Buried within the Old Testament is the story of a woman who drove a tent peg through the temple of an army commander. What kind of religious text is this? How could one scrape together morality from such a biblical passage? What if it’s not about religion nor morality but instead about preaching the gospel more than 1,000 years prior to the death of Christ?

Cloud of Witnesses
Cor Chmieleski
Hope Community Church - Downtown Minneapolis

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When Jesus is transfigured on the mountain, Peter does what we all do: he scrambles to preserve the moment & stay on top. But the voice from the cloud doesn’t invite Peter to build something; it calls him to listen. In a world chasing curated wellness and manufactured peace, the Transfiguration confronts our illusion of control and reveals a Savior who walks down the mountain into our darkness to bring us into lasting light.

Cloud of Witnesses
Davis Johnson
Hope Community Church - Downtown Minneapolis

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An Old Testament figure named Naaman appeared to have it all––riches, power, favor. But he encountered a problem he couldn’t fix. And through his story we see how God often operates in unexpected or (from a worldly perspective) upside-down ways. Would Naaman (and will we) trust in the solution God offers?

Cloud of Witnesses
Drew Heindel
Hope Community Church - Downtown Minneapolis

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An Old Testament figure named Hagar identifies God as the One who sees her. As part of our cloud of witnesses, she encourages us to believe that God sees all the details of our lives including those parts we’re ashamed of. More than that, as Tim Keller said, God loves us “all the way to the bottom” seeing all of our unlovable parts yet declaring “I love you anyway.”

Cloud of Witnesses
Cor Chmieleski
Hope Community Church - Downtown Minneapolis

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope Community Church, visit hopecc.com.

It starts with two brothers and two offerings. One is accepted, the other isn’t, and what unfolds exposes something hidden in all of us—a quiet comparison, a craving to be enough, a soul that won’t settle. You can’t outwork that restlessness, but you can let better blood speak.

Cloud of Witnesses
Davis Johnson
Hope Community Church - Downtown Minneapolis

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Our current cultural moment lends itself to highly narrated identities. What is a highly narrated identity? It’s a self-conception that is shaped, curated, and reinforced through continuous personal storytelling. Essentially, you’re the author. Scripture confronts this thinking and invites to embrace a new author and new identity, one beyond your ability to manufacture.

Cloud of Witnesses
Cor Chmieleski
Hope Community Church - Downtown Minneapolis

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Throughout the Gospels, Jesus consistently overturns people’s expectations and reshapes their understanding of who God is and what He is doing. He flips the script by working in unexpected places, changing lives, and transforming the world through a group of the most unlikely people. In the most surprising act of all, he dies and rises again—so that now through the good news of the gospel, he can rewrite any story.

Cloud of Witnesses
Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - Downtown Minneapolis

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This passage is filled with perils, promises, and planks. The bible often uses narrative to communicate spiritual realities. In this story, a ship is destroyed and those unable to swim cling to wood planks eventually arriving safely ashore. Isn’t that our spiritual story—awash in sin and death until a wooden plank in the form of a cross surfaces and saves us?

Acts: The Story Continues
Cor Chmieleski
Hope Community Church - Downtown Minneapolis

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For more resources or to learn more about Hope Community Church, visit hopecc.com.