The Trials of Life // May 31, 2020

thank you for joining us for our online service here at Hope Church in Las Vegas Nevada we are honored that you are tuning in and we believe that God is going to use this service in your life and the lives of many others in Las Vegas the West and the world at Hope Church we exist to connect people to live the life of a Jesus follower we believe that a Jesus follower abides in Christ connects and community and shares in the mission if you're watching this we would love to connect with you if you'd like to find out more about who we are please visit Hope Church online.com once again thank you for worshiping online with us today we hope you enjoy the service hey-ho Church my name is Kat and I want to thank you for taking the time to watch our online worship service today if you're joining us for the first time hey thank you for spending the next hour with us do us a favor and text new to hope two nine four zero nine zero after you hit Send you'll get an immediate response from our team with a link to a short form for you to fill out so we can get to know you better right now as you watch this you are joining many others and houses apartments and homes all across Las Vegas and around the world you can follow along with the sermon notes on the Hope Church LV app if you haven't downloaded it yet you can search for our app by searching Hope Church LV on your App Store our worship team hope creative is about to lead us in worship but before they do are you following Hope Church on social media this is the best way for you to stay connected during this unprecedented time so give us a follow you can find our account by searching Hope Church LV on Instagram Facebook Twitter and YouTube well I'll see you again at the end of the service to give you some next steps but for now let's worship hey charge family I don't know if you had an opportunity this week to join pastor Vance for Wednesday's in the word but he shared a powerful message straight from his heart and it was just a reminder to us that happiness comes and goes emotions they rise and they fall but as citizens of the kingdom as children of the Most High God we have joy and the joy of the Lord is our strength so we want to encourage you right now to choose joy the Bible says rejoice in the Lord and again rejoice and lets you really choose joy together [Music] Oh [Music] Oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I say [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] and every [Applause] SOLAS [Music] why [Music] this place we just wanna be with you just one [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] till you come [Music] we'll see [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we just wanna be with you we just wanna [Music] just one [Music] we just wanna be as a church we are wholeheartedly focused on seeing the mission of God accomplished through our fellowship so everything we do as a church is to connect people to live the life of a Jesus follower God has called us to carry out that mission in Las Vegas the West and the world and each week is you invest financially through this ministry one of the ways those resources are used is to partner with incredible global missionaries who are literally taking the good news of Jesus to the peoples of the earth and one of those missionary partners is a precious brother in Christ named khun sculls who serves on the continent of Africa here's a quick update from khun about what God is doing in that part of the world good morning pastor fans and everybody at Hope Church in Las Vegas Nevada we have seen with along the rise in the days of coronavirus and we would like to take this opportunity to encourage all of you from Africa that we love you and that we are praying for you during this very difficult time we also want to take this opportunity to thank you for your generosity over many years the partnership has seen many unreached people groups receiving the good news of Jesus many widows receiving hope many orphans receiving food and a future for all of that we in Africa are thanking everybody at Hope Church we love you and God bless I hope you are encouraged by the significance of what just communicated through our partnership in the southern region of the continent of Africa the good news of Jesus is being shared with people who have never heard it before the needs of widows and orphans are being met and lives are being changed through a relationship with Jesus our God is working and he has graciously invited us to join them so as we worship God today through giving financially I want to invite you to be a part of what God is doing through Hope Church to expand his kingdom in Las Vegas the West and the world there are multiple ways that you can give today that are simple and secure and you can see several of those ways on the screen well in the same way that God fuels his mission through us as we give he also accomplishes his mission through us as we pray so we're going to take a few moments now to pray together as a church family and pastor Scott is going to lead us as we pray Church family just as pastor Travis mentioned every week whether we gather in this room or we gather online like we have been recently we want to take a moment and to go before our good God and just spend some time in conversation in prayer so I want to as we do that today read one simple but powerful verse here's what it says in the Bible and James chapter 4 verse 8 draw near to God and he will draw near to you know one of the interesting things about doing online church is we can't see faces like we normally can in this room and so as I read that verse I have no idea on the other end of this camera who may be hearing that and maybe the enemy is trying to deceive you that it's not true but we must trust what the Word of God says it says right there no matter what you're facing today no matter what you're walking through whether you're high or low or somewhere in between that is you and I draw near to God doesn't say he might and doesn't say it may happen one day he will draw near to you so that's what we want to do we want that verse to be the centerpiece of a conversation that we're gonna have with God right now so I understand it might be look a little different in your living room whether you got kids around and what's going on but wherever you are today we're gonna draw near to God together as we pray so let's go to the Lord right now and just draw near god I thank you right now that we can stand on the truth of your word god I understand there are hundreds and thousands of people watching this service right now God some people have had great weeks some people have had not so great weeks some people received great news this week some people received horrible news this week no matter where we all are on the journey all of us are walking through this this season together so God thank you for a moment right now as a church even online that we can draw near to you together so I just want to invite you right there wherever you are cry out to the Lord whatever is on your heart draw near to him in your own words even right now maybe out loud with your family maybe silently there before the Lord but cry out to your father right now tell him what's on your heart cast your cares upon him the Bible says he cares about you so right now just take a moment and cry out to your God [Music] Jesus today we are humbled that we get to draw near to you and all your splendor and all your holiness and all your sovereignty we are humbled today that you invite us to your table now we understand because of what Jesus has done on the cross for us in our place the Bible says we have access to you God so Lord thank you no matter where we are today we can come to you and we humbly say thank you for that access gotta pray right now as our service just continues in just a minute after we pray I pray that you would just overwhelm us as we continue to sing as we open up your word god I pray that you would overwhelm us with your presence Lord we're about to declare through song that we are not enough unless you come and we declare that right now you are we are not enough unless you and well us unless you come into the living room that we're in right now or the kitchen or the bedroom that we're in right now we are not enough so we are asking you and trusting you that you will meet us here so God thank you for what you're going to do in the service but even before we began our service today a few of us were in the room and we pray that you would just do a supernatural work that only you can say credit for because you're the only one that can do it you're the only one that can change lives change hearts change minds so God as we continue to worship now as we sing as we open your word we pray that you may be honored and glorified and through this service you had changed people's lives not as they draw near to you you would draw near to them we thank you for what you're gonna do we trust you we praise you in Jesus name [Music] can't go back to the beginning I can't control what you bring No you is the place where you promised you [Music] again [Music] so so you here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] son [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to [Music] [Music] unless you come will you meet me here again [Music] is all I want that's all you are [Music] I'm not here as you can tell Fuyumi [Music] cuz all I was sorry [Music] well you made [Music] dear Heavenly Father that is the cry of our heart [Music] or we know that you are in this place or when we say you're in this place god we don't just mean in a building or in a physical place Lord but we mean that you are residing within our hearts [Music] you're residing in our souls [Music] Lord so we know that in apartments and houses all across this valley you reside in the hearts of your people [Music] but we know that you are in this place right here right now god or we thank you for never leaving us or forsaken us we thank you for always being by our side [Music] Lord as Pastor Scott said Lord we recognize your witness today we thank you for being right here with us it's where we pray for pastor Vance as he brings your word Lord use him as a vessel for your glory [Music] is all you are will you meet me here again it's in Jesus name we pray amen in AD 64 under the leadership of a wicked Emperor one of the great cities of the world the city of Rome burned most people believed that the cause of the fire in Rome was the Emperor Nero himself but in order to defuse blame Nero targeted Christians he blamed Christians for the fire in Rome and we know this because one of the great pieces of historical writing from the Roman era is something that is called the annals some scholars refer to it as the pinnacle of Roman historical writing in the annals one writer was a man named Tacitus he was a Roman senator and a historian in the Roman Empire he recorded in AD 116 some historical information about the burning of Rome and Nero casting blame on Christians listen to what he wrote to get rid of the report Nero fastened guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations called Christians covered with the skins of beasts they were torn by dogs and perished or were nailed to crosses or were doomed to the flames and burnt to serve as a nightly in the illumination when daylight had expired it was this very persecution in the city of Rome that caused believers Christians our brothers and sisters in Christ in the first century to rapidly scatter all over the Roman Empire literally running for their lives and it was into that very environment into that dangerous difficult time that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God Peter pinned some words that I want to read for you as I began to share with you today it's out of first Peter chapter 4 verses 12 and 13 here's what he said beloved that's a term of endearment it's a relational word he's speaking to brothers and sisters in Christ the family of God beloved do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exaltation powerful words spoken in a very difficult season I don't know where you're living right now emotionally but for me this has personally been a very difficult week it's been a tough week I think sometimes people look at pastors maybe up on a stage on a weekend maybe you're tuning into this and you're a part of hope or maybe you're watching this and you go to some of the church and you see your pastor there are pastors on a Sunday up on a platform and you can get the idea that they've always got it all together well let me remove the myth we don't before we're leaders we're followers just like you followers of Jesus we have weeks where emotions run high weeks that are on the mountaintop weeks that are in the valley and this has been one of those weeks for me so much so that Wednesday morning while we've been in this online crisis of church we have been doing something I've been doing something on Wednesdays called Wednesdays and the word and I share it on Facebook hopes Facebook account and then my personal Instagram accounts if you're on social media you can follow along on Wednesday mornings at 8 a.m. and this Wednesday morning I was just in a point of real rawness with emotion to be totally honest I almost punted even doing Wednesday's in the word this week I started to just post a notice that I wouldn't be online this morning because I was just in the middle of an emotional struggle personally and I went ahead and went to bed that night Tuesday night thinking I'm not gonna do it Wednesday morning woke up Wednesday morning and God God led me to the verses that I just read for you out of the book of first Peter and in those verses I began to find some incredible comfort I began to find some encouragement and I I tried in the rawness of that emotion to just kind of dump my heart out Wednesday morning and and I got to be honest I've been so encouraged by you I've received I don't even know countless comments encouragement emails texts tweets prayers because it seems like the rawness of the emotion of that devotion resonated so clearly with so many of you which makes me believe that a lot of you are living where I'm living you're kind of in the rawness of the emotion of everything that we're seeing right now play out in front of us so because of that I felt today that I wanted to do something different I felt like today you didn't need a sermon you needed a Shepherd so I didn't want to come today and pre sermon I wanted to try to do today a little bit of what I did Wednesday morning and just sharing with you from my own heart about the rawness of the emotion that I'm feeling right now and bringing some biblical application to help us navigate this together if you're tuning in because you saw our promo that we were gonna be starting a study into proverbs this week I'm gonna talk about that a little bit at the end so just stay tuned and we'll be digging into that next weekend but today I want to just share with you from my heart I want to try to bring some of God's Word to bear on the emotion that we're all feeling right now and so let me just say kind of as a little bit of a disclaimer upfront don't tune me out until we're done you may hear a phrase or two in here that you find rubs you the wrong way I'm not gonna try to sugarcoat anything I'm gonna say today I'm gonna try to just be as real and raw as I can be so give me the courtesy of at least hearing me all the way to the end and if you want to judge me at the end then you go right ahead but I want to begin by telling you a little bit of the range of emotion that I felt this week as I watched things and culture and society play out here's just some of the emotion that I went through frustration discouragement anger disappointment exhaustion confusion feeling defeated feeling tired feeling drained reaching that place of just being done and it felt on many days kind of like remember when back in the day when you go to the arcade and they had the pinball machines the real not the technological stuff we have today but the real pinball machine where you pulled the lever and the ball began to fly around and it just bounced and pinned from one side of the machine to the other that's literally what felt like this week I felt like that little ball in the pinball machine just bouncing back and forth between emotion and based on your response I think a lot of you felt the same way this week and when I say that I was feeling this range of emotion I don't want you to just attach it to one thing there were many things that happened this week that led me to this place of kind of this emotional breakdown I guess for lack of a better word for example as an American this week I was frustrated I was frustrated by the divided and detached leadership that we see right now in our country I'm tired of the political toxicity that exists in our culture and I say that because I mentioned political toxicity because when I talk about my frustration with our leadership I know what some of you immediately thought some of you immediately began to think that oh yes those people in that party and that that speaks to the issue of political toxicity that we live in today we're so given to pointing fingers at somebody else and I just want to say it as plainly as I can say it no one political party in America owns petty partisan leadership right now there's plenty of it to go around and I'm frustrated by it I'm disappointed I'm disappointed in our lack of civility and decency as a nation when it comes to our public discourse I'm angry as an American this week I found myself angry at our devaluing of human life from the womb of a mother to the streets of Minneapolis but it wasn't just as an American that's really secondary to Who I am I felt a lot of emotion as a Christian before I'm an American I'm a follower of Jesus my primary identity is not wrapped up in a country my primary identities wrapped up in a kingdom that's yet to come and as a Christian this week I I felt a lot of emotion I was deeply wounded in my own soul and I still feel it today for my brothers and sisters in Christ of color particularly those of the African American community who are once again having to have conversations with their children that have absolutely no place in 21st century America after the brutal murder of a man named George Floyd and I know a lot of you've already heard his name this week and a lot of you already have opinions about him but I want to share something about him maybe you don't know I got a text this morning from a friend of mine who is a part of our church planting network that we affiliate with the sin network I do a lot of speaking and traveling on behalf of the sin network all across the country and one of our sin network church planters has planted a church in inner-city Houston Texas and implanting a church in inner-city Houston Texas he connected with a man that he began to minister to and that man began to help him out set up baptism move chairs that man's name was George Floyd he was a human being I'm sure he has a story we all got a story but he was somebody that was connected to one of the church planters that we work with in Houston Texas and watching him be murdered this week in the streets of Minneapolis angered me from our brothers and sisters in Christ who are once again having to deal with this conversation and the public discourse that surrounds it and I was frustrated over not knowing what to say I don't have the words I don't know where to get the words and I've been disappointed and discouraged over not knowing how in this wicked sin of racism that devalues lives made and created in the image of God another thing that drove me emotionally this week and shook me is as a Christian I'm also hurting today because I pastor a church where we have hundreds of men and women who serve in our city in the field of law enforcement and my heart broke for them as I watch what played out this week because I know the men and women in our church I know they love Jesus and I know every day they put on a uniform and walk out into this city and they lay their lives on the line and their desire is to protect and and serve the citizens of this city and I hate today that the evil actions of a few have had to bring shame and frustration to them and their families as they simply try to do their job but it's not just those issues I was also frustrated this week as a leader I shared with you last week in a video that I hoped to bring you some good news this week about us being able to gather very soon and I understand even in saying that that people fall in many categories I know that there's some of you that you're not ready nor would it even be recommended for you at this point to begin to gather with others in a church like this but there are many of you that are ready and at a place where you're ready to begin to come together again an experienced community not in violation of CDC guidelines and not discounting social distancing but to come together in obedience description begin to worship the God that we love together and and I want you to know that I've been working diligently over the last couple of weeks with a group of faith leaders in Las Vegas not just Christian faith leaders but leaders from other faiths and we've been working in comms and in communication and conversation with the leadership of our state and our city to come up with a plan to reopen the churches of Nevada in a way that is in perfect harmony with the guidelines of the CBC and the announcement Tuesday night from our governor left us all disappointed disillusioned and confused so for a lot of reasons I've had a lot of emotion this week it's been a tough week and to be real transparent I went to seminary in 1994 it's when I enrolled the fall of 1994 when I went to seminary in the 1990s they did not prepare me to navigate the challenges of pastoring a multicultural church through the complexities of 21st century issues or a global pandemic so this week as I sat there in the midst of a lot of the emotion that you felt in the rawness of that I just turned to the only place I knew to turn and that was a Word of God and I don't know about you but I am thankful that in the midst of the complexity and the difficulty and the challenge of the world that we live in that the Word of God is a rock to which we can run I felt like Asaph in Psalm 73 where he was so discouraged until it says he came into the sanctuary of God and when I came to those verses in first Peter God began to just encourage my heart with two realities that I want to give you today about the trials of life and here's the first one the trials or excuse me trials are a definite reality in life it's really born out of this verse in first Peter chapter 4 out of the first command there are two commands in these verses and the first one is really simple he says don't be surprised don't be surprised who's he writing to he's writing to these Christians beloved the brothers and sisters in the faith who are experiencing experiencing extreme trouble extreme difficulty extreme suffering to the point that they're leaving their homes and they're fleeing all over the Roman Empire in fear of losing their life and Peter says let me give you a command don't be surprised the trials of life are a definite reality he went on to say don't be surprised as though some strange thing were happening to you strange and surprised both come from a route Greek word which means foreign what Peter is saying is don't look at the difficult things in your life right now as something that that it's far and you shouldn't be happening to you I think sometimes if we're not careful as Christians we buy into this philosophy that's circulating out there in American Christianity that some have called the prosperity gospel and here's what it says this says if you just have enough faith you'll never experience difficulty I want you to listen to me very carefully that is a lie there's not one place in this book where the Bible says if you just have enough faith you won't have challenges listen Jesus had challenges our brothers and sisters in Christ in the first century had challenges Christians throughout history have had challenges and Peter says when you walk through trials don't be surprised don't be surprised trials are a reality in life and this isn't just the teaching of Peter Paul said the same thing listen to what Paul said in first Timothy chapter excuse me 2nd Timothy chapter 3 Paul said but realize this that in the last days difficult times notice the next word will he didn't say might he didn't say maybe he said the closer you get to the coming of Christ that's what this idea of last days means it means that we're closer to the coming of Christ than we used to be he said in the last days difficult times will come the closer we get to the coming of Jesus the more difficult it's going to get then look what he says down in verse 12 indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted the words Paul uses difficult it's a word that means hard to bear difficult to deal with troublesome they make you grieve the word persecution is repeated acts of animosity the words Peter uses a fiery ordeal it means something literally being set on fire Peter uses the word suffering it speaks to great distress that comes from adversity here's what these verses are teaching us the brokenness of this world will break into our lives and cause pain we live in a world is broken this is in the world that God intended for us to have God created a perfect world we sinned against God and sin brought brokenness into the world and the brokenness of this world will break into our lives and cause pain discouragement and frustration trials are a definite reality in life let me give you a second statement trials don't define the reality of my life trials may be a reality in life but they don't have to define the reality of my life my identity is not rooted in my trials my difficulties my struggle my identity is rooted in Christ I am a loved accepted child of the Father that's why Peter went on to say but to the degree in verse 13 you share in the sufferings of Christ keep on rejoicing there's the second command the first one was don't be surprised here's the second one do choose joy Peter said in the midst of the trial in the midst of the emotion in the midst of the frustration in the midst of the disappointment to choose joy I know what you're thinking you gotta be kidding me you expect me to be happy with what's going on oh yeah I didn't say happy I said joy you see happiness is a feeling that comes and goes joy is a choice happiness is rooted in my circumstances and it changes as my circumstances change joy is rooted in my position in Christ and my position in Christ is unchanging our natural response in times of struggle our natural reaction is frustration and anger and worry and fear and disappointment and discouragement but Peter is challenging us here listen don't let your reaction simply be a natural reaction let it be a super natural reaction you see Christ in me can give me joy in the mid of the storm anybody can have happiness when times are good only those in Christ can choose joy in times of trial you say how do I do this well I'll close with two things number one by faith you choose joy in God's promises that's what I had to do this week listen my circumstance didn't change but I had to choose joy and I did so based on the promise of God here's what he said here keep on rejoicing so that he said at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exultation in the verse before that he tells us that what we're walking through we're walking through for your testing here's what that means testing is trials with a purpose there's a reason God is allowing the circumstances in our lives and there's something that he wants to do in us in the midst of this that he couldn't do without this and even when I can't feel it even when I can't see it even when I can't explain it even when I don't understand it by faith and the promise of God that he's large and in charge I can choose joy I'm not saying that the trial is a joyful experience but I am saying you can choose joy because of the promises of God so we first of all choose joy by faith in his promises but secondly we can have joy ultimately by sight in his presence he says here at the revelation of his glory you know what that means that's describing the time when you and I see Jesus as he is listen I know right now we look at this world and it's broken I know we look at this world and we see something that is so far from what we longed for can I give you good news today listen to this one day the world that we long for will be the world that we live in and until then I choose joy listen our Lord is coming again one day the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of God will be fully expressed on this earth now we only see glimpses of it now as we see brothers and sisters in Christ living out Kingdom principles but one day the kingdom will rule and reign and the the world that we long for will be the world that we live in and until then we must choose joy so let me ask you a question where are you today you frustrated you angry you disappointed you discouraged to commands don't be surprised do choose joy it's an act of faith right now one day one day one glorious day it won't be by faith it will be by sight in just a moment I'm gonna close this in a time of prayer but before I do I want to bring some application out of what I've shared with you from my heart here's kind of the question maybe I want you to wrestle with but where should we be living this week where should we be living now that in light of what we're facing a lot of what's going on all around us where should I be living I want to give you two things I'm asking the people of hope this week to live with these two realities number one is prayer in prayer I want you to be living this week in prayer what we're gonna provide for you today on our website on our app we're gonna we're gonna provide for you a daily prayer guide we've taken some of the names of God and if scripted prayers out of these names of God for every day this week and I want to ask you this week to take a moment every day this week and to grab one of those prayers and just spend a moment talking to God and I also want to ask you to take one meal this week you can choose whatever day it is whether it's breakfast lunch or dinner doesn't matter take one meal and I want you to not just pray I want you to fast - fast means to do without food for one meal if you're medically able do without food for one meal and take the time you would have used them to eat used to eat and I want you to use it to pray too so on that day I want you to thank all seven of those prayers that we're giving you and I want you to spend that that meal time in prayer with those seven requests just laying them before the Lord so this week here's what I want us to live on us to live in prayer secondly I want us to live in Proverbs we said this weekend we'd be starting a series but we're not gonna start it until next weekend in the book of Proverbs but tomorrow is June the 1st that's important I want to challenge you for the entire month of June and July to read the proverb every day that corresponds to the day of the month you say what do you mean by that well tomorrow's June 1st read proverbs chapter 1 there are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs there are 30 days in June 31 in July so you get all the way through the book of Proverbs twice over June and July get all the way to chapter 31 in July so I want you to read daily the chapter in Proverbs that corresponds to the day the month and here's why proverbs is a book that unpacks everlasting and wisdom for everyday life and let me just tell you right now we all need God's wisdom wisdom is really the ability to see life from God's perspective we all need that right now so I want to invite you to take starting tomorrow the next two months and every day read the proverb that corresponds to the dead month on the first read chapter 1 on the second read chapter 2 all the way to the end of the month so that's what I want to invite you to live this week don't be surprised choose joy do it in prayer do it in Proverbs but then finally let me tell you where your your leaders here at oh we're gonna be living in prayer and in proverbs but we're also gonna be doing a couple of other things this week that I want you to know about there are two things that we're doing here at Hope in preparation first of all we are continuing dialogue with our governing authorities about a plan to reopen churches on a broader scale in Nevada as a matter of fact just before I recorded this message another letter that was written by myself and three other pastors here in the valley has been delivered to our governor we are continuing ongoing conversation with our governing authorities working towards a plan that would more broadly reopen churches for those that are able and those that are ready to begin to gather in Nevada but at the same time we are now also working on a reopening plan that is in submission to our ultimate authority which is God himself up until this week I felt like the directives that were given to Nevadans from our governing authorities were across the board fair for everybody they were consistent with everyone we were all playing by the same rules but this week with Tuesday's announcement that changed churches were singled out in a unique way and that changes the conversation churches were given harsher guidelines than restaurants bars movie theaters water parks public pools gyms fitness centers and many other things all of those institutions were given a cap of a 50% capacity where churches were given the cap of 50 people churches were singled out in this week's announcement we're working on a plan at hope to reopen in a way that understands the urgency of community as commanded in Scripture but also balances that with the wisdom and safety precautions necessary and leading a very large fellowship their complexities when you're a larger church so at Hope I want you to know something family know this we are continuing a dialogue with our governing authorities but at the same time we are now working on a plan that will be announcing to you very soon about reopening in a way that honors the principles of Scripture is fully in accordance with CDC guidelines and we believe is equal treatment with others under the directives that we've been given in Nevada so live in prayer live in Proverbs don't be surprised choose joy before I pray for us I know some of you are watching this and maybe you're not a Christian you're hearing me talk about leaning into God's Word and you're walking through troubles and trials and you don't know about God you don't know about his word you don't know him personally listen the same God that I leaned into this week in my own life is the same God that loves you you don't have to be a pastor you not be a Christian God loves you and God loves you so much that he sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on a cross for your sin to rise again from the dead so that you could have a relationship with God so that you could run to him in times of trial in trouble if you don't know Jesus today I want to invite you right where you're sitting right where you're watching this wherever that is your home apartment business office whatever it may be I want to invite you right where you are to just stop and put your faith in Jesus you can stop right now and just say to the Lord in your own heart say god I know that you love me I know that you sent Jesus to save me and right now I invite you into my life you can cry out to Jesus right now in faith and he will save you he will become your God and you can turn to him in the trials and troubles of your life and if you just prayed to Jesus and ask him to save you or you'd like to talk with somebody about that you can text right now to nine four zero nine zero just text the phrase Jesus follower and we'll be in contact with you we'll reach out to you and begin a conversation about how you can personally know Christ or maybe the trials of this week have so overwhelmed you that you just need somebody to pray for you you can text that same number nine four zero nine zero and just text the phrase pray for me and we'll be praying for you this week by name right now let's pray together Lord our hearts are heavy today but we choose joy God we choose joy by faith in your promises that you are working all things for our good and your glory God we believe that one day the world that we long for will be the world that we live in God I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ today god I pray they've been encouraged today God I pray for those that don't know Jesus I pray that they would text us so that we can connect with them and lead them to a vibrant living relationship with the God that created them lord I pray you would have your way today god we ask you for favor with our governing authorities god we ask you to move on their hearts we ask you to show favor to your people Lord I pray for healing for our nation I pray for the reconciling power of the gospel to do a work of transformation in the streets of our cities Lord we need you it's in the name of Jesus we pray amen praying this over our church declaring this together today [Music] make his face shine upon be gracious [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] beep on [Music] generations you children [Music] please [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thanks again for watching our service today did you ask Jesus into your life we want to celebrate with you make sure to text Jesus follower to nine four zero nine zero if you have a prayer request we would be honored to pray for you text pray for me to nine four zero nine zero we want to stay connected during the season as a church so let us know how we can come alongside you we will see you right back here next week stay safe and have a great week [Music]

Channel: Hope Church LV

Views: 2,179

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: hopechurchlv, hope church, hope church lv, church

Id: z3Cvm14PZQo

Length: 71min 14sec (4274 seconds)

Published: Sun May 31 2020