New Life UMC

•The Open Invitation – As we continue to explore that question we return to our theme scripture, Luke 9:23 where Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” This is a pretty amazing statement. Jesus says, anyone. Jesus means anyone. But we live in a world where anyone doesn’t always mean everyone.

•DTR w/Jesus – most of you have had conversations like this in relationships; as you decide on a career or try to fulfill a dream; in many aspects of your life probably; but have you ever sat down and had a DTR talk with Jesus? Have you ever defined your relationship? Over the next several weeks this is what I want each of us to do. I want everyone here and everyone listening online to truly stop and “define the relationship.” That being said if you are new to this whole “Jesus thing” it may be hard or even impossible to have that talk; so just hang with us and hopefully you’ll understand by the end why it is so important. But I think many of us are ready for this talk. We want to take this relationship to the next level. But it won’t be easy.

•Finding – Jesus came to seek and save the lost. As followers of Jesus we are called to partner with him in this ministry. Here at New Life we call this Finding. It is one of the three things we believe are needed to make disciples: Finding, Forming, and Forwarding. But Finding is the first step. So tonight we are going to review a lot of information; how we find people, who we should be trying to find, and finally some practical things we can do this week to engage in Finding ministry.

•Mission – Over the past three weeks we have been looking at how to live holy lives, lives set apart for God through Jesus Christ. Each of these lives comes with a mission in hand. We know that because our new lives are supposed to mirror Jesus’ life and Jesus came with a mission.

•God’s Accomplishment – our theme through this series has been understanding how to live holy lives, lives that look different because they are lived for Jesus Christ. Last week we were reminded that we are God’s accomplishment. We are God’s success story. We were lost and trying to live life our way; but through Jesus Christ God has shown us and given us the means (grace) to live new, holy lives. Like any gift; new life is only really good if we use it well. So how best to use it.

•Holy How? – Last week we looked at the beginning of the Methodist Movement, a movement began because a few teenagers noticed how apathetic and lazy Christians had gotten about their faith. These teens, including John and Charles Wesley devoted themselves to holiness, living different lives, like Jesus lived while he was on earth. But just wanting to live holy lives isn’t enough is it? Even before Jesus was born people were trying to live holy lives. But they continuously failed. They always fell short. Why? Because of a little thing called sin.

•Holy, Holy, Holy – Peter called the early church to be holy in every aspect of their lives. In his mind if we were supposed to be like Jesus, who was holy, then we too should be holy. By the 18th Century the Church of England had lost a lot of its momentum and a lot of its holiness. That is, until a young man and his brother came along. Instead of telling you their story; we’re going to watch a video from our confirmation curriculum that I hope you enjoy.

Bob Coffey is from Lutheren Social Servies of Illinois. He explains and answers questions about the needs in the Foster care system.