One Person at a Time...

This Sunday at New Life!

Join us Sunday as we focus on the greatest reality of God's salvation in Jesus Christ: FORGIVENESS!  The message title is "Forgiven and Forgiving!" and it's the fifth of a seven-part message series focusing on the Lord's Prayer.  God's forgiveness to us is the most powerful spiritual weapon ever.  In fact, When Martin Luther penned the great hymn, "A MIghty Fortress Is Our God," he wrote, "...The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him.  One little word shall fell him."  What is the word?  Some would say, "Love!" and that would be a good word, but there is a word that causes the devil to tremble even more:  FORGIVE!  After all, as Jesus received the nails in His hands and feet on the day of His crucifixion, He did not say, "Father LOVE them, for they don't know what they're doing."  He said, "Father FORGIVE them, for they don't know what they are doing."  We all want to be forgiven.  In fact, our eternal future depends on God forgiving us, but as we'll see on Sunday, once we have been forgiven God EXPECTS (and DEMANDS) that we will forgive others!  I hope you'll be there as we see how to do just that!  (If you have friends in for the weekend---BRING THEM, TOO!)

This Sunday at New Life!

This Sunday is EASTER DAY!  Join us at one of our two worship services (8:45 a.m and 10:15 a.m.) at the South Butler Primary School.  The theme of the day is CELEBRATION, and the message is titled "The Great Cover Up!"  What a great time to invite your family, friends, co-workers and classmates to join us at New Life!  I have a favor to ask those of you who don't have young children, and who participate regularly at New Life--would you join us at the 8:45 a.m. service?  That way those who have small children, and guests (who are more likely to come at the later hour) will find a place to sit when they arrive.  Our worship attendance has be growing each Sunday since we've moved back to the Primary School, and we praise God that so many of our guests have been returning and becoming part of the regular "crowd" at New Life.  My prayer is that God will bring dozens of guests to worship with us on Sunday, and that many will trust Jesus as Savior and Lord for the first time.  Please join me in that prayer---and bring your unchurched friends!

Tomorrow at New Life!

I hope you're planning to join us tomorrow as we celebrate the conclusion of our 40 Days of Commitment with Jesus FIRST--Then and Now!  We'll reflect on the first "Palm Sunday" and how the people of Jerusalem finally recognized Jesus for who He is:  The King of kings and Lord of lords!  The key question for us is this: IS Jesus FIRST in our lives today, and will he be tomorrow?  The citizens of Jerusalem in Jesus' day shouted, "Hosanna!" when he entered the city on Palm Sunday, but "Crucify Him!" on Friday.  What about us?  Will our hosannas last through the week?  Will we keep our commitment to Jesus NO MATTER WHAT?  Join us tomorrow and celebrate Jesus kingship in our lives!

This Sunday at New Life!

I hope you'll be there this Sunday as we focus on being Commissioned to Greatness!As we move to the sixth and final week of our 40 Days of Commitment, we'll consider what it means to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations--starting right where we are.  Many of you have been deepening your commitment in the areas of worship, fellowship, ministry and discipleship and now we add missions.  We'll also have an exciting Come Let Us Build(CLUB) update, and hear about what God is doing in the area of building our "Mission Outpost" at 127 Knoch Road, Saxonburg.  Plan to come to the South Butler Primary Center and worship with us at 10:00 a.m.---and bring a friend or two along!

This Sunday at New Life!

Join us Sunday as we move to the second message in our 40 Days of Commitment Series: In Spirit and Truth!  The focus is our commitment to worship, and we'll be celebrating the Lord's Supper together.  Who or what is the focus of YOUR worship right now?  Is it God--really?  How does that get lived out not just on Sundays, but throughout the week?  Be there as we take on this vital priority in our lives as Jesus' followers.

This Sunday at New Life!

I can't wait for Sunday!  Reflection, the music group from Geneva College that New Life's Nate Davies is part of will be leading the music, and presenting "Everything" as the offering of praise.  We kick of our 40 Days of Commitment that has the potential to transform all of us in lasting ways, as have previous 40 Day journeys at New Life. The CLUB update will have a surprise AND some specifics about what God is doing in our process to move us to 127 Knoch Road.  This is a Sunday to be there for sure!

This Sunday at New Life!

Join us Sunday as we look at the intriguing idea of  "A Righteous Sinner?"  This is the third of our three-part series "The Three 'R's' of Pressing On!"    Pastor Pat Summers, a mission partner from "Think MIssions" will also be there to bring us a mission update from His work in Cuba!  As always the coffee pot will be on and there will be delicious cookies before and after worship.  I hope you'll BE THERE!

The TEAM that Matters!

Today's worship was cool!  A couple highlights were the dedication of Ryder and Piper to the Lord by their parents; the music was fantastic and tied in with the message so well; and God gave me a really great analogy to use in sending the folks out.  The analogy was between the Super Bowl and the Pro-Bowl.  I asked if there was a game on today, and a handful of people said, "The Pro-Bowl."  I said, "Everyone knows it isn't a really football game.  The players on each team aren't really teammates, and the goal isn't really to win.  It's to enjoy being in Hawaii, and not getting hurt.  Lots of players, while they valued being know as "pro bowlers" didn't even go to the game.  Not so with the Super Bowl--the Steelers and the Cardinals showed up to play.  The fans arrived days ahead of time.  The pregame show was 6 hours long!  Who won or lost really mattered to the teams.  As we go out into the world, we're on a team that matters---eternally.  Jesus is our leader, our Lord and He is both empowering us and cheering us on.  Our task is to get others to become part of the team, too, because if they don't they will miss out on the celebration for eternity.  I challenged everyone to remember what team we're on and to reach out to someone who either IS on the team and missed worship today, or ISN'T on the team and needs to join us.  As we take that challenge seriously, God's kingdom will deepen and grow, and that's what it's all about!

This Sunday at New Life!

Have you ever wondered WHY am I here?  Last Sunday at New Life we answered part of that question:  We're here to be in relationship with God and one another!  (That's Jesus' answer, so it's a great one.)  This Sunday we look at another reason we're here.  The message title is "What 'works' Have to Do With it!"  Do you think that you can do enough good things that God will notice and let you into heaven, or at least put a gold star on your forehead?  Do you think that you've done so many bad things that no matter how much you clean up your act God will never let you into heaven?  You need to be there this Sunday at New Life as we look at the real reason we do good things, and what God thinks of it all anyway!  I hope You'll join us!

This Sunday at New Life!

The weather has NOT been helpful these past several weeks, but THIS SUNDAY is a Sunday to BE THERE at New Life!  We start a new series titled The Three "R's" of Pressing on! [This year's theme is PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL!] The first "R" is RELATIONSHIPS, and we'll be turning to Jesus' teaching from Matthew 22:34-40 to find out which relationships in our lives are most important!  We'll celebrate the Lord's Supper and enjoy great fellowship before and after worship.  I hope to see YOU there!