This week’s guest blogger is Jim Quigley.  Jim has been a part of NewLife since last August, after moving up from New Jersey, and is an engineer who also works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Trinity College.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  (Matthew 5:11-12)

As I pondered Eric’s sermon this past Sunday on John 8:1-11, with the condensed message of laying down our stones and not judging others, I started to think about the proper reaction of those being judged.  How are we supposed to react to those who are judging and persecuting us, whether the accusations are true or false?  As with most questions of this type, if not all, the answer is found by looking to Jesus as our example. 
Read more »

This week’s guest blogger is Anthony Varesio.  Anthony will be contributing to the NewLife blog on occasion with his, as he puts it, “unfiltered and in-progress diary of the personal challenges and revelations that come with my pursuit of becoming a better person and living ‘The Way’.” 

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:5-7)

I am so inundated with thoughts of spiritual and moral recovery that I have created a “traffic jam” in my mind.  I could literally write a rambling list of, or inventory of, self-realizations, focus items, or epiphanies to run an endless ink well dry.  But, one thing is weighing heavy on my mind; now stay with me, this could be a delicate situation:
Read more »

Today’s guest writer is Tammy Choleva.  Tammy’s testimony is a response to this past Sunday’s sermon on how the gospel transforms our approach to our community.

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:35-40)

My family moved to our current home back in October of 2000. We purchased our home with great hopes and expectations that God wanted to use us to reach out to our new neighbors, even though we didn’t know a single one of them. We didn’t know how or when we would be used, but we knew we would be used.
Read more »

This week’s guest blogger is Anthony Varesio.  Anthony and his family have been a part of NewLife for a little less than a year, and Anthony was recently baptized.  Anthony will be contributing to the NewLife blog once a month with his, as he puts it, “unfiltered and in-progress diary of the personal challenges and revelations that come with my pursuit of becoming a better person and living ‘The Way’.” 

The Imperfekt Chronicles
By Anthony Varesio

Romans 12:9-10 (NLT) - “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.  Hate what is wrong.  Hold tightly to what is good.  Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.”

I have a “bad” case of “Christianitis”.   The fire under my tail has been lit and the dissection of my every habit, motive, intention, and action is now subject to the self-installed microscope.   It can be downright annoying.  It was so much easier just being self-centered and letting my often misguided and “four-year-old I-want it now-stomping-on-the-ground-holding-my-breath-til-I’m-red-in-the-face” emotions steer this train wreck!  Do you know how hard it is not to spit out some random and snide remark at someone for not saying “thank you” when you just held open the door for them at the coffee shop?  Or, how about not hitting the car horn when the car in front of you took at least three seconds to go at a newly turned green light?  Annoying, just annoying.
Read more »

Today’s guest blogger is Laura Motola.  As we focus on spiritual warfare with our memory verses for February, Laura will be sharing her reflections on spiritual warfare.

In 2 Kings 6:15-17, we read,

“When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh, my lord, what shall we do?’ the servant asked.  ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered.  ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’  And Elisha prayed, ’O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

If only our eyes could be opened and we could see the spiritual battle going on around us!  We are at war!  The enemy of our souls wants to destroy us.  He wants our Christian lives to be ineffective and unproductive.  He wants us to feel unworthy and unloved.  He wants us to hold on to bitterness and resentment, and to feel anxious and afraid.  “But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.15:37).  One of the ways we can have victory is to put on the armor of God.
Read more »

Today’s guest blogger is Jim Quigley.  Jim has been a part of NewLife since August, after moving up from New Jersey, and is an engineer who also works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Trinity College.  As we focus on spiritual warfare with our memory verses for February, Jim will share the second part of what he wrote, “Preparing for battle.”

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  (Ephesians 6:10-17)

How often do you see a football player in a game without his pads and helmet on?  Or a marathon runner without sneakers on?  If you were a betting man, would you put your money on the team that didn’t use baseball gloves or the one that was fully equipped?  Sure, you could run a marathon without sneakers and you could play football without pads.  But the risk of injury greatly increases and you could very well be sidelined for the rest of your career.  A team has a better chance of being victorious and avoiding injury if they are using the proper gear.  While this may sound obvious, far too often we see Christians marching out to battle stark naked as it were, with nothing to protect them.  And far too often they get hurt badly.  But God has provided us with armor to wear for the spiritual battles that we face.  But again, we tend to dismiss its importance, neglect it all together, or think that we can just suit up when we need to.  But the spiritual battles we face are constant and the enemy is not going to wait for us to get our armor on.  We need to be ready every day to engage in spiritual warfare and that means we need to be geared up and game ready at all times. 
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. 
Read more »

Today’s Pulse of NewLife is written by guest writer Anthony Varesio.  Anthony and his wife Carrie live in Glastonbury, and have been attending NewLife for about eight months.

Testimony of Gratitude

This past week I found myself in the hospital with a rather disconcerting medical situation.  As I lay in my cardboard hospital bed, attached to a rat’s nest of tubes and wires, I awaited for the revolving parade of various medical professionals to poke, prod, scan, and otherwise find ways to make my stay a “spa of discomfort”.   The spaces in-between offered time for me to sip on a brew of my family woes, financial challenges, the haunting of tasks and responsibilities that I inevitably must face and a myriad of other troubles that have been gnawing at me for some time.  I craftily created a cozy little hot tub of self-pity in which to bathe in.  Then my first hospital meal was served……. Read more »

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:

Read more »

Today’s post is written by guest blogger Eddie Mui. Eddie lives in South Windsor with his wife, Fabiola, and young children Joshua & Sarah. He’s the one often playing the funny looking drum-like instrument (it’s called a cajon) on Sundays, and will be leading worship this Sunday.

“A Mighty God, A Mighty Savior”

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17, NIV)

Imagining or believing that God is all-powerful and mighty isn’t necessarily a hard thing to do. If He was even deserving of being called God with a capital “G”, one would expect that He would be. Otherwise, would He really be God?

Indeed, it’s not a foreign concept that God or a god would be endowed with extraordinary power, might, and authority. Greek and Roman mythology espoused many gods with certain power and authority over various elements of nature and the universe. Zeus was the most powerful and leader of all of gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. Mythology attributes them with respective authority over mankind, the sun, the sea, over war, love and beauty, over Hades and death, etc. To each, they had their jurisdiction, but Zeus was all-powerful above them all.

Read more »

« Previous entries