The story goes that there once was a man who, in order to seek God’s will for his life, was fond of opening up his Bible and reading whatever verse he first laid his eyes on, so that he might obey it.  One day, as this man was going through a particularly difficult time with his family, he sought the Lord for guidance.  Opening his Bible and pointing, he found his finger resting on the second part of Matthew 27:5, which read “Then Judas went out and hanged himself.”  Puzzled by the Lord’s directions, but still hungry for a word from God, he called a “do-over” and flipped to another page, where his eyes fell on the latter half of Luke 10:37:  “Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”  Flustered, but chalking it up to coincidence, the man decided to give his method one last chance.  Saying a quick prayer, he flipped the pages and inserted his finger between two of them, pointing to the end of John 13:27.  There, staring up at him, were these words:  “‘What you are about to do, do quickly,’ Jesus told him.”

Beginning this month, I have challenged our church to make a greater effort to memorize Scripture, so that we might be people who are led and transformed by the truth of God’s Word.  This month’s verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” which reminds us that the sins of past have been forgiven and that we now belong to Jesus and have His Holy Spirit giving us new spiritual life (among many other benefits of salvation).  However, as the above story reminds us, one of the greatest cautions with Scripture memory is the folly of taking verses out of context, so that they speak things which they were never intended to speak.  Read more »

Today’s guest blogger is Jim Quigley.  Jim has been a part of NewLife since August, after moving up from New Jersey.  As we continue our focus on Scripture memory in 2010, Jim is going to share with us about the blessing this practice has been in his life.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”   (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Like any discipline, Bible memorization is an activity that is not always enjoyable or easy.  But memorizing Scripture is crucial to going deeper in your relationship with Christ.  We can see from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that knowing Scripture will help us to teach and train better so that we can serve the Lord better, being ready to do every work God has in store for us.  Knowing God’s Word is essential in spiritual warfare as well.  In Ephesians 6:10-17, the Lord has provided us with plenty of armor to protect ourselves from the enemy, but only one weapon:  the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  We don’t need any other divine weapon.  No Golden Gun of God or Javelin of Jehovah, just the Word of God.  Once you wield the Sword of the Spirit, temptations are cut down, demons flee, and the prince of darkness himself is defeated.  The Word is so strong that even the enemy tries to use it against us with malicious intent to get us to fall.  Take, for instance, when Jesus is tempted by the devil in the desert (Luke 4:1-13).  Satan on his second temptation quotes Scripture in hopes that Jesus would buy into his lies.  Jesus counters this temptation (and the other two as well) with Scripture and with each swing of the Sword, Satan concedes and flees.  What is also important from this is that Jesus could have said ANYTHING and it would have been Scripture for us.  But instead, He chose to use existing Scripture as a model for us when we are tempted.  Memorizing Scripture will help sharpen our Sword so that we can use it to ward off the enemy. 
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Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

So… how’s your New Year’s Resolution going?  Still going strong?  If you’re anything like me, you know how difficult it can be to sustain any change, no matter how minor or important, for much longer than the time it takes to type this line.  On January 1st I find myself writing down all of the things that I want to do differently in 2010, on January 8th I’m still working on half of them, and by January 15th I’ve lost the list and can’t remember what it was I wanted to change in the first place!  Like most people, however, the more accountability I have, the more successful I will be.  If I try to go it alone, I am probably doomed, but if I go with others, I am more likely to make it. 

All of this is to first of all say a big CONGRATULATIONS! to all who Read more »

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:11)Way back in January of 2008, many of us began a two year journey through the Bible.  I started the Bible in Two Years reading campaign because I believe that spending regular time in God’s Word is the best way to put ourselves in a place to know Him and be transformed by Him.  My hope was to create a campaign that would help people find both discipline and community in their Bible reading.  In order to achieve that, Matt LaCroix, our web guy, and I created a website (http://newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan/) where the day’s reading would be posted every day and could be sent automatically every morning to one’s email inbox.  There was also a discussion component on the site, where anyone could post their thoughts on the day’s reading.  Finally, I set aside one Sunday morning every two months where I would preach a shorter sermon based on something in the readings from the previous two months, we would end the service early, and then break up into small groups in order to discuss a pertinent question or two and check in with each other for the purpose of accountability. Sounds great in theory, of course, but discipline is difficult for a reason! Read more »

Near the end of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church comes this sobering line:  “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you– unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).  I have two reactions as I read that verse:  the first is that it is a great idea to test ourselves.  After all, is our faith really genuine saving faith?  Are we sure we really know God?  Are we convinced that we will go to heaven when we die?  I can think of no more important test than to be sure that we are “in the faith,” as Paul puts it. 

The second reaction, however, is just as important:  how do we test ourselves?  Read more »

We are twenty-one days away from the beginning of the “Read through the Bible in Two Years” campaign.  If you haven’t already signed up at www.newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan or picked up a booklet in church, I encourage you to do it!  Even if reading through the whole Bible intimidates you, this plan includes the option of reading through just the Old or New Testament, so think about joining us as we grow in our knowledge and experience of God through His Word.  I know that God is going to do some great things in our midst as we commit ourselves to knowing Him better.

As intimidating as it may be to think about reading through the Bible for some people, the harder challenge is actually living out what you have read. Read more »

This January, we will begin a “Read Through the Bible in Two Years” campaign that I am very excited about.  I know there are people out there who have found the secret to staying disciplined in the reading of God’s Word; I am not one of them.  Sure, I am in the Bible every day, since it is obviously a major part of my job, but the danger pastors face is that we often read the book in order to find something to teach others instead of reading it so that God might deal with us.  For this reason, I am excited to begin this campaign, because it gives me a built-in accountability structure that I know will help me spend consistent time letting God’s Word speak directly to me.

I know I’m not alone in my struggle to spend regular time with God in His Word.  Many Christians feel guilty over this, lamenting their lack of commitment, even though they “know they should read their Bible more often.”  Read more »

Two weeks ago, I listed twenty commands found in the Bible and challenged you to decide whether they were meant to be applied to every culture in every time or whether they were only meant for the particular cultural context in which they were written.  As hard as that task was, I think the harder task was to provide an answer to the “why” question – if you don’t believe a command is meant to be taken literally today, why do you believe that? 

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Do you ever wish God had been a little more clear about life and faith in the Bible?  I mean, there is a lot of material in the Bible, wouldn’t you say?  So why does it seem to leave so many questions unanswered?  Sometimes I think that if I were God, I could have done a better job putting together the most important book ever written.  I mean, did we really need 1&2 Chronicles AND 1&2 Kings, when they cover so much of the same material?  And what about Judges?  When was the last time anyone really read Judges and had a life-changing experience?  I think that if I had been in charge, I would have taken out Judges and replaced it with a much more important book – “How to Know my Will.”  And, with all the space I would have saved cutting out 1&2 Chronicles, I would have had room to include two other crucial books: “How to have a Perfect Marriage” and “How to Raise Perfect Children.” 

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Somewhere along the line you’ve probably heard someone say that “People can make the Bible say whatever they want it to say.”  And unfortunately, there’s a lot of truth to that.  Over the years, people have used the Bible to defend everything from spousal abuse to slavery and to argue everything from a flat earth to the sun revolving around the earth.  One person will defend capital punishment by quoting Genesis 9:6 – “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man”, while another will quote Jesus in Matthew 7:1 – “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” – to argue that it should be abolished.  You have some Christians who are convinced that God wants us to be rich - “for your sakes [Jesus] became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9) – while others sure that a true Christian will avoid wealth at all costs – “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33).

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