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| December 07 “To the King” Hopefully by now when you hear those three words it evokes a sense of excitement within you, as it does me. King Jesus gave His life, was raised again by the POWER of God, and sent the Holy Spirit to give us that same POWER for one reason alone: to break the curse that sin and death have held over our lives! But not our lives alone, this promise is for any life that would choose to believe the Way, the Truth, and the Life. That is why the heartbeat of everything about New Hope is steadily becoming “Loving One God, Loving All People”—this is our God-destined mission here on planet earth! If you don’t believe me, see Matthew 28:18-20, John 3:16-17, or Luke 5:31-32 for starters. We are to “…live like Jesus here in this world” (I John 4:17 NLT). To live like Jesus, we must order our lives around the things He was about and do the things He called us to do! Anything less is missing the mark…that is called sin, flat-out. Our King is already out and about in the world, His Spirit is constantly at work to draw hungry people to the Father’s presence, the bakery of the Bread of Life. If we are going to the King, and the King is already out there, then we need to be out there with Him. It is time to rise up, say “Enough is enough!” to the enemy who has for far too long held the church captive by fear, apathy, and contentment, and to begin to believe the greatness that God has planted in each one of us! The Creator of the entire universe did not dream up my little life so I could exist, get stuff, and die—He destined me for greatness, something far beyond what I can even comprehend…and He destined you for greatness, too. For many, that sense of greatness has been dormant for so long, we find it hard to believe it is even there anymore. I speak to that latent greatness, “AWAKEN!” Shake off whatever is holding you back and begin to believe the greatness already in you! There are so many different things going on right now that you could get involved in to begin to let that greatness come out of hiding and shine for all to see. You could get involved with Holiday Blessings, Project SOUP, Christmas Hugs, Raymus House, or any other ministry that is already going on. These are just a few that I know that people from New Hope are involved in, but there are so many others! Do you like students and enjoy teaching them? Become a volunteer tutor at Give Every Child a Chance. Feel called to young people who are trapped in the gang lifestyle, or how about ministering to hungry children in our community? Call Ray of Hope and Laura will find a place for you. Then, beginning January 26th, we are
going to take the love of Christ to the streets. We are planning to go
out to a notorious park in town, hang out with people, serve them, give
them lunch…whatever we can think of doing! Then we will come back
every month and serve in love some more. Do you know what most excites
me? Us and them, New Hope and “those people out there” simply
mingling together and becoming the friends of God. How awesome would it
be if the police starting scratching their heads and wondering how the
crime-rate could drop so dramatically, and one of God’s friends
simply said, “It was Jesus. He changed things.”--Wouldn’t
that rock?! |