Hope Unlimited Church

Hosea 6:2

“After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence.”

Exodus 3:7-8

“I have seen the oppression of my people. I have heard their cries. I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them.” 

Exodus 10:21

"Raise your hand, and darkness will fall across the land — a darkness so thick, it can be felt."

Exodus 10:23

"No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived."

Matthew 27:45-46

“At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock…”

Isaiah 50:6

“I gave my back to those who beat me… I did not hide from shame.”

Key Verse: “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” – John 14:9 (NIV)

Do you look like your Heavenly Father?

Jesus said, “I only do what I see the Father doing” (John 5:19) NIV

THE PROBLEM: Why We Don’t Look Like the Father

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.” – John 8:44 (NIV)

We Forget That Looking Like Jesus is the Goal

“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” – 1 John 2:6 (NIV)

THE SOLUTION: How to Look Like the Father

Key #1 - Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” – Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV)

Key #2 - Do What Pleases the Father

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light and find out what pleases the Lord.” - Ephesians 5:8-10 NIV

How do we know what He loves?

  ⁃  Through His Word.

  ⁃  Through time in prayer.

  ⁃  Through communion with the Spirit

Key #3 - Take Care of What’s Important to Him

“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” – Matthew 25:40 (NIV)

Are you aligned with what God calls important—or just what feels convenient?

“Be imitators of God in everything you do, for then you will represent your Father as his beloved sons and daughters.” - Ephesians 5:1 TPT

Romans 10:14-15 NLT

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? …That is why the Scriptures say, ‘How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!’”

Key #1 - What You Carry Defines You

Luke 6:45 NIV

“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Key #2 - Carriers Are Contagious

Matthew 5:14-16 MSG

“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world… By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God.”

Acts 4:13 NIV

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Key #3 - The Message Is Worth the Weight

Luke 14:27 NIV

“Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

2 Corinthians 4:17 NIV

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

Key #4 - You Don’t Carry It Alone

Matthew 11:28-30 MSG

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me… Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.”

Galatians 6:7-8 NIV

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

Judges 16:4-5 NIV

"Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, 'See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.'”

Key #1 - Be Careful Who You Let In

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

Key #2 - If You Play With Fire, You Will Get Burned

Judges 16:6 NIV

"So Delilah said to Samson, 'Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.’"

Judges 16:7 NIV

Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

1 Corinthians 10:12 NIV

"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!"

Key #3 - Deception Always Leads to Destruction

Judges 16:19-21 NIV

"After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. Then she called, 'Samson, the Philistines are upon you!' He awoke from his sleep and thought, 'I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.' But he did not know that the Lord had left him. Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison."

Key #4 - God’s Grace is Greater

Judges 16:28 NIV

"Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ‘Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more...’"

Job 14:7-9

Metaphor - Word or phrase to suggest a likeness, compare

Psalm 1:1-3

Hope - Cord, expectancy

Romans 11:18

Yet - Nevertheless

James 2:17 NIV

"Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

Key #1 - Faith Starts with a Step

1 Samuel 14:6 (NIV)

"Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, 'Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.’”

Key #2 - Risk-Takers Are History-Makers

1 Samuel 14:7 (NIV)

"‘Do all that you have in mind,’ his armor-bearer said. ‘Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.’”

1 Samuel 14:13-15 (NIV)

"Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. In that first attack, Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre. Then panic struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God."

Key #3 - The Right People Strengthen Your Faith

Hebrews 10:24-25

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another."

Key #4 - Faith in Motion Inspires Others

1 Samuel 14:22-23 (NIV)

"When all the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit. So on that day the Lord saved Israel, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven."

Key Scripture:

Revelation 12:11 NLT

“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

Key #1 - The Blood of the Lamb Secures Our Victory

Colossians 1:13 NLT

“For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son”

Key #2 - Your Testimony is your Weapon

1 Samuel 17:37 NLT

“The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Key #3 - Fear paralyzes but Faith propels

Matthew 14:29-31 ESV

So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Key #4 - The Promise comes through Perseverance

Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

James 1:2-4 NIV

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Heart & Soul Week 3

1 Kings 19:19-21

19 So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. 20 Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!”

Elijah replied, “Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.”

21 So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant. 

Key # 1 - Claim Your Calling

Ephesians 2:10 

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. 

Key #2 - Burn Your Backup Plan

Isaiah 43:19 

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. 

Key #3 - Faith Moves You Forward

Matthew 20:26 

But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Key #1 - Trusting the Plan requires Faith, Not full Understanding

Genesis 12:1 NIV

“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’”

Genesis 17:4

As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

Key #2 - Control leads to Chaos

Genesis 16:1-4 NIV

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

Key #3 - Don’t doubt in the Delay

Genesis 18:10 NIV

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.

Key #4 - God's game plan Is Perfect & Complete

Genesis 21:1-2 NIV

“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.”

Psalm 145:8-9 NIV

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.