Our Mission To love all people at all times and lead them into a new life in Christ.
Our Vision To be a church that will be multicultural and generational, having a lasting impact on the people to whom we minister.
To see the gospel extend beyond the walls of our church through various outreaches.
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Spiritual CPR: Continued – Prayer – Rescue
Being born physically does not make one alive spiritually. In Ephesians 2:1 Paul wrote that we all start out spiritually dead in our sins. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. (NIV) And you [He made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins. (GNT) God is the one who makes us alive when we come to Him through faith in Christ. Those who are born again now have the ability to love others with spiritually alive hearts.
We are called to breathe life into those who need to be rescued. This is called love in action. Rescue means –to free from confinement, danger, evil, deliver a person. Not just those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. But also to those who are born again. To those who have become discouraged, lost hope, need healing, need encouragement or who are in need of deliverance from an addiction.
Who do you know today that needs Spiritual CPR? Someone who may need Jesus-praying for them-loving them to salvation. Do you see a fellow brother or sister struggling? Breathe on them…
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention to God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2 Message
1Thessaloans 5:12 “Dear brothers and sisters, make sure that you honor those leaders who cherish you. They have been given the responsibility from God of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. For they are your leaders who care for you, teach you, and stand before the Lord on your behalf. In love, hold them in highest regard because of their work.
Pastor Jerry will celebrate his birthday Friday, June 11th. His life is a testimony of God’s goodness. And I am sure he will not mind at all for us knowing his age. Today we shout out an early, “Happy-Blessed Birthday Pastor Jerry!
I am honored to have sat under this ministry for 27 years. The Word that he has ministered has been life saving. I am sure each one of you have a testimony of what this ministry has meant to you and your families.
We love and appreciate you Pastor Jerry. Our prayer for you: The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you; The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually). Numbers 6:24-26
“The”:
”Sermon of a lifetime.”
There are many words in the English language and one of those is the word, definite. The definition of definite is: complete and final, firm, final and complete. It is not to be challenged or changed.
We have many parts of speech in our language but we only have one definite article. That is “The”. It always is used to point attention to one specific thing. Bringing our information about this to my point this morning let us consider the following. The word “the” appears in any translation of the Bible, thousands of times. We cannot look at all of them but there are a few hundred of them that deserve our attention.
In fifty years of preaching I have never preached a sermon centering around “the”, but I am now by revelation from The Holy Spirit. There is no way I am able to cover everything about this word. I will make an effort today to show you how important this word is in understanding things about God and Jesus.
What is the difference between the next two sentences? Go stand under a tree. Go stand under the tree. “I am the Lord, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me.” Ex. 20:1-2 “I and my Father are one” Jn. 10:30 The is a common, but very important word in any language.
Have you ever thought about why you can trust God no matter what. For someone to be trustworthy they are to be trusted to come through time and time again. It would be hard for someone to have your trust if you continually say but yet do the opposite. God is not like man that he has said or would say and not follow through with his word.
God can be trusted because the Scripture tells us Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 He is exactly the same in the past, in the present, and in the future.” He has been trusted, he can be trusted, he will be trusted.
When my husband was diagnosed with the virus last fall his first words to me were, “You know God has a good track record of keeping me alive.” He was saying I trusted God to bring me through then and I trust he can now. For those of you who may not know Kenny was in the hospital for 41 days in 2013. He was on a vent for 5 days. The doctor had diagnosed him with pulmonary fibrosis. For those who don’t know this is a grim diagnosis. But to the doctor’s amazement he started to get better. A team of doctors met and tried to figure out why he was getting better and not worse. But God!
Who are you putting your trust in today! Let your life be anchored in God who is our hope-today, tomorrow, and forever.
2 Corinthians 12: 7-9 Paul said-Three times I pleaded with the Lord to relieve me of this. But he answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.”
Are you experiencing a hard place in your life? I describe hard places as those difficult times of life. We all will go through these times. Not a matter of if but when.
As I look back over my life I see the hard places I have gone through. There were times when I spent all my energy trying to figure out ways to get out of that place. And of course the enemy always said it is your fault. If you had done this or if you had not done that you would not be in this situation. I know that God does not always come in and deliver his immediately. The hard places are not meant to destroy but to mature us. It is a place of patience, faith, trust and learning.
Maybe you are one that is in a hard place and there is not going to be no instant breakthrough. Quit trying to use all your energy in trying to figure it all out. Maybe you like Paul have pleaded with the Lord to take it away. Could God be saying to you as he did to Paul, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” Weakness is the state or condition of lacking strength. No, we don’t have the strength to breakthrough. It is not through our strength that we overcome these hard places anyway. If you are that one this Scripture is for you.
So do not fear, I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with a righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:1:10
-WHAT IS YOUR SAY SO OF THE LORD-
David told us what his say so of the Lord was.
I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust”. Psalms 91:1-2
It doesn’t matter what others say of the Lord, it is your “say so” that will generate faith in your heart to believe. David said, “He is my Refuge and my fortress, my God. Could it be that Davids “say so” of who God was to him caused faith to arise in his heart. He goes on to say,” God shall deliver, God shall cover, don’t be afraid, you shall trust.
David’s “so say” caused him to have confidence in the Almighty (the all sufficient God eternally capable of being all that is people need) and that He would take care of him in spite of the storms of life. What is your “say so” of who God is? What do you need Him to be in your life? He is the Almighty One. Let faith arise in your heart today as you say who God is to you.
Remember this song – I lift my hands to believe again You are my refuge, You are my strength As I pour out my heart, these things I remember You are faithful, God, forever
I was in line to check out at a local store this past week. A couple of people were behind and were engaged in a conversation and as one of them walked away he said, “Hey buddy I am not broke I am just in between pay days”.
I heard the Holy Spirit say, “See you are not broken you are just breaking out to a breakthrough”. I needed that word so much at that moment. The last couple of months have been overcoming, overcoming and more overcoming. But God….
Maybe you need to know today that you are not broken. Could it be you to are breaking out to a breakthrough. The place called “to” is where the battle is. It’s the “to” place where we can become discouraged. The enemy wants us to give up during this place called “to”. That is where faith is put in action. Like Paul and Silas we will pray and praise our way through.
This morning you may feel broken, weary, push to the limit. I prophesy to you that things are breaking through. You will see the breakthrough.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. Acts 16:25-26
Are you in need of a break out? Maybe you are in a situation that seems to have you hemmed in. The prison walls seem to have you closed in. You feel as if you have been beaten by the storms of life leaving you feeling tired and worn. Today is your breakout and breakthrough.
Paul and Silas were thrown in jail for speaking deliverance to a servant girl possessed with a spirit of divination. The Scripture tells us at midnight they were praying and singing praises to God. WOW! In prison, beaten, mistreated Paul and Silas worshipped the Lord. As they were praying and singing suddenly the breakout came and they breakthrough as the prison doors open. Paul and Silas received their breakout at midnight. We see God’s faithfulness in their darkest hour.
The good news for you today -no matter what situation that seems to have you hemmed in. You may feel prisoned in your circumstances. Open your mouth and give God a sacrifice of praise.
You may have waited a long time but your breakout to breakthrough may come suddenly just as it did for Paul and Silas.
Last Sunday while ministering I sensed a surge of the Holy Spirit. I heard the words, “The day’s of greater glory! Today God wants this word released to you.
Haggai 2:9 “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. I believe we are now in the “days of greater glory” the Lord spoke about in this verse”.
What is the glory of God? In Exodus 33:18-19, we read that Moses asks to see God’s glory and God’s response is that his “goodness” will pass before him. “I beseech you to show me your glory. “I will make all my goodness pass before you. God’s response to Moses, “my goodness is my glory.” God goes on to say to Moses, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy”.
The glory of God is the manifestation of His presence, His power, and His goodness. The manifestation of God’s presence is his glory.
Romans 8:19 says, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. We were born again to reign and manifest the glories of the Kingdom of God on the earth. We are God’s glory bearers in that we express the goodness of God on the earth. Yes this is the day of greater glory.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. Isaiah 60:1
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[a] his Spirit who lives in you”. Romans 8:11
When we made Jesus Christ Lord of our life, the Holy Spirit imparted into us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We have residing in us the same new life that God gave Jesus when he raised him from the dead. The sinner that we once were has died; we then become a new creation on the inside. This Resurrection power flows through us and we can experience this power in our lives. The power of Jesus’ resurrection that you have received from Him abides in you now.
“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.” –Philippians 3:10 We as believers can experience the power of resurrection in our lives. We are no longer a defeated people. But overcomers in this life now. Believers who wake up and know the power we have been given then we will walk in boldness. Just ordinary people who have made extraordinary because of the power that has given to us. Resurrection power that causes us to be bold and fearless.
Hope Risen
Its Friday
Jesus has been crucified
It seemed as death had won
Peter is asleep
Judas betrayed Him
Mary is crying
Jesus is buried
Satan is laughing
A stone is rolled into place
A soldier stands guard
It looked like all hope had been lost
Friday had come and gone
The third day had come
The stone is rolled away
The guard replaced by an angel who told the women, “Do not be afraid Jesus is not here He has risen victoriously
Death did not win
Hope had risen
Sunday has come
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has given us a new birth into a “living hope” through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Peter 1:3
A personal letter to New Life from Pastor Shirley
I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Philemon 1:4-7
It has been a year since the virus came into our world. The life we all were familiar with changed suddenly. As I reflect back over the past year I believe that we are stronger in our faith. We have come together as the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:27 You are the body of the Anointed One, and each of you is a unique and vital part of it. We have realized as the children’s song says, “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people. I am the church, You are the church, we are the church together.
One of the common phrases we often heard this past year was “you are not alone”. Just the tone of that brings comfort. We all want to know that we are loved and thought of during difficult times.
As a body of believers we are to encourage one another.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another and edify (strengthen and build up) one another, just as you are doing. We are not alone; we are united with each other and with Jesus.
Thank you for your faithfulness – for all that you have done in the past year to stay connected to each other – Brother Glenn for keeping things up and running so we could worship in person or at home with live streaming. Everyone of you who calls New Life your place of worship keeps it strong and healthy for the glory of God by your attendance, your tithes and offerings, and your participation. I know you do those things from your relationship with God and your love for the ministry of New Life and one another. Together we have all the gifts we need to live out God’s mission and do what God has called each one of us to do. Let us continue to celebrate His abundant goodness as we move forward.
The US flag and the NC were being blown by the wind. But yet the Christian flag lay still. I found it quite peculiar. Then I heard in my spirit, ‘the nations may blow to and fro, but I am not moved by the circumstances, ‘For I am The Lord, yesterday today and forever.’ When everything is tossed about, He is the calm in the storm! Delton Williams
We live in uncertain times. The world is shaking and seems to be crumbling. So much is changing right before our eyes. For believers we know that our hope does not come from this world. Our hope comes from God who does not change because of what is going on the world. In this ever changing world, He is an anchor for the soul.
The eternal God is not subject to change. “Every gift God freely gives us is good and perfect, streaming down from the Father of lights, who shines from the heavens with no hidden shadow or darkness and is never subject to change’. This truth gives peace in a changing world.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and forever. Hebrews 13:8
2 Corinthians 12:9 “ My grace is always more than enough for you and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.”
One of the greatest defining moments in my life as a Christian was to learn about the grace of God. I just keep failing at being good enough or trying to do enough. The wow moment-God does not accept me because I am good enough or trying to be good enough. He accepted me in spite of the fact that I’m not and never will be good enough or do enough to earn His grace.
God’s sovereign grace is power and that power is always enough. Grace is not only the power of God to save us but also the power of God to keep us. In all things and at all times God’s sovereign grace is sufficient.
I am still learning, still growing and yes still failing at times. But the power of God’s sovereign grace is continually at work in my life. I am who I am by the grace of God!
Thus says the Lord: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. Jeremiah 31:2
Wilderness is much more than just a place. The wilderness is an experience of life that we all pass through at one time or another. It speaks of those times that we feel confused. overwhelmed, uncertain.
During one of the difficult times in Paul’s life God spoke to him, “My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me! 2 Corinthians 2:19
May we be reminded today that in “all things and at all times” God’s grace is sufficient.
The greatest force on earth.
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” I Cor. 13:13 “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts….” I Cor 14:1
A popular song of the past years has the lyrics “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” If that were ever true, it’s true today. It appears to me that humanity is settling into an attitude of hate. Almost everyone has built a principle that involves hate for someone or something. Anything based on hate will end up warped. Jesus never did anything based on hate. The only thing God hates is sin but not the sinner. Jesus died for sinners because of God’s love for them.
We as Christians must learn how to activate all of God’s love. Scripture tells us that we will be known by our love. The church must start loving each other before we can love the world as God does. Galatians 5:6 says that faith works through love. Beloved, let us love one another.
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 121:1-8
Lifting our eyes is linked to the reality of God and his majesty and his Sovereignty. David knew his help came from God. He lived in the hills and mountains and it was there he became intimately acquainted with God.
When one travels today security is taken into consideration. David shares thoughts like these Psalm 121. He considered where he might find protection for his journey. He found it in the Lord.
When I read this passage of scripture it reminds me that while on this journey called life I have the watchful eye of God always watching over me. He is my security blanket.
The Lord is, our Helper, our Keeper, our Protector and our Hope. Lift your eyes to the One who has got you and will never let you go!
Ephesians 3:14-19 “So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God”! ‘
God’s love for us is the most powerful reality we can ever discover. The love of God is the sure foundation of our faith in him. May we never forget this great love and the price that Jesus gave for us to receive that love
Out on the playground we went. It was time to play ball. Two leaders would be chosen. They would pick who they wanted to be on their team. You stood there and waited to be called. Everyone around you was called and you stood there alone. No one called for you. The teams were even numbered and you were sidelined-counted out.
Counted out-to decide that someone cannot win or succeed. Counted in-to plan to include someone in: to consider someone as one of the people who will be doing something
Don’t count yourself out when I have counted you in. This has been whispered to me from the Holy Spirit often. We can be our worst enemy. The last one to encourage ourselves. The last one to believe that God would anoint us for service. At times it seems we take two steps forward and three steps backward. We seem to be on the sideline while everyone else is moving forward in life.
When it seems as if life has counted you out remember God has already counted you in. When people have counted you out remember God has already counted you in. You have been counted by the One who matters the most. After all His opinion of you is all that matters.
Ephesians 1:4 Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him).
This scripture reminds me we have been counted in by the One who spoke worlds into existence.
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