Newlife Living

Very early in the ministry of the Church, the disciples had to make a choice. Were they going to listen and respond to the calling of God to go and preach the good news, or would they back down because of pressure from those around them? As followers of Jesus, we have the same choice. Today, the people of God have the same command...Go. Stand. Speak. 

Continuing our look into the Parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25, we will discover the difference between the foolish and the wise virgins. It all comes down to having "oil". How will you respond to the reality of the "groom's" coming?

This is all about a wedding. "What is", you ask? Everything. God is pursuing His human creation. He has promised Himself to us and when we respond, we are His. Will you exchange vows with Him and commit to being His?

In Acts chapter five we read of a husband and a wife who make a donation to the early church and are immediately killed. Why did this happen and what can we learn from it as the church today?

As we continue in our review of the Acts of the Apostles we are witness of God developing the heart of His people, the Church. We are on a path of looking more and more like our heavenly Father. Central ways we see this in the first generation Church is in community and generosity. God continues to develop His heart in us as well. 

The boldness of the disciples continues to be displayed by their refusal to comply with the Sanhedrin's mandate not speak of Jesus. This teaching considers what can we learn from their defiance in knowing when and how best to respond authorities in our world today.

It was recognizable that Peter and John had been with Jesus. Is Jesus recognizable in our life? How do I spend time with Jesus and what does it look like to participate in God's presence? We will discover that moving  further into God's presence should be our focus no matter what we face.

Peter and John lead the church to standing firm, relying on the Holy Spirit and not backing down to any threats, real or perceived. They set the tone for the Church holding their ground of commitment to the reality of Jesus, the cross and the resurrection and God lead many to saving faith in Jesus as a result! How and where should we stand today?

This message examines how Peter takes advantage of a great teaching moment after the miraculous healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years and gives us a Biblical model for our own evangelism.

God has preserved the story of Peter and John's encounter with the lame beggar at the Temple gate to instruct and challenge us even today. What can we glean from that event?  How the early disciples dealt with and responded gives us an indication of God's heart for the church and keys to how we are to minister today. 

This teachings looks at Jesus commissioning of His disciples in light of the devotion shown in the early church in being equipped and helping to equip followers of Jesus in fulfilling the Lord's calling. 

Were Jesus and His followers Communists? Some have heard that claim being made, but do the Scriptures bear it out? In this teaching from Acts 2 we will examine what some point to as a communal model for Christian life and consider whether  Jesus and His earliest followers taught that was what God expected for His church. 

Through His people and by the Holy Spirit, God's kingdom grows and advances. God has a message to communicate and a people to develop. He will accomplish it from start to finish and the fruitful result will be entirely to His credit and glory. Today, we continue to learn and apply what we see God doing all along, since the beginning of the Church. 

God is doing a multi-faceted work through Peter's first sermon that has ripple effects to us today. He is continuing the work and ministry of Jesus the Messiah, through the church and is accomplishing it in the same way He did through the Holy Spirit in Jesus' life and actions. God is further developing and equipping His people for the work of ministry. Today we are participants in receiving Jesus through faith as well as undergoing development and growth to become more like Him.

After the supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, Peter stands and gives the church's first recorded sermon. In part one we examine how Peter explains the supernatural effects the crowd has witnessed by referring to a widely known Old Testament prophecy and how he calls them to account for their actions and disbelief in the person of Jesus.

In the United States the fourth of July celebrates our nation's freedom from England's  governmental control, but what is freedom? Talk to enough people and you come to realize it means different things to different people. And sometimes one person's pursuit of freedom can result in the loss of another's freedom. In this teaching rather than looking to man for an answer to the question we will look to God for His  understanding of freedom.

God wants to do more. The first disciples were given both the internal presence of the Holy Spirit as well as the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost became the fulfilled Jewish feast which launched a bunch of rag-tag followers of Jesus and transformed them into the bold and courageous first generation of the Church, a group that has exploded into a world-changing force because of God's fueling and equipping.

In the second half of Acts chapter one we find the Apostles waiting for the promise of the Father and deciding to replace Judas in the aftermath of His betrayal of Jesus.  How they wait and ultimately make decisions are insightful and practical to our modern personal lives. 

Psalm 23 is one of the most well-known and repeated passages in the Bible. In this teaching we will see how these praises shine a light of reflection on our human soul and what we can do to maintain a healthy one.

In seeking a biblical understanding of who and what the church is there is no better place than the book of Acts. This message launches our verse by verse study of the NT book sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles. This first installment looks at some important instructions that Jesus gave His apostles in building His church in preparation for His coming Kingdom.