New Hope Church Hilo Hawaii

It is often said, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish." As we close off this year, let's finish strong in every area of life. Jesus finished strong, in fact, He finished strong so we could start fresh.

God created such an unbelievable universe and world. Although what God created was good, what God really wanted was a relationship with us.

When God sent His Son to be born into this world, He knew how messy the world was and how much more of a mess we would find ourselves in. Jesus came into the mess to help us through it all and to strengthen us to live beyond the mess that the world brings into our lives.

Naming a baby is very time consuming, important and purposeful. Jesus was to be the One on whom "The government will be upon His shoulder." That's a heavy burden to carry. This is why He's also called, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

When Joseph learns that King Herod wants to kill the infant Jesus, they escape to Egypt until it is safe to go back to their home town in Nazareth. Joseph and Mary experience at an early age escaping difficult situations only to be met later on with other difficult situations. Regardless of what they faced, they were able to escape the grip of darkness and evil and follow the Spirit of God with character, consistency, and the calling He gave to them.

When the shepherds were out in the field watching over the sheep, an angel appeared to them and told them that a Savior has been born to them, but not just to them, to the whole world. So they went to the place where the angel said the baby would be born, and then when they saw the Child, they spread the news about Him everywhere. That baby, was Jesus. Once the shepherds were able to focus on Jesus, they had no more fear.

There are only two places where the name Immanuel is mentioned in the bible. The book of Isaiah and the book of Matthew, and Matthew is quoting Isaiah. Isaiah is a prophet, he didn’t need to prophesy that God was with us, because He always was. What he was referring to was for the first time in history we would be able to see God.

There are times in life when things are going so well, that we hope that it would be like that all the time. And then there are times when life is so difficult that we wish God would just show up and do for us what we need at the moment. When God shows up, He doesn't show up how we would like Him to at times. But our focus shouldn't be what God "didn't" do for us, our focus should be that God showed up. We're going to look at the birth of Jesus and how God showed up in an unusual way.

When Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel to tell her about the birth of Jesus, she hurried to visit her cousin Elizabeth to tell her what had happened. Elizabeth confirmed what Mary had spoken and Mary sings a song of joy. We're going to learn ten lessons from the song Mary sang to express her heart.

There are many things we turn to, to bring us satisfaction in life. If what we turn to are temporary things in the world, then the satisfaction we feel is also temporary. Jesus is the only One who can satisfy our soul, not just for the time we spend here on this earth, He's the only One who can satisfy our soul for all of eternity.

As we enter into the Thanksgiving season, we are so thankful for all that God has done in 2018! Join us as we reflect on this year, as well as look forward to what God will do in 2019!

"I am the Bread of life." Jesus invites me to come to Him on a daily basis to be renewed, restored, and refreshed so that I can become more and more the person He sees me to be. The world offers nothing of substance or freshness, but Jesus daily refreshes us to our inner most being.

Jesus likened His character with water, but He used the phrase "Living Water." What does that mean and how does that affect my life here on this earth?

When you're immersed in something, it means that it has your undivided attention. It also means that you're occupied with what you're immersed in, so nothing else can take the place of what you're immersed in. When you're immersed in a classroom, it means you're dedicated to what is happening in the classroom. When you're immersed in paint, that means you're covered with paint.

Jesus said to "Go into all the world" to reach people for Him. The world is not just around the globe, it is right here in our own backyard, and because of that, we sometimes forget to still "go" and serve people like Jesus would. We are the church that was commanded to "Go!" In other words, the church is not stationary, confined to a building, it is mobile. We are going to hear from various people groups to reach as many different ethnicities as we can.

When you lose something, your eagerness to find it is dependent on how valuable it is to you. If you lose something that's not that valuable, you don't spend time or energy looking for it. On the other-hand, the more valuable something is to you, the more time and energy you're willing to spend looking for it. Jesus gave three stories on losing something valuable, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. We're going to learn how to have a heart for what is lost...especially when it comes to people who are lost without God.

Jesus said to "Go into all the world" to reach people for Him. The world is not just around the globe, it is right here in our own backyard, and because of that, we sometimes forget to still "go" and serve people like Jesus would. We are the church that was commanded to "Go!" In other words, the church is not stationary, confined to a building, it is mobile. We are going to hear from various people groups to reach as many different ethnicities as we can.

When we become a Christian, there are many things that take place. Joy, forgiveness, repentance, and life changing decisions. With all that happens, something else can happen if we're not prepared for it. It's called, becoming a settler. When we first come to Jesus, we tell everyone of the life change and invite people to church, but over time, if we're not careful, we lose that pioneering spirit and we become a settler. We settle for knowing Jesus, rather than knowing Jesus and telling others about Him. We're going to learn what it means to move from being a settler to having a pioneering spirit once again.

How do we reach different people groups? Jesus did it by finding ways to connect to people. He was very creative with stories, illustrations, miracles, and great teaching. But the one thing He did that He wants us to model, is by using ourselves. We are the best tools to reach people. Unless we go, people will not hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We're going to learn why it's important to reach various people groups and how to do so.