New Beginnings Lutheran Church

Some things are worth fighting for. Holding onto your faith can often feel like a fight. This is the perspective advocated by one of the half-brothers of Jesus Christ in a sermon he wrote. This sermon is found in your Bible in the little book of Jude.

We care better together. In fact, caring relationships assume we stick together. And God brought us together for a purpose bigger than any one of us. To achieve something greater than ourselves, we need to be part of something greater than ourselves.

Caring for one another has a ricochet effect. Jesus said others learn about God’s love when we do as He did for us. What has God done for you? That is a clue to how our care for one another will impact the whole world!

We care, but caring is as much about Word as it is about action--God’s Word. A family dinner pack from Bread Co is fitting when someone is laid-up. A warm meal feeds them for the day. Including encouragement from the Bread of Life will sustain them for eternity.

When you come up against the sharp edges of life (a disease afflicts your health, the economy costs you your job, a jerk breaks your heart,...) you wonder who cares. The answer is that you do. You care for others and find relief in your own struggles. And others, ideally, care for you and discover the same.

With the new year around the corner, thoughts of “time” are on many people’s minds. The new year is a good time to __________. We can all fill in that blank. What does God say about time and how we spend it? And how do we prepare for what is to come?

What is the opposite of LOVE? Dislike? Disdain? Indifference? It’s easier to say accurately what love isn’t than to say what love is. Love isn’t God, but God is love--and so we learn what love is by seeing Him.

What is the opposite of JOY? Discouragement? Despondency? Depression? Even when our circumstances are dark, joy is possible. Tune in to find more ways to tap into this gift of God.

What is the opposite of PEACE? Discord? Disharmony? Distress? Many of us suffer a lack of peace and our sleepless nights and/or our health show for it. Listen to learn how you can experience a more satisfying way of life.

What is the opposite of HOPE? Despair? Distrust? Disbelief? We live in times increasingly prone to these D-words. Would you prefer hope? Then come find out how your heart can swell with expectation of better things.

As a lion growls over its prey, so we meditate on God’s Word (cf., Isaiah 31:4 and Psalm 1:2). God’s Word is a feast and we are learning how to eat it in this final installment, Part Four.

More than once, God’s prophets were told to eat God’s Word (e.g., Revelation 10:9-10). We are attempting the same as we learn methods for studying Scripture, Part Three.

God invites us to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). We will be serving up another course of God’s delicious Word and learn how to study the Bible, Part Two.

Jesus said that we don’t live on bread alone (Matthew 4:4), but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God. How do we eat God’s Word? Come hungry as we learn how to study the Bible, Part One.

The end is here? The end of the world has been “coming soon” for some 2000 years! If a 1000 years is like a day to the Lord, how many days(!) until Jesus comes back? Sooner than you think.

The Bible began in a garden and ends in a city, but that’s not how our story ends. Revelation marshals a variety of images to encourage Christians living in the end times to not lose hope. We have so much to look forward to at the end of all things and the new beginning!

Judgment Day! We have no way of getting around it. We must go through it. The Great White Throne of God proves to be the watershed of history whereupon divides heaven’s gates and hell’s flames. What’s it gonna be for you?

Will your favorite food be in heaven? Will it still be fattening? Food is a major theme throughout the Bible and eating with God seems to be like a party most of the time. Are you hungry? Come find out what’s on the menu!

Want to know what heaven looks like? Revelation gives a hint. This picture also gives a clue as to when the world will end! Compare what you read in Revelation 7 with what Jesus said in Matthew 24:14 and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect now and forever.

Make sure you have a white robe. And sunglasses. Wear sunglasses. Also, we might want to gather on a hilltop—somewhere prominent, right? What do God’s people look like, according to Revelation, as we prepare for the end of the world?