New Covenant United Methodist Church

Here's a nother pic of the amazing team that worked River of Life this past week building ramps for the handicapped. Praise the Lord!

Wow! This young people are AMAZING! Praise the Lord!

The Annual River of Life Youth Mission continues today. Service to the community all day and amazing worship every night is blessing the youth, the homeowners, and the leaders in a powerful way! Praise the Lord!

HOW DO YOU SEE PEOPLE? When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14) When Jesus looked out at the crowds interrupting His day off, He saw people who longed for God. People who had rowed three miles across the lake or walked seven miles to reach Him. People who’d made a real effort to spend their time with Him.... To Jesus, the gathered people were like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). Jesus was tired, but the people in front Him were more important than His own plans and need of rest. Jesus saw people as God saw them. How do you see people? Especially those who interrupt your me time or who cause you irritation or frustration on busy days? Ask God to help you see people through His eyes. Look at people from His point of view, as sheep who need the Shepherd. Then be willing to give your time and energy to help them find Him. Move your focus off yourself and onto the needs of others for Jesus’ sake! -- Anne Graham Lotz in Fixing My Eyes on Jesus

COMPASSION NOT JUDGMENT We condemn a man for stumbling this morning, but we didn’t see the blows he took yesterday. We judge a woman for the limp in her walk, but cannot see the tack in her shoe. We mock the fear in their eyes, but have no idea how many stones they have ducked or darts they have dodged. Are they too loud? Perhaps they fear being neglected again. Are they too timid? Perhaps they fear failing again. Too slow? Perhaps they fell the last time they hurried. You do...n’t know. Only one who has followed yesterday’s steps can be their judge. Not only are we ignorant about yesterday, we are ignorant about tomorrow. Dare we judge a book while chapters are yet unwritten? Should we pass a verdict on a painting while the artist still holds the brush? How can you dismiss a soul until God’s work is complete? God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure He will continue until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again. (Philippians 1:6) -- Max Lucado in In the Grip of Grace

A FATHER’S LOVE Many years ago I traveled to my mother’s house in West Texas to see my uncle. He had journeyed from California to visit the grave of my dad. He hadn’t been able to make it to the funeral some months earlier. Uncle Billy reminded me of my father. They looked so much alike: square bodied and ruddy complexion. We laughed, talked, and reminisced. When time came for me to leave, Uncle Billy followed me out to my car. We paused to say good-bye. He reached up and pla...ced his hand on my shoulder and said, Max, I want you to know, your dad was very proud of you. I contained the emotion until I pulled away. Then I began to blubber like a six-year-old. We never outgrow our need for a father’s love. We were wired to receive it. May I serve the role of an Uncle Billy in your life? The hand on the shoulder is mine. The words I give you are God’s. Receive them slowly. Don’t filter, resist, downplay, or deflect them. Just receive them. My child. I want you in My Kingdom. I have swept away your offenses like the morning clouds, your sins like the morning mist. I have redeemed you. The transaction is sealed; the matter is settled. I, God, have made My choice. I choose you to be part of My forever family. Let these words cement in your heart a deep, satisfying, fear-quenching confidence that God will never let you go. You belong to Him. -- Max Lucado in Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine

PETER WENT FISHING When I talk to people about serving God, one of the saddest responses I hear is, God doesn’t want me. Not after what I’ve done. They assume God is just like a lot of people they know. He writes us off. He holds grudges. We’ll never meet His standards. Our mistakes are many, our failures are well known, and our reputation is shot. Don’t you think Peter must have felt this way? Here’s a guy Jesus personally chose and spent a lot of time with. It had to mean... something when Jesus called him the Rock -- what guy wouldn’t like being given that name? But after he did exactly what Jesus told him he would do -- denying Him at the moment of crisis -- Peter retreated to his old life and figured he was off the list. Jesus had made it a point to tell him he’d fail. Why would He do that? Peter probably thought Jesus was saying, You’re not going to make it after all. Watch how you screw up in a few hours. Peter went fishing, the only other life he knew. That’s it for me. My time came, and I struck out. Out there on the boat that early morning, he reflected on the shipwreck of all his dreams. Jesus had qualified him, and that was a miracle. Peter had disqualified himself, and that was a tragedy. Then he looked up to see a figure on the shore. Against all odds, it was Jesus, waving at him, telling him there was still work to do, and what was he doing out on that boat? I still choose you. -- Kyle Idleman in The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

GOD’S FAVORITE NAME But when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! (Galatians 4:4-6 NRSV) Of all His names, Father is God’s favorite. We know He loves this name most because this is the one He used most. While on earth, Jesus ca...lled God Father over two hundred times. In His first recorded words Jesus explained, Didn’t you know that I must be in My Father’s house? (Luke 2:49). In His final triumphant prayer He proclaims, Father, I give You My life (Luke 23:46). In the Gospel of John alone, Jesus repeats this name 156 times. God loves to be called Father. After all, didn’t Jesus teach us to begin our prayer with the phrase, Our Abba? Abba was, to Jesus, an everyday word, and remains so to Israel’s children even today. It is an affectionate, family word. The equivalent would be Poppa, Daddy or Dad. It is right for you to call God your Creator; indeed He is. You speak truth when you call Him your Master; indeed He is. It is appropriate for you to call Him your King, Lord and Sovereign God. But if you want to touch His heart, call Him by the name He loves to hear. Call Him Abba. Call Him your Father. -- Max Lucado

Limited tickets will be available at the door.

Food Give-Away Bright Star UMC on Bright Star Road is having a food giveaway starting at 3 today. And you do not need to be needy to take advantage of it. Again whatever is not given away, especially if fresh food, wii be disposed of.

LETTING GO Jesus said, If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. (Matthew 16:25 NLT) Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making The principle r...uns through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. -- C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

The latest ramp is going up nicely! An amazing turnout on a rainy day! (p.s. it's #100)

THE DIMENSION OF HOPE My concern has been to show another dimension of the Bible’s teaching about suffering the dimension of hope. Someday all the pain and suffering of this world will be gloriously banished. Because of what Jesus Christ did for us through His cross and resurrection, we know that we have hope for the future. We know that in heaven every sin and evil will be banished, and suffering will be no more. The Apostle Paul said, I consider that our present sufferin...gs are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. In showing something of what the future life is going to be like, we see how the glory that lies ahead is far greater than any sufferings we might endure here. But in the meantime, we are called to learn what it means to trust God in every circumstance, and to live for Him no matter what comes our way. -- Adapted from Billy Graham from the Preface to his book Who’s in Charge of a World That Suffers?: Trusting God in Difficult Circumstances