New Life Church Sermons

The Christian life is a pilgrimage. We’re on a journey from where we are to the heart of God. For centuries, it is believed that the people of God sang these 15 songs (Psalms 120-134) as they made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship God three times each year. These psalms are intended to take us on a spiritual journey closer to God. This book of short psalms begins with Psalm 120 which points u...

He is risen! For Christ-followers, Easter is a celebration unlike any other. For non- Christians, Easter serves as the greatest invitation ever extended. The truth is, a man who was executed by Rome 2,000 years ago coming back to life seems to many like nothing more than a far-fetched fairytale. But a deeper look reveals that believing Jesus rose from the dead isn’t an unreasonable conclusion to a...

Palm Sunday - Rodney Howell - Local & Global Outreach Pastor 04 02 23 by New Life of Asheville

The apostle John closes this powerful little letter with a flurry of incredible promises for the follower of Jesus. We can know that we have several assurances in Christ: eternal life, answered prayers, victory over sin, knowledge that we belong to God, and confidence that Jesus is the truth. These promises unleash the Christian to live life fully devoted to Jesus and the advancement of His Kingdo...

Chapter five opens with John driving home the core message of the entire Christian movement: belief in Jesus = life. This life in Jesus (new birth) leads to a supernatural desire to obey God. Obedience shifts from drudgery to delight when we experience a love relationship with our Creator. This faith in Jesus makes us conquerors in this world. Finally, John points to the three-fold testimony of th...

As we begin to land the plane on chapter four, John points our hearts to some exciting truths. God has given us His Spirit. Friend, we have the same Holy Spirit inside of us that raised Jesus from the dead! This should cause us to freely confess the Son. In a day and age when professing a Christian worldview has gone out of vogue, we ought to unashamedly testify to the Son who saved us and set us...

The number one mark of a born-again Christian is a love relationship with God that is evident in how we love one another. The command in this section is clear: love one another. John then gives several reasons why this is so critical in the Christ follower’s life. Firstly, we love because God is the genesis of love. We can’t possibly know the source of love and not live a life of love. Secondly, w...

Believe it or not, we were all born into a raging spiritual war. The invisible realm is every bit as real as the chair you’re sitting on right now. Westerners tend to either disbelieve in the spiritual world, or become obsessed with the unseen realm in an unhealthy way. Many spiritual teachers, even in the Church, are false prophets leading many astray. As Christ followers, we are called to test e...

So far, John has focused the first part of his letter on the concept of God as Light. Now, he begins the shift into the second major section of his letter by focusing on God as Love. He does so by using the art of contrast. Love vs. hate. Cain vs. Christ. At the end of the day, the point is clear: no love = no life. Love for one another is a critical mark of the believer. As those who have been lo...

Love and Light - Born of God, Jonathan Jones, Connections Pastor 02 12 23

As we look back to some beautiful things God has done in us and through us a community of faith over the last year, we pause to celebrate God’s continued goodness to us. As we look forward to a future God already inhabits, we’re encouraged by the blueprint we find in Acts 2 of a church living in community, impacting the world around them, and multiplying disciples who found and followed Jesus joyf...

Last week, John introduced us to the first two tests of genuine faith. The test of obedience and the test of love. This week, John will give us the third and final test, the test of belief. But before he gets there, he aims to encourage believers by reminding them of who they are in Christ. Forgiven, known by the Father, and victors over the evil one. John reminds us that love for the ways of the...

Throughout this little letter, John gives his readers three tests that can help determine whether they truly know God or are merely giving Him lip-service. The test of obedience, the test of love, and the test of belief are all great guides to help determine where we each stand with the Lord. This week, we’ll jump into the first two tests: the tests of obedience and love. The truth is, many people...

The concept of sin is completely out of vogue in our culture. Even many churches have strategically removed the concept of sin from their teaching as to not offend the masses. And it sort of makes sense, right? It can be hard to admit that we’re sinners and that we've fallen short. And yet, when we refuse to hide or deny our sin and instead confess it, we find forgiveness and freedom in Jesus...

First John is a phenomenally practical letter from the Apostle John to churches in Asia Minor struggling with some of the very same issues we grapple with today in the modern church world. This powerful little letter is written to accomplish some core spiritual benchmarks in our lives: full joy, circumvention of sin, protection from false gospels, and assurance of salvation. Even in the four verse...

A prayer every follower of Jesus would be wise to whisper at the beginning of every year: “God, how can I make the most of this year?” In our spiritual journey, as with most areas of life, going back to the basics oftentimes leads to the most growth. Age-old spiritual practices like living in community, putting feet (action) to our faith, and looking for strategic ways to glorify God in our person...

We like to talk about love alot in our culture. We make movies about it, sing songs about it, and write poems about it. We say things like: “I love bacon.” And also things like: “I love my kids.” Love has become sort of a junk-drawer word that can mean almost anything. And yet, the greatest picture of love is found in the source of love itself. The advent season reminds us that God is love. He lov...

Oftentimes we think of peace as the absence of conflict. And yet, the peace that Jesus offers is far more incredible than that. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, the One who reconciles sinners separated from their Creator. The truth of the matter is that our greatest need is vertical peace. Most of our horizontal dysfunctions in life are rooted in a vertical disconnect from God. While the world offers...

In a world that feels tumultuous, unpredictable, and oftentimes overwhelmed by darkness, the Christmas season offers a reprieve from the harsh realities of our broken world. For a brief moment, hope flickers in the darkness of human chaos. The advent season begins with the theme of hope. It’s been said that hope is to the soul what oxygen is to the body. We all hope in something. Whether it’s mone...

Big Questions - How Should I Live My Life - Steve Harris, Guest Preacher 11 27 22 by New Life of Asheville

The most important question anyone will ever ask themselves is: Am I Really Saved? So many people spend their entire lives plagued by this question. Have I done enough? Will God accept me? Why do I still struggle with sin? Here’s the bottom line: Jesus wants everyone who belongs to Him to know with absolute certainty that they are saved. The good news is that our salvation doesn’t hinge on our bei...

As we finish mission month ’22, we turn our attention to one of the most well-known parables of Jesus--The Parable of the Talents. This story teaches us several things, particularly in light of the Great Commission. Our salvation is not simply a golden ticket to heaven. We’ve been saved for a purpose. Namely, living in a way that makes Jesus famous across the street and around the world by investi...

Church planting is not a new, trendy idea. Church planting is as old as the Great Commission. So much so, Church planting is nothing less than the practical outworking of the great commission. Churches plant churches because it is near and dear to God's heart. Churches plant churches because people are important, the gospel is important, and time is important.

As we have seen this month, there is still so much work to be done to reach people from every tribe, tongue, nation and language. And that includes the crucial task of completing the translation of the Bible into the heart language of 1.5 billion people. Jesus is delaying His return until the job is done. There is no greater task and no more significant way to invest our lives than in the expansio...

God desires for people from all nations to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus. And yet, there are over 3 billion people who are considered unreached in the world today. People who are born, live their entire lives, and die without once hearing about the hope they can have in Christ. More specifically, 1.5 billion of those people do not have a full Bible in their language, and 145 million do n...