1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” 4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.…

بقلم Pastor Paul Bourman

بقلم Pastor Paul Bourman

This Sunday at Hope we begin a summer sermon series on the 10 commandments. I'm so eager to be blessed by these commandments with you! But this first Sunday, we won't even begin with one of the commandments. We'll begin with Psalm 1. The psalmist teaches us about life, making it all very simple. He's almost like the Mandalorian. Remember that show?…

This podcast episode is the audio from a recent Bible Study at Hope Lutheran Church on the topic of Christian parenting. This study serves as the foundation of what we will do in the future of our children's ministry! Listen in! If you would like to follow along with the Bible Study's work sheet, it is linked below. https://docs.google.com/document…

بقلم Pastor Paul Bourman

The early church must have been something to behold. Something so apart, so other from the way anyone else was living. In the days and weeks following Jesus' resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, those early Christians lived differently. Luke wrote about what that life was like in Acts 2: 42 They devoted themselves to the apo…

Easter changes everything. It means that sin and death have no power over us, it means that since Jesus has risen, he will rise too, it means that since he kept his promise, we can know that he will keep every promise to us. Easter changes everything. It even changes the purpose for our lives. Matthew wants us to see that. See, Easter wasn't the en…

بقلم Pastor Paul Bourman

بقلم Pastor Paul Bourman

بقلم Pastor Paul Bourman

بقلم Pastor Paul Bourman

You have a purpose. You have a mission. Jesus said so! Tomorrow we're going to talk about it. Read about it in Matthew 10! Today, I'm going to leave it as simple as that, because I want you to hear about this mission!

This Sunday at Hope, we will look at the account of Jesus calling Matthew to be his disciple. It seems like such a simple event. Matthew is at his tax collector's booth. Jesus says: "Follow me." And Matthew does. So many questions come into my mind! Why does he follow Jesus with such little context? What is the significance of that for today’s Chri…

If I hadn't told you, would you have known that this Sunday, we will be celebrating Jesus' baptism? I don't blame you if hadn't! But I am reflecting on the fact, this week, that this is something that we almost never give a thought to- the baptism of Jesus. As I was studying this week, I found that the Sunday of the Baptism of Jesus used to be like…

Every year, on the Sunday of Epiphany, the church across the world reads the same text. It's Matthew 2:1-12. It's a story that's perhaps familiar to all of us. It's the story of the Magi traveling from far away, following a start placed in the sky by God himself, to come and worship Jesus. It's a story that's maybe so familiar that it becomes hard …

How will you enter the new year? I know that's a question that's all over the internet and social media. How can you reflect on 2022? How can you make a resolution that will last? How can you grow as you go? There is a LOT to say about answering these questions God's way, through the Bible. And we're going to do just that tomorrow. Tomorrow, our ti…

There is a lot in Isaiah 9:2-8 that just comforts me to my core. There’s the light that shines in a dark place- it gets me that I don’t have to be the light. That gets me right in the heart because as a pastor, I have the privilege of talking to so many people who are despairing in so many ways, and so this gets me- that when I read this text, I do…

Isaiah 7:2-14. I’m guessing you’ve never heard that full story before. Give it a read before Sunday if you never have before. This isn’t an account that really fits into Sunday School curriculums. It’s not a story that Veggie Tales is going to make a movie about. Ever. And I get why. It’s certainly not child friendly. It’s not even all that compell…

The book of Revelation is eye-opening. Its words are exciting, graphic, sometimes even terrifying as they describe a vision given to the apostle John as he sat in exile on the island of Patmos. In our text for Sunday John wrote about his vision from God: "Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed…

My junior year of high school, I was part of a traveling choir. Our spring tour took us to the Southwest of the country, and for a day of fun, our director booked us a bus trip up to see the Grand Canyon. Only one problem - it was snowing. Halfway up we were forced to turn around after the bus slid backwards 20 feet over the snow towards a cliff. I…

Sola Fide Sola Gratia Sola Scriptura That's what we're about here at Hope. These are the hallmarks of what it means to be a Lutheran. These short statements describe the only things we need to answer the big questions of life. By faith alone(sola fide) God places the gift of salvation in our hearts. By his grace alone (sola gratia) God sent his Son…

I don’t think anybody comes to the end of their life and says, “Well, that happened just like I thought it would.” I, for one, won’t. A little over two years ago, I had never heard of Tigard. Now it’s my home. (And I wouldn't trade!) Ten years I don’t even think I would’ve guessed that I would be a pastor right now. I could go on and on. Because li…

Here are some statistics. Anxiety and depression is the most common (by far) mental health diagnosis in America today. 1 in 5 Americans is seeking treatment for anxiety. 1 in 3 Americans recognized a downward turn in their mental health over the past 3 years. Citing dry statistics runs the risk that we make anxiety all about someone else. It’s anyt…

One of the first books I can remember reading with my Mom was the classic: "The Little Engine That Could." Do you remember it? No other train was willing to take on the task. The little blue train was. It was difficult, but he repeated to himself in the rhythm of the track: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." And he did. T…

Are you a swifty? I know my fair share of them. A few years ago, they were everywhere! (By the way, a "swiftie" is a fan of country/pop star Taylor Swift) Arguably, her most popular song is called "Shake It Off." It's a great song! Dare I say brilliant? Part of the brilliance of the song is that she knows what she speaks to people. She talks about …

Every time the Apostle Paul talked about prayer, he spoke powerfully. He never hedged about prayer. In Ephesians 6:18 he taught us to pray in everycircumstance. In Romans he taught us to be faithful in prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 he urges us to pray continually. Then, in our text for Sunday, he urges us to pray big prayers. Prayers for nations,…

There’s something about Jesus. He could draw crowds to himself like he was a magnet. He could make prostitutes weep for joy. He made old cynical apostles coin new words just to talk about his grace. There’s something about Jesus that draws sinners to him. It either does that or it makes you jealous at the attention he gets from sinners. This is wha…

For interactive Sermon notes, click here: https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/42364/note-164211.html This text dinged me up this week. It battered my conscience, it pushed my pastor's heart to the limits. It showed me how much I've fallen short. It's a text that is short and sweet. Give it a read: Mark 12:41-44 41 Jesus sat down opp…

This is a sermon (and a sermon series) where Jesus teaches us about our relationship with our treasures and the blessings he has given us. He gives a rich young man, and us, a crucial lesson about what it is like to truly repent of both our vices and our virtues so that Jesus can be our everything- our Savior. If you'd like to follow along with int…

Have you noticed all the traffic along highway 217 this summer? Along the entire stretch of the highway, there is work being done to make some more room for the future- which means for now, we're squished. This week, on 217, I got my first dose of Oregon road rage. One car didn't let another car merge, and the rage burst loose- there was shouting, …

For this week's sermon notes click here! https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/42364/note-162640.html Somewhere in this world there’s a teenage girl who feels like nobody sees her. She feels like she has to wear the right clothes so someone will. She also feels like she has to walk down the hall plastering a smile on her face; say the…