​Hearing God

​This past Sunday you received an Easter invite card with information concerning our upcoming Easter gathering on April 21. Easter is always a great time at New Life and like every Sunday I pray that the gospel is clearly proclaimed. This year at New Life we will offer two separate but identical worship gatherings at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. There will be no Sunday School on Easter Sunday. The staff is making preparations for our Easter gathering and our goal is very focused.

The prayer for our gathering is to lead people to worship Christ by hearing and responding to His message. As a pastor there is no greater priority than creating a culture where this is the norm within our faith community. At every New Life event, regardless of the age group or time of day, our strategy is to present the Word of God and invite people to respond.

On Sunday, Dan closed our gathering by inviting you to pass out the Easter invite card this upcoming week. I started the process last week by inviting a student to our Easter gathering. I realized during my conversation with this student that God was already at work in her life. The conversation only lasted a few minutes but her expression and response will be a memory that will last for many years.

There was a genuine level of excitement in her response that encouraged me with the desire to go out and invite others. I was blown away at the details of her story and I saw the finger prints of God all over her life! As I have reflected over our conversation I should not be surprised that God was already at work. This has always been His pattern and I am very thankful.

The reality is there are people we come in contact with every day who need Jesus. Unfortunately, many do not know how to discern His voice and respond appropriately. This week as you give your invite card to a friend, look for God’s fingerprints on their life. His activity might be like my encounter where there is great excitement and jubilation topped off with a resounding eagerness to come to the gathering on Easter Sunday. For others the fingerprints of God might include deep level of brokenness and pain. From experience, I know that God has used the pain in my life to bring me to a place where I could drink from the deep well of truth. Please send me an email and let me know the places you see God at work in your conversations. Also, pray that by the grace of God, people will hear and respond to His message on Easter Sunday.

On Sunday evening, April 7 at 5:30 p.m., we will have a special prayer time focused on our Easter Sunday gatherings. If we do not make prayer a priority we have little hope that people will clearly hear and respond to the message of Christ. At the prayer gathering we will spend time begging God to move in our lives and faith community. Do not minimize the importance of this prayer meeting. I want you to come and pray as we prepare our hearts for Easter. 

Pastor Billy