Hey NewLife Family,
We had quite a journey through 2 Thessalonians on Sunday! The Apostle Paul packed a lot of meaning into a short letter. Here are a some highlights:
Now, may the Lord of peace Himself grant us peace at all times and in all ways! 2 Thessalonians 3:16 Waiting with y’all for His glorious return, Pastor Andy Please read 1 Timothy for Sunday. Questions for Reflection or Conversation
On Sunday, we studied Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, which was mainly a letter of reassurance to the believers there.
Paul was reassuring them about three main things:
Not only was Paul reassuring the Thessalonians about their faith and the sincerity of the message he preached to them, he was encouraging them to continue to live out their faith in Jesus in their daily lives. Paul also encourages us to live our our faith by:
Blessings, Pastor Andy Please read or listen to 2nd Thessalonians for Sunday..
“Lord, there’s nothing better than You.”
From the song, “Graves into Gardens” Dear NewLife Family, I want to thank you for taking the journey of remembrance with me this past week during Holy Week. Our goals were to remember, reflect, and refocus on Jesus this past week. On Good Friday: we reflected on how Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) because His days were coming to a close and it was time for Him to be taken up. He turned to Jerusalem because His path of Ascension was through the cross and nothing was going to stop Him from taking that path, not even His own preference (Luke 22:42). We paused to reflect on His suffering through which He paid for our sin and accomplished the Father’s will. At the Sunrise service, we celebrated that Jesus surprised Mary at the tomb by his Resurrection. As soon as He said her name, she knew it was Him! We each can know His voice in the same way because He promised His sheep would know His voice (John 10:4). In our Resurrection Services, we celebrated the Risen Savior! We paused to look at the reliability of the story, of the credibility of the eye witnesses, and we marveled that the angel said to be sure to tell the disciples and Peter (Mark 16:6, emphasis mine). Thankfully the Risen Jesus calls each of us by name to Himself to forgive us, restore us, and recommission us for His purposes. What a loving Savior we serve! Let’s continue to remember, reflect and refocus on Him in these days ahead! He is Risen! Pastor Andy Please read or listen to 1 & 2 Thessalonians for Sunday.
With our celebration of Palm Sunday, we have officially entered Holy Week. As we noted on Sunday, these are our three goals for Holy Week:
Thoughts to reflect on Preparing Him Room this week:
He stands at the door and knocks. He calls to us and offers to come into our lives and eat (have communion) with us. We must open the door to allow Him in. And, as we do so, He’ll begin to open up every room in our heart for Him. We do all of this so that the King of Glory may enter our lives and have time and space with us. Let’s Prepare Him Room! Pastor Andy Services for remembering, reflecting and refocusing this week:
Kyle, a minister of Jesus Christ by the will of God. To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are at NewLife. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.
I write these words not from a prison as Paul did, but out of my office under the stairs. Thinking about how thankful I am for you all and the work being done for God's kingdom. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Colossians there are three things to do: Put to death — all sinful strongholds — sexual immorality, passion, evil deeds, idolatry Put away — anger, malice, slander, lying, filthy language, blasphemy Put on — tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another, and ABOVE ALL PUT ON LOVE God isn't done with you. Our salvation is an amazing gift — but that is just the beginning. As long as we have breath in our lungs, we are called to live a life worthy of God. The only way to do that is to daily give our lives over to God — to put to death all sinful strongholds and to put away those attitudes and actions that hinder our relationships with other believers. Chapter 3:17 states "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Everything we do should be done in the name of Jesus. Our journey with God necessitates intentionality, trust, and faith. It isn't about how we earn our way — it is about Trusting God and following Him — step by step. This is my prayer for you — Colossians 1:9-14 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Amen
Philippians is often called the letter of joy. As we read it, we see Paul rejoicing in the Lord and giving thanks to Him time and again, even though he was in prison. This is Paul’s thank you letter to the church in Philippi for their gift for his ministry. He was greatly buoyed in spirit by their kindness and he felt the genuine love and fellowship behind their efforts, especially as Epaphroditus had to travel over 700 miles to deliver the gift to Paul in Rome. (Think of the planning and preparation the church underwent as well as their commitment to the Lord and to Paul to accomplish such a ministry feat as that. That’s a lesson in and of itself!)
Here’s a quick rundown of the pathways to joy that we talked about in our study of Philippians: Thankfulness, 1:3 Fellowship and Partnership, 1:5-7 The Affection of Jesus, 1:8 Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, 1:9-11 To live is Christ and to die is gain, 1:21 The Model of Christ’s Humility, 2:5-11 Counting everything as loss compared to knowing Christ, 3:8 Pressing toward the goal, 3:12 Eagerly awaiting our Savior from Heaven, 3:20 Having a disciplined mind/intentional thinking on these things, 4:8 Just as these pathways help usher us into the joy of the Lord, there are things that drain joy: Disunity, 2:1-5, 4:1-2 Grumbling, 2:14 Your stomach being your god and other idols, 3:19 Worry, 4:6-7 So, as Paul learned to be content in various financial situations through the strength of Christ (4:11-13), we need to learn the same thing through use and practice of these pathways. Let’s choose to rejoice in the Lord today, Pastor Andy
What a great missions conference we had this last weekend! Thanks to everyone who helped welcome Sam and Jen as they shared their lives and ministry in Germany at the Black Forest Academy with us.
Sam asked two questions in the service that we should continue to be reflecting upon:
He then shared examples of answers to these questions in Joshua's life from Joshua, chapter one. I have a feeling that if we truly and prayerfully press into these questions, it will be life changing. That's precisely his point. Thankful to be on this journey with you, Pastor Andy Please read Philippians for Sunday. Questions for application: Please see the two questions above. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Eph. 5:8b-10, ESV The book of Ephesians is a book of encouragement for believers to build their lives on the foundation of Jesus and to live out their faith in Him in every area of their lives. The first three chapters detail how God gave us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (1:3) and how even though we were far away, Christ brought us near to God by His blood (2:13). I think it’s very telling that Paul stops and prays for the Ephesian believers twice in the first three chapters: 1:15-22 and 3:14-21. It’s not enough to know these truths, but we must pray and ask God to help us comprehend what He’s given to us in His Son and to be able to comprehend how wide, long, high and deep His love is for us in Christ. As our hearts begin to understand these things, our hearts will be shaped by Jesus and we’ll be changed people (4:22-24). These changes He works in us will show themselves in the fruit that we bear as children of light (see verse above). This fruit also will be a witness to the people around us in our lives and will serve to encourage our hearts that we’re living out the life of the Beloved Son (1:6) within us. Hence, we can begin to know what’s pleasing to the Lord by applying His wisdom (1:8-9) to the different situations in our lives (4:1-6:9) and that, truly, is the best use of our time (5:16). Let’s continually build our lives on Jesus Christ the Rock! Pastor Andy Questions for Reflection:
I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal. 2:20, ESV Galatians 2:20 helps us see how Paul applied the gospel to himself. It reveals an accurate orientation to the gospel. It hadn’t been all that long since Paul had preached the gospel to them in the region of Galatia. Yet, the church was being lured away from the truth of the gospel of Jesus to a form of Judaism that prescribed following the law once again, which was no gospel at all (1:6-7). So then, Paul applied the (true) gospel to himself to show that each disciple of Christ needs the gospel- needs it in an ongoing way in order to live life now, in the body God's given to us. There are four (among many) applications for us specifically from Gal. 2:20:
Now it’s up to us to apply the gospel to ourselves, just as Paul did. Once our faith is in Jesus, we need to prayerfully remind ourselves of the truths of Galatians 2:20 everyday. Let’s keep in step with the Spirit as we walk forward with Jesus (Gal. 5:25), Pastor Andy Questions for Reflection:
Hey NewLife Family,
Here are five observations from 2 Sam 6, when David was bringing the Ark of the Lord to Jerusalem.
Friends, we have the blessing of having the Presence of Jesus in our lives. Let’s pay attention to Him AND rejoice and delight in Him! Blessings! Pastor Andy Questions for Reflection:
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