Dear Parents,
God led His people into the wilderness, but He did not leave them there alone. The Lord was with His people. He provided meat, bread, and water. He guided them to Mount Sinai, where He met with their leader, Moses. The Lord came down on the mountain in fire, and He spoke through thunder. The Israelites could not have ignored His presence.
But when Moses went up on the mountain and did not return for several weeks, the Israelites felt abandoned. They appealed to Moses’ brother, Aaron: “Come, make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has ...
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We take the
Bible very seriously at New Life. If the Bible says it is, then it is. If the
Bible says do it, then we do our best to do it. This is the spirit of the New
Testament church.
Since we
teach what tithing is through Class 201 and Living Life Bible Study, I will not
go in detail to deal with it. But just briefly, all throughout the Bible,
tithing is used to do mainly three things. One, to express our gratitude to
God. Two, to demonstrate our faith in God. And three, to protect us from
worshipping and idolizing money. Therefore, tithing does all these three for
me. As I write the check on every Thursday, which is 15% of my income, and
bring ...
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Dear Parents,
Moses and the Israelites had experienced a harrowing journey from Egypt into the wilderness. They made their way toward Midian, a land familiar to Moses. As a young man, Moses had fled from Egypt to Midian after he killed an Egyptian. (See Ex. 2:11-15.) Exodus 2 describes Moses’ first interaction with Jethro (also referred to as Reuel, Ex. 2:18), the priest of Midian. Moses rescued Jethro’s seven daughters from some shepherds at a well and drew water for their sheep. Jethro invited Moses to dinner. Moses stayed with Jethro and married his daughter Zipporah.
Moses and Zipporah had two sons. Moses’ family had been staying with ...
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Dear Parents,
The crossing of the Red Sea is an event in history that displays God’s grace, remembered for generations as God’s mighty redemptive act. God had clearly shown His power in Egypt through the plagues; now He was about to do something even greater.
Instead of leading the Israelites into the wilderness, God instructed Moses to turn back so that the Egyptians would think they were lost. God purposefully hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would pursue the Israelites. Why? “Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD” (Ex. 14:4).
Imagine the fear the Israel...
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I don’t have three year, five year or ten year
plan. I never had and I don’t think I ever will. It’s because I am not a
visionary and the future is in God’s hands. As I look back the past 21 plus
years of New Life’s ministry and history, I think I have tried to be faithful
in doing what I am called to do one day, one week, one month and at most one
year at a time.
Just recently, however, I have sensed God impressing
upon my heart with this thought, “Eric, I want you to challenge your house
church shepherds and members to go all out in reaching out to VIPs so that in
three years all your house churches will be able to multiply!” And ...
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Dear Parents,
Moses was born into a culture that hated his people. If you remember, the Israelites—descendants of Israel (Jacob)—had set up their home in Egypt when a famine forced them to seek out food. They became so numerous that Pharaoh felt threatened and forced them into slavery. But their families still grew, and Pharaoh instituted an unimaginable method of population control: kill all of the baby boys.
Moses’ story is a clear picture of God’s sovereignty. Not only was Moses’ life spared by the Egyptian princess, Moses’ mother was able to care for him. Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s house and then spent years shepherding in ...
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Dear Parents,
We are taking a break from the chronological journey through the Bible to focus on Christmas. From the moment sin entered the world, its consequences were obvious. God’s people were separated from Him; they did not enjoy the intimate relationship with their Creator for which He had created them. People were affected by sickness and pain. Corruption spread quickly throughout the earth. The situation seemed hopeless, yet God did not leave His people without hope.
It was into this hopelessness that God spoke. Hundreds of messages came through the prophets concerning a coming Messiah—One who would rescue people from their sins. But ...
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