December 1, 2020
by Eric Stillman
This past Sunday, I preached on the first chapter of Malachi, a confrontational passage that raises the important question of whether we prioritize God with our time, talent, and treasure, or whether we give Him our leftovers. I have found the passage to be potentially life-changing as I experienced God’s conviction and responded in repentance and obedience. I hope it was the same for you, and if you have not listened to the sermon, I encourage you to listen to it on our website or watch it on our YouTube page. I believe that if you prioritize God, you will experience the power and presence of God in your life, because God will bless those who honor Him....Keep Reading
Tags: Jesus, Discipleship
November 17, 2020
by Eric Stillman
During November and the first week of December, our church is joining with other area churches in collecting new, unwrapped toys for the Hartford City Mission Noah Christmas Store. The Noah Christmas Store is a store for parents of children in Hartford City Mission programs, where they can buy toys at a minimal “suggested donation” cost for their children for Christmas. In the Hartford City Mission flyer promoting this event to churches, they use the word “dignity” in describing what this opportunity affords low-income parents. It is worth reflecting on what that means....Keep Reading
Tags: Christmas, Giving, Hartford City Mission
November 10, 2020
by Eric Stillman
Raise your hand if you’re old enough to remember Bruce Springsteen’s song “Glory Days.”
Glory days, well they’ll pass you by
Glory days, in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
Now that I have two boys playing high school soccer, I find myself more nostalgic than ever before about my own high school days. ...Keep Reading
Tags: Heaven, C.S. Lewis, nostalgia, glory days
November 3, 2020
by Eric Stillman
By the time you read this, you have probably already cast your ballot, and the United States may have already chosen a new President. In the spirit of this political season, allow me to take a moment to remind you about how Jesus and the early church subverted the politics of their era, and the lessons we can learn from that today. Consider the language used by the politicians of Jesus’ day, and how Jesus and His followers confronted that worldview, co-opted that language and gave it a completely different meaning (taken from Shane Claiborne’s Jesus for President):...Keep Reading
Tags: Jesus, Politics, Kingdom of God
October 27, 2020
by Eric Stillman
The longer I am in pastoral ministry, the more I feel like I am running a marathon with snipers hidden along the path. I have been pastoring NewLife for 14 years, and during that time I have painfully watched many of my pastoral colleagues leave the ministry ...Keep Reading
Tags: Spiritual Warfare, Encouragement, Pastoral ministry
October 20, 2020
by Eric Stillman
I have the privilege of doing marriage counseling on occasion with couples going through difficult times. One of the resources that has really helped me is Sue Johnson’s book “Hold Me Tight” (she has a more explicitly Christian version called “Created for Connection”). Johnson talks about a pattern of communication that couples often get into called “Find the Bad Guy” (otherwise known as “It’s not me, it’s you”), where the husband and wife go back and forth blaming each other for whatever the problem is. I’m sure many of you are painfully familiar with this dance: “I hate when you do this…”; “Well I do this because you do that!” “Well, I only do that because you are like THAT!” And round and round they go, blaming each other for everything that is wrong....Keep Reading
Tags: Spiritual Warfare, Marriage
October 13, 2020
by Eric Stillman
This past Sunday I preached a sermon on Joshua 7, a passage that belongs in the Terrible Bible Story Hall of Fame. In the story, Achan’s decision to steal some items from the plunder of Jericho leads to the death of 36 Israelites and eventually to the death of both him and his family. This passage is a sobering reminder of the impact our sinful actions can have not only on us, but our families, community, and the people of God as well.
As I prepared this sermon, I thought of the many spiritual leaders through the years who have brought disrepute on themselves and the church through their own sinful actions....Keep Reading
Tags: accountability, Grace, Sin
October 6, 2020
by Eric Stillman
A few Sundays ago, I began my sermon by sharing a little about what you might call my philosophy of preaching: how I preach, and why. Allow me to expand upon that a bit in this space:
1) Preach primarily the Bible, not my thoughts...Keep Reading
Tags: Preaching, Bible
September 29, 2020
by Eric Stillman
When I say “Ebenezer,” you say… Scrooge?
This past Sunday, we were reading through a passage in Joshua 4 where God instructs Joshua to have twelve men - one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel ...Keep Reading
Tags: Ebenezer, Theology
September 22, 2020
by Eric Stillman
This morning, I was watching a video in which a couple of counselors were teaching a unique way of doing premarital counseling. Their approach was focused on helping a couple understand each other’s stories, so that they might treat each other with more understanding and compassion. As I observed the couple who was being counseled, I immediately noticed that the woman was wearing a lot of makeup and seemed to have given a lot of attention to her looks.
As I followed along with the session, the counselor asked each individual to share a scene from their story that stood out to them as particularly influential in their lives. ...Keep Reading
Tags: Grace, Story, listening
