Personal thoughts from Pastor Jeff on a(n almost) daily basis.
Lord Jesus, Today, Great Savior, work in us powerfully so that our hearts, minds and wills are centered in Your mighty love. Help us, O King, not be distracted by even the best of all those lesser things which beg for our attention. May your Love ride on the top of every powerful worship song that fills our ears. Cause Your …
It is no secret that I am not overly fond of Mondays. I apologize if that disappoints you, but I have never liked Mondays. Thanks to The Bangles 1986 hit, Manic Monday, I have even had a theme song to serve as permission for me to dislike Mondays. Yet, Mondays do not give me a free pass, so I have …
Once upon a time I was an invisible observer of a debate in an online chatroom which was focusing on the issue of what was required for a person to be granted good standing with God. This was during the pre-social media days of the internet and chatrooms were where a lot of the action took place. Dozens of people …
I wanted to share something that I felt would translate better on video than in writing. I hope it helps you recognize the bigger picture of what is happening around us. I hope we all recognize it before it starts happening inside us. The strategy of the enemy is sidelining believers. Bitterness, anger, frustration and spite are being embraced by …
The noise around us is getting louder. It is also becoming more rapidly paced in its release toward us. Our ears, minds and emotions are under a consistent barrage of global news, cultural philosophies and theological assertions from an innumerable number of sources. Recently, I decided to stop ingesting information from my normal stream of news feeds. My practice up …
When we first were made to see, You showed us a cross. It was there that we saw our sin, our guilt, our shame impaled on those timbers where a Man hung whom we had not met. We first encountered Him there when we were made to see Him, and we found forgiveness for those nails which our sin demanded, and …
As we approach the end of this blog series called 3 Questions, I want to deposit one more primary thing that I hear God saying to the Church in this present hour. While God is always speaking to His people, and while we have open access to hear His voice at any time we choose to open our Bibles, what …
In the last post in this 3 Questions blog series, I sought to make sure that we all grasp the two primary words by which God communicates. His written Word, the Bible, is the plumb line for all of His communication. The secondary means by which God speaks to us is through what is called rhema. I prefer to think …
I have really been wanting to get to this portion of the blog series that I’ve been in over the last few weeks. It’s time to address what God is speaking to this present generation. Each previous post has addressed 3 Questionsthat all Christians should seek to know the answers to. Those three questions are What is God doing? What …
The most accessible biblical answer to the question, “What is God doing in the world today?” can be found in Revelation 21:5 when the One seated upon Heaven’s throne declares, “Behold, I am making all things new.” God is renewing the cosmos. Human sin had an impact on the entire created order. Along with Lucifer’s rebellion and being cast down to earth, …
Most Christians I know are living with a regular sense that, although they are saved, there is a large gap between what they believe about God and what they are actually experiencing with Him. How can we remedy this struggle in the Western Church? By helping one another grow in our ability to discern the answers to the three questions: What …
None of us want to waste our lives. We desire our lives to count. Most of us inwardly understand that there is some meaning, some greater purpose, for us being here. If you stop for a moment and withdraw your senses from the chaos of our culture, you can begin to discern that nearly everyone in the Western hemisphere is …
Who is running the world? Do humans run planet earth or does God? I suppose it would be good for Christians to make up our minds about this essential issue before we address the three questions that I am going to leave with you today. My purpose is not to drop a lengthy dissertation on the sovereignty of God into …
Among countless other opportunities, here are some options for you to consider today. Give big-time love today to others that you inwardly yearn for. Go overboard toward others today with the compassion that you hunger for. Extend to others today the mercy that you depend upon. Offer today to others the forgiveness that you yourself have been lavished with from …
Please allow me to disclose one of my strong personal preferences that actually drives a certain set of behaviors in my life: I will not go to a restaurant that has poor service. Let me clarify that…I will go once to that restaurant but I will not go back again. If I will be spending money to eat out, I …
The last couple of generations of American males have been taught that fighting is bad. My son got suspended from school in fourth grade for fighting back against a fifth grader who cornered him in a bathroom. The assistant principal actually told him that, instead of defending himself, he should have gone and gotten a teacher…while he was in a …
Sunday is Father’s Day 2019 and I am thinking about a man that most of you do not know named Doug Lyle. The first time I can recall ever having a discussion about Jesus was with my dad while we rode down I-85 somewhere near where Spaghetti Junction is today. I am pretty sure that we had just left church, …
Most of us would be surprised to do a survey of the Bible with our singular goal to be to discern what is written therein about human sexuality. Scripture is filled with references about sex. These references include the beauty of marital intimacy, the prohibition of God concerning sex outside of heterosexual marriage, the ordaining of human life through conception, …
So I call myself a person of faith. Christian faith, to be precise. I am a Jesus-follower. If you are reading this today, then it is likely that you also follow Jesus. Yet, do we hold the title of “person of faith” legitimately? We know that we were saved by faith but, beyond that, do we actually live by faith? …
Here is the cold, stony, dark reality for all humans: we were born sinners. The problem has always been sin. As a matter of fact, there were no problems at all until there was sin, because sin is the father of all other problems. Adam and Eve rebelled against the lone Authority who was also the highest Authority, and humanity …
Sometimes, the Father will become really proactive in communicating with His children. Other times, He will be happy to sit silently, waiting on us to begin a conversation with Him about whatever it is that we might want to talk about. A long time ago, I stopped approaching prayer as a formula, a discipline and a routine. Prayer became less …
Looking into the eyes of the young man across the lunch table from me, I saw what I’ve had the unfortunate experience of seeing too many times before. He’d just completed a year at a Christian College which I know to be legalistic, manipulative and saddled with a history of compromised leadership. This disillusioned young man is not even fully …
Jesus said something in one of His prayers that deeply impacted me almost twenty-five years ago. The first time I read John 17:3, I paused and went back to read it again and again. Jesus makes a stunning theological statement to the Father when, in His prayer, He says, “And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only …
There needs to be something that takes your breath away. In each life there must remain something outside of you that, when experienced, so profoundly affects you that you notice a difference taking place. Whatever this thing is, it’s your passion. Trusting that you are a follower of Jesus Christ, I hope you will understand that I’m not talking about …
Tonight, at New Bridge Church, we will launch into a new Summer sermon series which will unpack Jesus’ longest recorded sermon, commonly referred to as The Sermon on the Mount. I have called the series Fit For A King. This singular message from Jesus is amazingly counter-cultural and deeply challenging for all believers. Before we actually get into the words …
