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In our fifth week of the Replanted series, we look at Hebrews 12:1–3, where the writer uses the image of an Olympic runner to illustrate a life of endurance and faith. Just as athletes run with intense discipline, focus, and minimal baggage, a healthy Christian life requires laying aside weight and distraction to run the course set before us. Joel broke this race of faith down into three core movements: We Are Not the First to Run: We are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses”—the heroes of faith from Hebrews 11 and believers throughout history who have finished the race well. Their stories serve as evidence that it can be done, encouraging us to run with confidence and courage while learning from both their triumphs and their missteps. We Run Better with Less: Physical runners strip away extra clothing to maximize speed and freedom. Spiritually, we are called to throw off every sin, addiction, and distraction that entangles us and calls us off course. Follow the Markers: We do not have to guess at the route or invent the map. Jesus is the “pioneer and perfecter” of our faith—by keeping our eyes fixed on Him and studying how He endured the cross for the joy set before Him, we find the strength to avoid burnout, honor prior generations, and finish the race well. Support the show

This week Joel preached on faith and hope from Hebrews 11:1–3, showing us that faith is the “title deed” to God’s promises, the guarantee that what we hope for is ours even before we see it, signed by the resurrection of Jesus. He reminded us that doubt is not the opposite of faith but an element of it, and that like Abraham and the saints of Hebrews 11 (as well as previous members of Eastland Baptist Church, who faithfully prayed for this church’s future without seeing it), we can trust God even when our hopes go unmet in this lifetime. We’re invited to carry faith for one another in hard seasons, to lean on our church family when we’re hanging by a thread, and to remember that all we have seen should teach us to trust the Creator for all we have not seen. Support the show

In the third installment of the Replanted series, we look at Ezekiel 37:1–14 to see God's profound heart for raising dead things to life. Throughout Scripture, God's heart to overturn death and the destructive power of sin is displayed. We see this vividly when Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35, 38)—grieving the painful effects of death on His creation, even as He prepared to defeat it. When we experience loss or suffering, God does not stand distant or remain uneffected; what breaks our hearts breaks His infinitely more. Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones offers a powerful picture of spiritual restoration. When asked, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel humbly replied, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” God then commanded him to prophesy over the dry, scattered bones, assembling them step-by-step and breathing the Holy Spirit into them until a dead valley became a vast, living army. The history of Hope Church mirrors this valley: what once seemed like an abandoned, dying work was restored by God's Spirit through steady, faithful obedience. Whether we currently find ourselves in a dry valley, looking intact but lacking spiritual breath, or standing strong on our feet, God is actively breathing His Spirit into us so that we can breathe His life and hope into our community. Support the show

In the second week of the Replanted series, Jason dove into Jesus’ address to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:1–7 to uncover how a thriving, highly effective church can slowly go astray. On paper, the Ephesians were doing everything right: they worked hard, endured suffering, stood for doctrinal truth, and rooted out false teaching. Yet, Jesus brought a serious indictment against them: they had abandoned the love they had at first. Like doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons, it is entirely possible to serve God tirelessly while drifting away from intimate relationship with Him and placing our ultimate affection on the tools and people rather than Christ Himself. Spiritual drift and church failure often happen when we idolize or demonize what Jason called the “5 Ps” of church life: Place, People, Personality, Programs, and Position. When these secondary things become primary, we reduce the body of Christ to a mere country club or gym, seeking power, control, or personal preference rather than gospel transformation. To prevent our roots from withering and our lampstand from being removed, Jesus gives us a clear path back: remember where we fell, repent of the false loves we have turned to, and return to the simple, humble works we did at first. Support the show

Joel kicked off our Replanted sermon series by looking back at the history of Eastland Baptist Church (now Hope Church) to discover how God brings life out of death, not just in a building, but within our own souls. Drawing from Leviticus and 1 Corinthians 1:30, we see that life and holiness exist only in God's presence, and Jesus was sent to make us righteous so we can experience true, unrestricted access to the Father. Yet, even while in Christ, we can still experience spiritual drift. This drift rarely happens through a single sinful choice; rather, it happens through small, unconscious concessions and steps we fail to take in confession, community, and spiritual growth. The 100-year history of this local body of believers mirrors our personal faith journeys: from a small but vibrant 1911 "living room" faith, to a 1926 season of momentum and growth, to a gradual, quiet turning inward where a church slowly becomes a place people drive past without realizing life exists inside. Psalm 78:1–7 calls us to remember and speak the truth about our timeline. The path to being replanted does not begin with an immediate renovation or by fixing ourselves, but with honest confession. Whether our faith is alive, quiet, or reduced to a stubborn little remnant, God has already gone ahead of us, proving that death has no hold in His Kingdom. Support the show