New Life City

Many Christians focus too much on sin and not enough on redemption, leaving a constant veil between God and us that was not put there by the Father. Nic Billman and family joined us for the weekend services and brought testimonies of the freedom of Christ they're seeing abounding among many in Brazil and left us thinking about our own freedom in Christ here in the States.

Living in the New Covenant means we have a connection with Jesus, and the world is desperate to see us walking in connection. When we are in our worst pain we testify the most boldly because our faithful God is our inheritance. Sometimes the darkness makes us want to turn away out of fear. However, Jesus is leading us through the darkness.

“I want to tell you about the glory of God because what you’re experiencing right now is not about what you did: it’s about what he wants to release in you. What’s happening in your life right now is prophesying to you: He is near you in your darkness, but when you come out of it you see the glory, you look like the glory, you are the glory of God.” - Bob Hazlett

“I’d rather be an amateur at trying something new than an expert at doing the old thing. That’s why I’m willing to mess around with guesses of knowledge and words of knowledge. Because I know that the pathway to growth is not perfection. It’s actually through failure.” - Bob Hazlett

“You’re called to be atmosphere shifters, not just to survive betrayal, accusation, failure, fraud, whatever it is that you’ve had to overcome. And so whenever you can match up your sound with the sound of heaven, you don’t just shift your atmosphere, but you go into other people’s atmosphere and you shift it.” - Bob Hazlett

“Your old season stinks because it’s defined by what other people said, but you have to get up, lift up your head, get in the face of God, and say, ‘God, you said.’ And I’m not going to be defined by what they said. I’m going to be defined by what You said.” - Bob Hazlett

The heartbeat of heaven, the very rhythm of the kingdom, is compassion. It's this call that drives us as followers of Christ, who himself worked in compassion as he led. How can we follow Christ in leading through compassion? By seeing others the way God sees them: as human beings worthy of the love of Christ.

A woman broke an Alabaster flask worth a year’s wages and poured it onto Jesus’ head, effectively giving up a year of her life to honor Jesus. This woman was wasting herself on him and announcing prophetically that Jesus was going to waste himself on all of human kind. When we take communion together, we are proclaiming Jesus and what he did for us when he poured out his blood for the forgiveness...

"This is a call to be what God has called us to be. This is saying, 'We're the responsible ones.' And you say, 'It's too much for me. I don't know how to do it.' Then feed somebody who's hungry. You do empty the ocean with a teaspoon."

We’re getting married. Jesus as the bridegroom calls us to live in a state of readiness in anticipation of his return. As a family and the bride of Christ, we are entering into 40 days of fasting to lean into intimacy with God in the lead up to Resurrection Sunday.

A lot of fear and anxiety has taken root in the church over "End Time" pronouncements of being "left behind". This warning has been used to describe a coming rapture of the saints where the one taken will be raptured up to heaven to be with Jesus. However, the Biblical context describes that the one taken is to be judged while the remnant were to be Kingdom occupiers. What we think was the end of...

Matthew 24 has been used to fashion numerous 'end times' declarations by those who force modern events into scripture. However, much of Matthew 24 was Jesus' words directly to the disciples of what was going to happen when He left them. The end came but a new age began.

In Matthew 24, Jesus told his disciples what was going to happen when he left. Many people think this passage was written directly to us today, but Jesus was talking directly to his disciples. How do we deal with this passage if it isn't speaking about the 'end times' for us today but the time to come for the disciples? What is the sign of Jesus' coming, the 'parousia'?

The challenge of church hypocrisy is prevalent today because we as the church have, like the Pharisees, focused on the sins and forgot about the people. Jesus tells us his heart for us is that we would be a treasure he releases on all the world; a priesthood for the whole world. If we represent Jesus and his great abundant love for people, then they have a chance at seeing Jesus for who he really...

We are the image-bearers of God. As Christians, everything we have belongs to God, including our lives. We must say, "This is yours, Lord. What are we gonna do?" We serve the one who is despised and rejected of men, and yet he forgave us. We serve the one who had no beauty that we should behold him, but our eyes are riveted and we cannot turn away. Run to him. And he becomes yours, yours, yours. A...

In the Kingdom, some are in and some are out; The Kingdom is inclusive and exclusive. Many are called but few are chosen. How do we understand the difference? We are in a big tent revival and Jesus is still trying to get a bigger tent. Jesus has called us and is calling others into his tent, into his family. The chosen are the ones who listen.

We need Jesus to breathe on us and make us come alive. Life in Jesus brings more than we could ever have expected, and we are seeking more. However, sometimes going into more leads us into those who seek to devour us. Regardless, we must share the gospel of Christ to all, even those who annoy or offend us.

“You are the kingdom, and you’re more than that in this way: you’re the habitation of God himself, that is the kingdom, but when he destroys the temple, this is what he builds; the body of Christ.” - Pastor Alan Hawkins

Christmas is about receiving and giving. Christ gave himself up so that we may receive and then give of ourselves to others. We are encouraged to not just receive but to give.

We are called to light in the darkness even in the midst of our own storms. No matter the trials and tribulations that happen to us, we can rely on Jesus to support us and lead us and create us to be lights in the darkness.

The Bible is filled with audacious characters with deep desires, wants, and needs, who get their way in the Bible by wanting something until they won’t be denied. What do you want?

We’re in a time where many are rejecting the Christian faith and will react strongly and negatively against anyone who attends church or has any ties to Evangelicalism. In response, many Christians swing the pendulum far to the right and try to engage in ‘dominion’ ideology. Christ sits on neither side and instead calls us to his kingdom, and in Christ’s kingdom the first shall be last.

In our lives, there are plenty of things that draw us away from the simplicity of who Jesus is. We must remember to walk in the simplicity of the gospel and not let the ties and bonds of the enemy divert us, especially during the Christmas season.

There is a spirit of intimidation in the culture today that seeks to stifle Christians and suppress the name of Christ. We’re to proclaim the name of Jesus everywhere we go despite any mockery or anger that may arise. How can we be bold in the face of intimidation?

“What must I do to have eternal life?” We often think about going to heaven after we die, however, we should be more invested in how to today live the life of the age to come, free from the bonds of our culture and moving in the Holy Spirit.