The Book of James: An Introduction

This Sunday (June 27th) we will be starting a study series on the New Testament book of James. For a little background, please take the time to read the information below prior to Sunday. I think it will be very helpful in gaining some context for our study. The author identifies himself as James (1:1); [...]

Sermon Notes: Acts 6:8-7:53

Audio Version: Listen HERE Acts 6:8-15: Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men [...]

Focus Week (Saturday): 24 Hrs of Prayer.

Starting at 10:30am this morning, people from all over our city, state, and even nation are praying for Austin New Church and our partners. Specifically they are praying for God’s leading for 2010. Thanks to everyone who signed up for a shift for giving of your time, and many of you some of your sleep, [...]

Focus Week (Friday): Sacrifice

All week we’ve been asking and looking for God’s answer to the question… What can I do to be more generous?” This weekend at Austin New Church, we will be having a time of prayer and commitment with the hope of corporately celebrating what God has said. During this time we will take a special [...]

Advent Conspiracy: Spend Less.

To Listen or Download Sermon click HERE. When we fail to see our ABUNDANCE, we fail to see what we have as a GIFT.  Our perspective will be that it’s ours to SPEND instead of ours to STEWARD.  We won’t be THANKFUL for what we have, we’ll be less CONTENT, and we’ll constantly want MORE, [...]

Focus Week (Tuesday): Pure Religion.

What is it that really matters in our faith? That’s a great question to ask at Christmas. In fact, that’s a great question for any time. We like that question when we defend our religion. We don’t mind it when it comes to discussing the “way” we do church or the “style” we prefer in [...]

Proverbs 25 – Flippant

Just a quick thought for today from chapter 25. It’s interesting how some things we calculate and measure our response to, and others we don’t. The more common a relationship becomes, the more loosely we tend to be with our thoughts, our words, and our actions. Outside of our own families and friends… I would [...]

Proverbs 24 – The General Contractor

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” – Proverbs 24:3-4 And by house, it means anything worth building, anything of value, and/or anything worthy of pursuit. This could be our actual house. It could be our life and spiritual [...]

Proverbs 23 – Gluttony & Church Planting

Monday I had the opportunity to share parts of the vision of Austin New Church with some church planters, potential planters, and resident planters at Hill Country Bible Church. It was humbling to share with them knowing that I’m just over a year and a half into the journey and the fact that I was [...]

Proverbs 22 – Exasperated

The last few chapters from Proverbs seem to have a recurring rotation of three key themes: (1) the significance of character, (2) our relationship with the poor, and (3) a focus on our parenting. Seems too random to be random. Chapter 22 offers a classic scripture for parents that give as much promise as it [...]