Some of you are in a Spiritual battle — but still fighting a person. Your problem is not a person or a circumstance. Your battle is spiritual and God's will is to equip you for that battle in a spiritual way. Not with your own skills, talent, or equipment – but with the armor of God.

"...our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Ephesians 6:12

Is Christ in you?

Our vision at New Life Church is that we are a community living in covenant love with each other. A covenant is distinct from a contract in that each side agrees to uphold their side of the agreement whether or not the other is faithful. We have to fight to stay in relationship with each other and we can only do that from the model and power of Christ’s love. We want to live on fire in our faith, but without committed Christ centered relationships the fire will always go cold.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
John 15:9-12 (NIV)

“God brings people together from many different backgrounds and renames them ‘the people of God.’ He then gives them a shared purpose in the world to build His Kingdom.”
Jon Tyson | Kingdom Values

God uses missional disciples to disrupt a local community, to share the love of Christ with conviction. Then, through the testimony of changed lives, he will expand his kingdom and we can bring glory to him. This call should lead us to be believers who are bold and full of conviction walking in the power of the authority he has given us so we can use it to point others back to our source.

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.”

Acts 4:13-14 (NIV)

“It seems clear that the aim of Roman authorities was not particularly to execute Christians, but to turn them from what the authorities (and large numbers of the public at large) saw as their perverse and dangerous allegiance. That is, the object was not death but conformity to the demands of the imperial authority.”

Larry W. Hurtado - Why on earth did anyone become a Christian in the first three Centuries

What we do forms our loves, and what we love or desire directs our lives. The problem comes when we don’t recognize that our habits form what our hearts love and desire. This week we look at how we can - as Christians - resist seemingly innocent cultural practices and liturgies that so deeply are aspiring to recruit and form our hearts and imagination.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

“We unconsciously learn to love rival kingdoms because we don’t realize we’re participating in rival liturgies.”

James K. A. Smith | You Are What You Love

What do we do when the odds are stacked against us? How do we respond when it seems like there's no way out? As the world changes we must stay true to our foundation which is the Word of God.

"After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, 'A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar' (En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him."

2 Chronicles 20:1-4 (NIV)

As we continue through the book of Daniel we're asking ourselves how can we avoid being formed by our culture and instead bring the kingdom into our culture.

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Daniel 3:17

Jesus called anyone who wants to be his disciple to give up their live which means surrendering your mind, will, and emotions to him.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.'"
Matthew 16:24-25