Disobedience

2025 GIVING STATEMENTS

The 2025 Giving Statements are ready and available in the Church office.

CHALLENGE TO PAY DOWN THE ROOF

We are no longer paying extra against the mortgage on the roof unless donations come in specifically for that. We are challenging each attender to give $10.00 (or whatever amount is laid on your heart) each month this year.

Put your donation in the donation box in an envelope marked ROOF. Let’s work together to get this loan paid off as soon as possible!

GREETERS NEEDED

We need greeters for 2026! Please sign up at the Welcome Table if you are willing to help. Only requirement is a warm smile to welcome our guests.

MEMBERSHIP CLASS

If you are new to New Hope or if you have been attending for a while and want to learn more about membership it's not to late to attend this 7-week class. It will be held in the Jr. Church Room during the Sunday School hour at 9:30 AM. For more information contact Pastor Curtis. 

NIGHT OF WORSHIP WITH EN GEDI

Monday, Jan. 26th, we will have a small worship night here at the New Hope. Join us for some acoustic worship, prayer, renewal, and find the freedom that only Jesus can bring. 7 PM here at the church. 

Winter Jam 2026

Mark your calendar for February 6th. We will meet at the church and leave at 4 PM. We will have dinner before the show, so please bring some cash for that, as well as the $15 for the ticket. The pre-show starts at 6 PM and we will text parents before we leave the arena so you can get to the church to pick your students up. Please let Andrew know if you need financial help.

LADIES RETREAT

Save the date for Ladies retreat March 27 - 28th, $105/ea This retreat is for ladies 12 and over. Registration closes on March 21, 2026. Contact Suzi Lane if interested.

NEW HOPE CHILI COOK-OFF

Bring your best pot of chili for a chance to win the Chili Cook-Off on Sunday, Feb. 15th after the morning service. We will also be celebrating with the Rhoadarmer's their 10th Anniversary serving the Lord here at New Hope.

Victories: 1. 2.

Prayer: Westview Wesleyan Ryan Budde

Missionary Prayer: Rita Morris / Texas

Intro

Deuteronomy is a book we don’t think a lot about. In fact most people lump it in there with Leviticus as being a pretty boring book. And the origin of the name doesn’t help any. The word Deuteronomy simply means a repetition of the Law or second Law. That is what it is for in a way it does restate the Law. But it is not simply a copy of what Moses wrote down in Exodus and Leviticus but instead it is a series of sermons that Moses gave on how the Law is to be applied or lived out by the people of Israel. Therefore many theologian’s would rather it have a title closer to that purpose. Therefore it could be called, “a record of Moses’ sermons on the Law." However, that doesn’t have the same ring as Deuteronomy so we are stuck. For our purposes we are not going to attempt a verse by verse in-depth look at Deuteronomy because I would like to keep your attention and my job so instead we will take the next 15 weeks and hit the major ideas and themes of these words which Moses spoke to the people of Israel. Let’s start by reading just 2 verses.

The Lord Leads

Trust: Bible Reading: Deut. 1:6-8

This is Moses’ recounting to the people how the Lord Led Israel out of Egypt and to the Promised land. And it makes sense that Moses chooses to recount it because if you know the account of the Exodus you know that an entire generation of men has died off over a 40 year period and these people were only children before this recounting. The story of the Exodus, stands as one of if not the most important time periods in the history of Israel. Perhaps only creation itself stands as more important. It serves to not only bring them into the promised land that was given to Abraham 400 years prior but it solidifies them as a nation and it marks them truly as God’s people. The miracles that God does among them at this time also stands as a reminder of God’s greatness and as His desire to protect and lead His people.

As we look at the miracles of God during this time we marvel at just how much God’s presence is made known. God loves the people of Israel and the distance He was willing to go in order to bring His people out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised land was immense. The hardest part of this whole time period is the fact that at every turn we see the people doubt God, rebel against God, fear the enemies surround them despite God’s promise of protection, and grumble over their daily needs despite God’s continual provision. And truly the fact that they couldn’t or wouldn’t place their whole trust in God seems foolish at best and down right rebellious at worst. Which of course they were both.

Our view from the future gives us a perceived right to point our fingers at the people of Israel and say, “Why didn’t they trust God when He had shown Himself to be faithful so often?” Yet, are we really so different from the Israelite people or the Old Testament? The Lord Leads us out of our slavery to sin to Him and gives us the promise of Heaven. Are we perfect in our obedience and non-foolishness? Our own journey may not include the saga of the Exodus and into a new land but it is no less epic. In fact, we tend to downplay the protection and provision of God’s works in our lives, because we don’t think of them as being of God in the same way they were for the people of Israel. God may not be separating the Red Sea before you but He has led you and His work in your life and in the lives of all believers is no less miraculous. In fact some of the greatest miracles in your life may have been the times that God protected you and you have no idea from what or in what ways. Belief in God changes lives so much so that we may not even realize all the times that God has moved to keep you out of situations that you were in. We will never know this side of heaven just how many Red Sea moments have happened to us but that doesn’t mean that God isn’t at work.

This leading that God gave to the Israelites was for them as a whole people. In the same way God doesn’t just lead us individually but corporately and therefore the miracles are meant to benefit not just one person but the people as a whole. What kind of miracles has God done for us as a church? We have seen God move among us, He kept our doors open when we had a million dollar mortgage hanging over us. He has sustained us countless times as we moved from a tiny church start back in 1958 to the church that He is continually using today nearly 70 years later. God continues to bring family after family, person after person into deepening relationships with Him and He will continue to do so in our midst. We may never know just how great of miracles that God is doing in our midst but it should be enough for us to trust that He is. Our God is still doing miracles we just don’t always recognize them as such.

Leaders: Bible Reading Deut. 1:9-18

Read with me :

The Lord Led Israel through the giving of leaders and guidance to those leaders. Moses’ leadership was always lacking and it wasn’t just the fact that he felt he wasn’t a great speaker, he was only human and he was only one man.

Moses was without question used by God in huge and amazing ways but his leadership could never make up for the fact that he was only one man and therefore could not lead over every aspect that the people needed him to. Therefore, God set up a team of leaders to take on the responsibilities that were needed. He raised these men from the different tribes to take on the tasks of everyday leadership. It makes perfect sense and it seems so simple that we wonder why Moses didn’t do it himself. But the truth is Moses listened to his Father-in-Law but more importantly Moses Listened to God and the job of leadership as a whole was made lighter because of this team.

God lifts up leaders in order to lead and because we believe that God is sovereign we must put our trust in God. We believe that God knows the right person to put in place at the right time. This is hard when we may not trust or agree with God’s decision but He is God and we are not. Sometimes God has to put horrible leaders into place in order to accomplish a greater mission than what we can see. It is not up to us to question God it is only up to us to be obedient to the roles God has us over. This is one of those provisions that God gives us that we rarely think about being a provision of God especially if we don’t agree with the person in leadership. However, it should be our goal not to question God on His choice but instead trust that God has a plan.

God’s People Disobey

The problem is that we don’t like to give God the benefit of the doubt because that would mean that we aren’t in control. We think we know better how this world should be ran and even if we would never officially say that we show that with our actions loud and clear. We are no different than the people of Israel in Moses’ day.

Israel couldn’t see the way forward. They didn’t trust that God could get them out of Egypt so when He sent them Moses and Aaron the rebelled against them. They saw the Red Sea and the Egyptian Army behind them and they feared God had lead them to their deaths, and now after God had protected them so much and shown the such great love and miracles, as they were about to enter the promised land, and they once again rebelled. Let’s read about that.

Failures: Bible Reading Deut. 1:23-33

Israel saw their enemy as unbeatable therefore they rebelled. They doubted that God could protect them as they entered this promised land. They feared the people there. They were strong, they were big, they were hard. But what they were really afraid of was once again the idea of putting their futures in God’s hands. Time and time again the people’s rebellion comes because they don’t trust God with their lives. Had God ever let them down? NO. Had God ever failed to provide for them? NO. Had God chosen another people over them? NO. So why is it that they refused God so often and rebelled against Him? Simply put they were selfish ignorant fools and we are exactly like them.

We see our enemies as too big to overcome and therefore we fail to ask God for help. We see our lives as being ours to live and we have no desire to trust God with any of it. Has our God ever let us down? NO. Has our God ever failed to provide for us? NO. Has our God chosen another people over us? NO. So why is it that we refuse God so often and rebel against Him? We are selfish ignorant fools who have chosen our own brokenness over God’s plan time and time again.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 says “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” If this is true then it should be our goal to get better each day in living it out. I was reading this past week a book by the 16th Century French Reformer John Calvin called, “A little book on the Christian Life” Here is what Calvin had to say about living out our borrowed lives:

“If we are not our own but the Lord's, it's clear what errors we must flee, and what we must direct our whole lives toward. We are not our own; therefore, neither our reason nor our will should dominate our plans and actions. We are not our own; therefore, let us make the gratification of our flesh our end. We are not our own; therefore, as much as possible, let us forget ourselves and our own interests .

Rather, we are God’s. Therefore, let us live and die to Him. We are God’s. Therefore, let us let His wisdom and His will govern our actions. We are God's. Therefore, let us, in every way in all our lives, run to him as our only proper end.” John Calvin “A little book on the Christian Life”

This is to be our goal. We are to each and every day work a little harder at not living our lives for ourselves and instead allowing God to be our proper end. Because to not do so only leads us into God’s discipline.

Discipline: Bible Reading Deut. 1:34-45, 2:14-16

Let’s read a little more.

Israels rebellion led to the Lord’s discipline; 40 years in the wilderness until the of age adults died out, except Joshua and Caleb. It was civil disobedience therefore the discipline was for the entire nation.

When we sin we tend to think of our sin as only effecting us but that is a lie. Let’s define something. Our sin is great and we are terrible sinners. I as your pastor am a terrible sinner. I don’t have to stand here and list my sins for you to know that I have them, likewise I don’t have to have a rundown of all your sins in order to know that they are horrible. So, let’s not try to pull the wool over each others eyes and try to convince the world that our lives aren’t broken. We are broken individuals living in a broken world. However, it is not just our individual sins that are a problem but it is also our corporate sin. What do I mean by this? What I mean is that as a Christian people we have chosen disobedience over and over again. The church as a whole has given in time an time again to the culture and the prevailing winds of the world around us instead of standing up and declaring the truths of the Bible. The church has neglected it’s role to serve the poor, the widow, and the orphan. And by that I mean us as a church we here in Gas City stand apart from the church as a whole. We are the church, this church, New Hope Baptist. We have neglected our roles.

Our news feeds for the past couple of weeks has been filled with the uprisings happening in Minnesota and it only seems to worsen every week. This past Sunday those protests entered the doors of a church and interrupted a service, and as you know even more escalation happened this weekend. I can’t imagine the fear of living there, no matter what side of the political spectrum you might reside on. I am not going to make a statement either way on the politics and the social justice what I am going to say is that we as churches we have failed to love in the ways that we are called to love, and we have relegated our duty to love over to the government. We as the church used to be the ones who were the first to help those in need. Hospitals, missions, relief organizations, each one used to all be ran by churches who were living out their faith by giving to those who had need. What have we done? We have relegated our helps over to others including the government and what has occured? Who has benefited from this. While money, food and lodging have been and are being distributed the Gospel isn’t. Friends Jesus told Satan while being tempted by him in the wilderness, Matthew 4:4 “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Our immediate needs might be for bread, money and lodging but those things are temporary. What this world needs is that which has no end. What all creation needs is the Savior. What you need is forgiveness of sins. What you need is Jesus. And what we as the church should be doing is providing a needy world the salve of providing for their temporary needs so that we can give them what the really need. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gospel

‌If you are here today and you know that you are not a believer, you have never asked Jesus into your heart, or maybe you did but haven’t ever allowed God to change you, then let me tell you how you can change that today. Your sin and your brokenness are there to point you to Jesus because only He can provide you with a real solution. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that solution. Here is the Gospel: Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and because He did, we can ask for our sins to be forgiven, and the Bible says He will forgive them. Jesus is the Lamb of God who died for your sins. God sent Jesus so that Jesus might take the punishment we deserve so that we might return to God and be called His own. Romans 10:9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” ‌It is just that easy. You can confess Him as your savior. If that is your desire today, you can say this prayer with me. Bow your heads. God holds out His outstretched hand for you. Are you going to continue in your sin, or are you going to take His Hand? He is calling, and all you have to do is believe.

‌It is just that easy. You can confess Him as your savior. If that is your desire today, you can say this prayer with me. Bow your heads.

‌Dear Lord, ‌I know that I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin, and I ask you to forgive me. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I repent of my sins, and I ask you to come into my life and take control. I make a commitment to follow you, and I trust you as my Lord and Savior.

‌Friend, if you prayed that prayer today, I ask that you come and speak to me after the service.

‌Benediction: Revelation 1:5–6 “and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”