Keeping The Main Thing The Main Thing: Loving God And Caring About All People

This Sunday, we start our three week series on core values, *"What We Value at New Hope."* Core values could be thought of as our fundamental beliefs. They help us discern right and wrong and provide a foundation that guides behavior, policies, and decisions. Core values are essential for all organizations but are of the utmost importance in the church. Many churches have very similar doctrinal beliefs: the Bible is the inspired word of God, the Trinity, the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, salvation by grace through faith, etc. These are things that should be unchanging core values in our church and really every church. However, there must be core values in the application of these biblical values. Professing biblical values is one thing—applying them correctly is another. If all we needed to do was proclaim them, then most churches would automatically flourish and grow (and they aren't). But we also have to live them out. We have to embody them; be living examples of them. At New Hope, we have seven core values that are essential to who we are as a family of faith. This is how we have chosen to live out these foundational Biblical principles. **At New Hope...** * We love Jesus. * We care about all people. * We follow God’s guidance. * We seek to live out truth with grace. * We work in teams and value everyone’s input. * We are open to taking risks and making bold decisions. This week, we will focus on the first new: Loving Jesus and caring about ALL people. Our Scripture will come from Matthew 22:34-40. These two values really are the main thing. Come tomorrow to find out why! Subscribe to our **New Hope UMC Sunday Sermon Podcast** on: * [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/new-hope-umc-sunday-sermon-podcast/id1093524425?mt=2) * [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/2habfMJ6S8jirQnpimNwHg?si=nKlvpZRrQYKnsJSJc6Du3Q) * [Stitcher Radio](http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87782&refid=stpr) * [Google Play](https://play.google.com/music/m/Ijonx62ajd5qwxv3qgxkizdqnva?t=New_Hope_UMC_Sunday_Sermon_Podcast) * [Subscribe on Android](http://subscribeonandroid.com/findnewhopesunday.libsyn.com/rss) * [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFZw6j-ZlY45HU-m-lQ5XYuphsrbeJMsk)