This Week at New Life
Our purpose is to know Jesus and make Him known.
If you are new, welcome!
Order of Worship
Sunday, March 2, 2025
Call to Worship: Isaiah 45:22-25; Philippians 2:9-11
Spirit And the Bride
He is Exalted
Confession: Galatians 4:8-11
Assurance of Pardon: Galatians 4:3-7; Romans 10:9
The Goodness of God
Community: Greeting and Announcements:
Missions Moment: Kianga Kids – Lois Carr
(Children dismissed)
How Great Thou Art
Congregational Prayer
Sermon: Shadows and Substance, Colossians 2:16-23
Anthony Gammage, preaching
General Offering
In Christ Alone
Benediction
Want to hear the songs before worship? Please click here.
Sermon Outline
Sunday, March 2, 2025
Shadows and Substance
Text: Colossians 2:16-23
Preacher: Anthony Gammage
Outline
- You Aren’t Judged by Rule Keeping (16-17)
- Shadows (16-17)
- Substance (17)
- Don’t Be Disqualified by False Teaching (18-19)
- Four descriptions of false teachers (18)
- The real problem: Not holding on to Jesus (19)
- Contrasting Jesus and Wanna-Be Religion (20-23)
- Jesus frees us from slavery to fallen creation (20-21)
- Wanna-be religion offers nothing (22-23)
Questions
- Do you find yourself judging others (or feeling judged) based on secondary matters like traditions, spiritual disciplines, or Christian cultural expectations rather than the gospel?
- Are you holding fast to Christ as your source of identity and growth, or are you letting spiritual “referees” tell you if you’re in or out?
- What “regulates” your life? What rules, expectations, or pressures dictate how you live? Ask yourself the diagnostic questions from vv. 22-23 – are they based on things that will perish? Are they based on human wisdom or spiritual truth? Can these rules, expectations, or pressures change your heart?
Prayer Focus
For Kianga Kids:
- Give thanks for the years of God’s providing for many children’s needs through Kianga Kids. I marvel at his grace in taking me by the hand and showing me one small step at a time how to love and encourage pastors and teachers in providing for the young ones in their care.
- Ask Jehovah Jireh to meet the needs of my Kenyan ministry partners and those of the school children as I withdraw support at the end of this year.
- Pray for Robert and I as we travel in May to say good-bye and celebrate with friends in Kenya giving glory to God for the things he’s done.
- Lift up the children we serve, including the older ones in college, asking the Lord to grow their faith in him as they eventually become mature adults living on their own. Pray for Ruth in teachers’ college; for Charity to reach her potential despite her physical disabilities; for Helen to grow in reading Braille so she can mentor others who, like her, are sight-impaired. Pray that David will consume a healthy diet as he completes med school that he can give back to his impoverished community as a doctor one day. Ask God to restore our foster daughter, Christine’s health. She foolishly stopped taking her ARV medications which caused her symptoms of AIDS to return.
- Join me in praying for Cecilia, my Kenyan friend and assistant, to be granted her U.S. visa so she can join her husband living in Texas. They were wed almost three years ago. Ask the Lord to keep her chronic leukemia at bay.
School of Discipleship Information
Sunday, March 2, 2025
10:00 am-11:00 am
- 2 Peter: Faithful to the End in Room 305
- Understanding Israel’s Worship in Room 102
- Running Scared: Fear, Anxiety & Trusting God in the Auditorium
- Prayer Meeting in Room 101
- Infants and Toddlers please check in at the Children’s Desk down the hallway from the lobby
- Pre-school and Elementary children please check in at the Children’s Desk down the hallway from the lobby
- Jr High Youth meet in Room 307 upstairs
- Sr High Youth meet in Room 306 upstairs
Finances
| WEEKLY | YEAR TO DATE | |
| NEEDED | $39,550 | $949,200 |
| RECEIVED | $47,940 | $925,724 |