Got Life - January New Life Temple Church Newsletter

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Got Life A newsletter about spiritual enrichment for the Body of Christ

A Monthly Newsletter Choose You This Day An address from the senior pastor.

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The Christ In Christmas Page 2

What’s Going On The monthly calendar, birthdays and anniversaries, and Daniel’s Fast resource information.

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Church Information NLTC ministry staff, service information and statement of faith.

Page 6 Little Chocolate Boy Charles Ademolu’s monthly column Page 5

You see, we can get so caught up in the church cliches and the rhythm of the hype, but never accomplish anything.

Time To Complete It

We wait for this “number” year, in hopes that it will be the number that gets “me to where I want to be”. When in truth any year is a perfect time to be where God has ordained for us to be.

, A lot is being made of the “10” in 2010. People are excited about it being the year of completion, fulfillment...the year of turn around.

”The vision of God’s heart beat - to reach souls.”

All of that is absolutely wonderful from our end. We are expecting God to do incredible things in our lives. We are looking for Him to complete the work in our lives. And the list goes on and on.

Instead of trying to win the masses, how about winning the ONE that He has called us to win.

But what does God get out of this”bargaining chip”? From where He stands, is He left holding an empty bag?

Often times we try to do BIG things to “prove” God. But why not do the assigned thing and trust God?

This is the year of completion. The year to complete the things that God has instructed us to do.

Instead of trying to test our faith, let’s activate and use our faith to complete the mandate that God gave us “way back when”.

January

January ‘10

I believe that the Bible gave specific emphases to particular numbers, but since I am in Christ my blessings are not tied down to “the year of release” or “the year of completion”. Instead it’s predicated on my obedience to the current assignment that God has given to me.

While some may wonder what is the new vision of the house for 2010. I can say that it’s to complete the vision of God’s heart beat - to reach souls. That’s the vision that God has called us to complete.

-Mel A. Perry Mel A. Perry serves as Global Relations Director and Assistant Pastor of NLTC.

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IN OTHER WORDS

Choose You This Day

Well, the holiday season is almost over. The last one will take place 13 days after Christmas - it is know as “Three Kings Day” or “Epiphany”, in the Eastern Christian churches.

By Bishop Brenda K. Perry

While the commercialism of Christmas is behind us, the celebration of the reason for the season still continues.

How fitting that it happens in the new year.

Though not celebrated widely here in the States, it is probably the highlight of the “Christmas Season” for those in the Spanish speaking world. To end the old year and begin the new one by celebrating Christ.

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In the book of Joshua, chapter 24, we see Joshua telling the people to fear God and serve him; in verse 15 he challenged them to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” He then proclaimed, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” A renewed covenant agreement between Israel and their God.

Here we are at the beginning of a New Year; not just a new year but a From Spain to all of Latin America, the new decade. How time passes so streets will be filled with celebration and gift quickly. Ten years ago how people were giving. worried about the new millennium coming, and how it may affect the Just as the Magus, or Wise Men, brought entire world’s system. I’m not gifts to Jesus in honor of him being the King certain where the Church’s thoughts of Kings, we should bring our gifts to the were. Were we looking and expecting King. great things from the spiritual ream to present themselves or not? I can’t Epiphany is the celebration, for many in the recall. So, when the clocks around the Christian world, of the revelation of God in world ticked in the New Year and the human form. new millennium, and we saw nothing For New Life Temple, January is the month catastrophic happen, we all went back we bring our Seed of Faith offering. January to our old way of life, seeing that our monies and our jobs were secure. Oh is the month we bring our “heart” offering how people put their faith and trust in during 21 days of fasting and consecration.

And as we bring these gifts it is our desire for their gods, technology, their bank accounts, jobs, and our pleasurable God to reveal Himself even the more to us enjoyment. May I say the weaker part through out the year. of the Church is being sucked right into So let’s make January our time to celebrate the belief of the world’s theology? and bring our gifts to the King of Kings.

“Choose You This Day” Happy New Year!

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body of NLT for our Daniel fast, which comes yearly in January. The first holiday of the season (Thanksgiving) was upon us, yet these words came into my spirit for the church family of NLT. “You must choose you this day whom you will serve, you love God but your flesh cause you to disobey God, it cause it to sin and fall short of the mark, it bring pleasure to itself. Your delight is not in the Law of the Lord, continue on page 4

The Christ In Christmas

By Minister Isaac Bazile John 1:1-5, 14, 18

Some have said that John chapter 1 is the most profound page in the entire New Testament. We will look at these verses.

The Christmas grinches are working overtime to take Christ out of Christmas. Here are a few examples: The New York Board of Education has prohibited any display of a nativity scene in New York City schools. They allow the Jewish menorah and the Islam star of crescent, but there can be no nativity scene displayed. In Frederick County, Maryland, a school employee was barred from handing out a Christmas message. In Tupelo, Mississippi, elementary school students were led to chant celebrate Kwanza, but permitted to sing Christmas carols only after school officials removed any reference to Jesus Christ. In Covington, Georgia, the ACLU filed Ten years have passed, and there suit against the public school district are some changes that have occurred. there because its calendar designated December 25 as Christmas, thus O’ yes, America has its first black President of these United States. Still in advancing a religion. The Little Rock, all, sin has increased. Those things that Arkansas, City Council changed its annual parade from the Christmas were abomination have become okay parade to the Holiday Parade, so as not and righteous. Wake up sleeping to offend non-religious people or those Church! Judgment is coming! Apostle of other faiths. I hope nobody tells Peter had said it will start in the house them that holiday means of God.

Continue on page 4

Mel A. Perry

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One morning, as I awoke, the thought “choose you this day” came to mind. I was preparing for a Sunday message, and wanted to prepare the January

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Looking Ahead Please mark your calendars for the upcoming events for December and January

JANUARY 4 - 24 Daniel Fast 10 Seed of Faith Celebration 11 Senior Connection Begins (M-Th) 12 Leadership Prayer 14 Gathering Place 16 TABC Certification (10am) 17 Church Family Business Meeting 18 MLK Holiday - Office Closed 27 Ministries Bible Class 28 Gathering Place 29 LOL Book Club 30 Leadership Prayer & Meeting 31 Sunday Outreach

FEBRUARY 7 Sunday School Breakfast 9 Leadership Prayer 11 Gathering Place 20 TABC Certification (2pm) Super Sunday Seminar 24 Ministries Bible Class 26 LOL Book Club 27 Leadership Prayer & Ministries Meeting 28 LOL & MOT Cookout Festival

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Birthdays & Anniversaries Monthly birthdays and anniversaries of NLTC members.

If your birthday is not listed, email the church office.

January 02!

Jada Jones

Jaunary 09!

Cecelia Thomas

January 13!

Justin Rector

January 18!

Jeremiah Jones

January 22!

Betty Davis

January 22 !

Madelyn Gabriel

January 25!

Michael Hardiman

January 26!

Margaret Darden

January 25!

Pam Wright

January 29!

Kendra Willett

January 31!

Azure Davis

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Daniel’s Fast Resource Information With the start of a new year, many churches are planning their first of the year consecration or Daniel’s Fast. For some it is a yearly memorial, for others it will be a new “adventure”. For those who are new to the Daniel Fast, or the way we observe it here at NLTC, here are some resources to assist you in creating dishes, places to eat and information to help you in your spiritual growth, even after the fast.

*Daniel Fast Cook Book - Information on the Daniel Fast, recipes http:// danielsfastcookbook.com/ *Daniel-Fast.Com - Online recipes ideas, as well as other resourceful information http:// daniel-fast.com/recipes.html * Smoothie Web - Great smoothie recipes to add a little variety to the usual list. http:// www.smoothieweb.com/ * 101 Simple Salads - New York Times list of easy to make salads, and dressings. http://www.nytimes.com/ 2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html * Dimassi’s Mediterranean Buffet - A Houston restaurant chain that prepares fresh healthy foods. http:// dimassisbuffet.com/ * Fadi’s Mediterranean Buffet - A regional restaurant chain that serves a variety of fresh dishes. http://www.fadiscuisine.com/ to-go-menu.htm * Quan Yin - An Asian vegetarian restaurant . http:// www.quanyinvegetarian.com/ * Udipi Cafe - A Houston Indian chain with 3 local restaurants. 281-997-6991

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Choose from page 2

but self, choose you this day whom you will serve. If you choose the Lord then on must strip oneself of its pleasure and deny them self and take up thy cross and follow Christ.”

The flesh, or the natural man that we are born in, has been contaminated by the fall of Adam. When we are born again of the water and Spirit, we are raised in the newness of Christ. The old man is buried with Christ. Through salvation our spirit person comes alive.

This is how we can worship God in spirit and truth.

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the will of God. We fast and pray.

The number ten means completeness of order, the perfection of Divine order.

My desire is to please God in doing and completing the vision and goals that are assigned to the NLT body. I challenge all the believers of NLT to “Choose This Day” to do the will of God, and serve Him with all your heart, mind and soul.

The following are some prayer request for us to pray for during our Daniel Fast: Television broadcast, “Enriching Lives”; Senior Connection (program for Senior citizens, four days a week, starting January 11), and an increase of Even though we are buried with Christ and put on Christ, the old nature lost soul into the Kingdom. You can find information on the Daniel Fast on will rise up because life is real.

Opposition and trials will come and test the church’s website us. The newness and the excitement in (www.newlifetemplechurch.com). your new life are challenged in staying To each and everyone……… Happy New afresh and alive. Disappointments and Year. discouragements come which push us into the carnal man, who rises up with The Christ from page 2 its murmurings, complaints, doubts and unbelief. The carnal man,or fleshly minded man, cannot please God. They holy day. But that's beside the point.

The truth of the matter is people may are an enemy to God. Roman 8:5-8 (NKJV) “For those who live according try, but they really can't take Christ out of Christmas. To try to take Christ out to the flesh set their minds on the of Christmas is like trying to take heat things of the flesh, but those who live out of fire, or wet out of water, or according to the Spirit, the things of oxygen out of air, or notes out of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is music. You can't really take Christ out of Christmas. The truth of the matter death, but to be spiritually minded is is that some do leave Christ out of life and peace.”Therefore, you must Christmas. The birth of Jesus is the choose this day who you are going to single most important event in human serve. Will it be the gods on the other history; it wasn’t just an ordinary side of the river, or the God that made birth, because Jesus wasn’t an the river? ordinary baby.

His birth was the incarnation of God, I pray the Church in this New meaning that God put on flesh and Year began to prepare itself to fight the lived among us. good fight of faith. When you desire to That’s what the name go deeper in God, and want to “Immanuel” means: “God with accomplish your vision, dream and us.” God so loved the world that he goals, you must understand that the gave his only begotten son. opponent, the enemy is going to fight..

I want to share with you a few gifts We understand that the battle is the that Jesus wants to give YOU. Lord’s, but we are the vessel that He will be using; so to win you must And when you receive a gift of some prepare for the victory. You must get in kind, aren’t you MORE appreciative a place to know the plan, and the mind of it if someone went to a lot of time of the planner. That is why during the and trouble to get, or to MAKE, a gift? first of the year we lay aside pleasurable See, these gifts that Jesus gives came things that cause flesh to rule, and stop 4

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with a great deal of sacrifice, as we’ll see.

What is the first gift, and what did it cost Jesus?

JESUS BECAME FLESH THAT WE MIGHT KNOW GOD How do we know that? Because in verse 18, John writes this: No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart; he has told us about him. John 1:18 Many people want to know what God is like. The bible says that if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

The apostle Paul said that Jesus was the “image of the invisible God.” So, Jesus was born so that we might know God. What is another gift and the sacrifice made that we might receive it?

JESUS BECAME POOR THAT WE MIGHT BECOME RICH The reason Christmas has lost its spiritual impact on the world is we are at the time of the year when most people are preoccupied with the commercialization of Christmas.

When most people think of Christmas, they think of toys, gifts, eating, and spending time with friends and family.

Christmas has become in many instances, X-mas. Christ has been taken out of Christmas. But when you take Christ out of Christmas all you have is a holiday. But Christ in Christmas makes it a Holy Day! He lived among us, he experienced grief and pain and injustice. But He came with a purpose, to save a hopeless world. And in the end of his earthly mission, he died upon a cross of shame, for us. Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas--it is all about Him. It is about His birth and why He came here. He came to be the Savior of a lost and dying world. Jesus came for sinners. In Luke 19:10, the Bible says, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Have a blessed New Year!

Minister Isaac J. Bazile is the Director of Men of The Tower Ministry at New Life Temple Church, as well as a staff writer for Got Life.

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LIL Chocolate

BoY Oh my. The year 2010 is here and with a new year comes new resolutions. YAY! Not quite the response that should come next.

There is a consistent trend that seems to follow us along with the new year, unresolved resolutions. It is fine and dandy to make resolutions; however, this particular idea is stagnated when we never fulfill the ones we promised to do five years ago. For example, I've heard people say that their resolution for the new year is to stop smoking (not referring to anyone in church , just people). In general, people get into the habit of making resolutions that don't get resolved in a day, sometimes a year. Undoubtedly, these are the kind of things that did not occur in one day so why do people always assume they will disappear so instantly? Then what makes the scenario more ironic is that the next resolution to work on is to stop cursing. Accumulating and stacking up resolutions gets us nowhere but allows us only to remain where we were before, if not further back. They can sometimes have the tendency to hinder us from where we should be going, also known as where God wants us to be. The previous unsolved resolutions should be our main focuses, whether it’s making all A's on all of our report cards, getting to work on time every morning, or witnessing to someone every opportunity God allows. Let our new solution this year be resolving last year’s resolutions.

Lite The d i S e

” Fever h the c t a C “ 0” - 201

Lights!

Cameras!

Action!

South Africa hits the field, and the crowd screams.

A continent shakes with enthusiasm.

June 11 will be a day to remember, South Africa defeats Mexico 1-0 in Soccer City, Jo’burg.

Ok, so that’s how most of Africa would like to dream of the opening day of this year’s FIFA World Cup. While in South Africa last September, “2010” was synonymous with World Cup fever! The whole of the country was burning with expectation of the year to come.

Everywhere you went there was some reminder of what was to come.

It was amazing to see people so “living in the moment” of something that was nearly a year away. They talked about it as if it was taking place within the next week.

And the pride that beamed from their “chest” at the knowledge of being the host was almost blinding.

I can’t help but wonder what would happen in our churches if we lived in the “now moment” from Monday to Saturday each week. If we spent our time living for what is to come. How destructive would such a fever be to the enemy?

You see, the “now moment” makes the what is to come expectation a current possibility.

The fact that South Africa, the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup, has been chosen to serve has the host to such a grandiose international event proves to every South African that their country is now center stage of the world’s largest sport event.

For them, center stage is not June 11, 2010. But the moment it was announced that they were chosen by the FIFA federation to be host of the W.C. The events that will take place in those stadium, all exist in the now moment of excitement and expectation for football loving South Africans.

Last month, Cape Town’s Long Street was bursting with fans from all over the world for

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the FIFA Fan Fest. If that’s not “living in the now” I don’t know what is.

So heres the church. We have the promises of the of Bible, words that flowed right out of Jesus’ mouth, “greater works....”

Bamb! That is a “living in the moment” proclamation that should make the hairs of every spirit filled believer stand up.

The Word has been spoken! But the excitement and expectation should not be reserved for our Sunday services. NO! The party starts now. The “what is to come” is right now. It’s in our Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays....”

Our Tweets, FaceBook status, emails, prayers, conversation should “blast” with excitement and anticipation that “The Game Is Ours”! I’m not waiting until I hit the “field” on Sunday, but I’m rocking the street now, because God is center stage. I want the globe to know that the church is here to rock the world and nothing can stop us!

South Africa knows that all the world is watching to see if they can pull this off. They have become the hope and dream for all of Africa.

But for them, the fun has already started.

The music is already playing! The drums are beating louder than ever. And they are dancing like the night will never end, because to them “The Game Is Fair Play”. And even now, they are the winner.

If we took the fever from South Africa, would our dead who rot on our pews come alive? Would the songs we casually clap to suddenly have new meaning? Would the messages that we hear suddenly take root and produce? Would talk become action?

What if we caught the “now moment” of what is to come? What if?

They used to call it REVIVAL FIRE! I like to believe that it still burns. I do believe that it still burns! I do believe that there are many who are saying “my expectation is not for tomorrow, but my to come is RIGTH NOW!” Catch the Fever!

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The purpose of New Life Temple Church is to instill the faith of Jesus Christ into the lives of all people, bringing them into spiritual perfection with a spirit of excellence.

Weekly Service Schedule

NLTC Ministry Leaders

Bishop Brenda K. Perry, Senior Pastor pastor@newlifetemplechurch.com

Sunday Sunday School! !

Pastor Steve Stephens, Associate Pastor Sunday Worship ! sstep72508@sbcglobal.net

Pastor Elmer Powell, Associate Pastor elmerpowell@sbcglobal.net

Donna Ross-Powell, Administrator

Statement of Faith

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9:00am

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10:00am

Wednesday Pastoral Bible Study!

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7:30pm

Young People On Fire! !

7:30pm

donna.ross@newlifetemplechurch.com

Lela Chambers, Financial Manager office@newlifetemplechurch.com

Thursday Music Ministry! !

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7:30pm

Mel A. Perry, Global Relations Director global_relations@newlifetemplechurch.com

Saturday!

Roy & Veronica Seivwright, Head Deacons rs5587@att.com

Intercessory Prayer!

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9:00am

Pastor Elmer & Cathy Powell, Marriage Min. elmerpowell@sbcglobal.net Isaac Bazile, Men of the Tower lawfalcon@aol.com

raymondwright24@yahoo.com

dwbates@msn.com 6

We believe in being born again of waterby immersion in the name of the Lord “Jesus� Christ for the remission of sins, and in Spirit baptism of the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.

We believe in presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.

Pastor Raymond & Capricious Wright, Young People On Fire

David Bates, Outreach

We believe that - in Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.

We believe in divine healing, communion and foot washing.

Donna Stephens & Mary Colemon, Ladies of the Light dmstep2003@yahoo.com

Towanna Thompson, Perfecting Light Ministry towanna10@sbcglobal.net

We believe this one true God, who revealed Himself as Father in Creation, as Son in redemption, and as Holy Ghost in regeneration.

We believe in the death, burial and resurrection.

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We believe in one eternal God; infinite in power, holy in nature, attributes and purpose, as well as omniscient and omnipresent.

New Life Temple Church 4828 Almeda Genoa Houston, TX 77048

We believe in expressions of praise with lifted hands, hand clapping, playing of musical instruments, voice of praise and dancing.

713.991.5972 www.newlifetemplechurch.com

January