New Community Church of Tacoma

Bo Noonan teaches through Daniel chapter 6 in our Life in Babylon series. Here we see the aftermath of last week's "writing on the wall" as a new king is now in charge. An 80+ year old Daniel finds himself back at center stage as the new king puts him in a place of great authority, but the king's advisors are far from pleased with Daniel and his status. As a result, they play to the king's ego and formulate a plan for Daniel's death in a den of lions. Daniel's courage and faith are both amazing, but they don't make him the hero, rather they point us to the fact that Daniel had consistently been trusting the true here of this book of scripture - God himself. The question arises in this story, "Where does Daniel's courage and trust in God's faithfulness come from?" The answer is seen throughout the story thus far: Daniel built up is courage and trust in God through consistent little things throughout his life. As a result, when the big things came, he was ready to exercise the muscles of courage and faith. We can trust the hero as well through consistent exercise of trusting in God and his ways.

Bo Noonan teaches through chapter 5 of Daniel in our series Life in Babylon. Seventy years have past between chapters 4 and 5, and here we find the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, throwing a massive party that centers around a boast that the gods of Babylon are greater than the Lord God of the Hebrews. As a result of this boast, God himself writes a message on the wall of the palace that must once again be interpreted by Daniel, who is now in his 80s. The message is one of judgement, yet in that message, we can clearly see the magnificence of God's grace to those who trust him with their lives. Whereas Belshazzar's days were numbered, he was placed in God's scales and found wanting, and his kingdom was about to be divided, Jesus gives us eternal hope, he did away with the scales by taking God's justice upon himself, and he promises to make us whole. This is the good news of Jesus!

Bo Noonan teaches through chapter 4 of Daniel in our Life in Babylon series. Here we see king Nebuchadnezzar narrate his own story of God's humbling power through a time of pre-prophesied madness. In the story we see the love and care that Daniel has cultivated toward the king, as well as God's grace as he gives the king time to repent and trust him. In the story we see a clear picture of a man's pride and God's grace to allow suffering to humble him and change his life, and the life of others, for good. As we realize that God is the main character and author of the Story of humanity, it frees us to live a life of trust in his goodness, grace, mercy, and providence, rather than trying to control our own circumstance or take credit for things that we don't have control over.

Bo Noonan teaches through Daniel chapter 3 in our series Life in Babylon, where we are learning how to live as faithful witnesses of God's goodness in a dark and hostile world. In this chapter we find Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego standing together in faithfulness and enduring a fiery furnace, as they defy the king's orders to bow down to a statue proclaiming him as a god. Even though we may not be called to bow down to physical statues, we are often tempted to bow our wills to cultural norms - like deifying politics, money, sports, or escapism. As we see from the three Hebrew boys, community and a plan BEFORE the moment of temptation will serve us well.

Andy Cooley teaches through Daniel chapter 2 in our series Life in Babylon. Here we see Daniel and his three friends coming face to face with a situation that puts their faith to the test...not for the last time. As a people who have been removed from their homes and are being actively indoctrinated by an evil culture, how will they react? God, in his wisdom, sends letters from the prophet Jeremiah to speak clearly to his people in exile. Through these letters, faith is strengthened and a call to "do good in the city of Bablyon" is lived out by Daniel and his friends. They submit to God's ways and exchange their understanding of the world for his.

Bo Noonan kicks off Life in Bablyon, a new series through the book of Daniel. In this series we will see how to be a faithful witness of Jesus and his ways in times of moral corruption, spiritual confusion, and political fragmentation...like the times we live in today. As we begin the series, we get context for the dire situation and the amazing faith that gets lived out as a group of young men trust God himself to be their hero. We also see that whenever the culture of Babylon - a biblical term for any non-biblical colonising culture - tries to form us into its image, we can learn to engage in faith, rather than assimilating into or separating from the culture. This truth will be a main theme as the series progresses.

2023 was filled with stories of lives being changed by God and we wanted to share some of them with you. Here are a few stories of miraculous healing, salvation and more! We also spent time praying and praising God together and we would encourage you to do the same as you welcome in 2024. As a bonus, there's also a plug for ManCamp...if you'd like more info, head to ncctacoma.org/mancamp or the NCC App!

Bo Noonan finishes our Advent series by teaching on JOY. He shows us that joy is not circumstantial, rather it is sourced in God himself and can be ours because of the coming of Jesus to save us and add us into his eternal family. Through Jesus we can have eternal joy starting now!

Bo Noonan teaches on the Advent theme of LOVE from 1 John 4:7-21. Here we see a letter written about biblical love from the perspective of a person who lived with Love incarnate. John learned what and who love was by being with Jesus, and he relates the truth of love at work in our lives as we submit to the truth that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.

Bo Noonan teaches about Peace in week 2 of our Advent series. He walks through the story of how God freed his people from slavery in the book of Exodus and how we too are freed from slavery to sin - both physically and spiritually, which brings the ultimate peace.