I know that I have annoyed/offended/stunned people when I tell them that God is not so much concerned about our happiness as He is about our holiness. We often make the mistake of thinking that God’s ultimate goal for us is to be happy. But if we take a look at 1 Peter 1:15-16, we hear a different truth. “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’”. What’s that?! God’s command is not ‘Be happy’ but ‘Be holy’. True joy comes from living a holy, God-honoring life. The process of holiness is not always pleasant. God allows certain trials and situations that stretch our faith and make us lean heavily on Him. We search the scriptures for His words of wisdom and encouragement to see us through. We pray. We beg, we plead for the trial to end. Sometimes they do; sometimes they continue. But God knows that they are taking us further down His path towards holiness. This is the place where we learn to have peace and joy despite our circumstances. Our God is a gracious and loving Father; of course He also desires for us to experience happiness. “Every good and perfect gift is from above…” James 1:17 We experience His blessings every day! But we need to remember that there is no true happiness apart from holiness and no holiness apart from Christ. So, although to some it may sound harsh to say that God cares more about our holiness than our happiness, as we grow in our walk with Christ we will begin to value and desire the eternal aspect of holiness more than the temporal feelings of happiness.
Lord, help me to want what you want… Lois
SPIRITUAL CARE
Unappreciated Sacrifice (2 Cor. 12:11-18)
Have you ever known someone who stubbornly holds onto something that just isn’t true? Maybe they believe some rumor that they’ve heard about you, and since you actually know your own story, you know that it is not true. But the facts do not matter in this instance. That person continues to believe the lies. Paul is up against that in his relationship with the Corinthians. If you have walked this path in any way, you will feel his hurt and frustration. But you’ll also feel his desperation for the Corinthians to hear him and to take another look at what they already know. As we look at this, we can look at some of our real-life relationships and learn something about how we can approach them by trusting the Lord and standing on the truth. We can also examine our own lives and see where maybe we’ve set aside what we already know. Perhaps we need to open our own eyes in our relationship with Jesus or with someone in our lives.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY:
Putting Wisdom to the Test led by Pastor Mark
For the next six weeks, we are going to look at two Old Testament books in the “Wisdom” genre. Some people think that life is all about making right choices so that you don’t face the fallout of bad choices. Reading Proverbs can make it seem that this is Biblically true. But Job and Ecclesiastes examine what we should learn when the foundational ideas of wisdom don’t seem to work. Job is a pretty familiar character to many people, but we’re going to try to sort out the details and dialogue so that we can see the message and purpose of the book as it connects to the teachings of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes is not as long of a book but it has similar connections to the wisdom found in Proverbs. Let’s take a journey together through “real life” and the confusion that derails many people when good people suffer unfairly, or when you seemingly have it all but feel so empty inside. Join us Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for coffee & donuts followed by our study at 7:00. We’ll have HopeKids! and Hope Youth programs for kids 0-12th grades!
SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER:
Anyone can join us Sunday mornings at 8:30 in Pastor Mark’s office to pray for that morning’s services. Contact Bob Baumiester for more information (rbaumiester@gmail.com).
ANNOUNCEMENTS
As we look ahead at the upcoming year, we have several needed projects for equipment and building needs (estimated to be around $20k) that we weren’t able to budget in 2025. If you’d like to give towards those projects, please use the category “special projects” through online giving. Or note “special projects” on your check or offering envelope.
HOPE SHARE:
Packing away your Christmas items and find yourself purging old toys and decor? Before you toss it, share it! Did you know we have a private Facebook group for Hopers to share items or services for FREE? You can also request items that you need and see if a fellow Hoper is able to help! To join our group, click here.
JANUARY COLLECTION: GWCM Food Drive
Join us this January as we support the Greater Woodbury Cooperative Ministries in their mission to serve our community. We’re collecting non-perishable food items to help stock their pantry and provide for families in need. Donations such as canned goods, pasta, rice, peanut butter, and other staples are greatly appreciated. Drop off your contributions in the designated collection bins located at the front and back doors. Let’s come together to make a difference and bring hope to our neighbors this new year! For more information, please contact Jodi Jacoby.
WOMEN OF HOPE: Monday at 6:30P
All ladies post high school are invited to join us for our women’s bible study on the 1st & 3rd Mondays of each month! Come out on October 7th at 6:30 for a time of fellowship, discussion, and prayer. Bring your bible and a friend! If you have any questions, contact Mary LeBeau.
IRON MEN: Monday at 7:00P
Iron Men is a group open to fathers of kids ages 0-18. We will be navigating through the book and study guide of “The Jesus Style”. We will challenge each other in biblical principles to become better leaders in our homes, here at Hope, at our work, and throughout all other aspects of our daily lives all while perusing growth in relationship with God. No need to sign-up, just show up! If you have questions, please contact Bob Esser (856-889-7939) or Chris James (856) 693-9061).
NEW TO HOPE RECEPTION: January 26th
If you’re new to Hope within the past six months, our leadership and staff would love to get to know you! Join us in the kitchen between Sunday morning services for hot coffee, a donut, and fellowship.
NEW TO HOPE CLASS: February 5th
If you’ve recently visited or started attending Hope, we want to invite you to join us for a Wednesday night designed especially for you. We have a New to Hope Class from 7:00-8:00P on February 5th where we will answer your questions, introduce our ministry, and get you started on knowing your way around Hope. Please sign-up in the lobby to let us know you’re planning to join us. Don’t miss this helpful and fun night!
PARTNER CLASS: Starts February 12th
If God has brought you to Hope and convinced you over time that this is the church for you, we’d love for you to officially join us. This is our way of doing ‘membership’, but we use the word ‘partner’ instead because it connects us to the Biblical idea that we are called to partner together in ministry. We are now offering our partner class on February 12th, 19th, and 26th at 7:00P. The classes will cover the way our church functions as well as what we believe. Current partners are also encouraged to attend! Please sign-up in the lobby. To read more about what it means to become a partner at Hope, click here.
GALENTINE’S BRUNCH: February 15th
Calling all Ladies! Our annual Galentine’s Brunch is right around the corner and we’re excited to get “Pretty in Pink” with all the best gals around! Mark your calendar for Saturday, February 15th from 10:00A-noon and plan to join us – feel free to invite your girl gang, too! We’ll have a yummy brunch, some fun games, a photobooth, and we’ll take a few minutes to talk about the unrelenting love of Jesus. Our women’s events are for all women post-high school and up, so look for the event on Facebook and sign up in the front foyer today. If you’d like to bring a sweet treat to share, you’ll see a spot on the sign up sheet for that too! Contact Dana at danaott@
YOUNG ADULTS
Meets the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays at 7:00P
Here at Hope, our Young Adult group provides a place to connect, serve, apply God’s Word to real life, and live in relationships with others. Hope’s Young Adults is a great way to grow your faith and find help to navigate the big decisions on the horizon. Open to anyone post high school through their 20s!
JANUARY 21st: Why Can’t We Be Friends?
Have you noticed that you’re not supposed to talk to people who look different than you, or who vote differently, or who believe differently? It seems like we live in a world that is always ready to talk AT people instead of talking with them. Are we all doomed to just keep living in that cycle? Or can we do something about it? Let’s talk about how to have conversations that the generations before us seem to struggle with.
For any questions about Hope’s Young Adults contact Mark & Dana Ott.
HOPE YOUTH
Sundays from 6:00-8:00P
Through varied lessons, small group, worship, and fellowship we teach students 6th-12th to see how much God loves them, how valuable they are, and the peace that a relationship with Jesus can lead them to.
FRESH START: New series!
Welcome to the New Year and welcome back to Hope Youth! It’s resolution season and there’s no better time to start something new. Whether you want to start working out, try a new hobby, or kick a bad habit it can be hard to stay committed after that first week. In this new series we will take a look at what a fresh start really means and how to make it stick by exploring the mercy the God gave us through His son and the tips and tricks the Apostle Paul provides to hold firm to this transformation.
HOPE YOUTH ON WEDNESDAYS:
We talk about diving deep into God’s Word on Wednesday and this year we plan to go even deeper. Before we start our Biblical survey series (coming February 2nd) we are going to immerse ourselves in the Word of God, specifically the theology of creation, on Wednesday nights! Together we will explore creation, hear some competing theories, and see what all of Scripture has to say concerning the subject. Join us starting Wednesday, January 8th at 7:00P for this powerful and enlightening series.
HOPE YOUTH CALENDAR:
Parents, stay up to date with everything happening on our calendar here!
JOIN OUR TEXT THREAD:
Stay in the loop for all of the most important notifications! Text “”hopeyouth” to (856) 420-6078 to start receiving updates this week!
For any questions about Hope Youth contact Pastor Dan at: danlein@hopechristianfellowship.org
HOPE KIDS
SUNDAY MORNING PROGRAMS:
We offer childcare and classes from our littlest Hopers to our 5th graders every Sunday morning at both services. Each classroom is staffed with friendly, enthusiastic, background-checked team members to ensure your child’s safety. Our WonderZone! serves our youngest children from infants through Pre-K, who are full of wonder about who God is! K-5th graders gather in the GoZone! where we GO for God, GO for growth and GO forever.
HOPEKIDS! HANGOUT: Sundays from 6:00-8:00P
All K-5th graders are invited to join us for special snacks, games and activities that expand upon what we’re learning on Sunday mornings. We’ll continue studying “The Heart of God” to see how we can reflect God in our everyday lives, this year and every year!
WEDNESDAY NIGHTS IN WONDERZONE:
Our Nursery 1 team is excited to care for your infants (0-18m) while our Nursery 2 team loves on your toddlers (18m-2yr). As we start a new year, our Preschoolers (3-5yrs) will dive into a brand new “Growing with God” study designed to help preschoolers learn about the reality of God’s love through play and apply it in their daily lives! You won’t want to miss out on this awesome opportunity to prioritize and pour into the foundation of faith for your little ones — we hope to see you there!
WEDNESDAY NIGHTS IN GOZONE:
GoZone Remix is back for 2025! K-5th graders will love our fun and exciting midweek program, where we review Sunday morning’s Bible story with new video, new games, and new small group activities to remix the experience. Plus, a WEEKLY Scripture Memory Verse Challenge with prizes to reinforce the Bible story of the week! You don’t want your elementary kiddo to miss out on this opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the Bible and fellowship with other HopeKids!
For any questions about HopeKids! Ministry contact us at: kids@hopechristianfellowship.org