King Hezekiah’s Fatal Flaw
The aged prophet Isaiah showed up at the bedside of the middle-aged king. Hezekiah was only about 39 years old and terminally ill. But the prophet was not bringing good…
The aged prophet Isaiah showed up at the bedside of the middle-aged king. Hezekiah was only about 39 years old and terminally ill. But the prophet was not bringing good…
Did you like your siblings when you were growing up? Do your kids like each other? Every parent wants their children to be friends. One of the best gifts…
How can I know if I am a narcissist? In the ancient myth, the hunter Narcissus was acclaimed for his beauty. Many sought Narcissus romantically, but he spurned them all.…
She sits in my office, tears running down her face. Two years ago her mother died in hospice while she lay asleep at home. She was trying to get a…
There was a time when going to church is what respectable people did. Church was a place not just of worship, but, for the worldly-minded, of upward mobility. My childhood…
So, who are you? Many respond to that question by sharing their roles: “I am a mom.” “I am a dad.” “I am a sister.” “I am a wife.” “I…
Have you ever sent off an email or a text with the jab of an angry finger? Have you ever slammed a door or punched a wall? Have you ever…
Do ghosts exist? Do we have access to the spirit world? If so, what does that mean for our spiritual life? Not long ago I was asked by a congregant…
Angel and I have a nineteen-year-old and a seventeen-year-old. On the precipice of empty-nesting, I’ve been reflecting upon what has worked and what hasn’t worked as I have tried to…
We’ve all had moments in our lives where it seemed like all hope was lost. I remember sitting at my desk in high school, staring at an AP Chemistry test…
An encouraging study by Lifeway Research found that two-thirds of churchgoers invited someone to church in the last six months.[i] When was the last time you invited someone to church?…
I love dreaming about and planning for tomorrow. Want to draw up a strategic plan? Count me in. Want to talk about which young basketball or football star will have…
I often see couples wince in marriage counseling when I bring up Paul’s admonition to wives in Ephesians 5. Paul’s instructions to married couples begin with those fated words, “Wives,…
What was Jesus’ personality like? If our culture were to create Jesus’ personae, it might look like Mr. Rogers’s personality:[i] gentle, unassuming, two-dimensionally meek and mild. In short, a sweet…
Not long ago, Pew Research released a survey[i] on why Americans do and do not go to church. While 73% of Americans identify as being Christian[ii], surveys say Americans who…
In this series of advent posts, I will share the words of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and birth. The words that follow are from the gospels and are combined,…
Were you afraid of the dark when you were a child? I was. The chore I dreaded most was taking the trash to the curb. The 25-yard walk down the…
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.” In 1977 these blue words scrolled across black screens in theaters across America, introducing an unsuspecting audience to the world…
What does the Bible say about men and women? There is no quick or easy response to that question. God’s Word blows up our narrowly defined cultural constructs and categories.…
“It’s too late to apologize,” Timbaland sang to his girlfriend who he couldn’t trust any longer. The 2007 song struck a chord. How many of us have people in our…
We learn the danger of pride in the story of Gideon. Preached by Pastors Greg Lavine and John Beeson. www.newlifefellowshiptucson.com
I have slow feet. One of my favorite sports to play is basketball. I’m a decent player; over time my game has improved. I’m a better shooter, ball handler, and…
I have slow feet. One of my favorite sports to play is basketball. I’m a decent player; over time my game has improved. I’m a better shooter, ball handler, and…
Week Four of “Substitute Identities.” God’s purposes for us are to have our identity rooted in his calling for us to be saints and to trust our sexual lives to…
This is the story of my wife, Angel, from her perspective. I am a type A, first born. By the time I was twenty, I had my life planned out.…
How will you ever be happy? Content in your own skin? The world tells us we will be happy once we and others accept who we are. And who are…
Perhaps the most uncomfortable thing about Christianity is not that God exists, and not that God sent his Son to the earth. It’s not the miracles: did God really make…
When you enter heaven, how much will you know? Will you have all knowledge as it pertains to your life? Perfect knowledge as it pertains to everything? Can we learn…
I’ve missed more annual well-checks to the doctor than I’ve made. It seems like a waste of time to tell the doctor that I’m not experiencing any physical difficulties, have…
Last week an atomic bomb hit the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, with an estimated 14 million members across more than 47,000 churches.…
Pastors Greg Lavine and John Beeson teach a series on “40-Day-Prayer Challenge.” This week’s teaching is on “lead us not into temptation.” Sermon begins at 21 minutes on the video.…
Recently one of the members of our connection group courageously poured out her heart. She felt disconnected from God and bruised by a challenging season of life. “How can I…
Why do we give? The first hit when you Google “why should I be generous?” is this article which lays out four reasons: 1) Giving frees you from the “burden…
Why do we give? The first hit when you Google “why should I be generous?” is this article which lays out four reasons: 1) Giving frees you from the “burden…
No one argues that miserliness is an admirable character trait. The national convention of Ebeneezer Scrooge urging Americans to be less generous doesn’t exist. Many perceive one of America’s strongest…
Our doorbell rang – an odd occasion –I got up from the dinner table and walked toward the door. My step hitched halfway to the door as I realized it…
Our world is talking theology. They probably aren’t aware of it, but theological conversations permeate the air. One such conversation that has persisted over the past several years has been…
Do you know what Jonah’s final recorded words were? Were they words of repentance? Words of gratitude? Words of praise? Nope. They were words of spite. The last words that…
Jonah doesn’t get much right. Not much at all. God called him to arise and go to Nineveh. Nope and nope. Jonah ran the opposite direction. But after God gets…
Jonah was the only prophet called to people out of Israel.[i] That fact makes it easier to sympathize with Jonah’s resistance to God’s call to go to Nineveh. “I didn’t…
Lessons from an Anti-Hero The Anti-Hero isn’t a modern invention, thousands of years ago Jonah was the Anti-Hero of his own story. Jonah’s story is in the Bible to hold…
Lessons from an Anti-Hero: Jonah Jonah was the only prophet called to people out of Israel.[i] That fact makes it easier to sympathize with Jonah’s resistance to God’s call to…
Judges is a book concluding with the words, Judges 21:25: “In those days, Israel had no king. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” Gideon was an unlikely…
James tells us that we can find joy in suffering because it causes us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. www.newlifebiblefellowship.org
One recent study has identified 27 emotions.[i] That might not sound like a lot until you try to start naming emotions. What emotions have you felt in the past week?…
Queen Esther faced insurmountable odds as she courageously approached King Xerxes to save her people. God gave her favor and freedom for the Jews. Team sermon with Kim Parrish. Sermon…
Your co-worker has just shared with you that her husband was just diagnosed with cancer. You press in and provide a listening ear. But as the conversation closes, what do…
Social psychologist Adam Grant believes that the most powerful thing we can do to improve our thinking is to change the way we approach thinking. In Think Again Grant argues…
We live in an apology-averse culture. We are allergic to repentance and equally allergic to forgiveness. Think about it? When was the last time someone repented to you? I mean,…
When I say the word “church” what do you think of? Most Americans probably think of a single building that they might attend or drive by on the way to…
What plan do you have for your spiritual life? Where do you want to go spiritually? And how are you going to get there? My hunch is that most of…
In this series of advent posts, I will share the words of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and birth. The words that follow are from the gospels and are combined,…
Part 1: The Impossible Light In this series of advent posts, I will share the words of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and birth. The words that follow are from…
So, you’ve decided to leave your church: you’re moving, or you’ve come to a doctrinal impasse, or there has been conflict that you’ve tried to navigate, but the church has…
It’s that time of year, when transitions happen: seasons close and new seasons begin. Maybe you’re a student who just headed off to college. Maybe you got a new job.…
In the family, God calls us to pass on wisdom and receive wisdom. God uses family to help us establish boundaries. God makes the path of family bigger. Team Sermon…
The days of being buried in the church where you were baptized and married are long gone for most. Ours is the age of the McChurch. There are realities embedded…
Church shopping is weird. It seems normal today. But it’s a very strange idea, when you think about it. The notion of “church shopping” first became a possibility in 20th…
Wise speech is the right word spoken at the right time with the right intentions in the right to the right person from the right person. Team sermon preached by…
Rest is not passive, it’s active. We must accept his grace and strength and rest upon Him. Give your burdens to Christ and experience His peace. Team sermon preached at…
Our thoughts are important. Our minds are a factory of thoughts, some intentional, some not intentional. We strategize, reflect, and ruminate. And sometimes we experience intrusive thoughts, those thoughts that…
King Solomon advises to pursue wisdom with your heart and your head. Wisdom is so much more than knowledge or cleverness. Wisdom is spiritual discernment that comes from God. Wisdom…
“The biggest problem in our marriage is our communication.” It’s perhaps the most frequent issue that is brought to the table when Angel (my wife and counselor) and I meet…
“I’m done with God.” “No one will ever understand.” “I’m never trusting anyone again.” “I can’t pray.” “I won’t pray.” I’ve heard all of these statements from people in the…
Any evangelical who has a passing knowledge of the book of Esther immediately thinks of Esther and her Uncle Mordecai’s courage and exemplary moral character. Children shows like Veggie Tales…
We have been navigating a sermon series that has been a while in the making here at New Life. It is called Rest. If you’re interested in digging into the…
I may or may not know your pastor. But I know one thing: your pastor is tired. I have the blessing of being a part of a couple of local…
A great author tells the beginning of the story to prepare the hearer for the end of the story. Charles Dickens famously starts A Tale of Two Cities with the…
The end of Jesus’ story is found in the beginning. Every detail of God-made-flesh in the manger points to the crucified Savior on the cross. Today, we consider Herod and…
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, may God give us eyes to see the beauty of the Christmas story in a fresh way. Every figure we meet at Jesus’ birth…
Jesus’ story begins with shepherds coming to him, the lamb of God. It ends with the Shepherd being struck down and the sheep scattering. And then there is a final…
A great author tells the beginning of the story to prepare the hearer for the end of the story. Charles Dickens famously starts A Tale of Two Cities with the…
Are you old enough to remember retrieving the newspaper in the morning? My dad would crack the front door every morning, stroll out to the driveway, grab The Arizona Daily…
I may or may not know your pastor. But I know one thing: your pastor is tired. I have the blessing of being a part of a couple of local…
This book was co-authored with Benjamin Vrbicek and may be purchased at www.amazon.com. Why Am I Blogging, and Who Am I Trying to Reach? We were off, each of us…
What’s your go-to greeting? “Good morning!” “Hey!” “How are you doing?” “Grace and peace to you” was likely the most frequently used greeting offered by the leaders of the early…
My youth group was great, but I had never seen a youth event like this. Teens spilled out from the Youth Center into the lawn. Big-eyed, I wormed my way…
One of our favorite games as a family is called Oh Heck. You might know it as Up and Down the River. The reason this simple card game is so…
What’s the perfect size for a church? 50? 500? 5000? You could make the argument for why each of these church sizes is optimal. At the church of fifty, you…
“Wilson, where are you? Wilson! Wilson! I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Wilson. Wilson, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Wilson! I can’t!” If you’ve seen Cast Away, this scene is etched in your…
What do you look for when you look for a church that is a good fit for you? Maybe it’s the music? Maybe it’s the preaching? Maybe it’s the children’s…
Recently we were helping my mother-in-law look at properties. One of the first questions you need to know about a property is if it has water. There is some beautiful…
It is impossible to be too heavenly minded. It is impossible to set your eyes too much on Jesus. It is only by setting our sights on heaven that we…
Are you praying a lot for health these days? I am. How many of your prayers are for your or others’ health or safety? If we were to take every…
If you were to list your top three most creative people, who would be on that list? Maybe Vincent van Gogh? Walt Disney? JK Rowling? Thomas Edison? Leonardo DaVinci? Marie…
How do you quantify fear? How do you measure anxiety? None of us knows what lies ahead of us with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation. When scientists’ predictions range from tens…
Pastor John Beeson describes why a local pastor and a local congregation is key to your spiritual growth and well-being: “You have access to the best pastors in America. You…
Atheists.org begins its post on Biblical Contradictions[i] with this statement: “It is a central dogma of all fundamental Christians that the Bible is without error. They teach this conclusion by…
Pastor John Beeson and his wife Angel are amazing parents. But, like most parents, they wanted to know what their teenage kids thought about their parenting skills. This is what…
“I don’t even know why we’re here. Nothing is going to change.” I’ve heard those words many times in counseling sessions. And I’ve felt those words from the posture, from…
If you have breath, you are the proud owner of conflict. It lurks around every corner of our days. I wake up first in our home. I get dressed and…
The competition for your devotion is fierce. We just arrived in India: it’s my second time visiting this beautiful nation. One of the first thing that strikes you as a…
How do you handle anger? I drive a little manual 2005 Scion xB that just eclipsed 195,000 miles. I love that little car. It’s fuel-efficient and requires minimal maintenance. And…
Who are the most influential leaders in your life? What made them such great leaders? I fear that our cultural understanding of leadership is going further and further astray from…
“If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” 1 Samuel 2:25 Eli the priest…
“And Hannah prayed and said, ‘My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord.” 1 Samuel 2:1 Gratitude is a rare gift. It’s amazing how…
“Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkenah, her husband, said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart…
“There was a certain man of Ramath-aim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham… an Ephrathite…” -1 Samuel 1:1 The two part story…
“Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” -1 Samuel 17:28a My 13 year old son recently told…
One of our favorite games as a family is called Oh Heck. You might know it as Up and Down the River. The reason this simple card game is so…
Would it surprise you to know that according to at least one study, 20.4 million Americans practice yoga?[i] Can Christians do yoga? Should Christians do yoga? When my wife approached…
One of my Christian heroes is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I even asked my wife if we could name our son Dietrich. For some reason she didn’t like that idea. Go figure.…
I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. During the dead of winter, there are several weeks where the sun skims the horizon for a mere four hours a day. If you…
Tomorrow I turn 40. Lord willing, I’m about halfway done with this marathon we call life. God has been so gracious to me. I have a godly wife who makes…
The most important influence to my pastoral counseling is from David Powlison. Powlison was a professor at the seminary my wife Angel graduated from and has had an indelible impact…
It was during a family dance party to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” that our patriarch commented about the vapid lyrics. “They just don’t make them like they used to,”…
There was a time when going to church is what respectable people did. Two generations ago, every self-respecting citizen went to church, regardless of their desire to be there or…
“How easy is it for you to handle the stressors of life today? How hard are simple decisions?” A few months back, Josh Reich, pastor at Revolution Church and author…
Musical preferences are profoundly etched into us. One generation’s trash is another generation’s treasure. Modern worship has a bullseye on it. It’s a fairly regular occurrence that I read a…
Some might have experienced the forgiveness of Christ but you are still living as though you are in debt. You feel as though you need to add onto the cost…
How are we supposed to do our work “as unto the Lord?” I’d like to give some Bible tips for students, stay at home moms and dads, those who don’t…
Want to know something weird? Women are never referred to as “daughters of God” in the Bible. Kind of odd, especially given how often that phrase is used in evangelical…
What are the idols of your heart? What are the ways in which you have allowed your heart that is intended to worship God, to worship the golden calves that…
Who was the Innkeeper in Bethlehem who cruelly turned Mary and Joseph away? We’ll never know his name. Pastor John Beeson decries him as one of the Christmas villains: “Every…
Today, I would like to get practical by offering biblical wisdom regarding work for a few specific groups of people. Those groups are students, stay at home moms and dads,…
Pew recently released a survey[i] on why Americans do and do not go to church. While 73% of Americans identify as being Christian[ii], surveys say Americans who report going…
The Knot recently did a study and found that over the past seven years, weddings in churches have dropped from 41% to 26%.[i] Wow. Did you hear that? Only a quarter…
Why does your pastor need your help? If he were really competent, would he need his church members to do ministry for him or with him? Moses was crushing it.…
The untouched idol of the American evangelical church is family. I love my family. No family is perfect, but I couldn’t be more grateful for a healthy family: a mom…
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, claimed that as church attendance declines, Facebook will become the new church for people, offering a sense of community and meaning.[i] But Facebook…
I sat across the room from the couple, trying to slow down my mind and open my heart to the criticism they were leveling at me. They had been offended…
Do you know Jonah’s last words in the Bible? “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”[i] Those are not words motivated by suffering or grief. Those…
What do you do when a non-believer asks you for prayer? Your co-worker has just shared with you that her son is battling a drug addiction. You press in and…
I recently returned from a short-term mission trip to Senegal, Africa, where our church has had a partnership with a mission agency and a local village pastor for about five…
What is the impact of the water we swim in in 21st century America? Consumerism can infiltrate our spiritual lives. The notion that you have any decision to make on the…
A friend of mine commented the other day that whereas Paul calls us to work out our salvation with “fear and trembling” he felt more that his was being worked…
Do you like change? Even those who are the most habit-driven and change averse people would welcome certain changes. There are persistent habits we all desire to see changed in…
“So [Jesus] told them this parable: ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country,…
Obedience is connected with a here and now promise. Children, like adults are sinful and prone to sin. Obedience is connected with the life God has called us to live.…
We live and do ministry in Princeton, a college town in New Jersey. If you took a string on a map and connected New York and Philadelphia, right smack dab…
There is perhaps nothing I feel more uncomfortable teaching than prayer. If you were to list my spiritual gifts in order, the gift of prayer might eke out the gift…
I would suggest that most of us have one of two models of forgiveness: a Brita model or a leaky spigot model. The Brita model is the American model, the…
In the last two blog posts I talked about dysfunctional families: first in Palestine, and then in America. Let’s get to the good news. Let’s talk a bit about the…
Paul teaches us the progression of sin, how to change our model of repentance, the progression of the cure to sin and how to transform our model of forgiveness.
In my last post I delved into the gory details of the complete and utter dysfunction of Jacob’s family: deceit, jealousy, lust, unrequited love, manipulation, preferential treatment, twisted use of…
I believe it was Roger Barrier who I first heard point out that there are basically no functional families in the Bible. That is absolutely the truth. And to see…
We learn much in the first chapter of Genesis. The starting point of all things is sovereign God. He calls us and His nature and love is unchangeable.
“You are a team USA fan because you say ‘we’. You say ‘We won the race by .08.’ You say ‘We won 8 golds.’” So begins AT&T’s commercial that has…
The gospel account of Jesus turning water into wine reveals two important truths. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a model for evangelism at its best. She simply points to…
Our God is a missionary God who sent His Son as a missionary to earth to save and unite His people to Himself and to each other. As members of…
Matthew Henry’s biblical commentary might be the most widely distributed commentary on the planet. Matthew Henry lived just around the turn of the 18th century and was an upstanding minister…
I went to a great church right after college. With great worship and gospel-centered, challenging teaching it was a no-brainer choice for me and my new bride. We settled into…
We’re starting Capital Stewardship Campaign soon. In process of starting the campaign up, I pulled together a Stewardship team. I intentionally tried to bring an eclectic group together: some with…
I just shoved another new book on the leadership shelf of my library. Just to the right of center (kind of like me!) on one of my most brightly arrayed…
Today, we will speak about one of the most overlooked chapters in the book of Genesis – Chapter 16. This is the chapter when Sarah’s Egyptian slave Hagar became pregnant…