I had ran for about 30 minutes.  Sure enough, I had been running for an entire 12 minutes.  Olympics, here I come. 

So I set out to train for the Chicago marathon over the summer.  How does one go about training for a marathon?  How would you prepare to run for 4 hours?  You run.  A lot.  It’s not much fun, either.  By the end of the summer, I had upped my distance to about 12 miles.  Otherwise known as about half of a marathon.  I was running a lot, and yet I wasn’t even close to my goal.  The only way to get there, though, was to run even more. 

How does the story end?  With a glorious finish of a great race?  Nope.  I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t have survived the race, but it worked out ok, since I tore my knee up and needed surgery anyway.  I’ve never been so happy to tear cartilage. 

The moral of the story:  don’t run marathons.  It’s a race that killed the first guy that ran it.  It’s just not a good way to start a tradition.

The second, and more important moral? 

The only way to become good at something is to practice it.

Want to be a better runner?  You need to run.

Want to be a good cook?  Spend time in the kitchen.

Want to be a great writer?  Write constantly.

Want to be a great parent?  Spend lots of time with your kids.

We could go on and on and on, but it holds true for anything—if you want to be very good at something, you practice it over and over and over and over.  If you know you have something ahead of you, it would be wise to invest your time practicing for that event.

The reason for this discussion on a sermon about why we give?

Because we have heaven in front of us.  And if heaven is going to be eternity caught up in the essence of God, we should do everything we can to prepare ourselves for that.  Which means that we need to be thinking about what kind of traits God has.  Who is God, at his very essence?

I believe that God, at the core, is a generous giver.

Why do I believe that?

Well, let’s read this scene from Revelation 4. 

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

Now, does that sound like a picture where anything is lacking?  Does that sound like a scene where, if you were in the middle of it, you’d feel empty?  You could get used to this, right?  You wouldn’t feel compelled to add anything, would you?

But God wanted to include others in this.  He wanted to include us.  He didn’t need us.  He didn’t need to create anything.  God wasn’t bored.  But God is so generous that he decided to create humans and then invite them into this amazing reality.

So God creates an entire universe out of love, freely, and then creates humans in his own image.  Guess what the humans do?

They turned their back on God.  Treated God like God was nothing.

What does God do?  Does God retreat to the perfection of heaven?  Does God turn his back on his ungrateful creation?

He does the opposite.  He continues to reach out to us in love, he continues to send prophets and messengers to call his people back.  He longs for his people to live in communion with him, and he’ll do anything he can.

Even send his own son to die on a cross to redeem the people.  There is no expense too great for God to stand between him and his creation.

All of this is done as a free gift.  We haven’t earned it.  We don’t deserve it.  When we were dead, God gave us life.  When we were mired in despair, God gave us hope.  When we deserve to end our lives at the grave, God builds a bridge and invites us into this throne scene that John depicts in Revelation 4.  We are given a scene in the midst of this!  God has freely prepared a place for us in this room!

It’s all a free gift from a generous God.  It’s an amazing, wondrous gift.  Freely given. 

So that’s the type of God we worship.  I believe that this God, the Trinitarian God who dwells in eternal perfection, is a generous God, constantly giving to us.  The very essence of the Trinity is generous—God is constantly pointing to Jesus—This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased—who is constantly pointing back to God—that they will see your works and give glory to my Father in heaven—and the Holy Spirit is pointing others at God.  It’s a big circle of selfless love.

And we’re going to be invited into the midst of that.

So how do we prepare to be swallowed up in the generous love of God?

We live generously.  In order to prepare for the eternal generosity that is before us, we ought to live with generous hearts.  Our giving here on earth prepares us for the reality of heaven.  God has given freely to us, and so we ought to give freely to others.

Friends, God has given freely and generously to you.  The life that beats within your chest?  It’s a gift.  The last breath you took?  A gift.  Your ability to work?  Gift.  Family, friends and other loved ones?  Gift.  Hope beyond death?  A gift.  Salvation from sin?  Gift.

It’s all a gift, freely given.  When we give, we imitate Christ, who selflessly gave everything, to the point of death on a cross.  When we give, we are at our best, living closest to the image of God in which we were created.  When we give, we are reminded that it is all a gift, that it is not ours, that our purpose is not to hoard but to glorify God.  We use our gifts to direct praise to God, to affirm that all that we have is not our own, that all people are in this together, to affirm the common good within one another.

To whom much has been given, Jesus says, much is required.  Let us give freely, for we have freely given entrance into the throne room.  May we spend our time here on earth preparing.

Let us pray

October 10 New Hope E-News

Announcements

Detergent-- We continue to collect detergent for the Samaritan Center. Linda Brandon tells me Purex is buy 1, get 2 free at Walgreens again!

Trunk or Treat-- Saturday, October 26 from 2-4! Join us for this celebration! Bring your car and decorate your trunk to give away candy. If you'd like to donate candy to be given away, please speak with Lynne Brock or Judy Smith. Also, they're looking for donations of Little Debbie items for a cake walk.

Money Matters-- We're going to spend the next three weeks talking about money in the church and what God's Word has to say about it. This week? Why We Give

Room in the Inn-- Tonight!! Chattanooga Room in the Inn will be celebrating their anniversary from 5-8pm at Lyndsay Street Hall. Speak with Lizz if you're interested.

Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.

#10 cans - mixed vegetables / peas

#10 cans fruit

Dinner napkins

Plastic forks / spoons

Dry milk

New Hope News

Sunday School—This Sunday, we'll continue our study the 5th chapter of Matthew, which is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.

Elder Nominations—Please be in prayer for our nominating committee as they seek out leaders for Christ's church. If there is someone you would like to see be an elder, please speak with them before nominating them. Rosie Sanislo is heading up the committee this year.

Wednesday Bible Study-- We start our Bible study at 6:30 and will be exploring the kings of Israel.

Pray For:

Lynn Meyer, Norma Capone& Christine Dyer

Robert Gerskin, Max's dad, who went through surgery yesterday

The church, that it might be ever faithful

Our government, that God might lead them with a spirit of wisdom and humility

Links

Gravity

Encouragement for all the teachers out there—you make a difference!

Stories from Syria

Were the church fathers pro-life?

This means that the odds of acing the SAT by guessing are worse than the odds of every living ex-President and every member of the main cast of Firefly all being independently struck by lightning … on the same day.

Keith's Random Thoughts

Know what's crazy?

In 8 years, I'll be almost 40.

In 14 years, Caleb will be driving.

In 35 years, my daughter will be ready to be married.

It's easy to do this—to look into the future and wonder about what might be. When we do this, we get anxious. (Well, at least I get anxious. I think it's a pretty safe assumption to say that you might get anxious, too.) We worry about what might come to pass. We worry about things that will never be. We invest nervous energy in things that are far off in the distance.

I freely admit my anxieties. I've been seeing a therapist at a minimum of once a month for the past 9 years to help me get through them. Lately, I've really turned a corner in the struggle. The key?

Gratitude.

When I start worrying about the future (or the lack thereof), I stop myself and say thank you to God for the fact that there is a present. When I worry about tomorrow, I thank God for today. When the entirety of my energies is focused upon things that may come to pass, I redirect them into recognizing all the wondrous things that actually are. At night, when I'm in bed awake at 3 a.m. & wondering if I'm about to die, I give thanks to God for the fact that at that moment, I am alive. I give thanks for a roof over my head and the relationships that surround me. I give thanks for a Savior to shepherd me through the shattered veil of death, and I give thanks for the endless love of God.

When I get anxious about Caleb's future, I give thanks for his present.

When tomorrow seems too big to handle, I give thanks to God for taking care of today.

When I worry about Danielle and those filthy men that will try and ask her out, well, then I research convents.

Nobody's perfect.

Text for this Sunday

Revelation 4:1-6 (ESV)

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 

4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings[a] and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

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