NLC News February 16 2023

Several New Life Community people were recognized at the Dinuba Chamber of Commerce's annual community awards banquet. Praise the Lord for a community that sees and celebrates the life of Jesus lived through his people!

Mike Naylor - 2022 Senior Citizen of the Year

David Camarillo - 2022 Teen Citizen of the Year

Mae Ewert - one of Dinuba's 2022 Community Heroes

THIS WEEKEND:
THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 16
5:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Dinner - Dining Room
6:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Worship / Lesson / Small Groups
  • Brian Willems speaking on "Sanity"

FRIDAY-SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17-18
ACE Overcomers workshop - Please call the church office to register 591-1176
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19
8:30 a.m. ADULT GROWTH CLASSES - NLC KIDS ministry for parents in growth classes ONLY
  • Video Class: 1 Peter - Room 111
  • Faith & Finances - Room 114/115
9:30 a.m. CONNECTING POINT (Dining Room) and Connecting Point for Kids (Rm 101)
10:00 a.m.  WORSHIP - NURSERY - NLC KIDS CHURCH - NLC CREW
  • Pastor Mark: "Time for a New Life: Marriage" - Ephesians Part II -5:22-33;  featuring a conversation with Bruce & Laurel Smith and Steven & Anatalia Sandoval
11:15 a.m. AFTER CHURCH 
  • The Bible Out Loud class - Room 111 (with children's activities for participants in 101)

A conversation on marriage - this Sunday
with Bruce & Laurel Smith and Steven & Ana Sandoval

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21
6:00 a.m. NEW Men's Bible Study - Gospel of John, part 2 - Dining Room
6:00 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Women's Step Study - Room 114/115 (group is full)
6:30 p.m. Healing Rooms of Dinuba offers healing prayers - Church patio/library

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22
6:00 p.m. Worship Rehearsal - Gym
6:30 p.m. Prayer Gathering - Room 113

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23
5:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Dinner - Dining Room
6:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Worship / TESTIMONY NIGHT / Small Groups

NEXT SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26
Josh & Jessica Aquino will be bringing a message on the godly family from Ephesians 6:1-4
Also, a new video class will begin on the last half of the book of Romans - 8:30 a.m.

A message on godly parenting next Sunday
with Josh & Jessica Aquino

UPCOMING:
WEDNESDAY- SUNDAY, MAY 3-7 (or any of those days)
Register now for the ALL-CHURCH CAMPOUT!  Click for online registration.

Giving to God through NLC

Received Last Week (2/12) .…..$6,544
Received this year: ….……....$178,814
Budget to Date: …………...... $194,563
Budget Goal: ………...............$421,553
Needed Weekly: …........…..……$8,669

Click above to give toward the earthquake victims in Turkiye and Syria through Mennonite Central Committee

PRAYER
  • Peggy Zimmerman will not likely have to have a major reconstruction of her hand, praise the Lord. She is having surgery today (Feb. 16) to repair a number of things from her wrist fracture last year, including torn cartilage and bone spurs. Depending on what the surgeon finds, she may not need further surgeries. Pray for her healing, and for Glen as he helps.
  • Remember Sharon Allen who lost her brother Mark Thompson. A memorial service is this Saturday, February 18th, 11:00 a.m., at Sierra Sky Park in Fresno. Brian Willems is officiating.
  • Ann Isaac's brother, Jorn Keller, passed away last weekend in Phoenix after more than a week in ICU. Pray for his wife, Robin, and for the rest of the family.
  • Continue praying for children to come to know Jesus as their Savior and to grow as they follow Jesus as their Lord. Remember the 4th-6th grade campers as well as the children in Good News Clubs at Jefferson and Monson-Sultana Schools. 
  • Pray for those fighting illness, including some battling cancer: Glen Zimmerman, Eugene Enns, and Mike Naylor. Also remember Joanna Brooks, Ann Enns recovering from a fall at Palm Village, and JR Southard. 
  • The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria now top 39,000. Most everyone else is mourning or part of the recovery effort as survivors suffer through winter weather without adequate shelter or food. Pray for relief efforts to reach those in need, and for the witness of Christ to shine clearly.
  • Pray for Evangel Bible Church and pastor Robert Garcia. Evangel Bible is located on Villa east just a block from NLC and next to City Hall. Pray for the success of their alcohol/drug  programs and those who regularly attend.
  • And...did you notice the new roof on Open Gate's shelter across the street from the church? Thank God for contributions toward this ministry, and especially a grant that covered the cost of the roof project there and on top of the Open Gate Thrift Store downtown. 

Jesus and the Superbowl

I could have purchased and preached a sermon series based on the current national media campaign, He Gets Us. I know some pastors who have been doing that since January.
But I didn't.
I actually like the campaign, and I was taken by the two Superbowl commercials I saw last Sunday. You can watch them all at the link above. I hope the commercials and other parts of the billion dollar campaign still unfolding draw people to see and accept and follow Jesus. That would be a good thing!

The He Gets Us campaign is the combined effort of some notable, and almost all anonymous, American Christians. David Green, owner of Hobby Lobby, has been identified with the campaign. The news media became interested  when they learned that the campaign was paying for not one, but two, Superbowl commercials at about $20 million. They wanted to know who was behind it and what they're agenda was. Maybe you've read or heard some news stories about that. Some is positive, and some is not. A lot of the news writers are wary. That's understandable. These are difficult, divisive times, and the truth is often something different than what's presented.

The He Gets Us campaign is very clear on their website about their agenda. It's literally the first thing you see on the site--"HE GETS US HAS AN AGENDA". Yup, all CAPS. It almost looks like a news headline; and not a good one.
As I've read through and learned about the agenda of the campaign, I get it. Jesus has been co-opted by religious people in America to stand for what they like and against what they don't. It's like we've been playing tug-of-war with Jesus, pulling him left toward those causes and people while others are pulling him right to defend other causes and people. Christians denominations have split over the last few years over homosexuality, all in the name of Jesus. Neither side can see how Jesus could possibly be sympathetic to the other viewpoint. I've witnessed it.
It's not just homosexuality, though. Just in the last three years Christians became divided over masks and mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and over politics, political figures, and political parties and ideologies. There's also the matter of race, immigration, and a host of other matters we all know better than to bring up at a family gathering or around the table. And in the middle of it all is Jesus, pulled to this side or that, mutually claimed by those who are mutually canceling each other out. It's a problem, for sure.

The He Gets Us campaign asks, "How did the story of a man who taught and practiced unconditional love, peace, and kindness; who spent his life defending the poor and the marginalized; a man who even forgave his killers while they executed him unjustly — whose life inspired a radical movement that is still impacting the world thousands of years later — how did this man’s story become associated with hatred and oppression for so many people?"
It's a good question.
And the campaign's goal is also a good one: "To move beyond the mess of our current cultural moment to a place where all of us are invited to rediscover the love story of Jesus."
I'd like to think that's what we're about at New Life Community.
And I'd like to think that's what I've been preaching every Sunday.

So I didn't purchase the sermon series.

But you're going to hear it from me anyway, because that's what the Bible is all about. As John said (John 20:31), "These [things] are written so you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. When you put your trust in Him, you will have life that lasts forever through His name." 
God knows we need Jesus.
And thank God Jesus gets us. And saves us. And calls us to love as he loves us.

Mark Isaac

1 Comment


Nori Naylor - February 19th, 2023 at 10:07am

Amen! Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life. The signs of the outpouring of the Spirit on college campuses in the U.S. at the time the Jesus Movement movie is being released, and the Superbowl commercials aired … Who, but God!

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