A DECLARATION FOR YOUR LIFE

Welcome to the first New Heights Blog! The purpose of this page is to recap sermon series and events we do at the church. This will be a great resource to help our church know what the Holy Spirit is saying to us through our time in the word as well as what God is doing through us in certain events at the church.

Recently, we finished up a series called Seven Letters from Revelation 2/3. During the first
century, the Apostle John was one of the only disciples of Jesus that was not martyred for
His faith, but yet his fate was not much better, John was exiled to a rocky island called
Patmos. It was there that Jesus spoke to him in a vision and revealed to him future events for
the church as well as some encouragements and corrections for seven local churches. It is
remarkable how these same letters to these seven churches speak to us on how we can
overcome the pressures we face today.

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea were literal
churches that existed in Asia Minor (Modern Turkey) during the first century. For each
church, we saw how Jesus described himself in such a way that would help them be
victorious. Every church suffered persecution and experienced pressure from culture, and
each church had to determine how much of culture they would allow in the church. In the
same way, we have to determine how much of culture we will allow in our lives. In each
church, we learned lessons to help us overcome and put those lessons in a declaration that we
wrote at the end of each message. To help us summarize the series I combined all seven
declarations from the seven churches into one declaration. I encourage you to declare it over
your life each morning for the next 30 days.

Today I declare that Jesus loves me, and I am the righteousness of God in Christ, and I will
love Him by loving others because Christ abides in me, and His love is complete. (Ephesus) I
will lay my life on the line for Christ, no matter the cost. (Smyrna) I will stand for Jesus
because I know he is standing with me. (Pergamos) I will obey His Word, and I will not
tolerate any sin in my life. God has given me the authority to rule and reign on this earth, and I
walk in complete victory because Jesus is my morning star. (Thyatira) I will stay alert, and
stay close to Jesus, so that I may not fall asleep and become useless in this fight. I refuse to
be dead but will be alive in Christ. (Sardis) Jesus holds the key to eternal life. I realize I am
powerless without Him, and I will keep His word, and I will boldly declare Jesus is Lord.
(Philadelphia) I will live with zeal for the Lord. I will not be shaken or swayed when my faith
is met with adversity. Jesus has already won the victory so I will be victorious in this
life. (Laodicea)

– Pastor Bill

MISSED THE SERIES? WATCH HERE