Living Hope Va

I have to believe that God looked high and low for a man with Joseph’s faith and willingness to serve in such a special capacity.  He found Mary who basically said to God, “your will be done.”  But could God find a man for her who could match that kind of faith? Could God find a man just as willing?

 Let me ask every Bible believing follower of Jesus.  How easy was it to believe when you first did?  Things were revealed to you.  The lights came on.  Was it easy?  Maybe it was.  Could Jesus have made it easier?There’s a distinct possibility that He could have.

"I want to know God and serve God. I want fruit from my life, whatever prayer, whatever is happening in my life, whatever it takes, where you can get the most fruit, the  most good. Lord, when I start kicking and screaming remember this prayer…and he does."

Let’s face it, I can make a VERY compelling argument for a time when it is necessary and appropriate to praise our God.  And it’s always time to praise our God!  We always want to praise our God and glorify Him.Except and listen to what I have to say.Except when its not.  Except when it’s time to be silent...Except when it’s appropriate to get one on one with our God and say, “It’s your turn to speak"

Gossip is a nasty thing, wouldn’t you say?  I’m not going to ask who in here has ever partaken in gossip because last week we could laugh a little about lying but there is something a little darker about gossip.

"Here’s the thing – if you declare Jesus as your savior – good news, you are powerful. You have choices to make and you have the power of Holy Spirit to guide you. If you are telling lies, believing lies and living a lie – guess what you CAN overcome this with Holy Spirit help."

"Are we allowed to judge people? We are judgmental by nature. And on top of that, the world will all but tell us that are just forbidden to judge anyone no matter what decision they made. It’s not a very good distinction. But we are to discern what is right and wrong and we should make a point to."

 "Don’t know who I’m speaking to—Life might be difficult—don’t complain, don’t speak negative words over the situation CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE, CHANGE YOUR WORDS."

 "And it’s funny to me that you and I know that the closer we get to God the more like Him we become.  But for someone who doesn’t know our God there is the practical question: what is God like?  You don’t need to look much further than the ten commandments.  Because those are the things that God is."

 "And Jesus responded accordingly.  “Get behind me, Satan.” But Jesus didn’t say it to insult Peter...He needed Peter to understand the severity of the accusation...He needed Peter to know that if you want Jesus, you can’t just have parts of Him...you have to accept all of Him."

There is an enemy out there without apology, without remorse, without pity and who would like nothing more than to control you the way that Jezebel controlled Ahab.Will you let him?

And ever since the creation of family by God, the devil has done everything he can to destroy it.  Why?  Because it presents one of the biggest threats to him and his evil plan for the world...When done correctly family presents something better. It encourages selflessness. Love.  There is something to answer to."

"Why on Earth would a prophet of God serve the most wicked King in the whole Bible?  Honestly, I believe that it’s a simple answer, it’s because it’s where God wanted him.  A difficult place and not many people would understand."

 "It’s because after Elijah experienced one of the biggest external displays of who God is, it still wasn’t enough and God said, “You know what you need?  You need something deeper.  You need something more personal.  You need an encounter.”

 "And if all He ever wanted was for us to be happy, there would never be a storm in our lives. Let me ask everyone a simple question, has anyone here ever had a storm? Something that was a challenge. Something that was hard, and you didn’t know how you were going to get through it?"

God gives us precise instructions on how to treat people. When faced with confrontation, we must be kind and examine our motives not to appear hypocritical; however, we cannot be pushovers. So what do we do? Join Pastor Bill as he draws from the life of Elijah to illustrate just how to hand our troubles over to God.

"I hear him say let's go on a journey with him. Let's go deeper. I want to show you the secrets, change the way you think so you can have greater freedom, greater joy…This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of the LORD knows how to set you free." Please join Living Hope Church for a special three part mini-series on healing and deliverance. In this first part, speaker Sarah Williams of Open Bible East shares a message of hope and the freedom that can be found in releasing pain to Jesus.

As Christians, do the choices of non-Christians offend? Are we expecting them to follow the way Jesus does? Is part of the problem the fact we try to minister to non-believers from a book they do not believe in? Join Pastor Bill as shares what we as believers can do speak life while remaining unoffendable.

If you were an Old Testament prophet and you knew that the king's actions could have a profound effect on the kingdom, would you speak up? Join Pastor Bill as he explores this tough question and discusses the potential curses, as well as the blessings, of being bold.

In today's culture, we are terrifed when we see someone we love making a mistake, yet we remain silent. Why? What is it about the thought of confronting a friend that sends us into panic mode? Join Pastor Bill as he draws from the relationship of David and Nathan to illustrate the power that loving confrontation has to change hearts.