Have you ever wished you could start life all over again?<\/p>\n
Cheer up! God is in the people-changing business.\u00a0<\/strong>He wrote the original life-changing book. The Bible reveals what we all yearn for at times: a fresh start in life! \u201cTherefore,\u00a0if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new<\/i>\u201d (II Corinthians 5:17).<\/p>\n What God offers is not a series of cosmetic alterations but an internal spiritual change. In a life-changing relationship with Christ, you can start anew. The kingdom of Christ is the place of new beginnings. The gospel of Christ is the message of a second chance. It has transformed the lives of countless people in the past 2,000 years. The gospel can alter your life for the better as well.<\/p>\n We can have a new start if we are spiritually born again, or regenerated. This is done by the Holy Spirit as His revelation of the word of truth tells us what to do (James 1:18). \u201cHaving been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever<\/i>\u201d (I Peter 1:23).<\/p>\n In this new start, in the kingdom of new beginnings, we know our work for Christ results in eternal consequences. Too many live their entire life in this world never knowing why they were born. In Christ, we have a reason for getting out of bed in the morning. Believing in heaven means not running away from life but running to the One who gives life meaning (Philippians 3:12-14).<\/p>\n The Lord has given us fellow Christians to be our new spiritual family. \u201cSince you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart<\/i>\u201d (I Peter 1:22). The La Vista Church of Christ is one such congregation near you. They, like you, yearned for a new start and found it in the gospel. They are a part of the kingdom of new beginnings.<\/p>\n We realize that none of us come from a spiritually perfect background. By common obedience to the gospel of Christ, we are a family of spiritual brothers and sisters. We desire each other\u2019s love, understanding, and support. Therefore, we have come together as a church of Christ (Hebrews 10:23-25). We enjoy revitalizing worship, patterned after the original simplicity and beauty of New Testament worship. Our mission is to do the Lord\u2019s work in the Lord\u2019s way.<\/p>\n Do you wish you had a new start in life? The gospel of a second chance is freely available. But this offer is only available for the limited time we have on this earth. We want to hear from you. We want you to be a part of our family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Have you ever wished you could start life all over again? Cheer up! God is in the people-changing business.\u00a0He wrote the original life-changing book. The Bible reveals what we all yearn for at times: a fresh start in life! \u201cTherefore,\u00a0if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[390],"class_list":["post-21191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-conversion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92044,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/buried-with-him-and-raised-with-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":21191,"position":0},"title":"Buried with Him and Raised with Him","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The action of real baptism is very misunderstood today. People see a man dunking another person in the water and think it is a strange initiation rite, but there is much more to it than what you see with the physical eye. What is supposed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87257,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-martin-luther-taught-about-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":21191,"position":1},"title":"What Martin Luther Taught About Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton While Martin Luther may have taught the idea of salvation by \"faith alone,\" you might be surprised to learn that he did not think faith alone excluded baptism. It was an umbrella term that included repentance and baptism. So, he didn't place baptism in the category\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2176,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-become-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":21191,"position":2},"title":"How to Become a Christian","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by W. Frank Walton \"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come\" (II Corinthians 5:17). The Bible says salvation from sin is only in Christ (Acts 4:12). The most important commitment you'll ever make is deciding to become\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Study.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":91491,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/staying-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":21191,"position":3},"title":"Staying a Christian","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Don Wright Becoming a Christian is one of the easiest things you can do. It has often been said, and I think it is true, that the only thing easier than becoming a Christian is not becoming a Christian. God has made His plan of salvation simple enough for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87319,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-logos-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":21191,"position":4},"title":"The Logos of Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 1, 31 March 1991 The \"Logos\" is the Christ, the Son of the Most High God. John uses a term ordinarily meaning\" a word\" and applies it to the timeless and changeless Christ. There are a few cases where \"logos\" is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89981,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-paul-start-the-teaching-that-jesus-died-for-our-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":21191,"position":5},"title":"Did Paul start the teaching that Jesus died for our sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It's taught in Mid-Acts Dispensationalism that the gospel before Paul was simply that Jesus is the Son of God, not that He died for our sins, until Paul preached this. The Ethiopian in Acs 8 said he believed Jesus is the Son of God, not that he died for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}