New Hope Church Messages

As Paul heads home to Antioch to end his second missionary journey, we are reminded to submit our daily lives, decisions, and plans to the Lord’s will.

Despite things going well in Corinth, Paul begins to see a familiar pattern emerging that usually ends with him being beaten within an inch of his life or thrown in prison, and having to flee persecution before he is murdered. But the Lord comes to Paul as he sleeps, speaks encouragement, and intervenes to change the course of events.

Paul moves on to the city of Corinth, where God "shepherds" Paul by leading him into a season of rest before returning him to full-time ministry with wonderful results.

Paul finds himself on the Acropolis of Athens before the Areopagus - the city’s rulers and leading philosophers, who ask him to share the message he has been preaching in the agora (the city’s marketplace).

After being forced to flee Thessalonica due to persecution, Paul moves on to Berea, where he encounters a synagogue of “noble” men and women who receive the Gospel “with eagerness”.

Once again, Paul’s powerful Gospel preaching evokes strong reactions both positively and negatively, bringing new souls into the Kingdom and stirring up a mob that seeks to drive him and Silas out of Thessalonica with the charge that they are “turning the world upside down.”

When Paul and Silas left Philippi, they made their way to Thessalonica. And they didn’t waste any time before they began sharing the Gospel with the people there! As we look back at how Paul evangelized in that city, we can gain some practical insights that will help us share the good news of Jesus wherever He has placed us today.

In this Bible study, we’ll see the aftermath of Paul and Silas’ run-in with the city magistrates in Philippi, how they handled brutal persecution, and how the Philippian church grew in grace and sanctification by supporting Paul’s ministry.

While Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke were sharing the gospel in Philippi, Paul cast an evil spirit out of a slave girl. Their reward for working such a powerful miracle in the name of Jesus? Intense persecution. In this message, we’ll look at what happened in Philippi and learn how persecution is inseparable from the Christian faith. 

Paul and his team take the Gospel into Europe for the first time starting with the city of Philippi, where they encounter two very different women - one a picture a freedom, the other a picture of slavery.

Paul and Barnabas have a heated disagreement, part ways, and head out on new journeys to visit the churches they had planted previously and preach the Gospel.

The Apostle James settles the Jerusalem Council with a letter to the Antioch Church that calls Gentile Christians to cut all ties with pagan idolatry and sexual immorality and affirms their identity as full members of the Church.

Paul, Barnabas, and some of the other brothers from Antioch journey to Jerusalem for the first apostolic council to answer the vital question, "What must a man do to be saved?"

The crowd in Lystra goes from hailing Paul as a god one day to trying to stone him to death the next. We’ll look at what causes such dramatic changes in people’s attitudes toward the Gospel, and why it is God’s plan that we go through trials in this life.

After being expelled from Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas head into the countryside and preach the Gospel in the provincial town of Lystra. After healing a lame man, the city responds by declaring them to be gods! We'll learn the Gospel always creates division, and we'll see how godly men respond to unhealthy amounts of praise and adoration.

Paul encourages those who converted to Christianity following his sermon to “continue in the grace of God.” We’ll examine what that means, what it looks like in the life of the believer, and how it proves our salvation.

Paul powerfully preaches the Gospel to an audience of Jews and Gentile seekers in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch.

Paul and Barnabas set out with John Mark on their first missionary journey after being sent out from the Church in Antioch. They head to Cyprus, where thousands turn to follow Jesus and they end up in a discussion about the Gospel with the Roman governor of the island. However, there is a Rasputin-like figure lurking in the proconsul’s court who opposes the message of Paul, resulting in a clash between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness.

As God calls Paul and Barnabas to be missionaries, we gain insight into how and when God speaks, and learn how every believer can find the power to effectively minister to those the Lord has placed in their life.

As Peter sleeps in prison, scheduled to be executed the following day, he is visited by an angel who miraculously escorts him to safety. We’ll talk more about guardian angels, giving glory to God, and the difficult question of why God works miracles for some but not for others.