The big idea
On a Sunday given to Hope’s missions work, the public part of the service pointed the church forward and outward: to Job’s confidence that his Redeemer lives and will stand on the earth, to a love truer than we can always feel, to the humble posture of the easy yoke, and to a simple challenge — set aside a day this month to fast and pray, and ask God for one obeyable thing you can do to serve him.
Key takeaways
- In the middle of unbearable loss, Job saw the future: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” We can yearn for that day too.
- Worship is not dependent on our feelings. Sometimes we know God’s love is tender and safe and still find it hard to believe — and it is still true.
- Every line of the description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 is first a description of God. His love never fails.
- Hope’s heart for missions is part of its DNA: people in many places, and worship songs written here now sung in other languages.
- The men’s retreat was a reminder that the humble, lowly posture Jesus describes takes pressure off us and makes his yoke easy.
- Matt’s challenge: pray and fast one day before month’s end, asking God for one specific thing you can do to serve him in this body.
This was Hope Chapel’s missions Sunday. The missions presentation itself was shared with those in the room and on a private link, so it is not part of the public recording; these notes follow what the public service holds — the call to worship from Job, the worship that followed, a recap from the men’s retreat, and a challenge from Matt.
“I know that my Redeemer lives”
The call to worship began with Job’s story for anyone listening “in the future.” Job was wealthy and upright and loved God, and Satan was permitted to afflict him to make him curse God. In one day he lost his livestock, most of his servants, and all ten of his children when the house they were feasting in collapsed. Yet he did not turn from God.
“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job 1:21Then came sores over his whole body, and friends who told him he must have done something evil to deserve it, that his children probably deserved it too, that he probably hadn’t suffered enough yet. He was desolate and depressed, “as anyone normally would be.” And in the middle of the book, chapter 19:
“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”
Job 19:23–27His words were indeed written — “we have them in our electronic devices even.” In the middle of all that grief, Job sees the future, the way Jesus said Abraham “rejoiced that he would see my day” (John 8:56). He looks to the day his Redeemer will stand on the earth, and to resurrection: even though my flesh is destroyed, I will see him with my own eyes.
So the invitation was to look forward to that day and yearn for it as Job did: “Lord, we thank you that at the end you will stand on this earth. We will see you with our eyes, and we will live with you forever.”
When it is hard to believe
The worship team sang a new song based on Psalm 90 — “you have been a dwelling place, O everlasting God.” Later, after a song about God’s love being tender and safer than the truest father, the worship leader paused.
“Sometimes we know things are true. We know that he satisfies, we know that his love is tender, we know that his love is safer — but it’s still hard to believe sometimes.” If that was you, the leader said, know that it is true and that it is okay; the church was singing it and declaring it over one another. Anyone who wanted someone to agree with them in prayer, that they would understand the trueness of God’s love, was invited to raise a hand. “This is a safe place to pray.”
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
1 Corinthians 13:4–8“Lord, we just recognize today that that is you. All those attributes are yours. You never fail.” The set closed with a prayer of thanks: “Thank you that you are not dependent on our goodness.”
A church with a long reach
In the welcome, the announcer named a favorite thing about Hope: its heart for missions. Since first coming here, the announcer had kept hearing of people in different places — “I will be very intentionally vague” — and of worship songs Deb Dorman wrote now sung in other languages and other countries. “That’s an incredible reach that our church has … it’s so part of our Hope DNA.”
Then came a prayer for opportunities to share the gospel, to speak life into one another and into the world around them — “whether that’s our businesses here, or friends here, or if you call us to go somewhere else. We trust you … we ask for that boldness, we ask for that courage.”
The easy yoke
A recap from the men’s retreat followed. On his third retreat, the speaker noticed how many more men he now knew and how much more integrated he felt, and he encouraged others to come next year. He had spoken at one session, and what he, Frank, Gino and Joe each prepared fit together without being planned: “so you really know that the Holy Spirit was in that.”
His takeaway was posture. One of the best postures for a good relationship with God is to be a humble and lowly servant, “as Jesus describes himself,” putting ourselves aside and letting God lead. That takes a lot of pressure off, he said, and “really does turn into that easy yoke that we carry with Jesus” — not doing our own thing and comparing ourselves to everyone.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:29–30One obeyable thing
Matt then repeated, in person, a challenge from the congregational meeting. Sometime before the end of the month, everyone should pray and fast at least one day, asking God for something specific: “What’s a thing I can do to serve you in the body of Christ here at Hope Chapel?” The focus is “something obeyable, something you could do.”
It serves several purposes. It rehearses that we really can hear from God’s Spirit, and that “one of God’s love languages is obedience to him.” And it takes the focus off the leadership transitions — what the board is deciding, what Matt is going to do — “and it helps us to recall that there is a Lord that we are following, and he will direct our steps.” The thing itself need not happen by month’s end; the day of prayer and fasting should.
With that, Matt said goodbye to the public stream, and the service continued on the private link for the missions portion.