New City Church

God’s heart is for every ONE! This weekend New City celebrated our eighth anniversary, and Pastor Steve Andres continued our MESSY CHURCH series with a message about God’s love for the lost.

1 Corinthians 9:22

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

Paul’s passion was to reach those who had not yet responded to the Gospel, and he was willing to adapt and change to do so. Why?

Every ONE matters to God.

There are over 7 billion people on earth. But God does not know us as a number, he knows everyone by name. His heart is to rescue those who are lost. Jesus expressed it when he told the story of the shepherd who left his 99 sheep to find one that was missing. Even with a 99% success rate, the shepherd isn’t satisfied. He leaves the sheep to find the one. 

We were lost, but Jesus found us and carried us home.

This is what drives the heart and vision of our church. All the categories that once defined or divided us have been turned upside down in Christ. The greatest among you is now a servant. Those who were outsiders are now in the family. You have been forgiven, so you forgive. You have been given grace, so you offer grace. You have been carried, so you carry others.

New City exists to help people trust and follow Jesus.

When the BIG DREAMS INITIATIVE began nearly two years ago, we committed to give sacrificially toward three important priorities:

• Funding the growing ministries of New City Church

• Supporting partners, church planters, missionaries and ministries around the world.

• Preparing for a permanent home for New City Church.

Because of the generosity of the people of New City Church, we have been able to take significant steps in each of these areas. From resourcing ministries to supporting missionaries, from sending church planters to compassion ministries, to the selection of a property for our permanent home, the vision of New City is for a GENERATIONAL work.

Psalm 78:4

We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

We’re not waiting for buildings and properties to do this. It is already happening with what God has placed in our hands!

There is a miracle in the mess! This weekend Pastor Steve Andres started a new series called MESSY CHURCH.

1 Corinthians 2:2-3

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 

The city of Corinth was a center for culture, business and learning, a city of striving and achievement. It was to this city that Paul came declaring the message of the cross.

1) Christ crucified, the stumbling block to our striving. 

A crucified Savior says I can’t get to God through my striving or my strength, through my wisdom or pedigree. The cross makes these efforts irrelevant, even problematic.

2) Christ crucified, the astonishing wisdom of God.

The cross is not an embarrassing or inconvenient stop on the road to heaven. It is a rebuke to every vain imagination that being good is good enough.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

If you have no surprise and awe in your relationship with God, you may still have a hope based on what YOU CAN DO FOR GOD, rather than a joy in what GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU! 

3) Christ crucified, the finished work. 

The foolish, the weak, the despised and lowly are first in line for God’s grace because it is a gift, not something earned. We start our life in Christ with our debts paid in full!

1 Corinthians 1:31

Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord!”

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!