If you’ve never actually read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four accounts of the life of Jesus – or even if you’ve never read them carefully – it can be easy to believe in a one-dimensional Jesus who fails to resemble the complex individual found in the gospels.  Some believe in the “just love and accept everybody” Jesus, others in the “fight for justice and speak against ungodly authority” Jesus, and still others for a human Jesus who never claimed to be divine.  But the truth is way more complex, and, rest assured, will offend everyone (including you) at some point.  One person will find Jesus too forgiving, seemingly letting people off the hook who deserve punishment.  Others will find him too narrow, demanding that people come to God through Him and treat His words as truth instead of allowing people to believe whatever they want.  In short, Jesus just isn’t like us, and often does not behave the way we wish He would.

One of the best examples comes in Matthew 16:13-23.  Read more »

C.S. Lewis once said that “the church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of non-members.”  God’s people are called to be very outwardly-focused, seeking to bring others into a relationship with Jesus and to display God’s kingdom on earth through works of love, peace, and justice.  I’ve been thinking about that truth recently as we’ve been contemplating the risks and rewards involved in moving our church to a new location that would increase just about everything – exposure to the town, financial bills, and ministry demands on our members.  I see this opportunity as a serious challenge to everyone from the leadership to the most recent attendees as to whether or not we agree with the above quote.  Do we exist primarily to serve ourselves and to care for each other, or to see this community and world transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ?

I am sure that most people want to say the latter, of course.  The hard part is, however, that the answer to what we truly believe will come not by our words but by our actions.  Consider the following:

Read more »

Every few months or so, I get a letter from the denomination that I am licensed by with a plea to help a church that needs to make repairs on their building.  A few months ago, the letter was regarding a church in New Hampshire which meets in one of those old Congregational church buildings you see on every town green in New England.  Apparently the pillars that supported the roof were sinking into the ground, and things had gotten so bad that the building was deemed unsafe to meet in.  Long story short, it the church was going to need about $500,000-$750,000 to get the building into usable shape again.

Wow.
Read more »

As I was finishing up the recent Why Believe? sermon series and the Why Go to Church? series on the blog, someone encouraged me to follow them up with a Why NewLife? post, in order to highlight some of the reasons why I feel NewLife is a church worth being a part of.  As I mentioned in an earlier Pulse, I am not fond of religious consumerism, where “church shopping” becomes like looking for a good mechanic (“I like the music, and the seats were comfortable, but the sermon was too long”).  However, I do think it’s worth testifying to what God is doing in our church, in the hopes that more might become a part of what He is doing in and through our community.  So let me offer five reasons (among many others) why I love our church:
Read more »

Over the past three Sundays, I have been preaching on some of the major objections people have to faith in the God of the Bible – issues like Hell, the exclusivity of Christ, and the resurrection – in a series I’ve called Why Believe?.  One of the most meaningful aspects of these Sunday worship gatherings, however, has been giving individuals in our church the opportunity to share some of their story of why they believe.  Sharman Anderson, Danny Cordero, and Maggie Proulx have all shared about how they came to faith in Jesus and the difference He has made in their lives, and in the process have helped me (and hopefully others) to see God in new ways.  I have found that there is something about hearing a testimony of how God has worked in someone else’s life that can be incredibly strengthening for our own faith. 

I think that this is church at its best Read more »

As I’ve been considering the question Why Go to Church?, one of the biggest struggles I (and many other pastors) have is how to encourage someone to go to church without reinforcing a consumer mentality.  Read more »

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…

1 Corinthians 15:17-20 

I’ve written many words on this blog over the last year on many different topics.  Some have probably challenged you; others have angered you.  Some have increased your love for God and other people; others have left you scratching your head.  This week, I want to leave all the other issues on the periphery, where they belong.  Only one thing truly matters, as Paul wrote in the verses above:  If Christ has not been raised from the dead, our lives are pitiful; all my pontificating and sermonizing has been “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  But if Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…

Read more »

---

Why do you believe?  If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, why are you following Him today?  What is it about Jesus, or what has happened in your life, that has brought you to this point?  And if you have had reasons to reject faith in Jesus because of difficult life experiences, intellectual doubts, or the hurts you’ve experienced at the hands of other believers, why have you pushed those reasons aside and continued to believe? 

Why don’t you believe?  If you do not consider yourself a follower of Jesus, why do you not believe?  What is it that holds you back from believing all that Jesus said about God and what it means to know Him?  What doubts do you have, what experiences have damaged your faith, or what else has led you to declare that you do not believe? 
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 »

« Previous entries