Easter Was Incredible!
Thank you for the many hands that helped out during all the exciting and God-loving activities this Easter weekend at New Hope Church, we couldn’t have done it without you!
From our Good Friday Walk-Through Experience to our four Easter services, so many hearts and hands made this weekend an unforgettable one.
This is my last newsletter to my New Hope family and one that is different:
I’m simply writing to you all as just another person who loves Jesus a whole lot, not one of the pastors on staff. Trust me, it is just as weird for me to read that back as it must be for you.
Throughout ministry I have tried to live by three principles and if I can give my New Hope family a few last encouraging words here they are:
Be patient! In a world that is filled with instant gratifications, God calls us into patience. Wait patiently on the Lord. Turn your hearts to His will and His way and glorify our Sovereign Heavenly Father.
Psalm 37:7a “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him.”
Be positive! Allow the Holy Spirit to work on your heart to be outrageously positive. If something doesn’t work out your way, try to be positive. It has already happened, it’s in the past, you can’t change it. You can only change your response and it should be steered to be a positive one.
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.”
Be proactive! Our lives are worth living because we worship a God worth living for! Give your life to the Kingdom of God. Our lives are too short to not be part of what God is doing. He’s inviting you. Yes, you! Be part of His reconciling, redemptive plan for the nations.
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
In Christ,
~Matt Irvin
Your IMB Missionary