St. Paul's United Methodist Church

St. Paul's United Methodist Church St. Paul's UMC is located at 5360 Route 9 in New Gretna, NJ. Known as the "Come As You Are Church", we just celebrated our 167rd anniversary.

Paul's United Methodist Church was built in 1862 on Route 9 in New Gretna. It is affectionately known as the "Come as You Are Church" because it welcomes campers from area campgounds. The church preaches and follows the Word of God and worships Jesus Christ as the Only Begotten Son of God. Join us for Sunday School at 9:45 and Worship at 11:00 am.

09/06/2026

Holy Communion!

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- September 3, 2026 HOW TO FORGIVE(Ephesians 4:26-32) “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,...
09/04/2026

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- September 3, 2026
HOW TO FORGIVE
(Ephesians 4:26-32)

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Over the years, I have written many times about forgiveness in these lessons. For most of us, I think forgiving is a constant effort. It is so easy to slip back into unforgiveness, if we let ourselves. There are some people in my life right now who I am struggling to forgive.

One question that comes up is, How will you know whether you have forgiven or not? Dr. Charles Stanley used the example of someone who had hurt him deeply. (He didn’t say who it was, but I suspect it was his wife of many years, who unexpectedly one day told him that she didn’t love him anymore, and she wanted a divorce.) He had not seen her for a long time. And one day, there she was, walking down the street toward him. And he said that he couldn’t wait to put his arms around her and say, “So good to see you!” That’s when he knew he had really forgiven her.

By that measure, I’m not there yet. I can think of some people who have hurt me, and I’ve forgiven them. I’ve put it behind me, and it’s over. But I’d just as soon not even see that person again. So I can’t say I’ve taken that last step to reconciliation. I’m doing much better with forgiveness than I was several years ago, but I’ve still got some work to do on forgiveness.

So how do I do it? In most of his sermons, Charles Stanley gave some specific action steps. So I went back to my notes on the message in which he used that illustration, to see if he had any specific steps for how to deal with it. And he did. He had three steps. And here they are. FIRST, acknowledge that you’re having trouble with forgiveness. And identify the person who you are having difficulty forgiving. SECOND, ask God to enable you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to just lay it down, and let it go. And then THIRD, make a decision, make a choice, that you are not going to have an unforgiving attitude anymore. Feelings have nothing to do with it. You just say, “As the Lord forgave me, I’m going to forgive this other person.” It’s a decision, not a feeling.

Dr. Stanley said, “Step out of that prison of unforgiveness, shake off those shackles, and let Jesus Christ send out His love toward the other person.” Just let that unforgiving attitude go. Lay it down. You might say, “Well, what if it rises up again?” Lay it down again. And again. And again. The day will come when it won’t rise up again.

Brian Detrick

REFERENCE: “The Landmine of Unforgiveness,” a sermon by Dr. Charles Stanley
Photo credit: Denise R. Brown Fine Art

08/30/2026

Holy Sunday!

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- August 27, 2026 NEVER ALONE(Psalm 139:7-12) “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can ...
08/28/2026

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- August 27, 2026
NEVER ALONE
(Psalm 139:7-12)

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)

One of God’s characteristics is that He is present everywhere, all the time. Theologians call this the omnipresence of God. David expressed the essence and the implications of God being everywhere when he wrote, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7-10) If we follow this line of reasoning, we can see that the omnipresence of God can be comforting or frightening, depending on your perspective. If you are not in a right relationship with God and you’re trying to get away from Him, His presence everywhere makes that impossible.

The Old Testament prophet Jonah is a good example of that. God gave Jonah an assignment that he didn’t like. The Lord wanted Jonah to tell the people of Nineveh that judgment was coming if they didn’t repent. Jonah resisted that mission, because the Ninevites were the enemies of Israel. He didn’t want them to repent. He wanted God to bring down judgment upon them. So he went to the port of Joppa and boarded a ship headed to Tarshish, the exact opposite direction from Nineveh, and Jonah thought, away from God. But God was there on the sea, too. And Jonah ended up in the belly of a great fish, where God was also present. And Jonah recognized that he was wrong, and he repented. There’s an obvious lesson there for anyone who is trying to run from God -- you’re wasting your time and your energy. You can’t get away from God. No matter where you go, God will be waiting for you. You can’t escape His presence.

On the other hand, if you are walking with God, you will find great comfort in knowing that you are never alone. When you face fiery trials, when you go through difficult times, when you have to go through the storms of life, God is with you every step of the way. David described the presence of God in an unforgettable way in the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:1-4)

You never have to feel lost, afraid, abandoned, or alone. If you are walking with God, He will never leave you.

Brian Detrick

REFERENCES: "Never Alone," a devotional by Pastor Greg Laurie, August 26, 2026, https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/never-alone-6/
Photo credit -- Vecteezy

08/23/2026

Holy Sunday!

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- August 20, 2026 A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM THE MOON(Matthew 22:34-40) “Let the heavens rejoice,...
08/21/2026

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- August 20, 2026
A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM THE MOON
(Matthew 22:34-40)

“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad!” (Psalm 96:11)

Quite often, I wonder what this country is coming to, and in fact, I reflect on whether the world is going to self-destruct. Then, just as I am about to descend into despair, something will happen – often from an unexpected place – to restore my hope and remind me that God is in control. This happened for me in a big way last April, during Artemis II, NASA’s historic 10-day flyby mission to the moon. One of the astronauts -- Victor Glover, the pilot of the mission – called attention to what Jesus called the two greatest commandments, just as the space capsule was about to slip behind the moon and lose communication with the earth. Glover’s words not only restored my hope and faith, but they also reminded me that all of us can highlight the message of the Gospel in our everyday lives. Like Victor Glover, we can let Jesus into our lives to go to work with us, to play with us, to worship with us, and just to be with us every day.

In a moment that was broadcast around the world, Glover said these words, just before the 40-minute break in communications: “As we get close to the nearest point to the moon and the farthest point from earth – as we continue to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos – I would like to remind you of one of the most important mysteries there on earth, and that’s love. Christ said, in response to what was the greatest command, that it was to love God with all that you are – and being a great teacher – said the second is equal to it, and that is to love your neighbor as yourself.” Glover added, with his words being slightly garbled, “And so as we prepare to go out of radio communication,” that he felt the “love from earth” and “to all of you down there on earth and around earth – we love you from the moon.”

The day before Easter, Glover – a Christian believer – was asked to reflect on the meaning of the holiday from space. He said, “When I read the Bible, and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us – who were created – you have this amazing place, this spaceship. You guys are talking to us because we’re in a spaceship really far from earth, but you’re on a spaceship called earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos.” Glover pointed to the shared home of all humanity, how unique the earth is, and the need for people to learn to live together. He added, “I think maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special. In all of this emptiness, this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe – you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together. I think as we go into Easter Sunday, thinking about all the cultures, all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing, and that we got to get through this together.”

Brian Detrick

REFERENCES: "Artemis II's Victor Glover Cites Christ's Words on Love During Historic Moon Flyby," by Michael Foust, Crosswalk, updated April 13, 2026, https://www.crosswalk.com/headlines/contributors/michael-foust/artemis-iis-victor-glover-cites-christs-words-on-love-during-historic-moon-flyby.html
Devotional by Larry Mallory, in a Lenten Daily Devotional booklet, First United Methodist Church, Parkersburg, W. Va., 1975
Photo credit: Facebook

08/16/2026

Holy Sunday!

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- August 13, 2026 MAKING SENSE OF THE WILL OF GOD(Psalm 34:8-18) “Taste, and see that the Lor...
08/14/2026

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- August 13, 2026
MAKING SENSE OF THE WILL OF GOD
(Psalm 34:8-18)

“Taste, and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.” (Psalm 34:8)

We need to remember that the will of God is always good. It might not seem like it at the time, but it is. His plan for us is good. But He usually doesn’t give us a roadmap ahead of time. Usually, God reveals His will for us one step at a time. He sees the big picture, but we just see a little bit at a time.

If you had been Jacob, the father of Joseph, certainly, like any parent, you would have prayed for the well-being of your child. But when Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers, you could have easily said, “God, what are You doing? Why did You allow this?” Yet if God had not allowed it to happen, Joseph never would have been put into the position of leadership that enabled him to save the country of Egypt and his own family. If you had been the mother of Moses, it would have broken your heart to see your son being taken away to Pharaoh’s court. Yet it was all part of God’s plan to mold Moses into the man who would lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt and the bo***ge they were in there. If you had been Mary, the mother of Jesus, and watched your own son hanging on the cross, it would have been easy to say, “Lord, why did you let this happen?” But if Jesus had not taken our sins upon Himself and died on that cross, we would not know Him as our Savior today.

Our problem is that we have a limited perspective. We are confined by time and space. We can only see the things that are happening right now, and only the things that are happening in our location. The future is hidden from us. And so is the big picture of what God is doing. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (I Corinthians 13:12)

In the meantime, we can look to the past for reassurance. The Bible says that even when we are faithless, He is faithful (II Timothy 2:13). God has an unmatched track record of coming through for His people – not just in the Bible, but probably in your life as well. Think about those times. Remember how He brought good out of situations that seemed to be terrible. God’s record in the past is why David was able to say in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.”

When you look at the will of God playing out in everyday life, it might not always make sense. But you have to believe that God knows what He is doing. His will is good. Trust Him to finish what He has begun.

Brian Detrick

REFERENCE: "Making Sense of God's Will," a daily devotional by Pastor Greg Laurie, August 10, 2026, https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/making-sense-of-gods-will/
Photo credit: Instagram

08/09/2026

Sunday Morning Service

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- August 6. 2026 CONFIDENCE IN TROUBLED TIMES(Romans 8:28-39) “We know that all things work t...
08/07/2026

THURSDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL -- August 6. 2026
CONFIDENCE IN TROUBLED TIMES
(Romans 8:28-39)

“We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

All of us have gone through many difficult times in our lives. Life is uncertain. Life is constantly changing. We live in a fallen world, and we are always going to go through hard times in life. The question is, how can we as Christians live with confidence in troubled times. We get some answers to that in Romans 8, as the Apostle Paul tells us how we can live confidently, no matter what is going on around us.

In one of his messages, Dr. Charles Stanley talked about four principles in Romans 8:28-39 that will help us to live with confidence in troubled times. FIRST, GOD IS IN CONTROL OF ALL OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN OUR LIVES. This is the bedrock principle of our confidence. Romans 8:28 says, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” God is in control, but He allows certain things. Nothing happens to God’s people unless He allows it. And if He allows it, He will turn it for our good – some way, somehow.

SECOND, GOD WILL MEET ALL OUR NEEDS. Romans 8:31-32 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” We read that and we think, “That’s great! He will freely give us all things!” In the context of this passage, it means all things that we need and that fit His purpose for our lives. “All things” that we ask for or think that we want wouldn’t be good for us. God already knows everything that we need. And verse 29 tells us God’s ultimate purpose for us – “Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” God will program our lives so every circumstance will conform us to the image of His Son.

THIRD, GOD IS WITH US. Verses 35-39 say, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? . . . In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. . . . Neither death nor life . . . nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” One of the basic beliefs that gives us confidence in life is that God is with us. Even if we don’t FEEL His presence at times, God has said in His Word, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

FOURTH, GOD LOVES US WITH AN ETERNAL LOVE. Verses 38-39 say that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God. God doesn’t love us on the basis of our behavior, but because He is God, and it is His nature to love. When we trusted Jesus as our Savior, we received the eternal love of God, and that never changes. If we know these things, we can face anything that life throws at us, with confidence.

Brian Detrick

REFERENCES: "Confidence in Troubled Times," a sermon by Dr. Charles Stanley
Photo credit: Inspirational Bible Verse Images

Address

5630 Route 9
New Gretna, NJ
08224

Opening Hours

11am - 5pm

Telephone

+16092969134

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