New Life Church Network

06/02/2026

06/02/2026

READ: Read Psalms 51 a couple of times. Make note of any verses that stand out to you or raise questions in your mind.

ASK: Ask God to speak to you through this psalm. Write down any questions you have for further study.

CONTEXT: The psalms were not written in a particular order, so looking before and after to the previous and next psalms doesn’t really give us any clues as we study Psalm 51. However, it has a rich historical context. As noted at the heading of the psalm, it was written by David, after he was confronted by Nathan the prophet for committing adultery with Bathsheba. This story is found in 2 Samuel 11-12. After reading this, you can see that David put himself in a very tempting situation, and ended up committing adultery and murder. His sins had lasting consequences on his family. He shows his remorse and repentance to God for his sins in Psalms 51, providing a powerful example of true repentance and a desire to be restored into God’s presence. Romans 3:4 is a cross reference to Psalms 51: 4 to highlight God’s faithfulness despite our unfaithfulness.

ENGAGE: How can you apply Psalms 51 to your life? Are there sins that you need to repent? Is unconfessed sin keeping you separated from God’s presence and blessing in your life? How can you turn to God and be restored into his presence and family? How does God’s faithfulness in every circumstance impact your life or your view of God?

06/01/2026

Nightly Prayer with Pastor Trinity

05/31/2026

The Bible - God’s Word, written over hundreds of years through many different people, telling one unified story. God’s Word has the power, through the Holy Spirit, to transform our lives, from paving the way to salvation to offering us wisdom and direction as we navigate life. However, this massive book can be overwhelming to read and study in depth, especially if you are new to faith.

If you want to study the Bible but are a bit overwhelmed or unsure how to start, this plan is for you! Over the next few days, we will break down a simple method to study the Bible together, and work through some passages together to get you started.

First, let’s break down our Bible study method. There’s four parts that spell out RACE - Read, Ask, Context, and Engage. Here’s more detail into what each of these words mean.

Read: First, read the passage. Go through it a couple of times, underlining or noting anything that stands out to you or raises a question in your mind.

Ask: Ask God to speak to you as you study this passage. Ask questions about the passage, making notes of the questions so you can study the answers.

Context: Context is the parts before and after the passage that you are studying. How does the passage you are studying relate to the rest of the chapter or book of the Bible? Are there any other verses in the Bible that relate to this passage or topic (this is called cross-referencing)? What about the culture and historical situations of the time? This is called historical context. Using a study Bible, a commentary, or a simple Google search can help you see how the world lived during the time these Scriptures were written.

Engage: Engage with the passage and search for personal applications. How does what I am reading apply to my life? How would my life change if I put into practice the principles, ideas, or actions that I am reading about? What is one thing I can do today to live out God’s Word?

There you have it! That is our RACE Bible study method. Let’s buckle up, start our engines, and begin studying God’s Word together!

05/31/2026

Nightly prayer with Pastor Michele

05/31/2026

When you're in a difficult season—when you're going through adversity, trauma, or pain—you become a prime target for lies about God and yourself. Why? Because you're vulnerable, tired, exhausted, and desperately looking for answers. Our enemy leverages those moments to deceive us.

Let me share how this played out in my own life. The two lies I am most vulnerable to believing are: "I'm not enough" and "I'm only as good as my last sermon."

I hear those lies constantly. There have been seasons where I believed those lies, and they led to really unhealthy patterns. I found myself needing to hear approval from people I preached to just to feel better about the lie that I'm only as good as my last sermon. I doubted the truth of what God said about me.

The very place God called you to serve Him is often the place where Satan tries to tell you lies. If God has called you to be a parent, don't be surprised if you're bombarded with lies about your adequacy. If God has called you to serve others, Satan will whisper lies about whether you're making any real difference.

This is spiritual warfare. Jesus told us in John 8:44 that our enemy "is a liar and the father of lies." In John 10:10, Jesus said the enemy "comes only to steal and kill and destroy."

Satan will likely show up with reasonable-sounding explanations for why you're struggling, why God seems distant, and why you should lower your expectations. When you go through difficulty, Satan leverages that pain to tell you lies about:

God's character ("He doesn't care about you")
God's presence ("He's abandoned you")
God's power ("He won't help you")
Your identity ("You're not worth loving")
Your future ("Nothing will ever change")

Here's what makes these lies so dangerous: they often contain just enough truth to seem believable. Yes, you are imperfect. Yes, you have failed before. Yes, some of your prayers seem unanswered.

If you're in a difficult season right now, you need to begin watching for lies. If you've been through a hard season in the past, you need to look back into that season because there may be a lie you picked up along the way that is still holding you back from all that God intended for you.

05/30/2026

Nightly Prayer with Pastor Trin

05/30/2026

Our beliefs about God and ourselves are often products of our past experiences.

Judges 6 introduces Gideon during one of Israel's darkest periods. The people had abandoned God and were suffering under Midianite oppression. Fear was making Gideon's job much more complicated than it needed to be.

This is what happens when a spider plagues you. Your decisions become governed by fear, and you settle for far less than God intended.

When the angel of the Lord comes to Gideon, the angel says something that must have seemed completely ironic: "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." (Judges 6:12)

To someone threshing wheat in a wine press, driven by fear and hiding from enemies, being called a "mighty warrior" probably felt like a cosmic joke! But God sees you differently than you see yourself.

Gideon had become cynical and couldn’t see what God wanted to show him. “If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the LORD brought us out of Egypt? ’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” (6:13)

Gideon believed the lie that God had abandoned him.

Maybe, deep down, you feel like God has abandoned you. You might never have said these words out loud, but in your heart, you believe God has left you to figure things out on your own. You think He isn't hearing your prayers or showing up the way He does for others.

We often buy into the lie that God has abandoned us during difficult seasons when things don't go the way we thought they would. We create this story to make sense of our pain, even when there's evidence to the contrary.

But here's the truth: the decisions we make today write the story we'll tell tomorrow. When you're in pain, you need to be very careful about what you choose to believe about God, because that decision will shape everything that comes next.

05/29/2026

Nightly Prayer with Pastor Brian

05/28/2026

As humans, we often make poor decisions when our choices are based on misinformation or lies. We usually think we're immune to these lies, but we're all vulnerable to them.

In the 1920s, we started adding tetraethyl lead to gasoline to reduce engine knocking. Over time, we realized this lead was unhealthy. However, scientists who worked for the industry told us that the body naturally and safely harbors lead—which was a lie. Because of this deception, 5,000 people died from leaded gasoline and paint.

This story reminds us of a crucial truth: Our beliefs are the fundamental foundation of all our decisions. Our beliefs shape our actions, our actions shape our experiences, and our experiences shape everything.

That's why it's so important that we get to the bedrock of what is shaping our beliefs. If our beliefs are being shaped by lies, then lies are driving our actions and our experiences.

What you believe about God and what you believe about yourself shapes everything in your life. It's foundational to every relationship you have, every decision you make, and every response you give to life's challenges.

If you decide that God is capricious, vindictive, or punishing you, that impacts everything! If you believe God doesn't care what you do, that influences how you live. If you believe God is like a distant watchmaker who created the world but can't be involved in your daily life, that shapes how you approach problems.

Another important thing about us is what we think God thinks about us. Some of you believe God thinks you're a mistake or disappointment. Perhaps you think when God thinks about you, He wonders when you're going to get it together. Maybe you wonder if God spends His time comparing you to others who seem to have it more together, and you think, "If I could be like them, then God would love me more."

These beliefs about what God thinks of you shape every relationship and conversation you have. Defeating those lies leads to freedom. Romans 12:2 tells us that God transforms us as we renew our minds, while 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 describes our ability to take thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.