Today’s guest blogger is Jim Quigley.  Jim has been a part of NewLife since August, after moving up from New Jersey. He is an engineer who also works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  As we focus on spiritual warfare with our memory verses for February, Jim will share on “knowing your enemy.”

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

 It is a week before the big championship game.  What do you think each team is doing in preparation for the big match?  Do you think they are just goofing around and have no set game plan?  Absolutely not!  They are watching video of their opponents, studying their tactics and strategies, and figuring out how their offense and defense works.  If the team knows what their opponent will do and how they play, then they will certainly be more prepared and have a greater advantage in the game to come. 

 In the same way, do you think that the military just goes on raids without strategic planning first?  Of course not!  Generals and analysts are studying the enemy, how they attack, where they hide, and the tactics and tricks that the enemy has used in the past.  In both scenarios, each squad is fully prepared for what the opponent or enemy has in store for them.  They know who their enemy is and what to expect when they encounter their opponent.  So, as a warrior for Christ, do you know who your enemy is in the spiritual battle that we all face every day?  Do you know the tactics that the enemy uses to attack you?  Are you aware of the constant battle raging all around you?  The enemy is not some dumb, red creature with pointy ears, a mustache, and pitchfork as depicted in many Halloween costumes - far from it.  He is a formidable adversary.  And if we want to be successful in battling him and fighting in the spiritual realm, then we had better know exactly who our enemy is as well as his malicious tactics.  The enemy that we face can be broken down into three main parts: the world, the flesh, and the devil. 
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“Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, ‘Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.’” (1 Samuel 15:12)

I’ve been preaching through the life of David on Sunday mornings, and as I was talking about King Saul this past Sunday, this verse in particular stood out to me.  Saul has just finished leading the armies of Israel against the Amalekites, and as the prophet Samuel goes out to find him, Samuel is told that Saul is busy setting up a monument in his own honor.  All throughout the Old Testament are examples of the people of God erecting monuments and markers to God that commemorate places where God does something meaningful, so that future generations would be reminded of what God had done (e.g. Genesis 28:18-19, Joshua 4:2-9).  But this is the first time I ever came across a man of God – the King, no less – erecting a monument to himself!  Saul’s goal, obviously, was that future generations would be reminded not of what God had done, but what HE had done, and of the great leader HE was.

I find this story to not only be an indictment against Saul for just how unfit he was to be the king over God’s people, but also a great metaphor for what can happen when we are as insecure as Saul was about who God is and who we are in Him.  Read more »

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:1-11)

I love this story.  I shared some thoughts about this passage in my sermon on grace a few weeks ago, and I want to revisit John 8 today, especially the words Jesus says to the woman caught in adultery.  Most people remember this story for his words to the Pharisees – “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  With those powerful words, Jesus forever leveled the playing field, so to speak, by putting saints and sinners alike in the same boat – sinners in need of forgiveness, unqualified to condemn another. 

I’m most struck, however, by what Jesus says to the woman.  Read more »

It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:2)

One of the blessings of pastoring a church made up of a younger crowd is that the number of weddings I officiate over the course of a year greatly outweighs the number of funerals.  In my pastoral career, I have actually only officiated one funeral, while playing a part in three others.  A verse that I’ve found appropriate to share on at funerals, no matter if the deceased was a committed Christian or not, is Ecclesiastes 7:2, which I’ve listed above.  It’s a simple verse, reminding us that every life ends in death, and that we would be wise to live in the light of that.  “Begin with the end in mind,” as Stephen Covey puts it in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  Given that one day your life on this earth will be no more, how would you want to be remembered?  And how should you be living today in order to make that goal a reality?
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Desperate – (adj) having an urgent need, desire, etc

Despair – (n) loss of hope; hopelessness. (v) to lose, give up, or be without hope

There is a fine line between desperation and despair, between (as the dictionary puts it) having an urgent need and giving up hope.  Desperation, on the one hand, is an essential (but difficult) place to be in for the disciple of Jesus.  Despair, on the other hand, is a terrible and deadly place to end up.  I have found in my short life that God often wants to bring his children to the point of desperation, to a place where they recognize that they can not make it on their own strength, but that they are utterly dependent on Him for everything.  However, I have also found that Satan is always lurking right around the corner, whispering in our ears, and doing his very best to turn that desperation into despair, to cause God’s children to lose hope and turn away from the only one who can save them.
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One of my favorite authors is a man named Donald Miller, who is best known for his 2003 book Blue Like Jazz.  Miller writes with wit, creativity, and disarming honesty in the style of a memoir, reflecting on his life and what he has learned about God and himself through his experiences.  Blue Like Jazz is currently in the process of being made into a movie, and Miller’s most recent book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, is about what he learned about his life and God’s grand story while the screenwriters “edited his life” for the big screen.  His reflections on the boring, uninspired story he was living and the grand story of risk and adventure that God was calling him to live were fascinating to read, and really challenged me to reflect on the story I find myself in and to walk with faith and courage.  Let me share a few quotes from the book that really spoke to me:
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Today’s post comes courtesy of my friend Ben Dubow, who blogs over at www.faithautopsy.com.  In one of his latest posts, he referenced A.W. Tozer’s Five Spiritual Vows.  Tozer was a 20th century Christian & Missionary Alliance preacher and author who died in 1963, and whose words are incredibly challenging.  You can read Tozer’s whole discourse at http://www.neve-family.com/books/tozer/FiveVows.html; Ben’s well-done summary is below:

5 VOWS FOR SPIRITUAL STRENGTH:

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 This past Sunday I preached on the fact that God is eternal, that He exists outside of time and is fully present to every moment of time at once.  He is the Alpha and Omega, the one who was there in the beginning and will be there in the end.  He is the unchanging one, who because He exists outside of time does not change in His character, His truth, His promises, or His purposes.  He is the Rock upon which we stand in our faith.

One of the classic passages that speaks to God’s view of time is found in 2 Peter 3:8:  “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”  Read more »

Somewhere in this great land of ours, there stands a man who has yet to leave his closet.  He is a very spiritual man, but he is not in the closet because he has come to spend time with the Lord in prayer.  No – he went in to get a shirt to wear that day.  However, after a couple of hours he is still in his closet, because he has been waiting on God to clarify whether he should choose the navy and gray striped button down or the green polo shirt.

And somewhere else today, there is a woman sitting paralyzed at her kitchen table as the rest of the world hurries off to work or school.  She stares back and forth between two boxes of cereal, unsure of whether God would have her eat Fruity Pebbles or Count Chocula this morning. 

Does this sound silly to you?

Then what about this:  Read more »

(Today’s Pulse was written by Marcia Mackey in 2005.  As I preach on wisdom from Proverbs, it has been my hope to give voice to some of the more wise and experienced members of our congregation, who can share from what they have learned along their journey with the Lord.)

 Do you want to be a shepherd who feeds only yourself?  A cloud without rain blown along by the wind?  An autumn tree without fruit and uprooted twice dead?  Do you want to be a wild wave of the sea foaming up in your shame?  A wandering star for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever?  DO YOU??  (Jude 1:12-13)

To say yes to any of these would definitely make you a fool.  Why?  A fool is someone who turns his back on God or just does not want to believe in Him or thinks God is not right nor good enough for him.  “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1).  “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).  “But fools detest turning from evil” (Proverbs 13:19b).  Even if you do not totally reject God but are just lukewarm then you are still a fool.  God says in Revelation 3:16, “So because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
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