New Life of Asheville Messages

Most of us want God to move before we step out in faith. But more often than not, God asks us to take a step of faith before He moves. Think about Noah, Abraham, Ruth, the paralytic and his four friends, and countless other biblical stories. We step out, God moves. That's the normative biblical pattern. As we dream big for the next 10 years of the life of our church, we're going to have to have big faith, while praying and expecting God to move. The story of the widow and the jars perfectly encapsulates what we believe God is asking us to do in this next season. Let's prepare the jars and pray for God to fill them up!

Scripture teaches that God is a God of joy and that His people should be marked by a spirit of celebration. One of the best launchpads of present celebration in the human heart is the remembrance of God's past faithfulness. In Old Testament times, the passover feast was designed to reignite in people's memories how incredibly faithful God had been to them. Stones of remembrance were set up so they wouldn't forget the amazing works of God! The truth is, God's past faithfulness fuels our future obedience and faith. We have so much to celebrate as a church family! Let's allow His faithfulness to propel us to new heights in our faith journey with Him in ‘25!

The gospel is good news for the whole person. Mind, soul, and body! We've looked at how God wants to redeem our minds and restore our souls, and now we turn our attention to the human body. The truth is, we are embodied souls. Jesus came to us in a human body. He rose from the grave in a body, and He will return one day in a body. Our bodies are central to the Christian faith. Learning that our bodies are a gift, not our own, and a tool to leverage for kingdom good puts us on a pathway to cherishing our bodies, and stewarding them well as an act of worship to the One who created our bodies!

We're all shooting for a better year in 2025! Last week, we saw that change begins in the mind. We have to set our minds on Jesus to see lasting change. This week, we look at how we get healthy at the soul level. Mind, body, soul … Jesus came to redeem the whole person! In one of His most famous teachings, Jesus uses the analogy of a vine and branches to describe how we can experience a vibrant, fruit-producing relationship with our Savior. Abiding in Jesus is the only way we experience what we long for spiritually. Through ancient practices like prayer, scripture reading, and living in community, we can build habits into our lives that lead to healthy Jesus-rooted souls!

All of us are hoping for a better year in 2025. Most of us want to grow spiritually, experience better relationships, enjoy better health, learn a new skill, or finally get out of debt! The truth is, change is hard, but with Jesus, change is possible! What we do always starts with what we think, so starting the new year right is all about getting our mindset right. Let's head into ‘25 with our minds set on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith!

Faithing The New Year - Rich Miller, New Life Elder - 12 29 24 by New Life of Asheville

Christmas Eve - Light Into Darkness - Chris Dillon, Lead Pastor 12 24 24 by New Life of Asheville

Advent: Love - Jonathan Jones, Connections Pastor 12 22 24 by New Life of Asheville

The third week of advent presses us into the joy available to us in Christ. See, joy goes far beyond momentary happiness. It's a deep-seated gladness of the heart that circumstances can't take from the man or woman who belongs to the kingdom of Jesus. Philippians 4 teaches us that joy is active, not passive. It's a choice, not simply an emotion. Because the Lord is near to us, we can access this joy by choosing thankfulness, prioritizing time in prayer, and bathing our mind in joy-producing realities. Rejoice, the King has come!

In a world that seems ever more fragmented by conflict, chaos, and angst…peace can seem like an illusion always just outside of our grasp. And yet, in the middle of it all, Jesus entered our world in the most unlikely of circumstances to offer us a kind of peace that supersedes any version of peace the world has on offer. See, peace, when it's all said and done, is all about presence, not circumstance. At the end of the day, peace is a person. And it's as we learn to practice the presence of God, surrendering to Him, and choosing faith over fear, that we begin to walk in otherworldly peace that our circumstances can never take away from us. Rejoice, the King has come, and His peace is ours!

Advent, The King Has Come - Allen Ebert, Student Pastor 12 01 24 by New Life of Asheville

The Jews and Samaritans hated each other with unbridled passion. And yet, one hot and dusty day at a well, an outcast Samaritan woman crippled by shame encountered Jesus. And was forever changed by His offer of living water. This dramatic story reminds us that our behavior is always rooted in our thirsts. We can't change behavior without addressing our thirst. We also see that Jesus didn't just save us to sit us on the sidelines of life. Jesus saves us to send us. Those who find living water can't help but point other thirsty souls to the fount of life – Jesus Christ!

The encounter between Jesus and a Greek-speaking, Syrophoenician, Canaanite, Gentile woman can be confusing and even sound offensive. Her approach and response is instructive for Jesus' disciples then and now, and Jesus shows a great priority in His mission that is critical for every one of His followers. From the Old Testament to Jesus' time to the book of Acts, God has made it clear that His grace is for people from every tribe, people, nation and language.

The story of Jesus and Nicodemus is a famous one. In this dialogue with a wise, old religious teacher, Jesus drops a bombshell that reframed the human understanding of God's Kingdom. It's not enough to be moral. Or follow a list of do's and don'ts. To see the Kingdom of God, you have to experience a new birth. Jesus didn't come to make you better, He came to make you brand new!

Ever meet someone who seemingly had it all? Wealth, position, the picture perfect family Christmas card…only to find out they're one of the most miserable people you know? It's a story as old as time. Jesus encountered a young guy that fit this mold to a tee. Though he was spiritual, he loved something else more than Jesus. The truth is, self-reliance will keep you out of the kingdom and disordered loves will keep you out of heaven. Following Jesus will cost you something, but not following Him will cost you everything. The call of Jesus is: go all in!

Life is full of storms. Literal storms like Helene, and figurative storms that threaten to swamp us relationally, emotionally, financially, and physically. Peter's encounter with Jesus on the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee, drives our understanding of faith into a deeper place. We learn that focusing on Jesus in the storms of life, allows us to stand even as others around us sink. Jesus invites us to look at Him in the storm, and in so doing, rise above our circumstances as we walk in freedom, peace, and joy.

There are certain times in life that allow for more clarity. A natural disaster like Helene is one of those times that allow us to recalibrate our lives. I believe God wants to offer us a hard reset rather than just resuming our old ways. We can walk this path of resetting into a healthier pathway by eliminating the non-essentials in our lives and turning from sin as we embrace the New Way of Jesus. We can't reset our lives in our own strength, of course, but Jesus is our reset button. Press into Him, and reset your life around things that bring the abundant life instead of things that produce stress, toxic thought patterns, and destructive priorities in life.

Sometimes we can take our forgiveness in Christ for granted. We can lose perspective on just how great a gift Jesus and His redemptive work in our lives really is. In Luke 7, Jesus encounters a self-righteous man and a woman who was a notorious sinner in her city. Though the host neglects the customary kindness of greeting Jesus, providing a washing basin for His feet, and anointing His head…this sinful woman, broken by shame, but freed by forgiveness, does all of this in extravagant fashion. This encounter teaches us that Jesus can erase our shame and reframe our life, regardless of where we've been, what we've done, or what others think about us. There's more mercy in Christ than sin in us!

When Jesus encounters perhaps the most despised man in the city of Jericho, the unimaginable becomes reality. Jesus not only speaks to Zacchaeus, He invites Himself to the tax collector's home. The hated outcast and the savior of the world. The compassion of Jesus transforms the wicked traitor into a generous, joy-filled child of the new kingdom. Jesus changes everything!

A real encounter with Jesus changes everything. When a handful of people decided to risk it all to get their paralyzed friend in front of the healer from Nazareth, sins were forgiven, bodies were healed, and preconceived notions about the authority of Jesus were obliterated. This famous story teaches us about the power of Jesus, the faith of friends, and living in awe of the one who speaks and changes everything forever.

The Bible is foundational to everything that disciples of Jesus believe, but is that foundation solid? How can we know? Hasn't it been translated countless times and changed over the centuries? We'll discuss at least five reasons we can trust the Bible and confidently build our lives on the truth God has revealed about Himself.

Even though Joseph had forgiven his brothers years prior, they continued to live in fear after Jacob's death. We too, need to be reminded of the forgiveness we possess in Christ, despite the feelings of shame and condemnation that assault our hearts at times. Joseph's response to his brother's ill-founded fear teaches us invaluable spiritual truths like: leaving justice in God's hands, trusting the providence of God's goodness over man's malice, and leaving a legacy of hope for future generations. A life well lived for the glory of God is the “good life” we all seek!

After 22 long years, Jacob is finally reunited with his long-lost and treasured son, Joseph. The details of this reunion account are packed with deep spiritual insight for the people of God even today. Lessons like: • When God calls you, go all in! • God's past faithfulness propels present confidence • We should bless the culture around us • Delight in God stills earthly fears • Embrace the pilgrim identity (this earth is not our home)...and so many more! May God do a deep work in us, just like he did in Jacob so many years ago, both for our good and His glory!

What does it look like to forgive and seek reconciliation in the Kingdom of God? In these chapters, we see Joseph finally revealing his identity to his brothers. Would he respond from his woundedness in anger and exact justice? Joseph teaches us what it looks like when we forgive as forgiven people. Forgiveness allows reconciliation to flow into restoration. And ultimately, this picture points us to the cross – where ultimate forgiveness flowed into ultimate restoration.

More than Enough - Jeremy Woods, Guest Preacher 08 04 24 by New Life of Asheville

Hold on to the Hope - Brody Medford, Guest Preacher 07 28 24 by New Life of Asheville

Learing to be Content in Christ - Daniel Dixon, Guest Preacher 07 21 24 by New Life of Asheville

The story of Joseph is all about God turning what seems bad into good. After great suffering, Joseph was raised up, taken out of prison, and given power. As the famine spreads across the known world, an unlikely reunion with the very brothers who sold him into slavery brings Joseph to tears. Instead of seeking revenge, he shows them grace, and puts them on a path of reconciliation while hiding his identity from them. We see the truth that nobody can thwart the plan of God. We bask in the truth that freedom begins where our hiding ends. And that what the enemy means for our harm, God means it for our good! Genesis 42

After over a decade of slavery + prison, God pulls Joseph out of the pit & places him in the palace. After interpreting Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph is elevated to the 2nd most powerful man on planet earth. Through this story we can draw almost innumerable applications like: God has a design in delay. We can't microwave what God intends to crock-pot in our lives. Suffering is a test, but so is success. When things are going well…do we praise God, prepare for harder times ahead, walk in boldness, and step into purpose? Or do we put our lives in cruise-control and forget God? Read: Genesis 41

What does it mean to follow Jesus? Are there essentials of being a disciple? In Mark 1, Jesus gives us 3 components of becoming a disciple. At its core it's: relational, transformational, and missional. Said another way, it's being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, & doing what Jesus did. Unfortunately, many of us settle for being Jesus fan-boys/girls, when He's invited us to experience so much more!

In Genesis 40, Joseph shows us what it looks like to serve others in suffering. He models overcoming evil with good, as he walks with compassion with an eye for those who are hurting around him. He also shows us the importance of speaking truth in love even as he navigates his own disappointment, feeling alone and seemingly forgotten. But as we'll see as this story continues to unfold, Joseph was anything but forgotten by God!

Life is war. Our spiritual life is a battle, and we have a real, unseen enemy force working overtime to destroy our lives, the people we love, and everything that matters to us. What if so many of us fall to temptation over and over again, because we haven't mapped out a plan to fight ahead of time? What does the story of Joseph and the teachings of Jesus and His disciples tell us about preparing for and winning the battle we're engaged in?

Joseph, now a slave in Egypt, finds success because God is with him. Potiphar elevates him to chief of staff and gives him dominion over his land and possessions. Right as things seem to be taking a positive turn for Joseph, Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him, and Joseph refuses to betray his boss or his God. Consequently, he is falsely accused and imprisoned. And yet, even in the dungeon of life, God's presence is with Joseph, and favor follows him. This chapter in Joseph's story has much to teach us about vocation, temptation, and frustration. Through it all, if we have God's presence, our souls can feast in the penthouse or dungeons of life.

They say honesty is the best policy, so what happens when we get honest about ourself! Discover how your life and life in the body of Christ can become a place filled with honest people. Be reminded how good it is to come clean about your sinfulness and celebrate your forgiveness in God's redemptive plan!

In heaven all the tasks of the church will cease, no more sermons, no more missions, the only thing that will remain is worship. Our worship will bring us as close to heaven as possible until we get there.

Jesus closes with one final section that serves as the climax of His most famous sermon. We all have a choice in life, either we build the house that is our lives on the foundation of the shifting sands of culture, or on the immovable rock that is Jesus Christ. And the truth is that the strong foundation only gets built when we shift from hearing Jesus to applying His teachings to our lives. Let's build our lives on the only foundation that will never crumble in the storms of this life!

As Jesus begins to turn the corner & put a wrap on the Sermon on the Mount, He issues a series of invitations and warnings to His hearers. Last week, He warned us to choose the narrow gate & the hard way over the easy way & wide gate. This week, He warns us to beware of false teachers. How can we identify the wolves who come cloaked as sheep? By examining their lives, their message, and their walk with Jesus. We need to live in lock-step with the Good Shepherd… immersed in His Word, and led by His Spirit, we can walk in safety & freedom, even among the wolves!

When we begin to live out of a vibrant relationship with God, trusting that He will meet all of our needs, we will inevitably experience the freedom and impulse to live out the golden rule. The truth is, a relationship with God changes every other relationship. But, we have to make sure we enter His Kingdom through the narrow gate. The world offers a wide and easy gate, but it leads to destruction and death. The narrow gate of the Kingdom is less traveled, more difficult, and few find it. And yet, it's the only pathway to abundant life in this world and the one to come.

In this section of His most famous sermon, Jesus gives us a command and a promise. If you really believed that God is deeply good, and that He answers the passionate and persistent prayers of His beloved children, how would your prayer life be different than it is today? Ask, seek, knock…our God already knows, and He's highly relational. He likes to be asked, so be bold, be consistent, be persistent. God is good & God answers the prayers of His children…so pray! Ask. Seek. Knock.

“Judge not, lest you be judged!” is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible by Christians and non-Christians alike. But did Jesus really mean it's never good for us to make judgment calls or use discernment about other's actions? What we see in this passage is Jesus teaching us how to judge without being judgmental. That begins with getting the log out of our own eye, so we can help others with the speck in theirs!

“Do not worry” is repeated three times in this classic teaching of Jesus. It sounds nice - but in our day and age, is this realistic? With all that is going on, how can we not worry? Jesus gives His disciples reasons they don't have to worry, and a way to focus our attention and activities in a way that will have eternal value.

Money and possessions reveal the human heart like nothing else does. The lie of our day is: the more I have in my hands, the happier I'll be in my heart. But both studies and our own experience tell us that's simply not true. Money is a tool, much like a knife. Is a knife good or bad? It depends on who's wielding it (a surgeon or a madman?). Jesus teaches us that as citizens in the new kingdom, it's important for us to have the right treasure, right lens, and right master. The message is clear: invest your life in what really matters!

It's amazing that out of everything the disciples could have asked Jesus to teach them how to do (walk on water, turn water into wine, resurrect the dead, cast out demons) they ask Him how to … pray? What follows is a pattern of prayer that's remarkable not for its length, but for its exquisite depth. Jesus teaches us that prayer is personal–we come to God as our Father, not as a distant deity. We come to Him in adoration and worship for His greatness and love. We petition for heaven to breakthrough in our lives, marriages, families, careers and neighborhoods. We ask for our daily needs with boldness, seek forgiveness with confidence, and beg for deliverance from the snares of our enemy. In this way, we plug into God's presence and power in our lives. May we increasingly become a people of prayer at New Life as we learn the ancient ways of Jesus!

As we step into chapter 6, Jesus is going to shift into some practical instruction surrounding 3 core spiritual disciplines: giving, prayer, and fasting. The primary focus here is on taking off our spiritual masks and learning to genuinely love God rather than trying to impress people. As citizens of the new kingdom of Jesus, we should give generously & quietly. We should pray sincerely and for the approval of our Heavenly Father. And finally, we should fast to please God and tap into His presence and power, rather than to impress our peers. So many of us fall into the subtle trap of hypocrisy, but Jesus came to free us from the chains of mask-wearing and people-pleasing!

The last couple of weeks in the Sermon on the Mount have been pretty intense as Jesus has peeled back the layers on several controversial topics like anger, lust, marriage, and divorce. This week, we'll hear Jesus finish the last 3 of his “you have heard it said, but I say to you…” statements as He tackles oaths, retaliation, and love for our enemies. As people who belong to the Kingdom of Jesus, we are to be truth-tellers, entrust justice to God, and love the very ones who detest us. In these ways, we show that we belong to another Kingdom…and the only way we can live so radically, is with the help of Jesus as we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus discusses many hard things. Among them, is the topic of marriage and divorce. This week's sermon will focus on the beauty of marriage, the devastation of divorce, while pointing to the healing and hope found in Christ. We'll look at the prevailing views for biblically permissible divorce, while also driving home the truth that marriage matters to God because of what it symbolizes, namely Jesus and His bride–the Church.

In the last section of this famous sermon, Jesus told His hearers that they would never enter the kingdom of heaven unless their righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees. This week, He shows us what that deeper righteousness looks like. He tells us that an outward obedience that simply conceals a heart that is far from God is not what He's after. The commands in the Law prohibiting murder and adultery might seem like some of the easiest to keep, and yet Jesus exposes us at the heart-level, so that He might point us to the new hearts we need that are only found in Him!

There are few issues in culture today that have generated more confusion than the topic of gender. Contrary to the popular thought of the day that gender is merely a social construct, the Scriptures teach that gender is actually a beautiful part of God's good design for His glory and our flourishing. Men and women are equal in dignity, value, and worth, and yet have been given distinct functions in the church and home. Men and women together, with all of their unique differences and strengths, most fully display the goodness of God to the world around them. While Scripture teaches that the office of elder/pastor is reserved for certain qualified men, we believe that both men and women receive the full allotment of spiritual gifts. Our desire is to see our church flourishing as both women and men are fully empowered to use all of their giftings to the fullest both inside the church, and outside the four walls to expand the kingdom of Jesus far and wide!

Practicing the spiritual discipline of gratitude has always been a key marker of God's people. As a church, we have so much to be grateful for over the past year. God has been big in and through our faith family! And yet, the mission isn't finished. As Jesus reminds us in the parable of the hidden treasure, His kingdom is like a treasure so valuable, that it's worth giving up everything to obtain. It's like a pearl you'd sell everything you've ever owned to get your hands on. The truth is, we all give our time, treasure, and talent to that which we value most. So let's leverage 2024 to help those in our circles of influence find & follow Jesus, and let's link arms together as we advance the mission of King Jesus as a church family in Asheville and to the ends of the earth!

As Jesus moves from teaching about being salt & light in a dark and decaying world, we shift into a section of this most famous sermon that helps us understand how to read the Bible. Jesus is reminding us of the total truthfulness of Scripture down to the smallest detail, even in the Old Testament. In fact, all of Scripture points to Jesus. That's why He could say that He's the fulfillment of the law. And yet, obeying the law without a new heart and the power of the Holy Spirit is impossible. Which is the whole point! In Jesus, we get a new heart and His Spirit which empowers us to obey not from a place of duty, but from a place of pure delight!

Last week we saw Jesus launch the Sermon on the Mount with a section called the beatitudes. If the kingdom principles found in the beatitudes seem somewhat theoretical, the next section on salt & light makes it all very practical. You see, in Jesus' day–two foundational pillars of everyday life were salt & light. While salt preserves, flavors, and even ignites thirst–light illuminates. Jesus is telling us not to lose our saltiness or hide our light. As disciples of Jesus we called to preserve a decaying world and shine as light into the darkness so that others might know the true source of life and light: Jesus Christ!