This website is an outreach of New Life Baptist church in Longview, TX. We are a Baptist church of Reformed persuasion, and as such we strive to operate both this website and the church by principles set forth in God’s Word. At the church, we practice expositional preaching, which is the practice of reviewing a passage of Scripture and diving deep into it in order to fully understand it and apply it to our lives. Because of this, you will not find our services to be similar to talks given by motivational speakers, nor will you learn how to balance your checkbook, lose weight, live an exciting life or even how to live your best life now. Instead, you will learn what a Holy, just and loving God has said to the people He has created. You will learn what sin is, and how a gift almost too good to be believed has been given in order to rescue you from sin and its’ consequences.
There are a lot of folks out there claiming to have truth, and even some who say there is no truth, or that truth is different for every individual. Truth can only be found in the sovereign God who made everything that has been made. Only He can reveal the things that He has hidden. And He has revealed Truth… it is found in the Scriptures we commonly call the Holy Bible. We here at New Life invite you to browse this site, leave some comments, shoot us an email or even come visit us on Sunday morning (details below). We are a warm, friendly group of sinners who have been given a gift we could never earn, and we would love to spend time explaining what the Lord of all has said to His people, and what this means to you.
New Life Baptist Church
3001 West Hawkins Parkway
Longview, TX 75605
Call us at (903) 759-8181
Click HERE to see our Google Map
Times of Assembly:
Sunday School Classes 9:30 am
Sunday Worship 10:45 am
Sunday Evening Worship 6:00 pm
Wednesday Evening Worship 6:00 pm
New Life Baptist Church – Longview, TX
I noticed your website on abovetopsecret.com – and wondered if it was from Longview Texas as there are many Longviews. I went to your site and was delighted to find someone who said how it is important to find our TRUTH from the Bible and that it is the SOURCE for truth. I was raised in the Baptist church and found many of the teachings from the pulpit didn’t seem to match the words of my Bible – but believed it to be my misunderstanding as my grandfather and the many pastors couldn’t be wrong. I was a member of the Greggton Baptist church when our lesson one Sunday was about a young couple’s actions and the question was – “Was that a sin?” Upon searching my Bible I finally found the definition of sin in 1 John 3:4 which said that sin is the transgression of God’s law. I also found where Jesus said that anyone who said that they loved Him and didn’t keep the Commandments was a liar and there was no truth in them. These statements – along with many years of Bible study make it easy for me to separate the many, many denominations as being true churches or NOT. I immediately went to Exodus 20 and reviewed God’s Commandments – which were written by the hand of the being who later became Jesus Christ (John 1:1). I truly don’t mean to be confrontational – BUT cannot understand how you can claim to be true Christians and not keep God’s Holy Sabbath – as well as all of His holy days. I see from this page that your services are on Sunday – therefore it it irrevelant if you also keep the pagan days of Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. Jesus worshipped His Heavenly Father by keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days. He said that to find life, His followers were to repent and be baptized. To repent means to be aware of our sins and to give them up. We certainly canot be saved by the Law – but we also cannot be saved without God’s Law as it is WHAT DEFINES SIN. It is not up to us to make that decision – it is God’s. I was truly happy to find you as the article about how we choose our own way today isn’t the way of life – but that it is the Word of God that defines how we are to live. Please do not think that I am trying to throw stones at you or your ministry – but I was disheartened to see your hours of worship – on SUNday. Why isn’t the fourth Commandment valid to today’s professing Christians? Did not Christ keep His Father’s Sabbath? And Luke 22:15 says He had awaited that special Passover – and that He would eat of it again in the Kingdom after the resurrection. His disciples continued to keep God’s holy days and it was weeks later when Pentecost came and the promised comforter – the Holy Spirit was first given to God’s church. I agree with you wholeheartedly about modern men deciding their own way – but cannot understand how a student of the Bible can discard the fourth Commandment and reject God’s Holy Sabbath. I require no reply – but would be greatful if you have a God inspired answer to correct me in my desire to please and obey God by keeping His Cammandments. Respectfully submitted – Robbie T.
Hey Robbie,
First off, thanks for visiting the site and for taking the time to comment. We always welcome discussion, especially from local folks! In response, I would like to offer two thoughts for your consideration. The first is a concern I have from the wording of your letter, and the second is a brief teaching on the Sabbath which I think sums up the biblical position in a very pointed and accurate way. So, here are my thoughts:
#1 Above you stated you, “cannot understand how you can claim to be true Christians and not keep God’s Holy Sabbath – as well as all of His holy days.” I will be very up-front with you… this statement scares me. I have thought about this statement for a few days and the only conclusion I can reach is that you believe salvation comes through obedience to the law. It is the crystal-clear teaching of Scripture that salvation comes by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. Just a few passages that come to mind are:
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)
I sincerely hope you look into some of these Scripture references in their full context. Another great resource would be to pick up a copy of “All of Grace” by Charles Spurgeon, which expounds on this very thing (I will send you a copy free if you would like). This issue is at the heart of salvation. As Christians we do not have license to sin, but neither does abstinence from sin bring about salvation.
#2 This short teaching regarding the Sabbath was posted over at Grace to You (click link at bottom of article to read it on original site) and I think it sums up the issue nicely. Please read the Scripture references given at the start of the article, as they are quite clear as to their meaning, and are referenced in the teaching.
Are the Sabbath laws binding on Christians today?
Colossians 2:16-17;
1 Chronicles 23:31;
Nehemiah 9:14;
Acts 20:7
We believe the Old Testament regulations governing Sabbath observances are ceremonial, not moral, aspects of the law. As such, they are no longer in force, but have passed away along with the sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, and all other aspects of Moses’ law that prefigured Christ. Here are the reasons we hold this view:
1. In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul explicitly refers to the Sabbath as a shadow of Christ, which is no longer binding since the substance (Christ) has come. It is quite clear in those verses that the weekly Sabbath is in view. The phrase “a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day” refers to the annual, monthly, and weekly holy days of the Jewish calendar (cf. 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 31:3; Ezekiel 45:17; Hosea 2:11). If Paul were referring to special ceremonial dates of rest in that passage, why would he have used the word “Sabbath?” He had already mentioned the ceremonial dates when he spoke of festivals and new moons.
2. The Sabbath was the sign to Israel of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 31:16-17; Ezekiel 20:12; Nehemiah 9:14). Since we are now under the New Covenant (Hebrews 8), we are no longer required to observe the sign of the Mosaic Covenant.
3. The New Testament never commands Christians to observe the Sabbath.
4. In our only glimpse of an early church worship service in the New Testament, the church met on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).
5. Nowhere in the Old Testament are the Gentile nations commanded to observe the Sabbath or condemned for failing to do so. That is certainly strange if Sabbath observance were meant to be an eternal moral principle.
6. There is no evidence in the Bible of anyone keeping the Sabbath before the time of Moses, nor are there any commands in the Bible to keep the Sabbath before the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai.
7. When the Apostles met at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15), they did not impose Sabbath keeping on the Gentile believers.
8. The apostle Paul warned the Gentiles about many different sins in his epistles, but breaking the Sabbath was never one of them.
9. In Galatians 4:10-11, Paul rebukes the Galatians for thinking God expected them to observe special days (including the Sabbath).
10. In Romans 14:5, Paul forbids those who observe the Sabbath (these were no doubt Jewish believers) to condemn those who do not (Gentile believers).
11. The early church fathers, from Ignatius to Augustine, taught that the Old Testament Sabbath had been abolished and that the first day of the week (Sunday) was the day when Christians should meet for worship (contrary to the claim of many seventh-day sabbatarians who claim that Sunday worship was not instituted until the fourth century).
12. Sunday has not replaced Saturday as the Sabbath. Rather the Lord’s Day is a time when believers gather to commemorate His resurrection, which occurred on the first day of the week. Every day to the believer is one of Sabbath rest, since we have ceased from our spiritual labor and are resting in the salvation of the Lord (Hebrews 4:9-11).
So while we still follow the pattern of designating one day of the week a day for the Lord’s people to gather in worship, we do not refer to this as “the Sabbath.”
In conclusion, please know that we are always open for discussion or, since you are a local-guy, a lunchtime get-together for a visit. You are also welcome to swing by the church sometime and we could talk there. I sincerely hope this response brings clarity and doesn’t offend. Please let us know if you have any more questions.
Thanks!!
- Joe (ChurchSalt)
Grace to You Article, click HERE
P.S. I removed your personal contact info from your comment. I get nervous whenever home addresses and such are made public.
Joe, you answered the very questions that I had when I read Robbie’s remarks. You answered them as well as I could, but I might add another comment that gives my own perspective on the issue of the Sabbath.
First, is should state up front that I personally now believe that the “sabbath” is not a day of the week at or, or even a day at all; it is a spiritual state which we enter when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe this is nicely taught in Hebrews 4: 1-10, but will only quote, for the sake of space and brevity, a portion thereof.
“For we who have believed do enter that rest…” vs. 3
From this passage, it seems that the Jewish Sabbath represented, like all of the types of the OT, the rest we enter when we give up relying on our works, so that every believer has entered [already] that “sabbath,” as it says in verse 10:
“For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” [That last is obviously a reference to the rest in which God “rested” from the creation.
For truth in lending, as they say, you can see that I also do not accept the Reformed view that the Sabbath is simply changed to the first day instead of the seventh. One type is not preplaced by another, but a type is fulfilled. In this instance, Christ is the fulfillment of the Sabbath law. That ancient physical requirement typified a future spiritual reality.
As I sometime like to chide and tease my good Reformed friend, I say that it is not they who faithfully keep the Sabbath by their observance of another day of the week, but it is I myself who keeps the true sabbath by resting in faith in Jesus Christ.
Good discussion, guys.
I will have to think about that for a little bit!
Victor, I agree with your added perspective! I plan on visiting this New Life Baptist soon.
Hi Naomi! Couldn’t but help notice your comment to Vic. Hope you stop in soon. Brother James is the pastor and author of a lot of these posts, make sure to say “hi” to him or I when you come by. Hope to see you soon!
-Joe
Very Important Book Coming, The book is titled God’s Smoking Gun and will hit the market 1 to 2 months. Published by Xulon Press.
This book addresses among other things the great failure of the Dispensational Premillennial
Doctrinal system in a very unique way.
This work has been done thru the guidance of the holy Spirit and it speaks for itself.
I am getting the word out early because of the importance of this work.
Thanks; (LaFenus Jennings) the author.
The book titled God’s Smoking Gun on the market now, and is sold at Amazon.com.