God, where are you? It's a pretty common question. Live long enough and you'll find yourself asking it. Heck, even Jesus came to the point of saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Have you? I mean, if God is in control, why does my life so often seem out of control? Looking for what God is up to in your life? You may be only one moment away because it just so happens...
George Thorogood sang it, Jesus answered it. If love is a verb, if love is a command, then who do we love? Maybe you or a skeptical friend have had trouble rationalizing a God of love with a world full of hate. How am I supposed to love my enemies when I have trouble loving my spouse? Learning to love everybody, always - this Sunday at Mendham Hills.
"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." So said the apostle Paul. He grew up, he matured...but in regards to what? He was not speaking generally, but specifically. He grew up. He changed the way he spoke, understood, and thought about love. Most of us never do, though. When it comes to love, we still think and speak like children and wonder why our Barbie Dream House images wind up more like an ...
"...to love somebody." Great song, but an even deeper truth. Jesus said as much when he said, "A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you." Why is it that we spend so much time and effort on every other command, and so little on what would become known as the "great one?" Who taught you how to love? If you think it's just natural, think again. This weekend we launch our new series, "Love Does." You and I really don't know how to love somebody, and it's time we learn. A series...
Always, not sometimes. Always, not once-in-a-while. Always, not occasionally. Always, not some day. Seems kind of repetitive, right? That's the point. For most of us, love is kind of like a dance - there's a back and forth to it. You give, I give. You take, I take. That is not the kind of love that is the singular command of Jesus. Nor is it the kind of love He has for you. What does love always, always, always, always do? Find out this Sunday at Mendham Hills.
I'm kind of an old school guy. Sure, I pay my bills online now, but I refuse to check the box asking me to "go paperless." I still want the bill to come in the mail. I want to hold it in my hand, review it, and then file it away. This way, at a moment's notice, I can simply go to my filing cabinet and be reminded of who I paid for what and when. My memory might fade, but my filing cabinet is there forever. Oh, yeah...I also want to do that with things that people have done or said that hurt, dis...
Jesus summed up all the Old Testament Laws and Prophets with two new commands: Love God and love others. One of His early followers, the Apostle Paul, went even further when he wrote, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." For them, the command to love had nothing to do with a feeling. Jesus commanded an action, and then Jesus showed us how to love. This Sunday at Mendham Hills, we look at the dirty little word behind real love. Warning: You might not like it, but ...
Kickoff 2018 is here! Are you old enough to remember the classic and oft-repeated line that came over the public address system after every Elvis concert? That's right! "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building." Elvis stole that line. It was God's first. He used it a long time ago. Yet, we keep forgetting that God is not in a box - God has left the building. Try as we might, He just won't stay put. This Kickoff Sunday, invite a friend along for the fun, food and message - church re-exp...
"Time rolls by the clock don't stop / I wish I had a few more drops of the good stuff, the good times / Oh, but they just keep on flying right on by like it ain't nothing / Wish I had me a pause button / Moments like those, Lord knows I'd hit it and give myself five more minutes." Found myself singing this song a lot this week as summer faded into fall and the kids went back to school. Time is going by so fast - I wish I could just pause it or at least slow it down. How about you? One day, my ki...
This Sunday we wrap up our summer-long look at Jesus' directive to "pray this way." What if I told you the ending you know and love and sing of "The Lord's Prayer" isn't really the ending? Would it matter? Should it matter? The truth is Jesus actually ends His model prayer with a story about unlocking the power of prayer. Ever feel like you pray so much and see so little? The often-untold story of the Lord's Prayer...the story that doesn't end the way you think it does...this Sunday at Mendham H...
Life is complex. There are things that happen to us that can shatter our world. In the midst of our hurts and hurried lives, how can we stay focused and follow where Jesus leads? In our series on The Lord's Prayer, we reach a place where it is asked, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." So we are asking God to help us avoid some things, but where do we GO? The disciples followed Jesus up on a mountain where he told them the places that they are truly led. Join us Sunday at Me...
As Blondie sings on their 1978 single, “One way, or another / I'm gonna find ya' / I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya'." What do you do when someone gets you? You get even. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. We sing about it and watch movies about it. We love the taste of revenge. But Jesus teaches something quite different - almost unthinkable. Find out why prayer is at the heart of one of Jesus' most upside-down teachings, this Sunday at Mendham Hills.
Growing up, many of the arguments between my siblings and I were ended with one of my parents yelling out, "Enough is enough already!" Turns out that was some of the best advice I was ever given. In fact, in His model prayer, Jesus encourages us to pray for simply that - enough. There are real dangers attached to believing in a world of scarcity and praying for more. What happens when we believe in a world of abundance and begin to pray for just enough? "Give us this day our daily bread," Sunday...
If you have taken an international flight, you've seen the sign that says something like, "U.S. Border," and an immigration agent will ask to see your passport. If you're a citizen, they let you through with very little trouble. But if you are a foreigner, they might have a few questions about the nature of your visit. Airports are one of the places where the divisions between the various geographical areas that make up our world are the most visible. Jesus himself talked about a kingdom over wh...
How would you rate your sense of direction? When you're driving, do you always seem to know where to go? Or do you get lost going one town over? Remember the days of before GPS, when you would have to stop and ask for directions? Those were the worst. Now, thanks to my iPhone, I'm never lost. I might not know where I am, but with a few words ("Siri get directions for...") I'll be all set and back on course. For many of us, we wish we had a GPS for life. At times, we find our lives heading in a c...
As Shakespeare's Juliet once posed, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." And that might be true, but make no mistake about it, names matter. Some recent research suggests that names can influence choice of profession, where we live, who we marry, the grades we earn, the stocks we invest in, whether we’re accepted to a school or are hired for a particular job, and the quality of our work. Maybe that's why Jesus prioritized a prayer about God's name...
At the beach this week with my five year old nephew, I noticed something he has said just about every day. When his older cousins were riding the waves, he would watch how they did it, how far they rode them, and then ask, "Can you teach me?" We were flying kites, making them dive towards the ground and soar back up, and again came the question, "Can you teach me?" He wanted to have the same fun and the same results we were having, and he knew doing it his way just wouldn't cut it. So, with chil...
What impact am I making with my life? Am I making any difference in this world? What is my legacy? Legacy is not something we look at too often. But if we did, would it make a difference in the way we live our lives? Building our legacy means to live intentionally, seeking to make the most of every opportunity. This Sunday, we look at the life of Esther and take away some powerful and practical lessons of how we can make the most of every opportunity in our world.
As we conclude our series on Jesus's invitation to follow, we look at the power of godly leaders. Who is the leader of your pack...the one who sets the direction, pace, and destination? With a nod towards fathers, we examine the power of parents - specifically dads when it comes to the direction of future generations. In many ways, the direction Dad takes is the directions kids follow. If you follow often, so will they, and potentially generations to come. This Sunday, it's Fathers' Day and deci...
One of the followers of Jesus, a disciple named Thomas, asked Him a pretty big question - one that anyone following someone would want to know. "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" It's a pretty common question, maybe humanity's most asked: "How do you get to heaven?" And when it comes to questions like this, they inevitably lead to more questions like, "Have I been good enough? Have I done enough? Have I given enough to get there? Are there many paths and ways ...
Follow - Follow by Sunday Podcast
This Memorial Day weekend, we wrap up our Attitude Adjustment series with a look at what happens when our attitudes go unchecked and unchanged. Narcissism is the place where all bad attitudes eventually lead. Paul, an apostle of Jesus, told his "son in the faith," Timothy, "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves." In a culture hyper-focused on ME, how do we take our eyes - our thoughts - off of ourselves long enough to really love another? This Sunday ...
As the great philosopher Taylor Swift sang, "Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate." That's just what they do. Unfortunately, there is just a little bit of "hater" in all of us. We have a propensity towards critical spirits and judgmental attitudes. Why do we judge so quickly and harshly? We are commanded to have the attitude of Jesus and He has a pretty famous saying about judging. Does that mean we don't judge anything or anyone...ever? This Sunday, we take the logs out of our own eyes and...
This Mothers' Day Sunday, we take a pause from our attitude adjusting to focus on the women in our lives. Jesus, in His earthly ministry, championed the cause and value of women like no other. In fact, I would argue that in many ways, our culture is now just catching up. Yet, is it possible that in correcting one societal ill, we have created another? Jesus said, "Come ...all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you...and you will find rest for your souls." ...
Have you ever tried to use a fancy word and have it backfire? I have. It was pretty embarrassing. I thought I knew what it meant, but I was awkwardly and painfully wrong. In fact, I hurt someone's feelings and left some "carnage in my wake" all because I though I knew something I didn't. Turns out, the older I get, the more aware I am of my propensity to think I know things that I really don't, and carnage results. I just thought I knew how to love God, love my wife, or parent my kids. Turns out...
Christianity remains the dominant religion in our country with about 75% of people polled identifying themselves as adherents. I would counter that there appears to be a more dominant faith amongst us. The religion of our day, which almost all of us seem to be following at one level or another, is cynicism. Cynicism is, in many ways, the complete opposite of faith or belief. It crushes hope and fuels apathy, distrust, depression and disdain. If everyone has an agenda or an ulterior motive, who c...
Christmas mornings last a lot longer now that my kids are older. When they were young, it seemed like a month's worth of preparation was over in half a minute. They tore into the presents, barely looking at what they had unwrapped before casting it aside and picking up the next. No reflection, no appreciation, just pure consumption. It was like they felt entitled to all those things and when the last package was opened, it was not done with an "attitude of gratitude," but through tears because t...
All of us, in one way or another, are in need of an attitude adjustment - but where do we begin? How about with the worst kind of attitude? The one attitude that all of us share, the one we hate in others but refuse to see in ourselves. There is no attitude that makes one more unpopular, and the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. It is, as C.S. Lewis wrote, "the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began and leads to every other vice." ...
I really want to take control of my life. If I had my way, every step on the journey would fall exactly into proper place. Few of them do, though. The reason so many of us feel like our lives are out of control is...they are. Time has taught us a painful truth: there is very little in our lives we can actually command. What if there was one thing we could control that impacted everything we couldn't? Imagine controlling the one thing that impacts everything? Controlling my one thing this Sunday ...
One of the things I loved about being a dad was introducing my kids to new experiences - their first ball game, first amusement park, first ride on a plane. Of course, not every first was fun. There were also first shots, first stitches, first funerals. One common question they had that put every fear to rest and built up hope for what was coming was, "Dad, what will it be like?" Jesus proclaimed our great hope was not merely what was in heaven, but the "renewal of all things." And so, in order ...
