New City Church

Is anything too difficult for the Lord? This weekend Pastor Steve Andres continued our KEEP IT REAL series with a message about hope and trust in an age of false realities. Genesis 18:13-14 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Our world finds itself hurtling toward a crisis of REALITY, where we find ourselves confronted with more and more reasons to lose trust. 1) Cynical is easy. Hopeful is hard. Hope makes us vulnerable. Cynicism and reactive negativity are a holiday from the rugged, demanding way of hope. Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! It takes courage to hope and to trust, because it is a vulnerable position to be in. 2) Real trust is difficult, especially after disappointment. It had been more than 10 years since Abraham and Sarah had first heard God’s promise of a child. Sarah’s disappointment is transparent in her reaction. Faith is not pretending you don’t have pain. Faith is hope greater than your pain. 3) You can’t trust in theory, only in practice. REAL trust requires risk. Sarah laughed off the promise that God made in order to protect herself against more disappointment. Are you protecting or are you expecting? In the end, our hope will translate to action. Your behavior will always align with your expectations. Our hope is built on God’s victory over death through the resurrection of Jesus. If God has loved us in this way, we can ask ourselves the question again: Genesis 18:14 Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?

Is your freedom costing you your freedom? This weekend Pastor Steve Andres started a new series called KEEP IT REAL! John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” AI is promising everything from advice to companionship, relationship guidance to virtual resurrection. In a world that is increasingly artificial, Jesus’ words keep us grounded in a truth that is real, a truth that makes us free. 1) False freedoms can fool us. Jesus’ audience thought they were free, but Jesus made it clear they were actually serving sin. SIN is an artificial freedom. It has the look and feel of freedom at first, but it is a counterfeit that won’t last. The more we deny God and follow our selfish desires, the less free we actually become. 2) Real freedom begins with freedom FROM sin. Knowing what Jesus taught is not enough. We have to cling to it. Have you settled for AGREEMENT with Jesus instead of ABIDING with Jesus? Jesus came not just to pay the PENALTY for our sin, but to break the POWER of sin in our lives. When we hold to the truth that Jesus lived and taught, we find freedom. 3) Real freedom is freedom FOR love. Real freedom in the Biblical sense is not just freedom FROM sin, but freedom FOR love. We are free to live out our design and purpose as God intended. Galatians 5:13-14 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All of our capacities and abilities come alive in love. Artificial freedoms can’t set you free. Only the Son can free you from sin, and free you for love!

Do you have your eye on the finish line? This weekend Pastor Steve Andres concluded our MOSES series with a message about How To Finish Strong. Deuteronomy 34:7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. How we finish matters. It’s never too soon to think about how you want to finish. And it’s never too late, either! What does Moses show us about how to finish? 1) Finish with settled accounts. Practice living your life without overdue apologies, or overdue forgiveness. No matter how he is misunderstood, mistreated or criticized, we don’t see Moses retaliate or hold a grudge. The word for this is MEEKNESS. Meekness is not weakness. It is gentleness in strength. Practice keeping short accounts with others. When Moses arrived at the finish line, he had settled his accounts and his heart was at peace. 2) Finish with fight still in you. Every time Moses made a spiritual commitment, he experienced pushback. In spite of all that opposition, he never let his passion to serve the Lord wane. 3) Finish with a song of praise, not a sigh of disappointment. In spite of all the reasons Moses had to be disappointed, he finished with a song of praise (Deuteronomy 32), not complaint. His focus was on God’s faithfulness, not on his own disappointments. 4) Finish by launching the next generation. Moses has prepared Joshua and delivered God’s word for the next generation of leaders. Don’t forget that God is playing the long game. When we are thinking LIFETIMES, God is thinking LEGACY. “The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” Nelson Henderson God has called us to prepare a blessing for the next generation. There are people, families, and communities who are waiting to hear the Gospel, and God has entrusted us with declaring and living out that Good News!

Is fear making you forget about God? This weekend Pastor Devin Gough continued our MOSES series with a message about what happens when fear gets the final word. Numbers 13:31-32 “But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. The people of Israel still saw themselves as unable to possess what God had promised. They had left Egypt behind, but they hadn’t left the mentality that kept them small. Why? 1) Fear will make you see yourself smaller than God sees you. Faith does not require you to lie about what you see. Fear calculates the size of the obstacle without considering how big God is. Fear makes assumptions then treats those assumptions as though they were facts. Don’t let imaginary conversations cancel a real promise. Psalm 34:3 Come magnify the Lord with me, Let us exalt his name together. Whenever you magnify something, something else always gets pushed outside of your field of vision. You can either magnify your problem, and God seems small, or you can magnify God, and your problems seem small. 2) Faithful leaders fight for people who are fighting their future. Fear has a way of editing your memory. Sometimes the people you are trying to lead into their future will fight you because their past feels safer. Sometimes the biggest obstacle is not what’s in front of us, it’s what’s inside of us. Numbers 14:2 “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!” When the people rebelled against Moses, he fell on his face and he prayed for them. Moses wasn’t interested in defending his own name, he was interested in protecting God’s name. Immature leaders protect their own name, but mature leaders protect God’s name. There is a greater leader than Moses who would come to set people free. Jesus would also be misunderstood and rejected. When he was betrayed and mocked, when he was crucified, he didn’t say, “Father, get them!” He said, “Father, forgive them!” Because of his faithfulness and love, we can live in God’s promises today!

Is the presence of God a priority for you? This weekend Pastor Steve Andres continued our MOSES series with a message about valuing God’s presence. Exodus 33:15-16 Then Moses said to the Lord, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” God’s presence is the theme that runs from beginning to the end of the Bible. The word for God’s presence (panim) can also be translated as God’s face. This face to face relationship with God is exactly what we were made for! 1) The presence of God is our IDENTITY. Moses correctly sees that even if God gives them the land he promised, and gives them victory in battle, it will not be the same as if God goes with his people. The distinguishing mark of God’s people is not who we profess to be, nor our proximity to the things of God, but the abiding presence of God. 2) The presence of God is our SECURITY. God didn’t give the children of Israel a map to the promised land. He gave them his presence to guide them. Our one responsibility is to stay close to God's presence. He moves, we move. He stays, we stay. Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. The presence of God shifts our perspective from envy and grasping to peace and contentment. With God as our portion, our hearts are satisfied. 3) The presence of God is our DESTINY. The whole Bible is one long story of exile and return. From the garden to the garden city. From the presence of God to the renewed presence of God. Our destiny is to enjoy the presence of the Lord forever. There is only one way to gain access to the presence of the Lord. Jesus paid the price for our passage home. He was alienated from his Father so we could be brought near again!