The season of Advent is upon us. We often find ourselves in hopeful anticipation of all of the gatherings, traveling, gift giving and receiving, and favorite family traditions. With all the hustle and bustle we can easily forget why we’re doing what we’re doing and who are we to be focused on the most. Reminders to look to again to Jesus are needed for us all.In Luke 7, John the Baptist, hearing o...  Read More

As we walk through the Garden this week, we continue to tarry in one of our favorite and oldest corners of His creation. In the busy parts of our lives, we often see pictures of plants that are ancient like the giant Sierra Sequoias and pass them by without too much thought. But when we really pause amongst these colossal living Ebenezers to consider the ancient nature and the grand reach of these...  Read More

“Let no corrupting talk come from your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29At the end of chapter four, the apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians that since they are in Christ, they are to no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. He is referring to their old way of life as Gentiles (...  Read More

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”- 1 Peter 2:9One of the hardest things for me to do as a follower of Jesus Christ is to daily “see” the things that are unseen and to try and remember them every hour of every day - to be a walking wor...  Read More

“When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations at it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.Of this gospel I was made a minister ac...  Read More

In about the 7 th century BC, there reigned in Judah a king named Hezekiah. At this extraordinarily tumultuous time in Israel’s history, the country had been divided into two nations: the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom (often called Judah). It was during this period of Israel’s history that the Assyrian kingdom took the Northern Kingdom into captivity. They were overthrown and taken awa...  Read More

This is going to be a little more pragmatic of a pondering. Because of our training in medicine, Lorraine and I often share insights into medical issues and give advice on the health effects of various activities and disease processes. Recently we have come across some older research that seems to have gone under the radar for the most part. It seemed to us that this could have important consequen...  Read More

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” 1 Corinthians 1:22-25.“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to u...  Read More

For several days now I’ve enjoyed a new kind of happiness and even a little excitement. Why? Because my notebook computer is now running Windows 11. Yes, I know, I need to “get a life,” but let me explain.Ever since Windows 11 first came out, Microsoft has offered a free upgrade for Windows 10 users. They provided a handy tool you could run to see if your computer was capable of running the new ve...  Read More

Last week I needed to cut down 2 trees to make room for a new drain field. At the end of the day, I truly needed physical rest. What a blessing rest is, especially when your whole body really hurts! This made me think about the gift of grace we have in eternal spiritual rest.The concept of entering into God’s rest comes from Hebrews chapters 3-4. The word “rest” is used twelve times in chapter 4 a...  Read More

A few months ago, I began sharing some ponderings regarding 1 Peter 2:9 – where Peter tells us, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”In previous articles we pondered the glorious titles, “a chosen race” and “a royal priesthood.” In this a...  Read More

Have you benefited from our live-stream service on Sunday mornings while you were away? Have you shared a link with a friend and pointed them to the archived sermons on the website? Have you been helped by having the Sunday service streamed in another room such as the family center or the kitchen in the past? In one way or another, everyone at New Life has been and has benefited from the hard work...  Read More