New Life Church Sermons

Last week, we looked at the 1st half of the prodigal parable and the younger rebellious brother. We saw the father’s scandalous grace in welcoming him home with love and forgiveness. Most people end the parable there, but Jesus didn’t. There’s another brother, and there’s much to learn from him as well. The older brother teaches us that there are really two ways to be lost, rebellion and religion....

As Jesus began to preach about the Kingdom of God, he attracted quite the crowd of social rejects, outcasts and sinners. The fact that Jesus hung-out and even befriended these people infuriated the religious elite of the day. In response to their anger, Jesus told one of the most scandalous stories of grace found in the entire bible. This parable, commonly known as the parable of the prodigal son,...

The Missing Ingredient - Rich Miller, Guest Preacher 11 17 19 by New Life of Asheville

This week we continue in our new parables series with one of the more familiar parables of Jesus, commonly known as the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus tells this parable in response to a question from an expert in religious law who was trying to trap him. The lawyer asked: “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ answer would have rocked His Jewish audience because he taught that lo...

This week we launch into a brand new series on the parables of Jesus. Jesus often taught in parables as a way to compare one thing to another, typically using an earthly story to unearth a deeper spiritual truth. Jesus’ parables were often times marked by an unexpected twist, something that shocks his audience and grabs their attention. The parable of the sower and the soils is one of the most wel...

This week we wrap up our fall missions series by diving into one of the most incredible passages in the New Testament. In this chapter, God is giving the apostle John a glimpse of the end of this age as he gets to watch a magnificent story unfold in the throne room of God. John is broken by the hopelessness of humanity and longs for a worthy redeemer to open the heavenly scroll and usher in the co...

This week we move into the New Testament, continuing to see the theme of God’s heart for all nations, all peoples, from Genesis to Revelation and from the beginning of time to the end of history. Genesis 12:1-3 showed us from the very outset of God’s plan that He blesses His people abundantly, but that is not to be an end in itself. Psalm 67 is one of many more places in the Old Testament that we...

God's Heart for all Nations - Psalm 67 - Ranjit David, Guest Preacher 10 13 19 by New Life of Asheville

If you spend any time at all on social media, you’ve seen the “hashtag blessed” trend. It’s usually just a way for people to humble-brag. But as American Christians, God really has blessed us both materially and spiritually in ways most people throughout human history could never have dreamed of. But what is God’s grand purpose in blessing us as He has? The Scriptures are saturated with the scanda...

This week we finish up our series on conflict by addressing conflict in the context of a church family. Jesus was so serious about his bride being unified, that in John 17 he said the world would know the Father sent him by the unity of his disciples. In John 13, Jesus tells us that the world will know we are his disciples by our love for one another. This is a REALLY big deal to Jesus. So big in...

Resolving conflict is one of the most important life skills to master if you want a happy life. You need to know how to resolve conflict at work, school, with friends, in marriage, with parents, with that annoying neighbor, and well...you get the idea. Conflict is all around us—most of us spend our lives running from it or making it worse. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, conflict is s...

We started our series on conflict last week by going all the way back to the beginning and looking at the fall of Adam & Eve in the garden. As sin entered the world and fractured the cosmos, every human being since that fateful day has been born with a sin nature, spiritually dead and separated from God. This conflict and separation between mankind and God is the most tragic result of the fall...

This week we launch into a 4 week series on one of the most important and least talked about topics on planet earth: conflict! We’ve all experienced it, and there’s no avoiding it. In week one, we’ll look at the origins of conflict by going all the way back to the beginning. One little event so many years ago injected brokenness and conflict into our relationship with God and one another. Nothing...

Paul closes out this powerful little letter to the church in Philippi by encouraging and challenging the believers there in several specific ways. In this section of his letter, Paul really hits home on his gratitude for his church family, the secret to contentment, and the importance of partnership in advancing the mission of Jesus around the world. He finishes the letter by circling back to the...

It’s easy to do. We look at our life and the lives of others and begin to focus on behaviors. We try harder to control our own behaviors and we slip into condemning others for their bad behaviors. However, Romans teaches us there’s something else going on behind all these behaviors that’s critical to understand. It turns out our behaviors are simply indicators of who is really ruling our life, and...

Spiritual Realities in The Lord's Supper - Dr. Steve Harris, Guest Teacher 08 18 19 by New Life of Asheville

You may remember that last week Paul challenged believers to run their race well in chapter 3. To press, strain and strive to the finish line of knowing Jesus & becoming like Jesus. As Paul launches us into chapter 4, he’s going to give us 5 keys to running that race well. Five simple and yet life changing keys to spiritual health. If you’ve grown up in church, little of this will be new to yo...

Paul is going to close out this portion of his letter to the church in Philippi by giving them (and us) a really vivid mental picture of what a life given to the pursuit of Jesus actually looks like. Paul is going to encourage us to acknowledge that we haven’t arrived or become perfect in our faith. He’s going to inspire us to press into the race of pursuing Jesus by forgetting our past and strivi...

Philippians - When Loss is Gain - Joe Dillon, Guest Pastor 07 28 19 by New Life of Asheville

Thus far, Paul has spent the bulk of the first two chapters of Phillipians laying out a clear and compelling picture of what the Jesus-centered life looks like. We’ve seen that the Jesus-centered life is characterized by joy, fearlessness and a focus on others rather than self. This Jesus-centered life should also be absent of qualities that are not compatible with the gospel. Things like: rivalry...

We ended last week with Paul pointing us to Jesus as the power source to live a gospel-worthy life. This week, Paul points us--again--to Jesus, as he encourages us to work out our salvation. This verse has been misunderstood by many to mean that we should work in order to earn our salvation and that we are at risk of losing it if we don’t. Instead, Paul is simply saying that what God has worked in...

In this portion of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, Paul tells them--and us--that there are certain qualities or distinctives that should be marks in the Christian’s life. He will compel us to live lives worthy of the gospel of Jesus. We don’t live this way in an attempt to earn our salvation or to pay God back in some strange way, but this is the life that overflows from a person being tr...

People will do almost anything to live. Diets, exercise, incredible feats of courage...all to stay alive. But what are you living for? Many people, sadly, have absolutely no clue! 2,000 years ago, a guy sitting in a prison cell facing his own possible execution tells us exactly what it is that’s worth not only living for, but dying for. Paul connects our joy with relying on Christ, which allows us...

Last week we saw the incredible and unlikely start to the church in the city of Philippi. Paul loved these brothers and sisters deeply! This week we pick back up in this powerful little letter as we uncover deep-rooted truths like the power of authentic community we experience when we join God’s family. We see counterintuitive truths that help us understand the purpose of suffering in our lives. P...

Paul wrote to the Philippian church in a way he wrote to no other church. His affection for these believers was amazingly deep. This rag-tag church plant that began with a wealthy fashionista, a demon-possessed slave girl and a violent soldier was about as unlikely a group as you could imagine. They were undoubtedly persecuted and suffered for their faith in pagan Philippi. Paul writes to them to...