2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Gallery Image of 2 Corinthians 5:17 -- If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!

"Dear Beloved, Are you stuck? Are your days too predictably monotonous? Do you feel that nothing is ever going to change? I want you to look..."

Weren't we re-made for more than we're settling for? Phil Ware shares with us ideas about growth and how God has re-created us to be like Jesus and be full of life and growth, spiritually and physically.

Our message points us to 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Paul's promise that if we are in Christ, we are a new creation! Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins invite us to worship God and celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit as we are transformed to be more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ as we trust in God to give us a new fresh start in life because of Jesus!

Imagine if we all came together at the same time and prayed for God to intervene and help us overcome our world's problems! Phil Ware explains the unified, simultaneous, hour of prayer on January 1 and December 31 as all the time zones gather together to pray.

"So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently....."

Where does it all start? All the big events in our lives and even many of the daily routines all begin with a blank page, including the grace God gives us to start fresh each day with a blank page.

Can we really find something new and fresh in this season of commercialism? A man's conversion helps Phil remember that life can become fresh and new and he reminds us that the Christmas season can bring all of this to us if we are looking for it.

The year is new… are you? Being a follower of Jesus makes one's life NEW and notice the words that said old things have passed away. When you make that decision to follow Jesus and are baptized, then your "old things" do not matter to God anymore; you are NEW.

Did we miss our chance to make a difference? The start of the New Year offers us a new start to do it better.

Jesus sees you, my friend, and he has a new version of you waiting to happen. Max Lucado reminds us of Jesus' power do fresh and new things if we will respond to his command to get up and do something.

Pursue Jesus. Completely pursue him. You will notice that while you are not religious, you are being drawn to a holy character and gracious compassion that religion longs to impart, but cannot! Phil Ware continues looking at the gospel of Mark and reminds us that Jesus isn't a patch on religion or a new joy to infuse old and stale religion; he is an altogether all new thing.

"Dear Partner in Grace, You and I are joined! You believe that I died for your sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead. By now, you should..."

How can these grave clothes speak of a better hope? Phil Ware continues his series that parallels The Story and he brings us to the resurrection of Jesus through the humiliation of his disciples and himself and tying his message to the garments of Jesus.

Why do we go through these hard and apparently unnecessary times? Max Lucado reminds us that the troubles of this present life are preparing us for something far greater.

Hope is an olive leaf — evidence of dry land after a flood. Max Lucado reminds us that the God of hope gives us fresh starts just as he did to Noah with the olive leaf and the dove.

What does life sound like in your world? Like a work of improvisational jazz, life is a journey from one new thing to another.

"Dear Child of God, After the apostle Paul spent years opposing My followers and My message, I revealed Myself to him on the road to Damascus (Acts..."

The final destination of our journey to faith often depends upon the orientation of our hearts. James Nored and Phil Ware challenge us to look at C.S. Lewis and his journey of faith along with a broken-hearted father and see how we might be able to find faith in our own lives.

Why do we fuss and fight over such a wonderful time? Christmas has unfortunately gotten so caught up in conflict that we lose sight of loving folks the way Jesus came to do.

Why do we hang on to it when it weighs us down? Light a stuck anchor prevents a boat from advancing or moving, so we often get stuck in our pasts and can't go forward until we get rid of the dead weight that weighs us down and holds us back.

Are you truly free? When we don't have to impress folks, we are free to live authentically.

What does God long to say to you? Phil Ware reminds us of the importance of baptism to Jesus as a new beginning and how that should be important to us.

Will turning the page on the calendar change your life? God can make our lives new, giving us a fresh start. He wipes out past mistakes, letting us begin again.

How long can you keep the newness alive? The newness wears off and we get bored and we lose interest and we give up.

"Dear Faithful Friend, I told My disciples in the last few hours before My crucifixion, "I don't call you servants any longer; servants don't know..."

Jesus wasn't calling us to keep a list of do's and don'ts; he was challenging us to obey the Father from our hearts, in love. James Nored and Phil Ware remind us of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and that he was not giving us a list of do's and don't do's, but was calling us to put into practice the way of God from the heart.

We have new life because Jesus gave up his. We have a fresh beginning because Jesus chose to submit to an earthly ending. Phil Ware reflects on the last tens days of Jesus' life before his crucifixion and points us to the hope of a new beginning found in Jesus' life ending.

Don't you want more than something new? Katha Winther shares insights on the New Year, fresh starts, and God's work of salvation in us!

Everyone loves good news... so how much better to hear the best news ever. Our sin has separated us from God and we cannot fix it. So God did. Best news ever.

Why not listen to the old story and look for something fresh and new? Sometimes we trust too much in what we've learned in the past and things we have learned from our parents rather than seeking the truth ourselves and then living it.

I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! James Nored and Phil Ware look at C.S. Lewis and his struggle to find faith and our own challenges in believing.

"Dear Beloved, What controls you? I don't want you mastered by any substance, destructive habit, or sin — whether public or secret. You are..."

Who was the first apostle to the apostles? Phil Ware shares insights into Jesus' appearance to Mary Magdalene and how he commissioned her to go declare his resurrection to his followers.

Why not pray your way into the New Year? Rubel Shelly shares a prayer for the New Year as we begin 2008.

For us to be 'cruciformed' means that we offer our hearts to be reshaped to be like Jesus' heart. It means we offer ourselves to be used by God to bless and serve others. Phil Ware begins a series on the central section of the Gospel of Mark that focuses on being "cruciformed" as the first step of being a disciple of Jesus.

Can we really start over? Ron Rose reminds us that influence and starting over and being a new creation is something God does all the time and we just need to begin.

After all that has happened, can we have a good marriage? Joe Beam answers the reader's question about having a good marriage again after all the hurt and sinfulness?

Sometimes life is like my coffee cup. Just as my coffee cup could be washed clean from the accumulated remains of my drinks, so can our lives become clean in Christ.

What can you learn about Christianity from watching new roofs? The correct way to put on a new roof is to first take off the old roof. That is the same way Jesus gives us new life. Take off the old, put on the new.

There is only person who can truely revise your history. Revisionist history makes us look better but changes nothing about our past. Jesus does.

What I learned about Jesus from Spiderman Spiderman is a story about new identity, new power, and the battle between good and evil. So is the Jesus story. And it is real.

Far too many of us let our past control our future. It does not have to be that way. Jesus makes all things new, including your past. The "good old days" are still ahead -- no matter what your past looks like.

We're like the apostle Paul right before he was baptized: we can't see! Phil Ware concludes his 14 part series on how God values women and their importance in the life of His people.

Can we learn to center on what is most important? At the start of a New Year, let's make a commitment to remember the meaning of the Lord's Supper and Jesus' sacrifice.

What would you change about your past? God gives us the chance to change the things we've done in the past, or at least make it as if we hadn't made the mistakes we did.

God does the unthinkable to bless us immeasurably, in Christ! Patrick Odum shares a clear message from God's word, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, and talks about all God has done to make us worthy in Christ.

Don't give up on the changes that need to occur! Transformation, sanctification takes time in the real world of our lives, but God won't give up on us.

Can you see God's signature on his masterpiece? Phil Ware reminds us that we are all God's gifted children and that God has put his signature on each of us in three different ways.

Few truths are more important to us than Jesus' promise to be at the Father's side interceding for us and presenting us to the Father as holy children of the King! Demetrius Collins and Phil Ware lead us in online, virtual worship through words and music using YouTube videos to remind us of the great assurance we have with Jesus as our advocate interceding for us and presenting us to God in his righteousness.

A genuine disciple, and especially an apostle, follows the path of Jesus who gave up his life to seek, serve, and save the lost. James Nored in video, and Phil Ware using the Scriptures, remind us of the beauty and the cost to God of saving us and forgiving us, and giving us a new life.

How do you process things these days? Russ reminds us that we are to have the mind of Christ, our Jesus filter, through which we process the things in our lives and the way we look at people around us.

You ready to reach out? Phil Ware talks about being mission-minded and outreach oriented and not letting other cultures, languages, ethnicities, races, or differences block us from sharing Jesus.

Wouldn't life be better if we could have a fresh start after making a mess of things? Phil Ware continues his series on Resurrection 2.0 focusing on Jesus' loving confrontation of Peter about his arrogance and failure and then restoring him back to ministry.

We've allowed our modern definition of faith to be drained of depth and turned into a shallow kiddie wading pool of little more than mental assent. Phil Ware reminds us that faith as understood in the New Testament was much more robust than what we often call faith today.

Hope beyond our world's brokenness! Phil Ware continues his series on the value of woman in the eyes of God and how we incorporate that value into our belief system, roles, and treatment of women in our church culutures.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Phil Ware challenges us to look beyond the cosmetic image we see in the mirror and view ourselves as God does.

O God, make our hearts ache for them to know Jesus! Phil Ware continues his series on "The Andrew Effect" by focusing on connecting those we know with Jesus.