Well, now we know! In the last year, many new friends have been made, new lessons have been learned, and good things have been done for our neighbors. And now, we are looking forward to what might happen in 2012.

God’s Word teaches us about the necessity of regularly examining ourselves, looking for ways to improve, and going forward prayerfully to lead new lives. When we do this spiritually, it’s called repentence. And it is part of the process of being reshaped and remade by the Lord as continually reborn Christians.

This process is the engine of spiritual growth. And it is also applicable to more natural levels, like our physical health. What’s more, the repeated cycle of self-examination, acknowledgement, ammendment and recommitment is useful for communities and organizations, just as it is for individuals.

So as part of our growth process, we are going to be hitting the pause button on our Sunday morning gatherings for a few weeks. During this time we will be concentrating on digesting the lessons of the previous year, making plans for the coming year, and exploring possible new locations, new approaches, and new programs.

But don’t worry! We will still be getting together regularly. It’ll just be more casual. During the next few weeks, there will be informal gatherings in one or two members’ homes were we will read God’s Word together, learn from one another, and enjoy connecting with everyone. More details on this will be sent out via our newsletter soon.

At the end of this process of assessment, planning and preparation we will be relaunching New Way Church! What will this relaunch bring? Hard to say, but if the past is any guide, it will come with many happy surprises.

Remember to take time to slow down. Enjoy spending time with friends. Take time to reflect on what Christmas really means. This year New Way Church will be going through the story of Christmas with a focus on the role played by angels, and you are invited to be part of the conversation in a casual atmosphere of worship.

When the one and only creator of the universe decided it was time to walk among us, he came down and took on the same fragile, mortal form that we all start with: he was born as a helpless infant. It was important that the world be made ready for the Lord’s arrival, and to help with that, he sent angels as his messengers:

• An angel told Zechariah that his barren wife would soon give birth to the greatest of all prophets, John the Baptist.
• An angel told Mary that she had been chosen to bare the Christ, Jesus.
• An angel told Mary’s betrothed, Joseph, what was about to happen.
• A huge army of angels appeared before shepherds in the middle of the night to announce the birth of Jesus.
• Wise men came seeking the Christ, guided by a star that was, itself, a manifestation of a community of angels.

Who or what were these angels? Are angels among us today? This Christmas season, you are invited to participate as New Way Church looks at the role of angels in the Christams story, every Sunday morning from November 27th to December 18th, and also 5:30 p.m. Saturday, December 24th. Come enjoy a relaxed, festive atmosphere filled with Christmas music and love. Come as you are, and bring a friend!

Shift is a seven-week spiritual growth program beginning Sunday, October 2nd, 2011, in which participants come together to learn about each other, about God, and about how to make shifts in their lives.  The program draws on the Jacob story from the Old Testament, and includes Sunday morning worship gatherings, weekly small group meetings, and daily personal reflections on scripture.  Here is your chance to offer your struggles before the Lord, and watch them turn to blessings.

At New Way Church, we have three small groups you can choose from, and also a fourth group for young teens 11-14 years old. You can sign up in person on Sunday morning at 10 a.m., or sign up now by sending an email to Mac@NewWayAustin.org, with your group preference. Our groups meet at the following places and times:

•  South (Riverside area) – Sundays at 7pm.
• Central (Northwest Hills area) – Tuesdays at 7pm.
• North (Cedar Park) – Fridays at 7:30pm.
• Teens — Saturday evenings.

This seven week program explores Biblical answers to a new topic each week:

• A Shift of Awareness: Notice the conflicts.
• A Shift of Perspective: Remember the Lord is here, now.
• A Shift of Focus: Keep in mind who you want to be.
• A Shift of Expectations: Have patience with the process.
• A Shift of Motivation: Recognize when it’s time to make a change.
• A Shift of Confidence: Hold on through the wrestling.
• A Shift of Heart: Show your love.

Shift is open to everyone. Come as you are!

The short answer: “Yes!” But when we say that Jesus died for our sins, we mean something different than you may be conditioned to expect. What does it actually mean that Jesus died for our sins? Well, it all has to do with what Jesus meant when he spoke about “blood”. The blood of Jesus is not a symbol for death and suffering, but of life! His command that we “drink his blood” was him speaking “in parable” about his desire for us to make his life’s teachings a part of our souls by not only learning them, but by living them. Jesus died not as a sacrifice to a God that demanded painful punnishment, but rather died as a warrior dies in combat, fighting hell, and setting us free. We can have that freedom not by letting him “take it for us”, but rather by taking up our cross and following him! How? By allowing our lower nature to be put to death. Through the spiritual act of practicing love for God and neighbor above selfish desires, we too “die”, and so follow Jesus, the one true God, into true life, his spiritual blood coursing through our veins.

Jesus Christ died for our sins. But not as a punnishment for our sins, but rather to show us a way out from under them. He died to lead us out from under the slavery of hell. And Jesus Christ lived, so that you could follow him and be free.

That’s just a summary. For the full answer, listen to Question: “Did Jesus Christ Die for Our Sins?”:

Download audio file (NewWayChurch20110821.mp3)

You can also download the sound file to your computer by clicking here.

Don’t miss any of our recorded messages! Subscribe to the New Way Church podcast for free.

Here are the readings from “Did Jesus Christ Die for Our Sins?”:

True Christian Religion 132-133

Believing that the Lord’s suffering on the cross was redemption itself is a fundamental error on the part of the church. That error, along with the error about three divine Persons from eternity, has ruined the whole church to the point that there is nothing spiritual left in it anymore. There is no topic that
fills more books by orthodox theologians today, that is more intensely taught and aired in lecture halls, or that is more frequently preached and pronounced from the pulpit than the following: God the Father was angry at the human race, so he not only moved us all away from himself but locked us into a universal damnation and cut off communication with us. Nevertheless, because he is gracious, he either convinced or goaded his Son to come down to take a limited damnation on himself and ritually purge the Father’s anger. This was the only way the Father could look on the human race with any favor. So this was in fact done by the Son. For example, in taking on our damnation, the Son let the Jews whip him, spit in his face, and then crucify him like someone accursed of God (Deu. 21:23). After that happened the Father was appeased, and out of love for his Son he retracted the damnation, but only from those for whom the Son would intercede. Therefore the Son became a Mediator to the Father for all time.

These ideas, and others like them, resound in churches today and reverberate off the walls like an echo from a forest, filling the ears of all who are there. Surely, though, everyone with decent reasoning enlightened by the Word can see that God is compassion and mercy itself. He is absolute love and absolute goodness – these qualities are his essence. It is a contradiction to say that compassion itself or absolute goodness could look at the human race with anger and lock us all into damnation, and still keep its divine essence. Attitudes and actions of that kind belong to a wicked person, not a virtuous one. They belong to a spirit from hell, not an angel of heaven. It is horrendous to attribute them to God.

If you investigate what caused these ideas, you find this: People have taken the suffering on the cross to be redemption itself. The ideas above have flowed from this idea the way one falsity flows from another in an unbroken chain. All you get from a vinegar bottle is vinegar. All you get from an insane mind is insanity.

Any inference leads to a series of related propositions. These are
latent within the original inference and come forth from it, one after the other. This idea, that the suffering on the cross was redemption, has the capacity to yield more and more ideas that are offensive and disgraceful to God, until Isaiah’s prophecy comes to pass:

The priest and the prophet have gone astray because of beer; they stagger in their judgment. All the tables are full of the vomit they cast forth. (Isaiah 28:7,

This idea of God and redemption has turned the entire theology from something spiritual into something earthly of the lowest kind. This is because mere earthly characteristics have been attributed to God. Yet everything about the church hinges on its concept of God and its view of redemption (which is the same as its view of salvation).

John 6:53-56

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”

Ezekiel 18:19-20

“Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

Every Sunday morning our message will use a clip from some popular movie to illustrate an idea related to Christian spirituality. There will be no formal kids’ program, although we will still be offering nursery for the very little ones.

Each Sunday will be a different Biblical, spiritual principle, and will use a clip from a different movie. And you’re invited. As always, just come as you are. (And bring a friend!)

On Sunday, June 26th, 2011, we will not be having our regularly scheduled worship gathering.

On that Sunday evening, I will begin attending an annual conference of New Christian (Swedenborgian) pastors from all across the globe. Also, our staff will have just attended a week long conference for members of our sponsoring organization, the General Church of the New Jerusalem. And hey, it’s the beginning of summer, we’re a brand new church, and all of our volunteers deserve a nice little break.

But we’ll all be back in time for worship the following Sunday, July 3rd, when we’ll be talking about spiritual freedom. Hope to see you there! Come as you are, and bring a friend.

David is head of Outreach for the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a personal mentor to New Way’s founding pastor, Mac Frazier, and one of the first supporters of the vision for New Way Church.

Listen to David’s message, “Discovering the Lord’s Love”:

Download audio file (NewWayChurch20110522.mp3)

You can also download the sound file by clicking here.

And remember, you can have all of the Sunday messages delivered automatically to your computer by subscribing to The New Way Church podcast.

When Jesus allowed himself to be arrested, tried, tortured and executed, and then rose from the dead, part of what he was doing was showing us a path that will lead each person to the amazing potential he sees in each of us. Therefore, take up your cross and follow the Lord by walking a new path that includes self-examination, prayer, and spiritual struggle, so that you can fulfill your beautiful potential.

Listen to part 4 of Potential, “Fight…and Surrender”:

Download audio file (NewWayChurch20110515.mp3)

You can also download the sound file to your computer by clicking here.

Missed part 3? Click here to listen to “Commit”. Or better yet, subscribe to the New Way Church podcast so you never miss a message.

Here are the readings from “Fight…and Surrender”:

Mark 15:22-39

And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “He was numbered with the transgressors.”

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!”

So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”

Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”

And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Heaven and Hell 533

…It is not so hard to lead the life of heaven as people think, because it is simply a matter of recognizing, when something attractive comes up that we know is dishonest or unfair, that this is not to be done because it is against the divine commandments. If we get used to thinking like this, and from this familiarity form a habit, then we are gradually united to heaven. To the extent that we are united to heaven, the higher levels of our minds are opened, and to the extent that they are opened, we see what is dishonest and unfair; and to the extent that we see this, these qualities can be dispelled. For no evil can be banished until it has been seen. This is a state we can enter because of our freedom, since everyone is free to think in this way. However, once the process has started, the Lord works his wonders within us, and causes us not only to see evils but to refuse them and eventually to turn away from them. This is the meaning of the Lord’s words, “My yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11:30).

It is important to realize, though, that the difficulty of thinking like this and also of resisting evils increases to the extent that we deliberately do evil things-in fact, to that extent we become used to doing them until ultimately we no longer see them. Then we come to love them and to excuse them to gratify our love and to rationalize them with all kinds of self-deceptions and call them permissible and good. This happens, though, to people who in early adulthood plunge into all kinds of evil without restraint and at the same time at heart reject everything divine.

Jesus allowed himself to be arrested, tried, tortured and executed, and then rose from the dead. Part of what he was doing was showing us a path that will lead each person to the amazing potential he sees in each of us. Therefore, take up your cross and follow the Lord by walking a new path that includes self-examination, prayer, and spiritual struggle, so that you can fulfill your beautiful potential.

Listen to part 3 of Potential, “Get Real”:

Download audio file (NewWayChurch20110508.mp3)

You can also download the sound file to your computer by clicking here.

Missed part 2? Click here to listen to “Get Real”. Or better yet, subscribe to the New Way Church podcast so you never miss a message.

Here are the readings from “Commit”:

Matthew 26:26-28, 36-46

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

…Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”

And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

True Christian Religion 530

So the question is: how should you repent? The answer is, in action; that is, by examining yourself, recognising and acknowledging your sins, praying to the Lord, and starting a new life. …Repentance is impossible without self-examination. But what purpose does self-examination serve, but to enable us to recognise our sins? Or what purpose does their recognition serve, unless we acknowledge their presence in us? Or what purpose would these three actions serve, if not to enable us to confess them before the Lord, to appeal for his help, and from this point on to start a new life, which is the end in view? This is real repentance.

…If real repentance is practised from time to time, in fact as often as you prepare yourself to partake of the Holy Supper, and if you thereafter refrain from one or two sins you caught oneself committing, this is enough to start the process of making it real. Anyone at that point is on their way to heaven, for that is when you begin to become spiritual instead of natural, and to be born anew under the Lord’s guidance.

Jesus allowed himself to be arrested, tried, tortured and executed, and then rose from the dead. Part of what he was doing was showing us a path that will lead each person to the amazing potential he sees in each of us. Therefore, take up your cross and follow the Lord by walking a new path that includes self-examination, prayer, and spiritual struggle, so that you can fulfill your beautiful potential.

Listen to part 2 of Potential, “Get Real”:

Download audio file (NewWayChurch20110501.mp3)

Missed part 1? Click here to listen to “You Can Do It!”. You can also download the sound file to your computer by clicking here. Or better yet, subscribe to the New Way Church podcast so you never miss a message.

Here are the readings from “Get Real”:

Luke 19:29-30, 35-48

When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.”

…And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise

God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

New Jerusalem 164

When you examine yourself in order to repent you should examine your thoughts and the intentions of your will. In this you should examine what you would do if you could, if, that is, you were not afraid of the law and the loss of reputation, honors and gains. All of a person’s evils are to be found there, and all the evil actions they actually do come from that source. Those who fail to examine the evils of their thought and will cannot repent, for they think and will to act afterwards as they did before. Yet willing evils is the same as doing them. This is the meaning of self-examination.