(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on June 29, 2014) For the last couple of years, I have been wrestling with what I am beginning to think is one of the fundamental divides in Christianity. It comes out in a variety of ways, but I’ve …
Read MoreWorship and Purpose-Part 3
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on June 22, 2014) For several weeks, I’ve been trying to build a case. We’re in a series where we are looking at the purpose of worship and the purpose of our church. In times of transition, it’s important …
Read MoreWorship and Purpose-Part 2
(Message given June 15, 2014 at Newberg Friends Church. We had great discussion at the end in both of the services.) Any of you ever spend time doing mazes? I was obsessed with these things in like fourth and fifth grade. I got to the …
Read MoreWorship and Purpose-Part 1
I fell in love with cathedrals when we were in Europe last summer. It was an unsettled love, I grant you, because every time I was in one I was conscious of the corruption in the church and the misuse of wealth it took to …
Read MoreA Beautiful History
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on June 1, 2014) 136 years ago on this very day, our church officially began-on June 1, 1878. That is a long time ago! Much has changed in that time. Anybody know who was president in 1878? [ASK] Rutherford …
Read MoreDeep Simplicity
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on May 25, 2014) 1 John is a frustrating book if you are very precise and want to lock things down. Throughout the book, you have these binary statements, these statements that put two things into a relationship where …
Read MoreA Literal Metaphor?
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on May 11, 2014) If you’ve been around me very long, you know I’m a guy who loves a metaphor. Metaphors fit me like a glove. (See what I did there?) Actually all the English majors are going, “Dude, …
Read MoreTangible Basics
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on April 27, 2014) When you are learning Greek, the place in the bible that you often get asked to translate first is the letter we call 1 John. This is because it is sort of like the Dr. …
Read MoreEaster Deepening
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on April 20, 2014) There are lots of metaphors and pictures and images that describe Jesus and the victory of Easter. Lion. Lamb. Warrior on a white horse. But there’s one I don’t think of often, but that surprisingly …
Read MoreSteps to the Cross
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on April 13, 2014) Psalm 31:9-16 (TNIV) Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by …
Read More