This past Sunday we started a new series that looks at what it means to follow Jesus. We began by trying to clear up some of the misunderstanding surrounding this thing the church calls discipleship by removing some of the religious baggage.

First we revised some of the language and decided to use the term apprenticeship instead. It’s easier to visualize us becoming students rather than religious zealots, which is the image the old language conjured up for most of us. An apprentice is a student that learns to do what his or her master is good at. In Jesus case, he was good at living the life of the kingdom here on earth. So as his students we’re with him, learning from him, how to get good at living the kingdom life. Read more ›

I know this sounds almost sacrilegious but the Jesus I read about in the gospels was a happy person who really enjoyed life. He was fun to be around. You get the impression he was a life of the party-type.

That’s probably why he got so many dinner invitations and why kids climbed all over him. This Jesus is no sober sourpuss like the one portrayed in medieval paintings. No, he’s worry-free and full of joy. It seems that where he was joy was and his joy stood out. It apparently characterized and energized him, setting him apart from all other human beings.

His foundation

His joy wasn’t simply a strong feeling of happiness. It was a state of mind. A deep abiding sense of well being that comes from being safe, secure, and at home. It was this at-home-ness that formed the foundation of Jesus’ life and was the source of his joy.

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For my morning devotions I’ve been reading through the Psalms using the Message, a version of the Bible that reads like the morning newspaper.

This has helped me read what are essentially poems that were put to music and sung in worship services, with fresh eyes. And in doing so I’ve been shocked by how much complaining and gripping is going on. The psalmists were real grousers!

This raises a couple of questions: Can complaining ever be good and how can gripping be worship? Read more ›

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swearan oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

On Sundays here at the NBV we’ve been going through Jesus’ teachings in his Sermon on the Mount. I skipped over this passage on swearing and giving oaths because of scheduling and time constraints. But it doesn’t mean its less important than any of the other things he had to say about living good and wise lives. So I thought I’d write a few words about it here. Read more ›

“41 Jesus went over to the collection box in the Temple and sat and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two pennies. 43 He called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you, this poor widow has given more than all the others have given. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

A lesson from the Sermon

Here at the NBV we’ve been going through the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve come across a startling yet very helpful truth. Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom.” A goodness “beyond” that of the religious experts? What could Jesus possibly mean? Well simply this: You can’t keep the law by keeping the law. You have to aim at something better, something beyond merely keeping the rules. Read more ›

Moat conscious

If you been around our church over the past seven weeks and participated in this year’s 40 days of prayer, by now you should, at the very least, be uneasily “cross the moat conscious”. Up to now you thought you were doing pretty good keeping it together on your island – staying out of trouble and on God’s good side, showing up to church more often than not, working at being a fairly decent person, keeping your house in order, staying off the employment line, paying your bills, all the while seeking out a social life. Read more ›

We’ve reached the halfway point of Leap Of Faith. For those who are just tuning in, this is an exciting opportunity we’ve taken as a whole church over the last two years to exercise our faith muscles and believe some big things for us personally and for us as a whole church. The word I’m hearing is that this year’s Cross That Moat challenge hasn’t been easy and has caused many of you to re-examine how faith works.

Strange stuff

I’ve found exercising faith kind of like gathering “manna”. Manna, which in Hebrew meant something like, “What the heck is that?” was the strange, miraculous food God provided for his people in the wilderness. You can find the full story in Exodus 16, but for our purposes, I’d just like to highlight a few similarities between manna and my experience with faith… Read more ›

We’re about to begin our second Leap Of Faith 40 days of prayer. During the course of our preparations you’ve heard Lent, mentioned a lot. Maybe you’re not quite sure what Lent’s about, so I thought it might be helpful to explain a little bit about it.

A special season

Today, dedicated believers all over the world begin observing the Lenten season. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter. Read more ›

Did you know that the great Hindu leader, Mohandas Gandhi at one time had considered becoming a Christian … that is, until he was turned off by the inconsistency in the lives of the believers he encountered. Rather than convert to faith in Christ, he retreated to his native religion and would later say, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Author Brennan Manning wrote, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Misunderstanding our beliefs

One of the big reasons for this inconsistency is that too many of us misunderstand our faith. And if we’re uniformed about the basic foundational teachings of the Christian faith how can we live out the message of the gospel the way it was meant to be.

For many today the “gospel” has become a self-centered, me-first exercise in personal improvement. The central question has become, What can Christianity do for me? How does being a follower of Jesus benefit my life? This thinking is far from the first-century concept of the faith, which centered its message in kingdom-building, not coming up with “steps” to becoming a better person and achieving personal success.

Jesus has called us to be his ambassadors. Therefore we need to know what we’re representing and communicating. Read more ›

After four frustrating days of cancellations and delays Char and I finally made it to Phoenix and our grandsons. Can you tell I’m smiling?

There’s another reason I’m smiling. I sense something wonderful taking place in our church. A God-thing. Something that just a year ago when things were at their bleakest looked so unlikely. When the loss of key leaders along with mounting financial woes had taken the steam out of us. When we were existing month to month. At that time a trusted member of my Advisory Team, in a moment of candor confessed, “If we were a company we’d have gone out of business by now.”

But despite the gloomy forecasts and my worst fears we haven’t gone out of business. God’s played much bigger than that. Today as we stand at the beginning of a new year it’s like night and day around here! God’s turned things around and because of that, I’m smiling. Read more ›