New Hope Church Messages

Stephen continues his address to the Sanhedrin, highlighting Israel’s tragic history of rejecting God’s messengers and wasting opportunities to be delivered from slavery, exile, and aimless wandering.

Stephen was one of the greatest men who ever lived. In Part 1, we’ll study his rise to prominence in the Early Church, the adversity he encountered, how he answered charges of blasphemy brought against him, and what his message means for us today.

In this message, we’ll examine 4 marks of a healthy, growing church. We can observe each of them on the Early Church in the Book of Acts. And by God’s grace, we will see these same marks on the local church today.

Why are so many people uninterested in the Church today? Why do unbelievers stay away? Why do a lot of believers seem indifferent? What if part of the reason is that much of the time, the Church is boring? But what if people experienced the Church today as it is recorded for us in the Book of Acts? “Boring” would be the last word you would use to describe the Church back then! And I think that this “un-boring” expression of the Church is what everyone in our world needs. And it’s the way that the Church should be. In this message, we'll take a peek at what the Early Church looked like and wrestle with what would need to happen for us to experience that same kind of life in our churches today.

How are Christians today supposed to view the issue of financial giving to the Church? Is there a difference between the old covenant commands given to Israel and the instructions given to the Church by Jesus and the Apostles? We’ll tackle these controversial questions by (as always) looking at Scripture and seeing what the Lord has to say to His people.

The joy of the Church’s first few weeks of life is interrupted by two shocking deaths, as God sends a clear message to His Church about the seriousness of lying and hypocrisy.

As the Early Church continues to grow, the Holy Spirit stirs her members to radical financial generosity. As we study this move of God, we’ll discuss social justice, the mandate Jesus has given His Church, and how we can discern who we’re called to help as individuals, couples, families, and a church.

A boldness marks the Church in the Book of Acts that was necessary in light of the persecution the Church faced back then. And this same boldness needs to mark the Church today if we are going to continue to follow Jesus faithfully in a world that stands in opposition to Him.

God works a miracle through Peter and John, who direct all the glory back to Jesus and call the gathering crowd to repent. Their example reveals the one thing those who desire to be used by God need to understand.

How should Christians view the issue of abortion? Is it reasonable to expect non-believers to share our views? Is abortion sometimes necessary? Jeff dives into these important questions from biblical, ethical, logical, and medical perspectives to provide some answers.

the early church devoted themselves to. We’ll contemplate how and why disciples of Jesus are to devote themselves to those same things in the Church today.

The work of making disciples is not finished after someone is born again. Jesus didn’t commission His Church to go and make converts; He commissioned us to go and make disciples. The real work of discipleship begins after a person becomes a Christian. In this message, we begin examining what discipleship looked like in the first months of the Early Church.

After Jesus rose from the dead He gave His disciples the command to go and make disciples. Then Jesus ascended to Heaven. And then His disciples waited and prayed for 10 days in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them. That was the day the Church was born. And on the very first day the Church was born, we see the disciples of Jesus begin to do the very thing Jesus commanded them to do - make disciples.

As a gathering crowd reacts with astonishment to the supernatural phenomena occurring on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preaches the incredible first sermon of the Church Age.

Acts 2 reveals the gift of tongues for the first time in Scripture. But what about the other gifts of the Spirit mentioned by Paul in his epistles? This study will provide an overview of those gifts and their purpose in the Church today.

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Jeff brings clarity to a subject too often made confusing, and explains why it is essential for every follower of Jesus.

What is the gift of tongues? Let’s look at what the Bible has to say and how it applies to us personally and collectively as the Church.

Jeff walks through the miraculous events in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, explains the differences between being saved, regenerated, and baptized with the Holy Spirit, and discusses what happened when Jesus breathed on the Disciples in John 20:22.

As the followers of Jesus wait in Jerusalem to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, Jeff highlights two vital ingredients that always precede a powerful move of God - obedience to Jesus and prayer.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He spent 40 days with His disciples before ascending to Heaven before their very eyes. During these 40 days, He taught them about the Kingdom of God and shared some final words that not only shaped the rest of the disciples' lives but the Church itself for the past 2,000 years.