“…for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.”1 Thessalonians 3:7-8 ESV My suffering or distress has been NO WHERE CLOSE to Paul’s. But wowzah! This week’s stomach bug had me sleeping in...
“You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”1 Thessalonians 1:6 NIV This Sunday, I will be teaching about God’s will from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. As we consider the context of the beginning of Paul’s letter to...
“For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ …”Romans 9:3a NIV Like every individual verse in the Bible, Paul’s words need to be read in its context. Who, as a disciple of Jesus, would want to be “cut off from Christ”? At first glance, Paul’s words are intense and...
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36 NIV) Reading verse 36, the red-letter words of Jesus, is easier to obey if I feel sorry for the person. Or if I know that person or have a friendship with them. Let’s consider the context of this passage. In a sermon to His disciples...
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 NIV What does it mean to worship God in...
“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”2 Corinthians 3:2-3 WOWZAH! Imagine...
I introduced our new series last Sunday, August 17th, The Bible & Jesus Revival. Someone mentioned to me that they grew up in a religious, God-minded home. He said this past week’s message touched him, because he grew up with great information about the Bible but lacked a personal, intimate relationship with the Author, the Holy...
Don’t you just love what God is doing in our church family? His aloha is so beautifully expressed through our genuine relationships. The care and compassion you show one another brings a spiritual vibrancy to our gatherings. Our worship overflows—not just in our music and singing, but also in our times of prayer, fellowship, and having...
Have you ever felt so humbly grateful to God for His intervening grace? I mean when He sovereignly provides and blesses you, answering your prayers, favoring you in practical ways in daily life? We know God doesn’t always answer our prayers according to our will or desires—and that can be both tricky and emotionally sticky....
My spirit is stirring with excitement and expectations as I prepare messages for our new mini-series “YOUR WORD IS…! A journey through Psalm 119.” I really sense the Lord leading us to know Him, to grow in a mānoa intimacy with our Godhead through the Word of God. This past Sunday, I spoke about the...
Pastor Rod has been in ministry for more than 38 years. He has shepherded and overseen a variety of ministries, including children’s, youth, college, community/missions, discipleships/small groups, worship and the arts, as well as assisting and consulting with several church planters. Since moving back to Honolulu from Kansas City in 2000, Rod has served on Pastor Wayne Cordeiro’s executive team at New Hope O‘ahu. He has pastored the New Hope Mānoa ‘ohana since January 2015.
