Coffee and Conversations

Comfort Food

2012-01-30T22:25:00.000-08:00

I think most of us have heard the term “comfort food” you know the food we eat not because we need it but just because it makes us feel good. We don't really care what the food does for us internally, we just want that good feeling. Sometimes I think we look at scripture the same way. We read a verse and get this warm fuzzy feeling then go our way with out really thinking about what that scripture can do for us internally. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy feeling good as much as the next person. Nothing wrong with feeling good but many times we walk away with the temporary good feeling and never see the eternal depths of what the scripture says. The funny thing is that a lot of the time those depths are not hidden in some profound theological mystery but the words are right there as plain as day. This happened to me today. A friend posted a verse on Facebook, I stopped to read it and there it was that good feeling. Okay, feeling good, time to move on to the next thing on Facebook. Not sure what stopped me, maybe it was this verse that I had read many times before in a different version that I usually read. Could be my over active mind that likes to analyze everything. Most likely God saying slow down and listen for a minute. It was interesting that I didn't stop and meditate on the verse for a long period of time. I didn't beg God to open my eyes to see what it said. I simply stopped for a couple of minutes maybe three and I looked at what the words right there in front of me said. Here's the verse in the NIV.:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

My first thought as I was about to walk on with this good feeling was, did I hear what these words say? Not what is the deeper meaning here but what do the words right here say.

These are the things that I took a few minutes to consider.

Am I convinced? Not much profound or deep about that, just a simple question.
Nothing in death and nothing in life. Pretty much includes everything.
Neither angels nor demons. No holy and good spiritual being or evil ones.
Neither the present nor the future. My present and my future, already taken care of. Nothing that is happening and nothing that will happen.
Neither height nor depth. Nothing that can be measured.
Nor anything else in all creation. And if all the rest didn't cover it then it says nothing in creation which is everything besides God.
Will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What was that? Did it just say that after all these things that it named, which covered everything in the spiritual and physical worlds. None of them can separate us from the love of God. And God is love so it's saying that from the moment I was in Christ nothing could separate me from God because He can not be separate from His love.

I don't know about you but those thoughts give me much more than a good feeling. If I'm “convinced” then they bring peace on the inside deep in my soul. Even if I'm not “convinced” they still bring great hope in the midst of my doubt because my believing or doubting does not change the truth of the scripture. These verses do not cease to be true if I don't believe them.

It doesn't take a great mind or a “dizzying intellect” to see what these words say, only a few minutes and a listening ear.

Johnny

Magic Johnson, Tim Tebow, and Legalism

2012-01-13T13:42:00.001-08:00

Greetings friends,

Today, my heart is turned to an interesting topic in our religious world realm. That much of what we call grace is really just another form of legalism. Grace boasters boast in how graceful they are, Legalist boast in what they can do for God. Both are just legalism. Today as you read Magic Johnson, Tim Tebow, and Legalism think about the rise and fall of Legalism in our society and how it affects even the most graceful people on earth. The point is this, that grace does not mean much unless there is life driving it.

Magic Johnson

In the 80's I love watching Magic Johnson play basketball. I have never seen a presence on the basketball court like him. He was not the fastest, most talented, and athletic player in the NBA that distinction went to the likes of Michael Jordan and Isaiah Thomas. Why does Magic Johnson stand out amongst these players in the 80's? I believe he stands out amongst this crowd due to one thing, AIDS. During the 1980's AIDS became a prevalent as one of the worst diseases man has ever known. I remember what I was doing the moment I heard about Magic Johnson having AIDS. I was a young budding P.A. Announcer calling the 8th grade football game as a Senior in High School. My buddy walks in and says, "I just heard on the radio that Magic has AIDS." I remember turning to him and saying, "What? Magic? AIDS?" My first thought was, "Magic is a Homosexual?" No, he just could not say no to women. It affected me, that news ruined my evening, why? My hope that Magic was perfect was diminished by a lifestyle that he lived as a professional NBA player on the road. During those days, I lived a Christian lifestyle (or should I say, "what i thought was a christian lifestyle.") in the eyes of most, I was a good kid. I still had hope and belief that I could be better, that the gospel was going to be spread through me because I was going to go out and make a difference. I believed I was going to do God's work and make Him better (I actually believed that!).
Magic Johnson, what is he doing today? Magic has been the most successful AIDS survivor in history up to this point. Magic today is in a group bidding for the right to own the Dodgers, Magic is featured on ESPN and other Sports network as a NBA Analyst. Society has forgiven Magic Johnson for being an adulterer. How graceful of a society to forgive Magic for screwing his neighbors wife. How wonderful is it that Magic has been let off the hook? I hated Magic Johnson, why? How could he be so stupid for screwing it up so badly? Magic was married with kids. For a young teenager, that impacted me. "I'll never be like that!" Boasting that I would never be a sinner like that. Little did I know that I was no different than Magic Johnson, no I have not slept with over 900 women, but my porn addiction was no different. The following years after graduating High School and working on being a better Christian i.e., trying to perfect what God has already perfected through Christ. The following system of belief existed in me, that it was my job to meet God half way, that I had to quit sinning, and that I had to read, pray, and evangelize to be accepted by God.
Magic Johnson after making his AIDS announcement was forced to retire due to the fact that he might somehow transfer his AIDS to someone else if cut. Magic then begin his tour of apologies hoping that society would somehow receive him back. Eventually Magic would return but not without caution from other players, you see, Magic had to earn his way back in. It was a legalist view of stepping back onto the hardwood. The realization that Christians faced in those days was having to earn their way to heaven, sure, Christ death on the cross was for us but it was not the final cure. I still have friends today who believe that we have to rid ourselves of sin. Magic could not rid himself of AIDS, by the way America, he still has AIDS. What has changed?

Tim Tebow

America is in love with Tim Tebow today. Why is America and ESPN so enamored with Tim? Tim is a winner. Tim has a comercial for an energy drink company where he tells the viewing audience that the critics said he would never win in high school, that he would never win in college, and that he would never be drafted in the first round. Tim's response to that in the comercial is, "Thanks." Tim a few years back creates a comercial for the superbowl that talks about how his mother made a decision to raise little Timmy against the doctors advice. His mother chose life and look at him now. Tim Tebow as a result has become a polarizing figure. Tim in a Christian view point is the poster boy for being a role model, a christian, and living out faith. Tim in a world view point is dangerous because he does not support abortion, he is a virgin, and has given his life over to a deity.
Tim is starting to be mimicked by other young athletes and conservatives have taken Tim and boasted how good God is and his grace for sparing Tim. Tim has become a god to young men who suite up on friday nights and saturday afternoons, a reason for young men to boast in their faith, and a reason for people to boast in Grace. Tim is often questioned about this high responsibility in the eyes of America. He understands his role and knows that he is on everyone's radar.
The first time I heard about Tim Tebow was while I was leading worship for a baptist church in the Everglade community of Weston, FL. A gator quarterback and a over all good kid. I followed him because my wife's former boss is a huge gator fan and loved Tim Tebow. During this time in my life, I was learning that the grace of God can also be abused as a means of legalism. A book by Jerry Bridges named "The Discipline of Grace" was used as a means of talking about the grace of God. Yes grace was free, but not without discipline. We had to be discipline graceful Christians, thus, creating a mutated version of the legalist I already thought I had overcome. God met me in those years while Tim Tebow was in college and reminded me that even grace pharisees exist.
Did Tim Tebow ask for all of this attention? Does Tim Tebow understand God's grace? What is the difference between Tim Tebow and Magic Johnson? What is the difference between legalism and grace? I tend to lean towards Tim not asking for all of this attention, but others would say if you are on the stage that he is on and he boast in his faith then he deserves this attention. I believe that Tim at this point is knocking the ball out of the park when it comes to him being himself. I believe that what you see is what you get. His former coach, spoke of Tebow on an ESPN interview about Tim being authentic and morally good. His former coach said, "What you see is what you get with Tim, He is a good looking guy, has many offers from girls, yet when it comes down to his lifestyle and what he believes, he is the genuine article." Personally, whether or not Tim Tebow is the genuine article is not important, it is what he believes about himself when he goes to bed at night. The re is no difference between Tim Tebow and Magic Johnson, both are Heroes in eyes of America and Tim has flaws just like Magic, and both are winners. Tim's flaws are not on the evening news besides his inability to be a great pocket quarterback. Grace boasters will use Tim Tebow as a means for us to be just like him. I got news for you grace boasters in america, Tim Tebow is a terrible god, I am a terrible god, and you are a terrible god.

Legalism

Legalism is an excessive view of law or formulas. Legalism is created from legalist, these are people who make the law excessive and their relationship with God a bunch of formulas. Tim Tebow may be a legalist, Magic Johnson may be a legalist, I may be a legalist, and you may be a legalist. I have friends who have in recent times taken grace and have poured it into the pot of legalism and have disciplined themselves for the glory of God. These friends are giving up their homes, jobs, and lives to fulfill the Un-American dream of spreading the gospel all over the world. Can a legalist spread the gospel all over the world? The answer to this question is one hundred percent yes. Will a legalist feel better about themselves after spreading the gospel? Yes. Will a legalist still have problems after spreading the gospel all over the world? Yes. In the same tone, can a grace boaster spread the gospel all over the world? Yes. Will a grace boaster feel better about themselves after spreading the gospel all over the world? Yes. Will a grace boaster still have problems after spreading the gospel all over the world? Yes. What's the difference? Both are legalist. Both feel better about self. Both still carry the flesh. What then keeps us from being grace boasters and Legalist? not being just hearers of the word, but doers of the word. The difference between hearers and doers: Magic Johnson is a hearer. Magic heard about AIDS but did nothing to stop himself from contracting it, thinking I can do it and not get in trouble. Tim Tebow is a doer of the Word. Tim Tebow knows that he could have any girl on the face of planet earth and achieve the great accomplishment of sleeping with 900 women, the difference is that he has heard the devastating truths of HIV AIDS and is walking the path saying I cannot do it, I have to rely on someone else. Can a person who lives out of life spread the gospel? Yes. Will a person who spreads the gospel out of life want the attention? No. Will a person who spreads the gospel out of life still have problems afterwards? Yes. Living out of life is not based on hearing alone, it is based around doing what you hear God calling you too. It doesn't matter where you go to spread the gospel, it matters if you spread the gospel out of life. You may boast about spreading the gospel in a foreign country for 6 weeks, but unless there is life behind what you are doing, then it is no different than being a legalist or a grace boaster spreading the gospel.
Magic Johnson, Tim Tebow, and Legalism all point to the something, how you choose to live is not my business. I can only hope in one thing, Christ crucified, the finished work of the cross, and I cannot meet that standard alone I have to live out of his life. Magic is a victim of hearing and not doing, Tebow is a victim of hearing and doing (which is why he defies the odds, it is living out of life saying I can't do this.), and I just want to live out of life as I'm sure you do, as I'm sure Magic does, and as I'm sure Tim does. How you view life will answer that question.

- Jason

Christmas

2011-12-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Allow this verse to resonate within you, allow it to pour out its blessings from within you and may you see all the wonderful light it is shedding within you.

This verse has moved me beyond tears, it resides in my very soul and is what I think about when we celebrate Christmas. We always point out a few things about Christmas such as the birth of Jesus, the Christmas tree, the manger, gifts, and family. None of which are celebrated at the correct time of year, if we understand that the conception of Jesus was given by the Spirit during this time of year then we know that the festival of tents is probably the more accurate birth-time for Jesus.

The physical representation is always looked at when seeking the meaning of Christmas. I want to turn to a different avenue that I believe is correct and is spiritual. The statement from above is from Isaiah 9:6, let's take it a phrase at a time.

For unto us a child is born,

We think of Christ born in a manger and that is exactly what has happened. you are the manger, the lowly place, the rotten side stable where this new birth has taken place. Within you a child is conceived not of sinful flesh, but of an eternal spirit. A new light has dawned within your soul and is now a very part of you. You are the lowly manger in which this child is born, Jesus the Christ, in you.

To us a son is given:

Christmas is a time of giving gifts, and this gift is from the father and deep within you is the Christmas tree or the tree of life. On its branches are gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control which are fruits or gifts of the spirit. There is deep within a gift of the son who is sufficient to our weaknesses. Sufficient means adequate, nothing more nothing less, exactly what we need, and all knowing for eternal life. A son is given, a gift of grace, and undeserved favor. do you understand the sufficient gift that exist in you is enough to meet your needs. This gift is what your kings and tyrants that exist within you will bow down to and they will pay homage to this great gift of a king.

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

The government of what (a question asked by Walter C. Lanyon)? is so appropriate and this is where the tears shed for me. Governments give a lair of control over you. This has nothing to do with Washington, D.C., or state in which you reside, but one thing, your life. The Government of your life is to be upon his shoulders. This child born in you as a gift is bearing your life on his shoulders. Life is found, but where? upon his shoulders, the onus of you trying to figure out this spiritual journey is on his shoulders, his life is found in you and your life is bound by him in union. This is why we shouldn't worry one moment further about our spiritual growth because it is your Father in heaven who gives good gifts and reveals himself to us and grows us at the right time.

and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

In the book of Philippians chapter 2 we see the verse that talks about every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. God's promise to Abraham's seed was that he would make his name great. This child born in us the lowly manger is called wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, and the prince of peace all existing in you. What's true of Christ is true of you!

As I reflect on this verse and all the time I've wasted on the physical, this breeds in me the joyful peace of the season knowing that I am in Christ and he has made in me the union life of the everlasting.

Merry Christmas to you and yours,

Jason

FBC OLOH

2011-12-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

FBC OLOH:

This past weekend Johnny Taylor and I traveled to Lake Forest Ranch in Macon, MS, and spoke to the students of FBC Oloh.

Marked by many factors, this past five months prepared us to go and teach to this group of students about the often taught often forgot subject of "No Condemnation."

Friday Night: Session 1 "No Condemnation"

Based from Romans 8:1, a verse that just says it, "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." This application to the life of a condemned Christian is the most freeing message they can receive. The Gospel is not about condemnation, it is about intimacy with God. Intimacy with God leads us into action...we often throw out comments such as, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the word of God." This statement boast so much truth; however, we often "hear" but we rarely respond.
the woman caught in adultery (John 8) brought before Jesus in the synagogue was guilty, so are we! Jesus could have stoned her and would have been completely just in doing so, yet because of his righteousness that fulfilled the law He asks her, "where are your accusers?" is there anyone here to condemn you? He pulls her out from under neath the banner of condemnation and sets her under the banner of "love." Song of Solomon 2:4, "he brought me to the his banqueting house and his banner over me was love." Just says it.
I told the students Friday Night that they had permission to not and try to fix themselves because they would never be able to fix the problem on their own. I certainly showed up with this idea of not being able to fix them and it freed me to relax and just teach.

Saturday Morning: "Life as it relates to Law and Torah"

I shared my journey to ultimate life in Christ and it wasn't a 7 step process or a formula but it was about how God ambushed me rescued me from a false Christian Identity based on my works for his acceptance. I was given life based on His works not mine, that freed me and messed up all my theology up to that point in life... I'm not sure what god I was serving but it was not the creator of the universe. The god I served fit nicely in the shape of my box and looked an awful lot like me...! I make a terrible god. When I found that I didn't love God first, but that He loved and pursued me with reckless abandon and began to live loved, it ruined me. Living Love allowed me to pursue him with reckless abandon just as he was pursuing me...His pursuit of me caused me to pursue him! I discovered that this journey meets up with a symptom that I cannot repair and it is "dependency." Living in grace, Living loved, and pursuing God causes dependency. I began to hear the word of God and doing the word of God (James 1:22) yet, this doing was not about works it was about dependency. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness Romans 4:5. Now that just says it! What did God reveal to during this time of growing and currently revealing to me to this day...

"Law and Torah"

the difference in these two words freed me to read the bible from a way of life and not a demand.

Law in the Greek is Nomos which gives a judicial view of living...the law then carries out the purpose of condemnation, judgment, and death. This view of Law makes sin increasingly sinful, because that is what we are "sinful."

Torah in the Hebrew is translated in to Nomos in Greek but does not mean the same thing, the idea behind the torah is "teaching or instruction a way of living." Torah was not meant for condemnation, judgment, and death but for life. Torah can condemn, judge, and produce death because it contains the in it a holy and just standard given by God that makes sin increasingly sinful. The Torah is a covenant promise of life in a person.

When we think of Law we think of the Ten Commandments, the ten commandments was not a law but a marriage covenant over the people of Israel who then once it was received rejected its standard to intimacy. Just like the Israelites of the time we too have decided that it is better for us to have someone go in our place and come and tell us what God says...! That's not what he wants from us, he wants us to come through the blood of Jesus and live our lives in his presence, the scriptures say, be holy for I am holy... that is we have to go through Christ to live holy.

Saturday Night "Law is Christ"

Jesus is for us the graceful revelation of the Torah, he is the fulfillment of these scriptures. John 1:1 gives us the revelation of this word... what do we call the word? Scriptures right, what is the torah made of? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These are the Torah, but these scriptures are not merely words on paper, they point to a person. You cannot have a relationship with words, the scriptures are shadows of a real person who we call our savior, Jesus Christ.
Colossians 2:17 says that these are the shadows of the things to come but the substance belongs to christ...(just says it). John 5:39-40 says that you search the scriptures for knowledge...however, it is not in the scriptures that eternal life exist, but he tells them you refuse to come to me for life...

The point of all this, Jesus is the Law, Jesus is the Torah. Matthew 5:17-18.... says that Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it therefore becomes the law on our behalf and meets its righteous demands for us.

The importance of finding our life in Christ is essential to living not condemned by the law.

Sunday Morning. "God hasn't Changed"

simplicity is the key to understanding that you are not condemned, the question is do you believe?

The Shema says, "Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one from Deuteronomy 6:4...

Hear is a simple request, listen to notice of my voice. Israel is the loved bride of Christ... The Lord our God, is Elohim (plural) giving us the concept of this triune God who is a Father who loves us, The spirit who reveals to us, and the Son who took our place to rescue us. The Lord is one, (James 1:17) in whom there is no variation.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us... (John 1:14)

The weekend was exciting not because we did anything to fix, but gave the freedom to allow God to fix... we just need to live in his grace, experience his love, and be dependent on his life.

have a great day,

Jason

coffee and conversations

2011-10-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

I love coffee. I love conversations. I miss conversations that last over an hour. Where have dreams wondered off too? I am insinuating of course on the idea that conversations with God is possible. Maybe even while you are enjoying a cup of coffee. In my heart I want to believe that such dreams are being lived out by people all over the planet.

I know God is not a distant form or a figure illuminating from a heaven out of reach. God is near, even hear. Place your hand up to your face at the crest of your nose, intimacy is in your space. Coffee is not a life saver, but my life has been saved over a cup of coffee. Conversations do not taste good always, but spew a sweet aroma over the lips and hears of those participating.

I am delighted, terrified, and ready to start the future....moving forward and pacing out of dependence and far from security. Money does not drive the influence of God or how I'm to live. Wealth is not for God to be assured of using you, wealth is the found treasure of Him.

I look forward to retreating and speaking of the dulcet scriptures that breathe life into our beings and take our breaths away at its fulfillment. No condemnation, God has not changed, and the law is graceful...

the enrichment found in these simple truths of our approach to God will open the highway of intimacy, revelation, and knowledge of and with God. Make me quiet so you can speak, allow me to listen so I can live.

The Gospel: A Set and Divine Foundation from the Beginning

2011-09-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Gospel: A Set and Divine Foundation from the Beginning

This time of year as set forth in me a joy unspeakable, not out of duty, not out of a set arraignment, but for the joy of knowing God. I recently saw the birth of my twins and began to wonder if these two would be my last-born children here on earth. I know that God sent Jesus as His only begotten son (John 3:16) through the seed of the Spirit in the womb of a woman. I automatically began to pray over these newborn bundles of joy and wondered what life would be like for them in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. One thought set in my mind was “The Gospel.” These children of mine are children of the seed of flesh and destined for death. It’s a tragic truth that we do not think about when you are just trying to get them home from the hospital.

This time of year has also been set aside as a remembrance or a turning back to the beginning. The Jews celebrate this time of renewal through Rosh Hashanah. The portions are beginning again and a time of repentance is before us. As a believer in Jesus as Messiah the festivals celebrated are duly a remembrance and a time set for the day of return. The word teshuvah is exactly this statement of returning. In the garden, we see an amazing action performed before verdict is given that goes unnoticed by many, if not most believers and is a tragic miss that is left void in our lives. I believe this tragic misfortune that goes unnoticed is the root cause of the feeling of “duty” that we place on self to be loved and accepted by God.

In the garden we see that Satan temps Eve and subsequently entices Adam to take part in the occasion.

Gen 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Gen 3:7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Gen 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

We notice that the first reaction to taking part in sin is revealing, they knew that their eyes were opened, holy smokes batman we have just broken the one rule that God set up for us. The absence of life reveals our nakedness it shows us the things we do not like about ourselves. Truth will reveal the hidden details, and it is in this that we try to cover up and hide.

Notice Adam and Eve’s response is to cover up what has been revealed, they make it their task to cover up what has been made wrong. This is such a testament to our way of thinking, it is much easier for us to correct the wrong ourselves; however, it does not lead to life. Your work will never lead to life; it cannot, will not, and has never been able to save you. Even if the intentions of the heart are for good, you will never be able to save yourself or someone else. You may be on the mission field in the middle of a jungle out of duty, instead of life, and it will never be your means of salvation or fulfillment of the void in life.

God shows up in the midst of the garden, noticed they heard the sound of God walking in the garden. This reminds me of being alone in a room and hearing the sound of footsteps rustling on the sidewalk. The anticipation of the sound always leads to the stress of the unknown. Yet this approach was not one of decimation, but of relationship. This is the approach we miss when we read the garden account, we forget that a relationship has been established and now we see how God brings forth the gospel even in the garden.

God does something that we miss, we miss and forget the purpose of why we are sons and daughters. He questions the means by which they sin, He tells of the enmity between woman and the snake, and then he performs a sacrifice. At this point in the garden, no judgment has been given. God provides “garments of skin” and thus, provides the first sacrifice we see in scripture. This sacrifice came before judgment, the blood spilled before a word uttered in punishment, and his compassion shown before they were removed from the garden. A relationship was established gloriously before he gives the terms of how life will be outside of the comfort of the garden. Man had fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Yet, in the midst of falling short, redemption was already on His mind. God rescued them, redeemed them, and then He sent them in the world to live in dependence upon Him and not of themselves.

The Gospel was shown in Adam and Eve admitting their faults; Jesus preached “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” We must realize that God has provided for us a sacrifice in the form of being clothed in Righteousness. God being the Gospel clothed Adam and Eve in the righteousness that he provided through the sacrifice he made on their behalf. We see judgment show up in Genesis 4:5 when Cain offered his sacrifice of the fruits of the field. The fruits of His labor!

The Gospel in the garden before they were moved out of it was the sacrifice of the animal that clothed their nakedness. The question is not what are you doing to clothe yourself; the question is have you accepted the robes of righteousness through Christ at the finished work of the cross? You see God preceded your sin by offering Christ on our behalf, pouring out His judgment on the only one who lived righteously. Being clothed in righteousness is having your works exposed for what they are, nakedness. The Gospel exposes and sheds light on our self-effort, no matter what that self-effort looks like.

I was exposed in college through my efforts to perform every kind of ministry opportunity available, yet it did not cure the ailment of self. I tried and tried to make it happen, the mission field was my acts of righteousness, my tracts of faith, and my alter building to attempt to sacrifice those sins and never live in them again. In such things, there is no life. We can be called to any form of ministry in and out of country, and if there is no life in the calling then there is no power behind it. We can gather in small groups and pray to our hearts content, yet if it is without life, there is no power.

Are you living out of duty? Or out of life? Are you exposed by the righteousness of God? Have you heard is voice? Have you heard His footsteps? Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for they shall be called sons of God (Matt 5:9). Righteousness is out for you and it will chase after, pursue, and hunt you down until you fall into its fate, being clothed. God does that! The Gospel is God, The Gospel is being Clothed, The Gospel is infinite, and The Gospel is for those who hear.

Seeing my children born into the world in frailty and nakedness exposed them for what they are, dependent. Adam and Eve experienced it and so do we.

The Law, Grace, and Christ

2011-07-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Law

Wait! The Law is not bad, the law is not wrong, and the law is holy, just, and righteous. The law at the same time makes my skin crawl. Judiciously, the law is perfect. The written law is good about pointing out my no goodness. The written law is a tutor, i.e., someone to guide me, stay in line, and point me to Christ. The Law Moses received on Mt. Sinai was given on tablets of stone. Tablets of stone or tablets of hearts is used in reference to man to describe the type of heart man obtains. Such as, the different hearts are two: One being a heart of stone and the other a heart of flesh. These two pictures are given in means of describing the law. If you have a heart of stone, then the law to you is lifeless. If you have a heart of flesh, then the law to you is life. If the law is not bad, and the law is not wrong, then why do we teach the law as bad and wrong? I think it’s a matter of the spirit, by the spirit we have clarity in revelation and clarity in truth. We subject ourselves to teaching of others and do not look into the heart to find the spirit's interpretation.

Moving forward, the law is a loose Greek interpretation of the word "torah" in Hebrew, which means "teaching." The Greeks give the interpretation of the word "nomas" which means "law" the word is legalized lawyer talk. This was not God's intention for the "commands" or "mitzvoth." Torah or teaching then is a way of living life and thus being called a heart of flesh and living. The Law as we know it will never be understood unless you see its intent through the eyes of Grace and the life of Christ.

Grace

Take a deep breath, this taste good! Grace is God's undeserved favor a gift that you cannot earn, work, or achieve by action. Soak this in for a moment; if you cannot earn something from God, then His gift to you is free. What is so hard about grace? Grace doesn't leave room for improvement, because you cannot improve on perfection. Grace is perfect, it will leave no stone unturned in your life and it will never be taken from you once received. Notice I wrote, received. God's unconditional love is fueled by His unending vat of grace. John Mark Macmillan's lyric in the song "He loves Us” sings "...if grace is an ocean, we're all sinking...” The Law doesn't mix with grace, or does it? Or is the law grace? The law was received by Moses from God on tablets of stone, yet Moses by grace saw God face to face and lived. The spoken commands over the people of Israel from Sinai were not a set of rules and regulations for an enslaved people, but a way of life for a bride.

This marriage picture displayed at Sinai, takes an imperfect bride and gives them a means of living by which perfection is obtained through dependency. We in our culture today love the stories of the damsel in distress that are rescued by their hero, and thus live their life in the safe arms of a husband. This is not a new way of seeing our union with God; the Sinai picture is this rescuing of a people who were less than perfect and creates a perfect marriage. This giving of a perfect union is a gift of God, thus making a perfect grace. Grace open's the eyes of the blind and makes the poor rich; it feeds the hungry and gives drink to the parched. Do you see the picture of grace in the law yet? O.k. let's take it to the next step and wake up the senses about the law and grace by looking to Christ.

Christ

Resting yet? The Law is the heart of stone and Grace is the heart of flesh. The fact that Christ is from divine seed shows us that He is born with a heart of flesh yet lived under this marriage covenant that we call the law. Christ is the means by which we faulty, marred, and skewed humans have this resting place when it comes to living up to the standard of the law that seems impossible to live. Christ, according to Paul in the scripture, fulfilled the law. I don't know about you, but that is really good news, that really taste good, and that gives me a hope for the future. The written law is a tutor that points us to Christ. Christ is the new law, written on hearts of flesh which is given by a husband to a bride as a gift. This gift is "life,” a life of knowing and a life of seeing, gazing, and believing. Christ fulfills every detail of the written law and is our divine access to God. This introduces us on a small level the depth that we will be diving into as we begin this study of James.

FLEECING, FLEXING, AND FLIPPING OFF

2011-06-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

To whomever takes in this reading, I implore you to read and think about the implications of how we walk in this life and live in and under the smile of the Messiah. I write this in response to losing a gentleman in our community suddenly and tragically. In remembering those folks we have had close ties with in the past and present, it is good to remember, it is good to grieve, and it is good to walk through the disgusting measure of loss. Fleecing, Flexing, and Flipping Off is about relationships as it involves the Sovereignty of God.

FLEECING

By definition according to Websters, fleecing is to strip of money or property by fraud or extortion; to charge excessively from for goods or services. Literally, fleecing is to shear or remove from. By implication, to cover with. This past week our little community of people lost a what in my flesh would be considered a good and decent man. A tragic death occurred in the midst of him visiting his mother for Memorial Day weekend. When looking at the world around us, we are being fleeced by people all the time; having goods stolen from us at a ridiculous rate. If you have driven up to a gas pump in the past 6 months, then you have experienced this fleecing. The gentleman who passed away has been fleeced from us. God chose to remove him. We use the word fleecing a majority of the time in a negative since, however, I would like to use it in means of describing to you a relationship with God that goes to the point of removal. God's sovereignty fleeces us, it removes our dependence on self and by implication covers us with his muscles and provides for us a rest in the most troubling of times. Sovereignty means supreme power or authority, and we under God's supreme power are fleeced of self. This fleecing is the most difficult to accept or taste because this fleecing requires us to be removed of any control. I don't know about you, but that just scares me because I like control. When it comes to spiritual living, my control or what I think is control is useless. God is fleecing us of independence and His sovereignty brings us to our dependence.

FLEXING

By definition according to Websters, flexing is being bent, shaped differently, and contracted. When I think of flexing, I think of muscles. Body Building, Arnold ("Get to the choppa") type guys come to mind. I've never looked at flexing when it comes to spiritual thinking. Dave Busby was big on using the metaphor of relying upon "His Muscles!" The term flexing can also be used in the negative way to describe God, I've heard God is flexing His muscles when it comes to bad weather, natural disasters, and going through a rough patch in life. In the light of sovereignty, flexing is best described as being shaped differently. God bends, shapes, and molds us into manifesting Him in our mortal flesh. In the case of losing a friend, God flexed His muscles by transforming him from the flesh life to the spiritual life. When God chooses to take a life home, His sovereign choice was to have him home. During these times families are flexed, bent to grief, mourning, and questions. In an odd way, God is the one flexing towards dependence and bringing you to the end of self. When God flexes us it is for His good purpose and we benefit from being shaped into the workmanship of Christ. We are created in Christ to be shaped and molded to manifest him in our mortal flesh. To borrow a quote from Busby, we rely on "his muscles" to endure "his flexing."

FLIPPING OFF

By definition according to Webster s, (yes, flipping off is found in webster s), turning up the middle finger in a course gesture. In the midst of being fleeced and flexed our response is nothing short of flipping off. If you are offended by the comment of flipping off, then you find a better description of what you feel on the inside when you are stripped of those things you hold dear in your heart. In the midst of being fleeced and flexed, honesty is the response that is required. I find it funny that we have this idea in our minds that God doesn't see those things we often feel when things do not go our way. In loss or tragedy our response is often in grief, flipping off, questioning, and ticked that we had no control over the loss. I'm no less a victim of this response, but in the midst of grief God screaming is ok, why? Because God can handle your honesty. God can handle your flipped off response, because he is large enough to handle this response in the midst of the most horrendous occasion. strangely enough, when we try to answer the unanswerable questions about God and we mess it all up, we feel like flipping off. You can flip off all that you want, but God's sovereignty will still remain. God's fleecing will remain to cover you, God's flexing will remain to bend and shape you, and God in the midst of this fleecing and flexing can handle your flipping off by the measure of honesty that is spewing forth from you.

Fleecing, flexing, and flipping off are components of grieving, learning, and growing. When we look at these in the midst of relationships, we see the benefit being fleeced, flexed, and flipped.

Jesus, Yeshua, and Politicians

2011-05-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

        This title strikes me as hilarious because in a manner of speaking this title represents all we know of God with Skin. In my finite words, I'm writing about the church. These certain points of view cover a wide variety of people, all of which have influenced me and my path to knowing God. Again, I write these articles to make you aware of the need to know God in relationships. So as you read Jesus, Yeshua, and Politicians think about what your view point is and how it influences your relationship with God.

Jesus


        Jesus, What's in the name? What is so renowned about Jesus? At the name of Jesus people swear, claim, sway, wage war, unite, argue, have conversations, congregate, and disassociate. What is the draw that men would write up their own rules in how to know and have relationship with Him.   Did Jesus mean for us to write our way to him? Religion has fueled our passion for knowing God for so long that we have forgotten to seek him outside of the walls of a steeple house.
         Jesus, unfortunately, tasted and saw all the different ways that man tried to get to His Father.   The funny thing is this, Jesus said that the only way to His Father was through Him. If you need a reference, its in the Bible, John 14:6. Jesus' statement is a lesson on how we approach God in a relationship. The funny thing is, a by-law does not have to be passed to understand it, although man has even skewed that simple statement in the Bible that just says it.
        The Christian view point of Jesus puts emphasis on what we "do", instead of "being." Somehow, the same Bible is read, yet the point of view ends up being different. Why? Man is really good at reading scripture through their own veils and filters. Try and read the Bible unfiltered with no presuppositions to influence you. Read with the conviction that you want to learn about God and not about what supports your religion.
        Christianity is largely based on view points of man instead of looking at what God says about Himself and you. Is the Jesus of scripture that you serve a liar? Jesus makes it clear that He is the pathway to God. Knowing God is eternal life according to John 17:3, this is Jesus praying in the garden before his subsequent arrest. The message to Christians is this, repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Tozer said, "God Himself is here waiting on our response to His presence (p.50)." It's interesting that we view Jesus as a middle class white collared american, friends, that is not Jesus and that is not who he is. If you begin to study scripture, then you must face the reality that Jesus Christ is a Jew and lived as a Jew, and followed the Jewish customs. What, then, do you do with your view of Jesus at this point?

Yeshua

        Yeshua, now what's in this name? Talk about a controversy in order! Jews all over the world still do not believe in your middle class white american Jesus. The man the Pharisee's arrested was, according to them, a blaspheming Jew who happened to be a good teacher, who read in the synagogues and followed the Jewish customs set up by God and revealed to Moshe (Moses).   Could you in fact be in love with a Jew? Well, let's end the drama quickly! Yes, if you call your self a believer of Jesus Christ, then you are in fact in love with a Jew. Why did God choose to send Jesus as a Jew? Well, from the beginning, before the foundation of the earth God set aside for Himself a bride, a people of choosing known as the Jews.
        Yeshua is the Hebrew name that we know as Jesus, its meaning is significant. You see Yeshua means salvation. I look to a certain verse in scripture to point to this meaning, Exodus 14:13 says, and Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever." The key phrase is "see the salvation of the Lord," or "see the yeshua of the Lord," or "see the (deliverance, victory, prosperity: health, help) of the Lord,".
        I met a Lady (who calls herself a messianic christian) who radically challenged me about two years ago to read the first five books of scripture and allow the first five books of scripture to fuel the whole understanding of the Bible. Two years previous of meeting this sweet lady, I begin to study Jesus' Hebrew roots.   What I have discovered on this four year journey is a depth and intimacy with God beyond what I ever expected. What am I saying? Do all Christians have it wrong? No, I believe we have a skewed view point of we place our faith and trust in. This view point that Jesus is just for American Christians is misguided and wrong.
         I used to be scared of the term "messianic" because I thought it was just "messy." Messianic simply means that for a Jew who believes in Jesus as Messiah is Messianic. Or like my friend a Messianic Christian is a kingdom minded lady who has found her life in Christ and chooses to live in the Hebrew lifestyle and festivals, honoring the true sabbath (friday evening to saturday evening), and praying for the peace of Jerusalem.
         I'm not challenging you to convert, I'm challenging you to discover, because I believe when you discover the Jewish Jesus, you will discover what scripture is all about. Yeshua says of himself about the Torah, these are they that speak of me. What do you say? How do you see? What have you learned? I think a change in point of view is good and allows you to find exactly where you are rooted and grounded.

Politicians

        Politicians, Just saying the word causes me to throw up in my mouth. Jesus was no politician, he was not out to see how many people he could get to show up at the synagogue, and he was not out to promote a false picture of self. Our picture of God is the most important thing about us. Why? Because, what comes to mind on the first thought of God is what you worship about God. We have this idea that Jesus is a politician hoping to get our vote so that he can be lord of our lives. Jesus was not out to gain a vote, he was out for your life. God does not base his acceptance of you based on votes. Jesus is not a democrat or a republican, He is not a congressman or representative, He is not what you picture in your mind.
          Politicians are confound by boxes, they have a mantra of finitude, they place what they believe should happen in a box and say this is the answer. Jesus never lived by boxes, Jesus had the hand of one whom He rested in, His Father. Funny, that Politicians rest in policy and Jesus in His Father. This is a picture of how we are to view God. Politicians are not sons and daughters of policy, but of people. We live as if we are sons and daughters of policies, and not sons and daughters of God. God doesn't hoard mounds of policies over you, He longs for relationship with His sons and daughters. In Christ, we are sons and daughters, just like he was a son. Therefore, 1 John 4:17 states, as he is, so are we in this world... The scripture doesn't say, as the policies goes, so are we in this world...
        Politicians are not all bad, just need to realize that dependency is the way out of problems. Jesus, Yeshua, and Politicians are together in this article because we need a change in our view points. The change in view points come only through the revealing of God and knowing Him. Remove the filters that skew the view of the Father, your Father in Heaven and live as sons and daughters in His kingdom which reigns forever more.

Youth Ministry, Boxes, and Wrath

2011-05-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Youth Ministry, Boxes, and Wrath

Greetings and salutations to our friends and family in ministry. Often in my experience with youth ministry I walk away with serious questions of sanity. Looking to most people for advice, they would say, "Yes, Jason, you are crazy!" I have been listening to God with the intention of following His desire for my life for over 15 years. I'm just now experiencing some of the deep truths of who He is to the fullest. Why now? Well, that is what Youth Ministry, Boxes, and Wrath is all about, experiencing God, knowing God, and enjoying God. Read with an open mind and give me your thoughts on how you experience, know, and enjoy God.

Youth Ministry

You do not wake up in the mornings and wish youth ministry on any one. Youth in general are very confused, ego-centric, and vain. Youth are confused, ego-centric, and vain largely due to the fact that they have no identity. Identity in my opinion is the single greatest lesson that a youth can learn between the ages of 13-19. The teenage years develops youth into what they will be for the rest of their lives.

At the age of 13, I was a confused, overweight teenager with bad acne. My body raged with the fury of a fire that is not easily extinguished. I was searching for an identity but was not sure where to find it or how to follow it. I begin to experience music and placed much of my identity in music. The mixture of music and puberty was a strange brew, I learned a lot about my sexual nature through music. Jon Bon Jovi is not exactly the model of sexuality in our society but for a young teenager who was discovering himself it was a place to experience the fury.

What does it mean to experience something? According to Webster's, experience in the verb form is to undergo through a period of time. When do we experience something? We experience something as we undergo it. We may not fully understand it, but the reality is God is to be experienced. I believe students have the ability to experience God, even in the midst of raging hormones. Even in the midst of being ego-centric and vain, God is experienced. We've done a great job as parents of painting a minimal picture of God for youth. Youth have such a small picture of God because we have created a small God, its our fault. Youth Ministers, Pastors, and Parents all play a roll in painting a picture of God.

The argument I experience largely in this area is that we are finite and cannot paint an accurate picture of God. The answer to that argument is yes, we are finite, but we can experience God. We have the faculties to experience God. 1 John 1:1 tells us that we can experience God, even now. I ache over the condition of our students, because they believe in God yet, they believe that they can't experience God. I experienced music through the sense of hearing. This was just one use of the senses God created us with. We can experience God through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Spiritually speaking, we can experience God to the fullest through a relationship in intimacy even as a youth.

Boxes

As a youth, I had a point of view of God that fit my confused, ego-centric and vain values. God was a mere spiritual Santa Claus, a mean drill sergeant who expected the me to go way and far above my ability. How does a youth maintain such a picture of God in the midst of a hormonal rage fury in their teenage years? Youth gain their prospective from their parents (or lack thereof), teachers, youth ministers, pastors, and secular society. The finite argument plays into this point of view.

Sadly, youth, as a result, create a God shaped box that fits what they have learned. Youth take what little they know of God and begin forming their ideology based on what God is in their mind. Most of the time, youth picture God based on relationships they have formed. God can be really awesome, really nice, really mean, really huber cool, or really not even real. Boxes are made to hold stuff. Boxes are not fit to contain something that cannot be contained. Try to over fill a box and see what happens, it completely falls apart. Boxes can be decorative, plain, and bothersome. We store in boxes the things we do not want to deal with on a daily basis and we place them in attics, garages, storing units, and closets by creating space for us to live.

Youth create God shaped boxes to make themselves feel better about God and His presence. Youth create what they see and not what they know. If you meet a youth who has a relationship with God, then you will see a youth who does not have a box. Boxes are not for knowing, God is. Jesus praying in the garden before his arrest is praying in John 17:3 "and this is eternal life, that they may know You..." As current leaders of today's youth we must create a generation of knowers of God, not just rules and regulations, but a intimate knowing of and not just about God.

My goal is to rid students of their God shaped boxes and live their lives out of the box with God as their life. Many people are sad that today's church is fading. My response to this line of thinking is that we have created this fade by not pointing our students to a relationship with God. If you want students to worship God and glorify God, then point them to knowing God and you will see the results. The results is that God will be their life. Boxes hold memories and stuff we don't want, is that how we want a generation of students to see God?

Wrath

Wrath defined is violent vengeful anger, retributory punishment for sin or crime. The God of wrath, is wrath? Is this really a part of who God is? If you do not know about God's wrath, then you have not encountered His life. Wrath to a youth is the scariest term they can associate with God and does not fill their God shaped box. In the minds of youth, God is not wrath. Show me a youth who has acknowledged God's wrath and I will show you a youth that is enjoying God and living life to the fullest.

We have been faced with this idea in the rising emergent church of a God who does not send anyone to hell, especially Ghandi. We have been questioned on how we know these things about God, well scripture (you know that book that God revealed to man to write so that we may have a way of knowing and understanding Him) if you read it, tells us that hell is real and that God's violent vengeful anger and punishment for sin is wrath. We deserve God's wrath because of sin. Youth need to know that we are subject to vengeful anger and punishment of God. Youth need to know that wrath is God's just punishment for their sin. No one is left out of this wrath even Jesus.

How does wrath and enjoyment go together? If a youth is faced with wrath, then he/she is faced with death. Death, spiritually speaking brings life. Death is a sign that you are at the end of self. Sin equals death, we all deserve it. When you are faced with death you are at the end of self, Paul made an outrageous claim in Galatians 2:20 by stating, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me..." This outrageous claim says that Paul was represented on the cross, thus facing God's wrath. How? Sin is not a singular concept when facing the masses, it is plural. However, when talking about Sin as a whole it is singular. God's wrath is poured out on Sin and that covers the masses. Your sin and my sin is represented on that cross, thus we can claim with Paul this outrageous statement, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live..."

The joy of wrath is knowing that you are not under it! How are we considered not under wrath? Youth need to know that they are not objects of wrath in Christ Jesus. Why do we teach that they are subject to God's punishment when we teach that the cross was the punishment? A youth who is identified in Christ knows that they are sons and daughters of The Father and live as such. 1 John 4:17, "love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." Romans 8:1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:21, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Wow, youth need to know this, youth need to bite into that cookie and taste how good it is. This is the cookie of wrath because in Christ Jesus we have been saved from God's wrath.

Wrath is a precursor to enjoyment because when we realize that Jesus has taken our place and faced the wrath on our behalf, we will know that we have been shown mercy and live life experiencing, knowing, and enjoying God.

Chris Tomlin, KVNE, and Shofar's

2011-05-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

Chris Tomlin, KVNE, and Shofar's

Ok, most of the time I write about 3 elements in my blogs about life. These elements usually link to one another in some form based on the content written. Today, I wanted to set up this blog by saying the distinction in this blog leads to one ultimate end. That end is God. So what does Chris Tomlin, KVNE, and shofar's have in common? What is the link between these three? All three are linked by one night, with three different purposes as their end. Take a moment and read, see if this links to your heart and I would love to hear your response!

Chris Tomlin

If you do not know who Chris Tomlin is, then you are sheltered in a hole against your will. Chris Tomlin has been a part of ever major Christian worship song in the church at one point or another. Chris' songs include "How Great is Our God," "Forever," "Holy is the Lord," "Jesus, Messiah," and my daughter's personal favorite is "Our God is Straighter (Greater to you and me, but she is 3)."

Chris Tomlin grew up in Grand Saline, TX, it's a hole in the wall. On Chris Tomlin's Birthday, he was paraded through the streets and Main St is now Chris Tomlin BLVD. Chris gives a free concert at the high school football field in which 3,000 people show up to sing. The concert was really good by the way, it was typical of how good he is in leading worship.

Chris Tomlin in his being had to feel deep within a little sheepish about this pomp and circumstance, and it was pomp and circumstance. I will give Chris Tomlin props for one thing, he did tell the crowd that all this stuff was cool, but it held to purpose on the why we were gathered on that football field. It had nothing to do with Chris Tomlin BlVD, I'm not sure that KVNE grasped that concept.

KVNE

KVNE is a local christian radio station out of Tyler, TX. KVNE is not bad in itself, the radio station provides good quality programming to the local community and the East TX area. KVNE produces good cheesy christian music, including Chris Tomlin. Most of what I know about today's Christian music is that the music is soft on God. It paints a picture of God that all expectations of God is based on our works. One of things that God freed me from was the ability to have to listen to Christian Music and KVNE. I, for the most part, cannot stand to listen to KVNE and its programming because it is a bowl full of Velveeta. I'm not a velveeta fan when it comes to christian music. Chris is not velveeta, nor is his music. KVNE was there in full grandeur.

The evening was a huge plug for them in their ratings! KVNE gained major exposure for themselves including taking about a 1/3 section of the bleachers for themselves which they filled in a minimal bases. About 50 seats were available for citizens who could not afford to sit down at a normal paid event, was forced to stand at the fence because it was reserved! My angst is not against Christian music, but the publicity of the music and its nasty business.

Shofar's

A shofar is a ram horn that is featured in scripture as a means of presenting and praising the coming of the Lord. My first time to hear a shofar blast (and it's a blast, not just blown, a blast and it's very loud) was in a charismatic church in Mobile, AL, who sheltered homeless people. The sound of the shofar is piercing, it will strike to the very chord and center of a person when one hears its blast.

In the midst of the pre-show for Chris at the football field, there was a buzz in the crowd in the anticipation of Chris coming out on stage and playing music. There were about 1500 people on the field itself, including my church group and we were having a chat when we were interrupted by KVNE.

KVNE had their moment in the spotlight, to tell everyone of how great Chris Tomlin is and how incredible their radio is in this east Texas area. A young lady stood up on stage from KVNE and said "Wow, by you all being here tonight, you must really love Chris Tomlin and ..." at this point from behind us in the open part of the field, there we blast from two shofar's which totally drowned out the praising of Tomlin.

Two young men in yamaca's were dancing and blasting the shofar's in the middle of her speech. Many people thought, "how rude to blast the shofar in the middle of KVNE's speech."

I must confess that it startled me at first, because when scriptures read at the trumpet sound will be the coming of the Lord. I thought that Jesus was coming back and it was time to go. The blast was so loud that it overtook the sound system which was enormous in stature.

Who were these men so rudely interrupting this introduction speech about Chris? I'm not sure, they may have been two men from a local messianic fellowship or they could have been angels with a common purpose.

What common purpose could these guys have in blasting the sound of the Shofar? The blast lasted about a minute and a half. Long enough for Chris to enter the stage and notice the parting of the crowd because all attention was not on Chris at that moment, it was on the blast. The crowd upon hearing the horn all turned and it was as if the red sea was parting an opening shown down the middle towards the stage.

A man asked afterwards, "why are you two blowing those horns?"

the response was simple, yet so profound, "to prepare the way for Hashem!"

in Hebrew the meaning of Hashem is "The Name." We know it written as YHVH, it is the name of God which is not spoken so that they will not blaspheme His name.

Hashem, folks showed up at the blast of the Shofar and became the center of attention. Not a parade, not a street name, and not a radio station can stand in the way of the weight of glory felt on the field that day. It was subtle, most people did not recognize that the shofar is the instrument used in preparing the coming of the Hashem (The Lord, Adonai, in the greek Kurios). The hair on my neck stood, tears began to fill my eyes, and at the sound of the shofar we began worshipping God... and the concert hadn't even started.

The point of Chris Tomlin, KVNE, and Shofar's is this: That we should all be ready for God's presence and not pomp and circumstance. The stage is and will always be God's. The beautiful part about worshipping God is not that it comes as a requirement of stature, but as a result of relationship. Thus, it is a glorious lifestyle.

Love, The Cross, and Engines

2011-04-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Love

In the efforts of human flesh over the generations is the lack of the knowledge of scripture and its basis for the gospel. Farewell Rob Bell? Love Wins? I’m not sure that these statements represent the angst of most Christians.

To be real honest with you, I’m ashamed of most evangelicals who claim the gospel as their claim to God, yet have no clue what the driving force behind the gospel is. I can tell you that it is not human effort that brings forth the gospel, it is not how many times you have your name check on the roll sheet on a Sunday Morning, and it is not a claim to God by your emotion and will.

Mr. Bell is right, Love does win not because Love doesn’t send a person to hell, but because Love demands justice and righteousness. A loving God is a wrathful God, if God is not wrath then he is not just and His love for people is not based on righteousness. Would God send Ghandi to hell? How arrogant have we become to question what God would do or not do? Ghandi is as much deserved of hell as you or I? So, why would He not? Did Ghandi believe in God? These are the wrong questions, God’s righteous wrath is poured out on sin. It doesn’t matter what you and I believe and what claims we make on our own. 2 Corinthians 5:21 states, “He (God) made him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

John 14:6 says, “I (Jesus) am the way, the truth, and the life and no man (including Ghandi) can come unto the father (God) except by me (Jesus). Now I’m a firm believer that scripture just says it, and this just says it! Love is not measured by human effort or design but by a characteristic that exist by the Holy Spirit. It is God produced and God driven. A fruit of the Spirit…”Love, joy, peace,…” Spirit produced not you produced.

No greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends John 15:13. BTW the words of Jesus. Love is God’s just wrath poured out on sin, or he would not be God. God in Jesus Christ (God in flesh) sent himself to die in our place because Love does win!

The Cross

In the days to come, we will be faced with one of the greatest challenges of our lives. Is the cross relevant? Does it have a say in our lives and how we approach God? The cross is and will always be offensive, but does that mean in its offensiveness that it doesn’t apply? The cross was not meant as a focal point in our relationship with God, neither is heaven or hell; however, the focal point is the relationship that results from the cross.

If you were faced with a cross in the days of Jesus, then it meant death. Have you faced the cross? Have you realized your death? The cross is offensive because it takes death to accomplish its work. Without the cross there is no possibility of life.

Jesus, God’s own son, even faced death. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:8, “he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” Jesus faced what was offensive and therefore, created the most offensive means by which we know God, death.

Ghandi said that he would have been a Christian if it had not been for Christians. Did Christians cause him to go to hell? Did religion send him to hell? The cross sent him to hell. Belief in something other than God is just means for His wrath. Without death there is no life, in life you find that all true breath begins at the foot of the cross. The cross is the end of self effort, and whatever means by which you are proceeding in self effort must needs to be found helpless at the foot of the cross, death. Love wins at the cross!

Engines

Engines have a specific purpose in how it is used. The engine is not however the central focus of the car. The central focus of the car is found in its purpose, which is to get you from point a to b and back again. The car thus, gets you to where you are going. I cannot claim this illustration for myself, Jaytee powered this info and its premise.

Just like the engine, the cross is not central to our relationship with God but it is the access by which we have it. The cross is the engine to our relationship with God, without the cross there is no relationship and its result is a just and wrathful judgment of hell. The cross like the engine gives us access to move forward in our relationship with God in intimacy. The focal point of Christianity is your relationship with God, the cross gives you access to that relationship. This is the purpose by which Jesus made his John 14:6 claim.

Hebrews 4:16 gives us clear indication of how Jesus gives us access to a relationship with God, “let us therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” You have access because the cross (the engine) propels you forward in your relationship with God to approach were no man dares to trod. It took death to give you life, and it is in your death that you find life. Believing in the offensive cross gives you access to life. Love wins in relationships because the engine of cross fuels it.

Control, Dependency, and The X Factor

2011-02-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Greetings and Salutations to my friends and family,
        Learning is a life long process, it seems to creep by and then you wake up looking back and wondering if you have succeeded. Many would argue that living the American dream is life's ultimate goal. David Platt would have you believe that it isn't, and that living the American dream is not all that it is cut out to be. People may live the American dream and not be missionaries. If being on missions is the anti-American dream then there are many who are going to hell. Including me! Well, it depends on how you view the mission field.   If you view the mission field has over seas then I guess we've all missed the boat who have never done over seas mission and we have missed God's plan for our lives. O.k., I don't believe we have all missed God's plan. The mission field is outside your front door, loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, loving your neighbor as self. What role does God play in answering the question of control, dependency, and the X factor?

Control

Arrogantly, what makes you and I think we have control? Human beings are for the vast majority control freaks. If we did a self evaluation amongst a group of 1,000 people we would find that each situation would be different, but they would all have variants of control. People are often shy, outgoing, reserved, out-of-control, and even keeled across the board, yet they are all in this illusion of control. Naive as it may be to say such things, look at your own life. Do you like to be told when to rise and when to walk? Do you like to be told how to talk? Do you like someone to plan your day for you? Do you think that you have ultimate and infinite control over life? How do go from babies of dependency to autonomous adults of arrogance? Did the devil make me do it? (I'm tired of giving the sunny red devil credit for anything.) Giving the devil credit is giving him control and mastery, and folks he does not have control or mastery over anything that God doesn't give him control over. I think we answer yes to all of the control questions and yes to the devil. Saying yes to the devil questions is giving him control and you can count me out of that vote. He has received enough awards and accolades from me in the past, but no longer.
Flesh allows us to think we have control, it allows us to run the show so to speak. You may believe that you are "letting go and letting God" but that's all a bunch of bologna. We let go and let God when circumstances are favorable for us. Have you ever thought that favorable circumstances are those circumstances that God places us in, good or bad? Control is a made up word, an illusion, an apparition, second cousin to your imagination and you have never had it as your own. If we are not under control then we have a necessary need for dependency.

Dependency

        When I think of dependency babies come to mind often, especially when they are fresh from the womb. Babies drink milk, sleep, pee and poop all at the aid of someone else. Sign me up if there is a list going around because that is the life of dependency. Check out this video, this is dependency.

enough said.

The X Factor

        Some would say that Dick Hoyt has the "X" factor. I once sat through a conference in which the premise of the whole weekend was asking the question of "do you have 'it'?" I'm not sure what "it" is or if I have "it" but that has to be the worst question I've ever encountered to supply a weekend of spiritualism and renewal! The first thing that came to mind in the midst of the "it" weekend was oh no I don't have "it" and now I've got to find a way to get "it" which gave nope of ever finding "it". If you figure out this mystery "x" factor please contact me and let me know, and maybe I'll satisfy "it".
        Recently, I began P 90 X, extreme workout. The "X" factor in this extreme workout is well I'm not sure. I'm busting my butt to find the "X" factor but if the "X" factor is found in the belly I'm in trouble.   In looking for the "it" or "X" we can kill ourselves in trying to maintain levity.   In your journey to find "it" or "X" losing control and living dependent is "it" and "X".

        I'm not sure about the American dream, most of "it" and "X" is wrapped up in the American dream and we suffer the illusion of control because we lack the desire to live dependent.

have a good day!

What are You up to?

2011-02-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

In the incredible walk of life, we face the ever daunting question; God what are you up to?

This is the question that grabs my attention when facing each new morning. It’s like ground hog day all over again and I’m perfecting the Ice sculpture that I’ve been practicing on for 36 years.

Funny, when I think of sculpting there is a frustrating element to the patience of an artist forming its subject. Immediately I want the end result to show forth and give validity to the creation.

The interesting part of this sculpting that I’ve been trying to form is this, I’ve never had control of the chisel. What I thought was my idea and my mind was really all the thoughts and Idea’s of the graceful and infinite hand of Hashem (the name Adonai, The LORD).

As the page turns on life and each new day reveals His revelation, I’m finding myself stripping away from the old layer of skin that I’m encamped in and discovering the wide vast ocean of the unknown and the known.

Finding joy in the midst of this ocean is apart of the living and breathing God who encompasses each of those things I naturally do not. His fruits belong to him and I’m just a vessel that He makes himself manifest.

So God, what are you up to? Give me the courage to follow it and rest in your infinite grace and mercy as it is being lived out.

T-Shirt and Jeans Day 2

2010-12-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

12/18/10

In the midst of relaxing and enjoying some rest, I miss how much time I've spent away from my girls and I realize how much of a blessing that teaching has been to me. I have learned a significant amount about teaching and relating to students such as, classroom management, teaching the teks, and listening. The question often rises in my mind is one of concern for many christians, is God for you?

Is God for you? We have heard how much God is for himself. If God is for himself, then He is for you! He cannot deny himself, namely Jesus Christ

T-Shirts and Jeans Day 1

2010-12-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

      Let me begin with a brief explanation of t-shirts and jeans; I'm on a 16 day mission to be comfortable and wear what I consider to be ultimate comfort t-shirts and jeans. I have a two week break from school, and that means a two week break from khaki pants, golf shirts, and yes the ever gagging tie.

T-Shirts and Jeans Day 1 Monday 12/17/10

       School let out after lunch today and a huge sigh of relief fell over me, knowing that I could just relax and enjoy my family for the evening. There was a community wide youth rally at the Civic Center, I encouraged my youth to attend; however, I was following God's plan and taking my family for a trip to see the lights in Marshall.
       I had several people ask about why I didn't attend the event; after explaning myself that I was following God's plan by not going and hanging out with my family, a look of confusion and dismay fell over their faces. I wonder if I would have told them that I went and worshipped satan with my family instead of going to the youth rally if I would have received the thumbs up? No, I would have received the same confused look as similiar to the one when I told them that I was hanging out with my family.
       Ruach Hakodesh is the Hebrew term for the Holy Spirit, this is exactly who we are to be led by and not by our flesh. We are not of the flesh, we are of the spirit. Every one who showed up at that event was doing exactly what God had planned for them; God didn't plan a youth rally for me. A book named , "The Law of Faith," by Norman Grubb states in chapter 1 pg 13, "It is my belief that in each member of Christ's body, from the time of the new birth, the Holy Spirit begins to develop some special characteristic through which God may be glorified in a particular way, some aspect of His grace and truth through which the whole body may be edified and enlightened." I add this quote to tell you that the measure of faith given to you is not by what you muster up and provide for yourself but, the gift of the spirit is measured by the faith given to you is the faith of Christ. God is glorified by your response to his voice in your life and manifesting the measure of faith given to you. The measure of faith not by the flesh, but by the Spirit.
       Being in the middle of God's plan was much more fulfilling than doing something I was not supposed to do in the first place, and I will rest really well at night knowing that my family is my gift of God. Listening to the Spirit was just as much a worship experience as listening to a youth rally for those who went. I went to the lights in comfort, wearing t-shirt and jeans with a orange vest with my girls and my beautiful wife.

t-shirts and jeans,

Jason

P.S. here is my favorite Christmas song, by one of my favorite bands "The Rhinetones" performing "O Holy Night"

Self-Hatred and Religious Idols

2010-09-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

In depths of one’s lonely soul there is an abyss that seems endless and cold. The rope that leads to the bottom is an unforgiving drop to a cold slab where the only friend you have is self. Broken and torn in the soul is where God finds the rich soil to plant His strength in you. Francis MacNutt says, “If the Lord Jesus Christ has washed you in his own blood and forgiven you all your sins, how dare you refuse to forgive yourself?”

At the lonely bottom, self-hatred shows its ugly head out of the shadows and renders you guilty and shamed by the lack of forgiving yourself. Learning about self-hatred will cripple the soul and damage the heart unrecognizable until you forget about the reality of your identity. Identity is the major crisis of our nation’s Christian population and its cure is found at the end of the rope.

The end of the rope strategy takes its shape by you giving up on everything you know to be true and wiping the slate clean. If your concern is worship, then stop worshipping until the only thing in life you can do is worship. If your concern is prayer, then stop praying until the only thing you can do is pray. If your concern is Bible study, then stop Bible study until all you can do is study you’re Bible.

When the slab at the bottom is too hard to bear spiritually, take comfort in knowing that the idols in your heart are being destroyed. Worship, prayer, and bible study are all forms of idols. Idols such as worship, prayer, and bible study are never recognized as idols because those who have such idols have never tasted the goodness of God on the cold hard slab. 2 Timothy 3:5 describes these idol worshippers as having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power…then it says, avoid such people.

By our own fault, we lye at the bottom of the abyss trying to work out godliness in the attempt to show God the fruit of our labor and to no avail the arrow continues to miss the mark.

If you are mucking around in the pit of despair with no hope out of self-hatred, then take the pill and swallow the bitter truth that your only hope is in seeing the unseen. Paul Tillich defines the unseen as “the courage to accept acceptance.” What religious idols have a form of godliness in your life, but lack the power of God? Is your self-hatred to the point that you are ready to give the idol of “self” up? Join the journey with us in walking through the end of self and listen to our weekly podcast “Coffee and Conversations” found at www.teleoridge.com/podcast or on itunes under Teleo Ridge Ministries. Later, From Jason.

Colorado Trip Day 4

2010-07-05T06:45:00.000-07:00

Today is July 4th, and I'm sitting on the front porch of this enormous home/lodge/envious spot I'd like to live...and I'm working on my opening session for FBC Oloh in the second week of December...I know I know, I'm on vacation. You can't just sit here where I'm sitting and not think about God and His glorious creation...here is the view from my post

See what I mean, God just beamed a promise over me that dated back to Noah, a perpetual promise that is still with us today.

I stepped out and tried to film this chipmunk; however, I was highly unsuccessful and failed miserably. Hey here is a shot of the upstairs loft; (the game room), and oh my my my...is it fine.

We all joined for an afternoon supper at Kathy's Uncles in South Fork and we had a great time, and then my batteries to my camera failed so here is what I took before equipment malfunction happened... more to come later.

by the way...worst pot of coffee I've ever made...highly embarressing look you can see right through it...

also, this was the first sign we saw when we walked into the house...hilarious and unnerving!

Colorado Trip Day 3 (Arrival)

2010-07-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

Travel Day 2 (Arrival at South Fork, Colorado)

The trip today began with a couple of major important stops before we left Amarillo, of course you have to understand that no trip can be complete without a stop at Starbucks.. and Wal-mart..., and while in the drive thru I noticed that there where a brand name of cookies in the window by the name of "Lucy's" of course I had to buy them, here is a pic of the cookies.

Forgive my morbid sense of humor here, but you can't look past a sign like this and laugh...I know, I know, it doesn't say Dumois, it says Dumas...but check out the parady in this road sign.

We found a coffee mug today in the city of Clayton, NM, I will reveal the mug later on...I bought it for a friend in Tupelo, MS, Larry McClendon.

here are many random pics of the Mountains, we've been studying the Hebrew language and it's pictograph's and the word for Mount in Hebrew is SaR, samech Aleph resh (lean on God's humble servant) interesting one of ranges we drove through today is known as Sangria de Cristo (The Blood of Christ). Here they are...

Random Pic of the day in Alta Mesa:

Here is a pic of us today at Raton pass, my girls are sitting on the same wagon that April, Brent, and I sat on in '81 or '82 or ever earlier...30 years later we found the same wagon, it brought a tear to my eye, here is this pic:

Here is the humble abode that we are living in for the week, it is quite spectacular and here is the view around the cabin:

As we embark on this week, I look forward to hearing from God and what He is going to do in directing my life and walking in His grace. I'm learning to trust in his voice alone and not make a move unless he directs it...and my selfish nature does not always respond, yet I find myself right in the middle of what he has for me.

more tomorrow!

Colorado Day 2

2010-07-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

1st Travel Day:

Preparing to leave on a trip is always somewhat stressful, yet, the anticipation of leaving the norm is welcomed and timely.

We sat out today for the goal of making it to Amarillo, of course, the trip on map-quest said it would "only" take 71/2 hrs...ha ha ha! This is our first official Jason Goodson family road trip...every time I think about going on vacation...Chevy Chase and the family truckster from National Lampoons "Vacation" comes to mind. You just pray that there is no uneeded adventure other than gazing upon my girls pretty faces as they look at the Rocky Mountains for the first time. "I can't wait to see their response..."

This morning as we were pulling away from Mineola in family car and the Hainesville Aires trailer as if we were a traveling family band, we've had several strange looks today.

Those smiles well they didn't last long!

We began our journey and 31/2 hours later decided o.k. it's time to pull off and have lunch in Bowie, TX. Just a comment before I go any further..."There is absolutely nothing to eat on hwy 287 west of Denton." I was getting worried about the possibilities once we left Denton when nothing but tumble weed began running across the road.

Good ole Bowie, TX just north of 287 on hwy 81 we ran into a "Golden Chick" after circling the McDonalds that held only 14 people, smallest McD's ever!

Friendly people at the Golden Chick in Bowie...a little to far off the road however.

Here are some pictures post Golden Chick experience as we entered the vast Texas plains.

a sleeping goosters is a quiet van!on the open road,

isn't the scenery just beautiful, they don't come any better than KGood.

This our attempt at producing a video of mountains in TX, well that are just not mountains, ant hills more like it.

This is our attempt at artistry in motion

it was a cool looking tree...the only tree all day!

We finally made it to our destination in Amarillo, and we sure are tired; however, before the slumber, "STEAK" at

The Mae Train went into shut down mode when she saw the moose head, then finally calmed down long enough to enjoy some excellent cooking.

I was meditating on this verse today for shabbat (or sabbath day) from Exodus, it says

Exo 14:13 And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

Exo 14:14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."

What an encouraging truth in the midst of the junk we live in, I want to with my family this trip, is to be silent so that we do not miss seeing His salvation, that He will work for us as we glory in Him who is Adonai, EL-Roi.

Colorado Day 1

2010-07-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Prep Day, Thursday July 1st:

I find such great pleasure in hanging out with my children; Zoe is 5, Lucy is 2, and Iris is 8 months old, each child unique in form and has personality to boot. I am on a mission today of clearing two of three girls out of the house, Zoe and Lucy. Removing the older girls out of the house allows Kathy to prep for packing the loads of junk we carry with us, especially, for our trip to Colorado.

South Fork, Colorado is the destination of our trip…here are a few photos of the girls here at our local coffee shop in Mineola, B&B Legal Grounds. This is our attempt at freeing the mind of mamma at home. This is Lucy my 2 year old before she ran out of real estate near the pool table and bumped here sweet face on the right corner pocket….she survived!

This is Zoe, my five year old; she is the calm, cool, and collected one of the bunch always mothering over the brood. This is such a beautiful quality she possesses, she is my oldest, and she is quite smarter than dear old dad.

This is my friend Neal Edwards, who is an incredible flat picker…Neal is singing old gospels and the presence of God is resting amongst us and honored we are to be in the presence of Elohim…the Almighty…beautiful.

No mountains yet, but who needs mountains when you have the glory of God in your midst in a little coffee shop in Mineola, TX.

Not Understanding The Cross

2010-05-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Not Understanding the Cross

The greatest misunderstanding of the church today is not understanding the cross. In viewing the cross, we often fail to see the greatest task ever worked out "The Death of Jesus." The death of Jesus gives us a marker for looking towards the deity of Christ and not our flesh. The cross boldly stands as the death of self, when one is drawn by God to the cross, the ultimate result is death so that life may be shown.

2 Co 4:10 We always carry in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies too.

oddly enough we do not believe that verse, because this verse is the interpretation of understanding the cross. Without the death of Jesus their is no life for us. Jesus' Death is the revealing life on our behalf within, the resurrection is the avenue by which Jesus gives another in the holy spirit by which we have union with God through Christ.

We do a great job as the body of Christ of missing the point, in Mark 8:34 we see a great example of not understanding the meaning of scripture:

Mar 8:34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Normally we hear the interpretation of this verse as a way of pointing others to "good works." These good works are often translated in denying self as Spiritual work and it has the face of religiosity. The result of this is self-righteousness. I grew believing that if I did not read my bible daily and pray that God would be upset with me! This is a result of not understanding the cross; I turned the work back to self instead of resting in the finished work of Christ on the Cross and His righteousness.

Deny

The word of day is deny, the crucial part of understanding Mark 8:34 above; which is not found in what we see. For instance, denying self is not looking to your flesh to find how you can rid yourself of sin. Denying self is not looking to what the principles of the world says we should accomplish. Denying self is not seeing and listening to the voice of satan in temptation and fighting your way out. Denying self is not found in what we see in self and try to fix it. The flesh, the world, satan, and what our eyes see is the deep meaning of self. the description of denying self in its intended meaning is this ignoring what the flesh, what the world, what satan, and what our eyes see about self.

This is the daily struggle, we can play the religious game and keep believing that our work for God will count in saving self. On the other hand we can begin to ignore the false truths we have believed for so long and look at the cross as our final death stake. Until we see the cross as final, we will never understand what it means to take it up.

Taking Up the Cross

Taking up the cross is embracing its finished work, the finished work of the cross is embracing what we don't see about ourselves which equals faith. Begin to practice the ignoring of religious self and you will understand what it means to embrace faith. The cross finished the work, we carry around the death of Jesus in this flesh ignoring the details that cause sin because we can't fix sin. Sin was fixed at the cross, you see the same cross that killed Christ killed our sin. This verse in scripture just says it:

2Co 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

We embrace all the cross says about us which is the hardest thing we do as Christians because it removes the onus on self and finds rest in work of God through the cross.

Not understanding the cross leaves us with the terrifying aspect of wondering if we did enough! I love the movie Saving Private Ryan, but it is a terrible picture of redemption. The main character at the end is left questioning whether or not he earned it because he was told to by the man who saved him, "to earn this." Is this not the picture we walk around with went it comes to taking up the cross? Earning life does not find its rest in making self better, but in understanding that through the death of one on the cross, life was given, not so we could keep earning merit with our efforts of righteousness to gain life.

To understand the cross we must understand intimacy in a relationship with a loving Father. Let these verses resonate with you:

Eph 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
Eph 1:8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
Eph 1:9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
Eph 1:10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

Jason.

Receiving

2010-04-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

We can never be hard enough on sin to affect change in the world or church. We will never quit sin simply because it is wrong. God never created the new man to quit anything, The new man is only capable of receiving life. Any time we try to quit sin, it is only our flesh trying to be religious. When the receiving of His life swallows up the desires of the flesh then sin starts to disappear because the life of Christ is manifest in our mortal body. Our mortal flesh can never serve God, it can only manifest His life.

The Real, Substantive, Eternal View of a Shadow

2010-03-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

Defining Circumstances

Shadow defined is a function of—and constitutes irrefutable evidence of—the presence of light.
Thesis Statement

The real, substantive, and eternal view of a shadow is found in the light of knowing God intimately through the eternal picture of the earthly tabernacle.

What I Can Tell You Upfront
What I can tell you upfront is that I’m sorry that my knowledge of the Father is only finitely descriptive of an infinite reality. With sure notions of gratitude in my heart I come humbly now to script out a picture of what only the Holy Spirit can reveal internally. I often wonder if there is a particular science to writing about word pictures without it sounding East Texan to the reader; however, it’s what I are. I’ve been reading the Torah and have found great delight in reading these wonderful word pictures of Christ. I wrote a few weeks back about listening to the voice of God even when it calls for the strange, and cuzz, business is booming. What I can also tell you upfront is this, the earthly tabernacle no longer exist or the contents thereof, so be sure to mark this down in the imprint of your heart; everything written down about the tabernacle is a shadow of the real, substantive, and eternal relationship found in Jesus Christ.
The Real
About the time that Moses was stomping towards the wedding ceremony at Mount Sinai, the Holy One spoke to us (Israel – Chosen People which includes we grafted in gentiles) about two million in all face to face and guess what happened? We couldn’t handle the level of intimacy that our Divine Bridegroom was offering. We trembled at the sound of His voice. We shook in our boots (sandals, more like Chaco’s, and definitely not flip flops) at the majestic manifestation of His presence. We hid humbly (supposedly) in false modesty. We ran in immature fear. The real of this situation is that we could not handle the fact that God would dare to stoop to our level and actually want to have a face to face relationship with us. We instead insisted that Moses be our spokes person, because we feared that if God spoke we would die. It is funny how man wants to rely upon another man to hear from God.
God obliges us by showing Moses and Aaron (who by the way were eager to walk in to the presence of God boldly) on that mountain during a period of forty days and nights the exact details of what this earthly tabernacle was going to look like. The Holy One is prepared to reveal the glory of living in intimacy with His chosen people and to nurture this relationship, but since our fear caused us to pause; He gives Moses instructions on building a tabernacle that is to be a shadow of the real. God then could have rebuked us or even disciplined us; however, His response to our immaturity gives us a glimpse into His goodness and grace. The Holy One is the patience bridegroom who patiently demonstrates His infinite love for us; now that is real.

Substantive
Moses has a substantive experience on top of Mount Sinai by engaging in an intimate relationship God, who gives specific instructions on the earthly tabernacle. Much has been made by what actually happen on the mount that day; I’m not sure what it looked like, but it was much more than we can humanly imagine. God gives detailed words on what is to be the means by which God and man can experience intimacy in “show” form. The Tabernacle is a replica of an actual intimate experience that is available to us through Jesus. The tabernacle was never meant to be anything other than a replica! A replica of what though? The tabernacle is a replica of the real and substantive Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the tabernacle. Let’s look at the substance contained within.
The most famous substance in play is the Ark of the Covenant, John wrote in Revelation 4:2, ‘a throne, and someone sitting upon it’. The ark is the throne of the holy of holies which we have access because of the blood of Jesus. To boldly enter the throne with confidence the writer of Hebrew says in 4:16. It is atop this mercy seat that we find the holy one who sits eternally and is by this calling us in to his wedding chamber to experience a substantive face to face relationship with Him.
We are however, left to our flesh, still in fear that the Holy one would not allow this. The ark is not just a piece of religious art work awaiting for the person to first make themselves right and then enter in to the throne room. The ark is the center of gravity of the Kingdom of God; it is where we run to find mercy and grace in our time of need. The ark given to Moses to build was a shadow of what we have now in the present reality of Kingdom living. The substance of the ark is that God is drawing us into himself so that we may rest our lives in His presence.

Eternal
Moses step into an eternal state when he first gazed upon the father and received the instructions given to build this earthly replica of a real relationship. The eternal is not wrapped up in our concept of time. If we could measure eternity in what we know as time, then it would not be eternal. We live in a box of time, eternity is transcends time to where it does not exist. The present reality of the tabernacle is an eternal reality because Moses saw it on the mountain. Not only did he receive instructions and details about the tabernacle but he saw it in its eternal reality. What God asked Moses to build on earth was just a shadow of that reality; Moses gazed upon the eternal view of a shadow.
We can muster up all kinds of theology here to give credence to a denominational viewpoint but we all know that would be messy at best. That is why we in our flesh are finite, measured by time; we have a beginning and an end. The eternal make up of who we are is in the spirit. We must understand that we are eternal beings that our make-up is in Christ and not in this flesh we walk around in. The eternal reality is that the flesh has been crucified, and we are living eternal beings in the eternal Kingdom. The reality of eternity is life in Christ; it’s no longer just a shadow for us in time, but an eternal reality now.
What I Can Tell At the End
What I can tell you at the end of this article is that we tend to live in a here and now perspective and forget that the eternal view is a reality now. The replica of the temple is a reality in Jesus Christ. Jesus as led us into the bridal chamber through His blood and we have access to His throne. If you are living outside of resting in his lap, then you are living in the groan of the flesh, you are living in the shadows of what is temporal and doesn’t last. Resting in the lap of Christ gives us as John did (who placed his head upon his breast) the intimate reality of a lasting relationship. Crawling into the lap of God now is living in the real, substantive, eternal view of what the tabernacle plays out, which is just a shadow of us being drawn into the bridal chamber to experience intimacy with God.

Shimmer, Shine, and Radiate

2010-02-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

"We’re born to shimmer, we’re born to shine, we’re born to radiate..."
-Shawn Mullins

To shimmer, shine, and radiate is to reflect the purpose of living life that you have been created to live and if it is not driven by life, the purpose was never reflected.

Word of Introduction:

In the seduction of radio, there once beamed a tune in the early stages of my marriage with Kathy that still to this day causes my heart to retreat to the sights, sounds, and smells of the green Honda driving to Broken Arrow, OK or to Mineola, TX, or to Lake Forest Ranch for weekend retreats. The song “Shimmer” by Shawn Mullins. It is like “desperado” stopping Elaine’s boyfriend in Seinfeld to a halt when he heard the song quickly shushing her when she spoke. Kathy and I never shushed each other; we just sang heartedly, yes, Kathy can sing heartedly. What are you born to do? What is the exact picture look like? If you end up finding the purpose that you are born to do and then find out that you are not satisfied, did you miss the purpose or did you miss the life behind the purpose?

Shimmer

I love this picture’s depiction of the word “Shimmer”. Shimmer sets forth the reflection of light off of an object, such as the bench in the picture. Part of the purpose of light is to make aware that which has been hidden in the dark. Light exposes the junk, the imperfections, and the little spots of stains hidden in the deep domain of the abyss called life. We fight and struggle to find the purpose that will make us shimmer so we can reflect the intricate details that we have been shaped for because it gives us validity. Proverbs 20:25 reads like this when it comes to trying to invent the shimmer, “it is a snare to say rashly, “it is holy, “and to reflect only after making vows.” It is an aged process to shimmer the purpose of our life, because as we walk through the darkness of our junk, we begin to see the glimmering hope of the shimmer. Like this bench in the picture you may feel weather beaten and worn, people may sit, lean, stand, and trample on you but like the bench you will one day look back and see that your purpose was to provide rest for weary souls.

Shine

When the sun breaks forth from a cloud it reenergizes the landscape, it shines its light on the colors of the world giving deep distinction to the individual participants. I love to see people shine; it gives forth hope and anticipation to life and living. Distinguishing between finding a purpose and living out a purpose is somewhat complex and confusing such as: The Sun being hid by the clouds, we really do not know its full potential until the sun shines over the edge and reveals its purpose. The Sun has one purpose, it is to shine. When the sun is living its purpose, it is providing life to us through nature by bearing forth the fruits of the fields, trees, and power we need to produce sustainable living. Paul describes this shine in 2 Corinthians 4:6 by giving us a picture of its purpose stating, “For God, who said, “let light shine out of darkness, “ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The brightness of God’s glory shines in the face of Jesus Christ; therefore, when God’s presence is manifested it is the shine of Jesus that sheds forth light through us that gives distinction to His glory. The only reason we do not shine the life of Christ in us is because we are hid behind the clouds of guilt, shame, and doubt.

Radiate

This picture radiates, I love it, it gives us a clear distinction of how the sunlight beams forth its energy. The energy that permeates itself through windows, clothing, and food is the beam of the sun’s rays. The sun can be described as radiant or brilliant, it is bright, and it is infectious. To radiate is to reflect the life of the object. The sun’s radiance is its beams; it naturally produces beams of light because the source of the light is producing it. This analogy can be somewhat tormented in ministry because we often believe that life is found in the process of working for God. We’ve been called to radiate life in ministry. I’ve worked tooth and nail to try and produce a good feeling in depths of my soul’s chamber, and yet it never brought forth satisfaction. When God is producing ministry it radiates life. As a result, when I stand in front of a group of people and share scripture it is a result of life and not a means to finding life. I’ve wasted way to many days worrying about finding life in my works. My works are as filthy rags compared to the good works of God who has called us to do but one thing; and that is to believe. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:3).

Final Words

Shawn Mullins, at least in this ballad, shares a significant area of life in the words he writes, “we’re born to shimmer, we’re born to shine, we’re born to radiate…” It is in these characteristics of light that we are given hope by Jesus when he states of us in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Just as God led the children of Israel out of captivity by a pillar of fire by night which was leading to life, so we find life as we learn to shimmer, shine, and radiate the life of God as we grow in intimacy with Him. What is the work of God? Jesus stated it like this in John 6:26-27, and then they said to him, “what must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Mary-Jane, Pop-Tarts, and Sex-Utopia

2010-01-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

Q: why do we see teens running to the outside recourses of drugs, food, and sex for fulfillment? Is this a teen problem or a parent problem? Why would we sit back and enable such a lifestyle pattern to develop in the ones we love so much, namely, our children?
Inevitably, at some point in the life of a child, they will have been faced with a decision about Mary-Jane, Pop-tarts, and sex-utopia, what they choose will affect the rest of their lives.

Mary-Jane is a beautiful name if you think about it; I wonder how many Mary Jane’s there are in this world? (Forgive the momentary pause for reflection) Mary-Jane however, is the quintessential name for marijuana. Mary-Jane has affected the brain cells of millions of people world-wide. I was introduced to Mary at the age of 18 as it was being passed around in a circle amongst a group of people whom I’ve never before and never since have seen. We all have those friends that your momma warns you about, but you’re not sure why the warning was given until you see the doobie exponentially offered.
Teens that use drugs for the most apart, about 60%%, use it, specifically to shake hands with Mary-Jane. Once a teen has had their formal introduction with the Jane, a chemical called tetrahydrocannabinal commonly known as THC expels itself into the blood stream. THC is the sweet delight of the smile of Mary-Jane, yet this smile doesn’t look so kindly once it has taken effect. Symptomatically, Mary-Jane thrives itself in paranoia, anxiety, and dizziness; in fact, these are what teens would consider for themselves as deserving after a hard week of classroom study, video games, and text messaging.
I sat with students who have freshly finished a date with Mary-Jane and seen an emotional state that hit deep within, literally having life “in tune.” “Yeah man, I’ve got it all figured out, nothing can stop me…” I often wondered after hearing this type of statement what “it” means! “It” must be special, because in concentric circles of concern I’ve heard questions such as do you have the “it factor”? “It” must have something to do with Mary-Jane because “it” must be wrapped up in THC. Mary-Jane can only do so much to help one out, maybe ease the carnage of life if for a moment, relax the chaotic soul, cause deep introspection; however, Mary-Jane will never be able to fill the deep need of the spirit. The way, the truth, and the life are wrapped up in a free gift named Jesus, which does not contain THC, but life.
POP-TARTS
I chose pop tarts as the subject of my next point for the purpose that most children, teenagers, and adults can identify with food. Pop-Tarts are just good! I have a particular addiction to “S’mores” flavored Pop-Tarts with a nice Irish Crème latte. I’ve kept our local coffee shop in business with this particular order. I once new a particular set of females whom I worked with during my first summer at LFR who admitted to having that all nutritious breakfast of Mountain Dew and Pop-Tarts every morning while in college.
Pop-Tarts have no value nutritiously, in speaking of health, but if you want to smack down on some good old comfort, Pop-Tarts will do the trick. There is nothing kosher about a Pop-Tart, so you will not see a Jew or a practicing gentile of the Jewish tradition partaking of Pop-Tarts. God bless them because it would definitely be a vise for me that would consume me at first site; no will power. Pop-tarts do not provide that cover that I desperately am looking for when I give in to my flesh and try to hide like Adam and Eve did in the garden.
What do you hide behind when sin knocks at your door and you give in? We all have that addiction that grieves the inner-most being of our souls. Food proudly invades my space and is a cause for much of my malady; I’ve lived with food addiction for 16 years and there is not a day that goes by that I do not fight its calling. Adam and Eve when they sinned did not wait by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for God to show up and have a little chat over the situation at hand. No, they ran for cover, to hide and cloth themselves, to hide what was the cause of their shame. When I sin, food provides a momentary comfort that is fleeting from the time I begin to embrace it. For you, it may not be Pop-Tarts, it may be something else. Jesus by His compassion draws me from this hiding place when I try to play hide and seek from Him.
Sex-utopia
Utopia is a 15th Century word coin by Sir Thomas More, who authored the book Utopia in 1516. By definition in Websters it is described as an imaginary and indefinitely remote place, or the ideal place of perfection especially in laws, government (lol), and social conditions; an impractical scheme for social improvement. We dream in utopia dipping our fingers in and tasting the sweet savory flavor of the perfect life and then immediately interrupted by the ever antagonistic alarm. It is amazing how many of us think that utopia is not possible; have you heard of heaven? Utopia only exists in the realm that we do not find by human touch because of our lack of unbelief.
Sex-utopia is experienced widely over planet earth in front of the T.V.’s, DVD’s, movie screens, and computer screens of our lives. Look at these statistics:
In a Kinsey Institute survey, respondents were asked "Why do you use porn?"
43% - "because I can fantasize about things I would not necessarily want in real life."
* 42% of songs on ten top-selling CDs in 1999 contained sexual content, 41% of which were "very explicit" or "pretty explicit." Family News in Focus, July 2005
* 17% of all women struggle with porn addiction* 1 of 3 visitors to all adult websites are women* 9.4 million women access adult websites every month Internet Filter Review
* 38 percent of adults believe it is ‘morally acceptable’ to look at pictures of nudity or explicit sexual behaviorMorality Continues to Decay. Barna Research Group, 3 November, 2003.
“What’s this world coming to?” “Is there no self-respecting human on this planet anymore?” Why do we assume that the world is all of the sudden turned bad? Honestly, have you read the bible lately? None of these stats were present in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, there was no extensive research done find out what was corrupting the heart of man. God knew it simply as “depravity,” in fact, before the flood while Noah was building the boat, “man’s heart was continually on evil.”
So do not be surprised that we strange creatures of this earth try to meet our sexual needs in utopia when they are not met up to our standards physically. We play the blame game so much when our sexual needs are not met; therefore, it is easier to meet them in the realm of utopia instead of the reality of a relationship through Jesus Christ. The reality is that when our physical, emotional, and mental needs are found in Christ, exploring utopia just does not satisfy. Sex in any form can only fill the void momentarily.
Final Words
Ok so Mary-Jane, Pop-Tarts, and Sex-utopia are idioms for us homo-sapiens to use in meeting that God shaped void in our lives. We can try to stuff it with Mary-Jane, but she only pacifies the pain. We can try to gorge the void with Pop-Tarts, but it only comforts and covers the glaring reality of depravity. We can try to fantasize the void by escaping to Sex-Utopia, but you will find yourself heartbroken. Is it possible that God’s purpose is to meet you at your moment of need so that you will be satisfied in Him? Or will you continue to blame God because you are not running to Him? Maybe it is time for parents to reclaim the home and strike up a conversation with their progeny and actually play a part in the lives of their children as heroes of the faith. Do you actually think that God will leave you to handle it by yourself? Youth Pastors are not your child’s mother and father…I know only a few Youth Pastors who actually get the fact that their job is not to parent but to point to Christ; heck it’s hard enough to lead students when most youth pastors are dealing with their own addictions to Mary-Jane, Pop-Tarts, and Sex-utopia

The Declaration of the States of Steeples, Snot, and Poo

2010-01-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

An Introductory Word

I suppose that it is not proper to stoop down to the level of the words that I'm about to use; however, I will not regret the use of them. Descriptive use of words such as steeples, snot, and poo are not the status quo when it comes to writing about life. If I were in preaching class, the only thing missing from this standard use of sermonology would be poo, simply because I did not high light the point with the S word, and I'm not talking swords.

Steeples

Under normal circumstances you do not see the steeples of the church as a part of article writing; however, I have seen many steeples. The thing you need to know about steeples is that they mark the spot on denominational preferences. Steeples are large, skinny, tall, short, stacked with bells, as big as a 3 story buildings, and some with the looks of watch towers. Steeples are not indicative of selling points, I mean when Jesus died on the cross, I'm not sure that he thought it would mark the spot for heretical worship across the globe. I heard it once said that there are 38,000 different religions in the world today, and I can't help but to think that these are 38,000 different ways we've screwed it up. Religion defined is man's way to God.
I once saw a steeple standing on the stage at our college chapel that fit perfectly from the stage to the ceiling, it served as a lightning rod for a room full of students who were forced to spend three hours a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday clinging to the superficial words of a predetermined guest. I'm not mad at steeples or disgruntled by the worship that exist underneath the standing symbolism of a horrible death; however, I'm concerned for those whose white washed American lifestyles are classified by what church they attend. For the most part, individuals in the church are deeply needy, deeply narcissistic, and deeply entrenched in tradition because it is what they learned growing up.
Have you ever sat in the Sunday school classroom and heard the same dribble over and over again? It is because that same dribble was taught to the Sunday school teachers of today and there is no distinction made outside the box because of the fear that they too might cast a shadow of doubt in someone's heart. People who lead Sunday school classes are not stupid people; in fact, some of the smartest people I know are leading small group discussions every Sunday morning in our local steepled buildings. I do believe that there are amongst those smart people ignorance produced by ignorance, produced by ignorance, and etc., there is something to say in removing filters and searching the scripture and that in them we may find the words of life and not the words of a steeple chaser.

Snot

I find it interesting that we as American’s all deal with snot, yet we would rather not display our techniques in dealing with snot to others around us. Snot is found in every corner of the world it is not prejudice to a certain class of people, race, or society. Snot drips itself through the nasal passages of Presidents, Dictators, Governors, Mayors, Pastors, Priest, Deacon's, and the Pope (whom ever he may be at the time). Snot is blown in dish rags, toilet paper, handkerchiefs, tissues, paper towels, hand towels (the rough kind you find in bathrooms that leave your nose red and chaffed), bath towels, spit cups, and empty Dr. Pepper bottles. Snot can be found in places such as pillow cases, sink drains, couch clefts, bathroom walls, sidewalks, front yards, back yards, and underneath the table when you no other spot to wipe it.
Why even the topic of snot has been brought up in conversations over the world about its color, bright green, yellow, white, and red (depending on the type of infection you have received per its color.). A friend was telling me the other day about a lady whom he saw in the parking lot of the local grocery store who just exited the building walking towards her car who was left to blow snot from her nose into her hand and then proceeded to swipe it in the air to rid herself of this while loogie substance that was as he described, "disgusting! It looked like she was spider man as it flew from her wrist." What we need to know about snot is that it plays some kind of role in our lives and much like spiders is never more than three feet from us.
I tend to believe that Jesus at some point in His life blew a snot rocket or two and felt relief by having it removed from his nasal passage. Snot is not something that you debate in Systematic Theology as if it had something to do with you eternal salvation because it plays no part in you being seated in the heavenlies. Snot might as well be the topic of most sermons we hear today because like most sermons, snot is a topical discussion and has no eternal impact of the believer who longs for intimacy with their Creator.

Poo

Advancing on with the topic of poo, I must warn you that there is no explicit description of fecal matter and how it proceeds from or produces itself. Don't get me wrong, I believe that people have a right to poo because we all poo. The places we poo are sometimes problematic because the public has to witness the transaction. We shake hands with people that poo all the time, we just hope they had enough common sense to wash their hands before exiting the throne room. I worked on work staff in the summer of '91 at Lake Forest Ranch in Macon, MS and I experienced poo in many different areas of the camp.
I was summoned by the director to go and clean the rec hall bathroom that was occupied by the boys of the camp. This particular week of camp left us short of water due to a busted water line and in these particular toilets there was no way flush it down naturally with loads of water. He prepared me for such a task by telling me to suit up with goggles, cleaning gloves, an apron, a clothes pin, and a water hose. Just for future reference, when someone comes to you and says that you need goggles, cleaning gloves, an apron, a clothes pin, and a water hose, respectfully decline and save yourself a mental picture that will never cease.
As a means of gross, this top the list in every since of the word, backed with the support of my fellow work staff who participated from afar, I entered the bathroom and discovered a toilet that was not overflowing from milk and honey, but was overflowing from the remnants thereof. I noticed a message was written on the bathroom stall that nonetheless came from the crafted script of the index and middle fingers of a young gentle soul who decided it would be funny to write (_ _ it happens). After the laughter of disbelief and finding humor with the situation at hand, the bathroom itself was restored to clean order and I prayed that I would never again see the words (_ _ it happens) again on a bathroom wall with poo.
I am glad that in regards to poo, my sin included, disgust me. You may need to see your sins in regard to poo, as disgusting before you understand the need of a Savior who steps in and cleanses the bathroom stalls of your heart. I don’t have a perfect handle on how to help you see the disgust of sin; sometimes it takes stepping over the edge with the use of poo type language to describe the condition of our depraved lives.

Final Word

In retrospect, the declaration of steeples, snot, and poo have given us a look at humanity. We see things through filters that cloud truth and reality, removing those filters takes a process of wading through the waters that struggle against what we know as normal. Begin with one filter at a time and it will be easier to remove the mask we so easily hide behind on a daily basis. The results will be amazing when you look back on life and find that during this whole process that God never left your side.

January 2010 "Misfits"

2010-01-14T07:11:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the heart of Texas,

I say greetings from the heart of Texas because in deep east Texas there is a growing community of eccentric people who are building a family that will last forever. Have you ever had some one stand up for you in your moment of weakness? Have you been backed into a corner by the rear ends of the world and your only way out is through the help others? When I tell you that in the heart of Texas a growing community of love and respect is building in unity, I'm not speaking of the golden era of pomp and circumstance, but of the here and now in the midst of the worst economic recession our generation has witnessed, a community is being built.

a meticulous laid tile floor covers the surface of our local coffee shop and the floor is as meticulous as the owner who is painted in terrible light amongst those who exist outside of the family within. He is particular about the people, service, and keeping every detail of his place warm and welcoming. He is determined to build community. He wants to see music and the arts succeed in this sleepy part of Texas that can sometimes be rigid and disgruntled.

"Misfits," "you know they just don't seem to fit!" Maybe misfit should be a class of people instead of a term used down grade. Declaring today that I, Jason Todd Goodson is a Misfit in the tallest order or shorter order if you are judging vertical status. The Misfits slide inbetween Lower Middle Class and Poverty, Lower Middle Class and Upper Middle Class, and Lower Upper Class and Upper Class. The Misfits reside in every category and looks just like you and me.

On any Friday or Saturday night you can enter the coffee shop and find those who are playing folk, Country, blue grass, and occasionally a karoake collage of all the songs you remember from growing up in the era of the '70's, '80's, and 90's. Just recently a young patron of the coffee shop who has a love for the theatre arts wrote an original play and pulled from the pool of misfits and created a masterpeice that should be made into a movie, the "flickerking" will be coming to a theatre near you as soon as he grabs the nerve to send it off.

When I first entered the coffee shop three years ago I did not expect to be received so well, I mean seriously why would this group of misfits accept a baptist minister into the family of community being built? Why would the meticulous owner of the coffee shop who is still struggling with faith be Jesus with skin to me and those who I grew up loving and were groomed by have nothing to do with me now? It's a mystery, maybe in the mystery God chooses to show up in the weak and feeble, those who are ok with not being ok, those who don't a grip on life, or maybe its just that He chooses to manifest himself through misfits.

I met a lady a month before Christmas who joined our Monday night meetings, who calls herself a Messianic Christian, practicing the Jewish tradition as a means for her to know God. The only thing I can figure about this sweet soul is that she lives to know God. She has no job, no money, no family to speak of in the area, she came by way of Pennsylvania because the camp she worked for fired her because she was to Jewish, that's right to Jewish, she's a misfit. One day she finds herself with a back problem stuck in the Heart of East Texas, and now I'm looking forward to her walking through the door at the coffee shop or at the house our Monday night group meets, why? Because she beems God! I want to know God! I want to know Him even if through the misfits of this world.

What is the local church afraid of when it comes to misfits? I think they are afraid of being a misfits and that they could actually learn from the weak and feeble. It's strange but isn't that Paul's statement to the Corinthian church when he says, that God's power is made perfect in weakness! The local church has created a facade, a masquerade party with hidden identities that are afraid to unmask and show the true self. Healing will come when the mask are removed and prentious smiles are turned into real life, real problems, and then will a real God show up and meet them at their need.

some thoughts from a misfit,

Jason

Listening to the Voice of God Even When it Calls for the Strange

2009-12-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

I would like to begin this audio blog with a word of caution to all of you listening because it comes from the heart of God to the call in my life. Thus, what I say may not be for you personally, but it may encourage you to listen to the voice of God even when it calls for the strange. The topic is a subject that I believe would benefit every Christian believer, but it may not be your cup of tea so to speak. The subject of our savior is one of many descriptive qualities; such as, He is redeemer, creator, sustainer, and in us wisdom, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The specific quality of God in His Son Jesus is that Jesus was a Jew, not an upper middle class American man who was successful in life and longs to give us the American dream.
Jesus is a Jew who was raised as a Jew and followed the Jewish custom of living under the Law and thus, came to fulfill the Law that His Father God set up in the Torah so that by fulfilling the Law Jesus could take our place on the Cross as the sacrificial lamb, spotless and without sin (Hebrews 4:15). The Torah is the first five books of the bible that are commonly followed by those of Judaism (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Normally, in the past, just hearing that these five books are important to me as a Christian would have turned my face green with the anticipation of throwing up. I was so entrenched by the legalism I learned growing up in the Baptist church that it almost caused me to quit being a follower of Christ.
However, today my heart is to know God intimately, not just common taught facts by man, but that the Holy Spirit would reveal the depths of God to me as I continue to pant after Him. I want to learn about the history of how Jesus grew up, what was taught to Him as the foundation for living and as the foundation for understanding the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The new covenant did not take effect until Jesus rose from the dead; therefore, it gave Paul the freedom to go out and do something revolutionary. Paul taught that Jesus was not only for the Jew, but also for the gentile, that there was a place in the family of God in the Kingdom of Heaven in whom the Jewish people have an inheritance to those who believe in the name of Jesus as savior.
I live not under the law, but under grace which allows me the freedom to not be condemn by the law but to live out the greatest commandment that encompasses the law to complete my Joy by living in intimacy with God. In no way am I asking everyone to go out and pick up a Torah portion and read it systematically, but I believe that is exactly what God is calling me and my family to at this point. To study the Torah, the prophets, and the gospels to read the history of our faith, to discover why Jesus did what he did in the ceremonies and in teaching the disciples (who by the way themselves were Jews). We have a Jewish Savior, who followed the Jewish customs, stirred the pot, and yet He did what God told him to do. It was blasphemous for Him to compare himself to God, by calling himself as such, but the truth was this, that as Paul writes, he thought it not robbery… (Phil. 2). I want to share with you the journey as a way to encourage you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
About a month ago, I began to hear from a dear member of our Monday Night Fellowship named Miss Pat about the importance of studying the scripture under the eyes of the Jewish traditions and from the reading of the Torah. I completed Seminary in 2001 with a Masters Degree without ever understanding the importance of the way Jesus was raised and taught. It caused me to want to know God, after hearing from this lady who is full of the Joy of the Lord because of her study of scripture, and her personal relationship to Christ, Who by His grace saved her and gave her His life.
The question at this point for me is this; will the study of the Torah help me understand the grace of God in the parameters of the Law? Or will it just be another attempt at legalism from which I’ve failed so miserably in the past? I’m a skeptic at best when it comes to tradition, ceremonies, and festivals, because I’ve given myself to these traditions in the past and brings about much pause and reservation before diving deep. I’ve also have been praying for a way to involve my family in the study of scripture and prayer; I really want my girls to know God, I pray daily that God will draw their hearts to His that they may walk in intimacy with our great Father in Heaven.
I was given a magazine name “Messiah Magazine” Torah, Grace, and Truth. The name of the magazine caused me to want to read it because what I’ve learned so far in my walk is that grace and law do not mix. I’ve lived for the past 15 years studying, learning, and identifying myself in the grace of God. I’ve always believed that the law was holy, but it condemned, shot arrows to the heart, and never showed me a loving father. My sin earned me death and separation from God; Christ took my place and has given me life through my belief in Him. I’ve never wanted to intentionally break the law because of grace, but this is what happens when we taste grace, I became rebellious because I believed I could do any sin, and it would be covered. That’s dangerous living and I was on a road to destruction because of my living under what I thought the grace of God covered.
Grace does by the way cover all my junk, and it remembers my junk no more, but there is still a place and purpose for the Law. Jesus freed me from the condemnation of the law, to live by the law written on my heart. I do not want to break the law, I don’t want to intentionally break the Ten Commandments, but I do want to know God. I still have sin in my life that I desperately want to walk away from, I know my life is hidden in Christ and when the spirit shows me the details of what I need to crucify in my life, he’ll show me what it is and it will not be fun to let go of the toys that reign in my heart above God. I want God to reign unchallenged in my life.
The study of Scripture is important in my life as an individual, father, husband, and youth pastor, my desire to know God has grown out of a desire for intimacy with Him. I desire that my family would know God. I believe God is calling me deeper to search out the depths to discover how much further this rabbit hole goes, I want to taste and see the goodness of God because the taste has caused me to want more that I may put to practice His presence in my life through the joy of my salvation.

be cool,

Jason

www.whoweare.libsyn.com

Saved By His Life

2009-10-20T09:14:00.001-07:00

The verse that was never read tonight leaves much to think about amongst such an enigmatic and diverse group of people on Monday nights, yet everyone who shows up has the same need that can be solved through the statement "saved by His life."

We have such great needs in this life that it causes us to focus on that which is temporal; it seems as though non-Christians who are drawn by God to life are saved then fall immediately into amnesia and proceed in the way of the self-life.

The self-life is motivated by the flesh and it finds its life in the words "my and mine" as A.W. Tozer so eloquently describes in his book "The Pursuit of God". When the inward focus of man takes the life of selfish pleasure, it turns into a flesh frenzy and its painful results lead to conflict with self and others who have invested their lives into one another.

As we gathered last night to meet, we began with an explanation of why we didn't read from the book of Jude. If we had gone the way of reading from Jude it would have been flesh motivated by my selfish desire to point out how we so easily forget God and it would have been extremely condemning and nothing good can come from being led by the flesh. I prayed that afternoon and God changed the direction of my flesh focus to being spirit focused and the night began with a spirit of humility.

After experiencing a few songs, the spirit led a prayer and we open the floor for discussion and in watching the group begin, I could see Jaytee searching for a scripture. I finally interrupted him and said what scripture are you looking for, and he said, "the one that says much more having been saved by his life." Cordova asked for his bible and said "I believe it's found in Romans 8", Jaytee says, I was looking in chapter 6, but we ended up finding it in Chapter 5.

A few other people made some comments and we never got around to reading the verse, which in my opinion breathes life into the junk that we face that is flesh fed. God certainly did not want the verse read obviously or it would have been shared, yet, it does not need to be overlooked.

The verse is from Romans 5:10,

"for if while we are enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."

He loves us,

Jason

Radical Living

2009-09-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to move the office outside onto the front porch of my home, mainly because I wanted to break from the normal routine of my day and think outside the box for once in my life. I’m no longer fearful of breaking from the norm (I know I’m such a rebel sitting on the front porch) in my life but as a recent quote I once read that said, “The Christian Life is not only about killing sin, but about radical living.” I wonder if this qualifies.
I sure feel pretty radical today, I’m in a t-shirt, shorts, and flops on the front porch carrying out my daily regimen of chores. Feeling pretty salty I must say. I’m enjoying the blustery weather that is soaking the ground, no thunderstorm here just a dense heavy rainfall that is giving this parched land some drink. Often my soul feels parched and in need of God to rain down upon me this continual vat of grace that never runs out, but often I try to figure it out under my own circumstances, my muscles, and call it radical living.

I spent many days in the past wondering how to rid myself of sin and make myself the Grand Pulbah of finding out formulas to kill, cover, and cleanse myself of this thing called sin. I’m not sure about you but the formulas haven’t worked yet, the formulas only soothe the problem but never healed it. So one day I read this scripture which set me free from trying to kill, cover, and cleanse myself of this thing called sin. It reads, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Cor. 5:21

So it was up to God to put the plan together to satisfy the need of making a sacrifice for sin, this sacrifice by the way was once for all (which includes you and me). So much for being Conan the Destroyer of sin, that onus was put on the cross which became the finished work, the final payment, and the cleansing work of sin. How arrogant is it for us to think that we can rid ourselves of it, when scriptures tells us that God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for ________ (put your name in the blank), that ________ (put your name in the blank) might become the righteousness of God in Jesus.

We Christians spend a lifetime trying to figure out how to rid ourselves of sin instead of knowing God intimately and we miss out on life trying to come up with the cure that has already been found. I will not spend one more minute on trying to figure out how to kill sin, but I will waste my time on knowing God which is far more radical than crunching numbers and figuring out formulas. Take a moment today and rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross and find your “radical” living in dependence upon his muscles and not yours!

I love you guys, thanks for your prayer and support.

Conan the Destroyer,

Jason

P.S.

As a part of radical living we are going to be closing down our building in the downtown area due to the fact that we believe that this is God's direction. We will have our Monday Night meetings in the homes of those who attend. Pray for us in this endeavor we are already seeing God move through this decision.

Question

2009-08-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

Do we still know that God is able to meet and satisfy our needs even though He has no obligation to do so?

God's love is not based on our race, color, or paycheck.

God's presence is not out of range so that He is unreachable.

God has given us the Holy Spirit (who by the way is God) as a means by which we have become united with Him as a means of life.

You are a created being with worth beyond measure (psalms 139).

You have an identity and where you place this identity is key to how you answer the above question.

We have missed God amongst the hustle and bustle of life that He is in us through the Spirit yet we have forgotten the truth of His indwelling Spirit.

God is beginning to show up in our Monday Night meetings downtown and fueling a passion to know Him. The questions that burden our hearts are there so that we can place our dependency upon God to answer the void within.

God is found amist the saints who have identified themselves in Christ because it has become an awareness of the Spirit.

There is a gentleman who frequents the coffee shop who is in need, doesn't have a job, doesn't have money, and doesn't have the education it takes to find a good paying job. Does this mean that God is not fair to this individual? I certainly could be in the same situation in life if God so chose to let it happen. The point is this, I'm certainly just as dependent as this gentleman. He has a place to sleep, a place to eat, and clothes on his body. He understands that God is showing up and meeting his needs. He knows he's dependent and that every sip of coffee and food he eats is a gift of God.

quit looking for God amongst the clouds and look within and rely upon the Spirit given to you as a gift and you will begin to understand that God is working in you and through you meeting the needs whether huge or small.

Jason

August Rush

2009-08-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

August Rush

Football is approaching, school is starting, and after what seemed like a long summer is coming to a whinding end. I never thought that I would be in August talking about the Rangers and their possibility of being in the playoffs. As you can tell, it doesn't take much for me to get excited about life in general. I love football season, High School Football Friday Nights, college football saturdays, and Cowboy football on Sundays.

I looked back over the summer and have noticed that I have enjoyed hanging out with the kids (Zoe and Lucy), (Monday Night children), (and the youth group). I cautiously see that the youth in the church I work for are starting to see the grace of God and receive a taste from Him. When a student comes to understand the grace of God the countenance on their face changes and a since of inner rest appears and they seem to enjoy life a little more. Have you had that type of taste from God that caused you to rest spiritually?

When I think about my own journey of rest and how God showed up in 1996 and changed me by His grace, it causes me to pause and reflect on His goodness, His mercy, and His timing. God has always showed up at the right time in my life and even when I didn't notice that God was even around His timing was still perfect because I remember situations that God showed up and saved me from my stupidity or just went along for the ride in my stupidity to teach me a life lesson.

When God shows up you know it and it is unmistakable how He works in and through us. I've seen the results in my life and I'm beginning to see how He is still teaching me and molding me. None of this teaching and molding is done with the iron rod of discipline, and it is not done with a distant eye watching from across way, but it is done with a nearness that I cannot explain and a smile that is unforgetable.

I get pretty weird when it comes to watching sports of any kind, I'm usually put way to much of my emotions into it, yell way to loud, and jump up and down way to much; just ask my family! Here is the funny thing about all of that, God gets pretty weird with me during the times of watching sports and my fluttering emotions. I believe He enjoys it just as much as I do and enjoys decorating the house just as much as I do. The point is this, God's intimacy is not based on me correcting all my junk, but it is in the joyful delight of just being in His presence and me enjoying Him and He enjoying me.

That is the taste that changed me: What was the taste that changed you? I would love to see your comments on that!

happy August,

Jason

July Update

2009-07-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

This is one of the hottest summers that I can remember here in Texas, we are known for hot summers anyways, yet this summer seems to be scorching up there with the drought we had back in '98.

Have you ever felt like that you've been in a spiritual drought? I've had some conversations recently about the current generation of spiritual people that we are ministering to locally. I've been praying that God would raise up some young people with a burning desire in the hearts to know God, to passionately pursue God, and to not let anything hamper their pursuit of intimacy with God.

We seem to easily forget that the Holy Spirit in us is abundant and not lacking in revelation, understanding, and wisdom. What seems to be causing the drought with this generation? Sure we can go and look at what George Barna's Research has to say about this generation, that there is emergent generation that is looking in all directions for spiritual life willing to accept any means by which they can understand God, but what happens when the search comes up empty even in the local church body?

Is there anyone out there that wants to know God intimately anymore? I fear we have made God out to be distant and far away from us as if we can't approach Him without the understanding that we must acknowledge how sorry we are first. The glory of God is a great subject and one that we should know and understand, but it shouldn't be hampering our progress to know God.

I love what John Piper has written about being a Christian Hedonist that we should find our complete joy in God, I love to enjoy God, I love God's glory, and it is exactly His glory that drives me to want to know Him intimately, but not at the expense of being fearful to approach.

Much of what has happened with this generation of the church body is that they do not understand or recognize the Holy Spirit and the presence of God in us. Since I'm another, that means God won't share His glory with us right? If Jesus glorifies God on our behalf and God has given us Jesus, then hasn't it always been God's even in us?

Just some food for thought, I'm praying that this generation will begin to boldly approach the throne of grace, to march into the presence of God in their time of need knowing that the glory of God will not keep God from enjoying you as well, even in our junk.

Dave Busby talked about living in God's hug and we would do well to begin to reexamine the issue of grace and the approachability of God. It really grieves my heart when I see people who freeze up and become tense when the presence of God shows up. I believe we are seeing a spiritual drought because the presence of God is not recognized. We need a real jolt of practicing the presence of God in our lives. Identifying ourselves in Christ as a means by which we can understand the presence of God, His Glory, and His sovereignty.

God, please fuel the passion in the hearts of this generation to know you intimately, in and out of the walls of the church building and manifest yourself in us your body by your grace and through Jesus we beg.

WHO WE ARE

I began about 20 days ago to start writing some daily devotionals for my students because they enjoyed having something to read and go by while at Lake Forest for the week and I really felt like God was leading me to do it so I prayed about it and God has been blessing this His work to examine specifically "WHO WE ARE."

I've had conversations for many years with different people about scriptures that just say it, that interprets themselves and really gives us a look at about our identity in Christ. Sharing thoughts about specific identity markers and reading the scripture that surround these identity markers to help us understand our "identity."

I've started a group on facebook if you are interested in joining it called, "WHO WE ARE" it begins with day 1 and will move through until God says stop. I'm almost complete with 3o days and will be pursuing to publish in the future. Anyone is available to join and you can invite whoever you want to begin reading and have some open discussion. You can go to my facebook page at www.facebook.com/jtgoodson and it will have in my profile on the wall information about the WHO WE ARE group.

GYPSY MARKET

www.mineolagyspymarket.com

vendor info packet at the bottom of the first packet and rental contract if you are interested in setting up a booth, follow the instructions and it will lead you to exactly what you need to do.

July 25 North Johnson St. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Bring your family and enjoy the arts, music, and market and children's play area! Free Admission.

FINAL WORD

We love each and everyone of you and are thankful for your support in prayer for Teleo Ridge, we invite you all to come and join us at some point in Mineola, TX for an opportunity to see what God is doing here in our community.

Jason

Loving Our Brother

2009-06-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

1Jn 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen

This verse came to mind this morning as I was sitting here but God was showing it to me in quite a different way than I usually think about it. If you are like me then this verse almost makes you cringe every time you read it or maybe a better word would be condemned. Now if we feel condemned when we read it then we must be reading it wrong because of this verse,

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Now if 1Jn 4:20 condemns me then I have to be looking at it from the wrong perspective. The thing that got me to thinking on this was remembering someone I knew many years back and I saw God using them as they ministered to others and the very clear evidence of God's life in them. These days they no longer do the things that God showed Himself through in times past. Now I might be wrong in this because I don't know the exact details but I have seen it in many other places also so I think the point is true even if it doesn't quite match this story. What I saw here was a person take themselves out of ministry because of the sin in their life. This is where 1 John came in and the thought I had was, is this person loving their brother by sidelining themselves and not doing the things where God was so clearly living and showing His love through them? The reason I ask this is because of how we like to think of sin most of the time. I think most of us like to believe that as long as it is not seen on the outside then we do not have any. This is a misconception that can cause us much grief and heartache along the way that might be avoided if we were honest with ourselves. You see sin is not something that jumps on us from the outside like we prefer to think of it. The truth is that this body that we live in is like a bucket, every now and then it gets a leak in it and what is inside starts dripping out. I think this verse bears out this illustration.

Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Dwelleth : to occupy a house that is, reside (figuratively inhabit, remain, inhere); by implication to cohabit:

Some of us spend a lifetime trying to keep all the holes plugged and maybe we do a pretty good job of it but the truth is we have never changed what is on the inside one iota. We have only hidden the truth about what resides in this bucket we call our body. But sin is not the only thing that resides here, we also occupy this body along with God. This body is not us, we only live here as does sin and the great thing about it is that this body will never dwell in heaven and when it passes away it will take sin with it. Can I hear an amen.
But back to the problem with sin leaking out. What should be my perspective and reaction when one of those leaks opens up and what's inside shows itself? Should I run and get a mop and mop up the mess, grab a role of duct tape and seal that leak? I don't think so because none of these are loving to our brother. We should be honest with ourselves and those around us just as Paul was, “sin that dwelleth here”. Ask for forgiveness not for Gods sake but as a reminder that this leak that is showing the sin on the inside was forgiven when the Lamb was slain. The leak is not what needs forgiveness but the sin that was already there, that has been there since the day I was born. And what should be my focus here? I mentioned before that sin will pass away with this body when it dies because it is part of this earth. I think these verses answer this.

Col 3:1-3 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Eph 2:5-7 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Thank God that through Jesus dying on the cross He has made us one with Him and this earth, body, bucket is no longer our only dwelling place and our focus should be on things above and not below and I think the mess and the sin qualify as things below.
Before I said that trying to plug the leak or clean up the mess would not be loving our brother and you might ask why. First I do not think that we have the ability to clean up the mess or heal the wounds or leaks that we have, only He can do that in His goodness and mercy. I also believe that the most important thing for all of us in this lifetime here on earth is that we would continually get a taste of God. A taste of Him will change us forever including those around us. I think these verses show what I'm talking about.

Psa 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Rom 2:4 Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

So the greatest ways we can love our brother is to give him a taste of God. But those pesky leaks? You know it's funny how that many times those leaks that show what is on the inside are the very times that God shows Himself, because remember that sin is not the only thing that lives here.

In Christ Seated in the Heavenly Places,
Johnny

P.S. Waiting for the day when I can kick the bucket. :)

What is God up to? Do you often wonder about that?

2009-06-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

I often wonder what God is up to? I know God's timing is not on our time frame; however, I would love to sit and watch from his prospective in how He deals with the lives of people on this earth. I take a look within myself and wonder how God has put up with me in my few short years on earth? How God has loved me for free without the condition that exist within my heart...in other words, loving only for the good that someone does for me.
What horrible thing to base love on! Yet, it is exactly that type of love that seems to fuel my living. It shows up in subtle ways and in ways that truly embarress me. My wife Kathy has been a beautiful picture of this love that God has for us, she would tell you that it is imperfect; yet, when I am loving her conditionally she still loves me unconditionally. This type of loving really just blows my mind. Kathy is carrying our third child and we are very excited about raising this baby! I have never seen exactly what this baby looks like nor do I know the intricate details of whether this child is a boy or girl, nor have I heard the baby cry or whimper or coo. I did this morning feel the baby kick in Kathy's belly and love began to well up inside of me for this unknown creature.

God already knows what's in store for this child's life from beginning to end... With fear and trembling do I dare think thoughts of what God is up to from His prospective as if I could wrap my mind around it. God first loving this child, is the exact thing that will draw this child to Him. I'm already praying for this child to be drawn to the love of God, the same prayers that I continue to pray for Zoe and Lucy; for Kathy and I.

I wonder what God is up to not because I am at a lost, but I am excited to see what is coming from Him. Is God about to reveal a new truth that I do not know? I sure hope so! Is God going to provide everything I need financially to make it? I sure hope so! Is God going to manifest Himself through me to others? I sure hope so! I do know this though, even if He doesn't do these things He is still God and He is still Good, He is still in control and thank God I'm not, He is still drawing me by His previous love and I can rest in that.

June Update:

Gyspy Market

If you are a local yocal from Mineola or you have an interest in enjoying Music, Community, and Fun with the opportunity to buy from local merchants come visit the North Johnson St. Gypsy Market on July 25th beginning at 10 am and ending at 5 pm. There will be live Music all afternoon, with a mixture sure to satisfy everyone's taste and food to purchase for your pleasure. Come and support the local business district in the down town area, there will also be some fun options available for the children as well so bring the family.

Monday Night Fellowship

We are still meeting on Monday Night at The Place down town, so if you are interested in a family atmosphere mixed in with music, scripture reading, and conversation then Monday Nights will definately be a fit for you. Contact Jason or Johnny with any questions at jason@teleoridge.com or johnny@teleoridge.com .

A.C.E. at The Place

Tuesday Night fellowship for guys, that is intentional Bible Study normally led by John Cordova (who is currently working at Lake Forest Ranch in Macon, MS) will be led this coming Tuesday by Jason and Johnny. Join us at 7 pm, Grab a cup of Coffee from B&B's and let's talk Scripture.

Ladies Bible Study

Thursday Nights have been for the ladies to have an in depth look at Christ and who He is. They have been studying Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" If you are interested in learning more contact Jason at jason@teleoridge.com .

S.N.A.P.

Saturday nights at the place is still kicking every Saturday Night from 7pm - 11 pm, our purpose is to provide a safe place for students to hang out while having the opportunity to play video games and learn how to play music via the guitar, drums, bass, acoustic, and singing.
Justin Neely oversees the video games
Bobby Simmons and Johnathon McBurnett oversee the music

Without their help, Saturday Nights would not be possible!

A Final word:

God has led me in my heart to begin writing some devotional material for students and I am really excited about walking through this journey: I will be calling the material "Who We Are: A daily reading about our identity in Christ" Jaytee and I always talk about Scriptures that just say what its saying, simple truths that helps us identify ourselves in Christ. So as God begins to shape what this is going to be, I would ask that you would pray as God brings us to mind in making this project about Him and that He would open eyes and reveal truth. Thanks,

Jason

May 09 Update

2009-05-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

John At Lake Forest Ranch

John Cordova began his summer at Lake Forest Ranch this month and is catching up to my number of summers on staff at LFR, good luck! John will be gone through July and will be back in early August. You can keep up with him and LFR at www.lakeforestranch.com. I look forward to going and seeing some old familiar faces with some new no so familiar faces and get a peek on who will walk away with a taste of grace that will change them forever. I will ask John as he has time to sit down and write periodically on how his summer is going.

In Memory of A Friend

There have been people in my life who have influenced me well over the years and I want to reflect on one who was instrumental in modeling what I believe to be one of the key aspects to living, which is loving others for free. Late one night my buddy Bobby Baker and I were making a run to Wal-Mart and ran into a group of young people who were making a journey on faith and didn't have a place to sleep for the evening. The group of course asked Bobby and I about our faith and we responded with the usual answers that we loved Jesus and believe in Jesus and that He saved us...the same typical answers that any teenagers would give to a group of known believers (we really tried to impress them with our knowledge and wisom, I look back on it and laugh). They also asked if we had a place for them to sleep, saying no because Bobby's mother could not hold everyone at her home and I was not going to answer for my parents especially on a school night, we thought of a couple who just might be in love with Jesus enough to let about 6 strangers sleep on their floor....it was Kevin and Joni Best!

Kevin and Joni had not been in Mineola long at this point, but we had been introduced to them through our good friends Don and Jennifer Crenshaw and we immediately loved hanging out with them. Kevin and Joni of course said yes and drove to wal-mart and picked up these students. Just by the fact that Kevin and Joni were willing to do this spoke volumes to me a 17 year old. It showed me a different kind of love that I've never seen before, and I realized later in life that they loved us the same way as they did these students by providing shelter and food for an evening.

I know now that Kevin and Joni were allowing God's love to beam through them by accepting freely these students without cost, loving for free.

This past week Joni Best went to her true home as Kevin wrote to walk in the presence of God and the saints before her and is experiencing the reality of 1 John 3:2 ...we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.

Pray for Kevin, Casey, Sam, and Kylie that the peace of God would ease their sorrow and that His grace would be suffiecient in their time of need.

I thank God for my friend Joni and her unyeilding love and passion for people.

Teleo Ridge Ministries:

As we prepare for the summer months we ask that you would join us in prayer as we seek to obtain our non profit status. We are operating on faith through this journey of watching God work in the lives of the people around us daily. We have never missed a rent payment or a bill in the past two and half years and we are deeply thankful to God for providing for us even through these hard days in the economy.

It has been fun to see new faces show up to our Monday Night Fellowship (our big family reunion night), and to watch the kids play and respond. The other night Zoe was standing in the kitchen and she was getting ready for bed, and I asked her, "Zoe, do you know that God loves you?" She turned and gave me the well duh look and said, "of course Dad, He's my Father and I'm His daughter!" and trotted off to the room. She is 4 years old!

In the midst of the choas of monday nights I'm beginning to see as the kids play, dance, color, and sing that they are hearing the words of truth and believing. It also is a blessing to have a wife who models the love of God in raising our kids, it's fun to watch the kids interact and enjoy just being around one another.

we love you and I thank God for all of you who read and pray along with us, we ask that you will remember us as God lays us on your hearts.

loved for free,

Jason

I Am My Beloved's And His Desire Is For Me

2009-04-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

I love coffee, it is a beautiful way to start the morning. I particularly love the fact that I can share coffee with people. It is a rariety that I don't enter the coffee shop at B&B's without receiving a hug or a hello of some kind.

It is a place where every body knows your name, a place where you are accepted as you are not for what you should be, and with all of the political uproar in the government you are not looked at as a republican or a democrat; however, you are treated as a valued customer, a valued friend, and family.

So on this April Friday Morning I feel especially loved by God, even though God's love for me is not measured daily by an amount deserved, but that He especially loves me daily not matter the circumstance.

Often I've projected my shame, guilt, low self-esteem, and worth on to God as if it was Him throwing these particular darts my way. God's love for us is not based on our low view of self. I am learning that it is important for us to find our rest in His satisfaction with the finished work of Christ.

God sees us and knows us and has a furious longing to be intimate with us.

I've been spending some alone time repeating this statement from the scripture "I am my beloved's and His desire is for me." (Song of Solomon 7:10). In my time of meditation and prayer this is what I'm repeating over and over and guess what? I'm actually starting to believe it!

If you get a chance go and pick up Brennan Mannings "Furious Longing of God" at the bookstore, it will show you not only this prayer, but many other stories of God's love towards us.

I was rescued from ths life of guilt and shame by my father in 1996, who at the moment where I was the most depressed, guilt ridden, shame fed person, and lost to the fact that God loved me without condition (that means for free). I was prepared to receive the worst when dad spoke up and said these words, "Son, I love you and I am here to get you out of situations that you cannot get yourself out of!"

If you notice there was not a hint condemnation in those words, not any venom to strike down what was already struck down. In these words you will notice that Dad gave me permission to lift my head, he cut me free from the burden of responsibility of earning his love. His love for me was never gone. His love for me never waivered when he knew that my mugshot was going to be displayed, when the report of my arrest was going to show up in the paper.

My dad rescued me from wearing the dunce hat in the corner of the class room. My dad provided a beautiful picture of God's love toward's us. my dad's desire was for me, to rescue me, to get me out of things I could get myself out of, even though I was to blame.

"I am my beloved's and His desire is for me." In meditating on this scripture, I beginning to believe this is true that His desire for me will not be hindered by my guilt, my shame, my low view self...

"I am my beloved's and His desire is for me." This is healing me from beating myself up, from forgetting who I am in Christ, and causing me to rest in His satisfaction.

April 09 Teleo Ridge Update

Pray for us this summer as we move forward with A.C.E. at The Place, John Cordova who has been leading A Cross Examination will be at Lake Forest Ranch this summer and Jaytee and I will continue on with this study.

The Ladies in our group have come together and hav been studying "Breaking Free" from Beth Moore and it is really exciting to hear about how God is showing them the importance of living life outside of the chains of Legalism.

Pray for us as we continue our S.N.A.P. time on Saturday Nights, Justin Neely is leading and overseeing this time of providing a safe place for students to hang out through relaxing and enjoying conversations over board games, video games, or just hanging out on the side walk getting to know these people known as teenagers.

There is an open invitation for any of you who want to come and visit here in TX and see what God is doing here in this community. If you are interested in doing something like that we recommend that you come for the weekend and stay though Tuesday, contact Jason at jason@teleoridge.com and we can set you up with a place to sleep.

We have set up our calender for the Summer and we will have our website updated soon with new pics, bios, and happenings.

much love,

Jason

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Luke 24:3 " but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus"

As you walk into the place on the back wall there is a painting of the empty tomb and the scripture reads from

1 Corinthians 15:55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
56 " The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law;
57 "but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Joe Shelton does a easter study on Luke 24:3 and talks about the most important words in scripture, from the KJV it reads , "and they found not"

Why is this the most important words in scripture? Well, if they had entered and found him...then death would have its victory and Jesus was not God; which leaves us all up a creek. They entered and they did not find the body of Christ, which therefore leaves us with the hope that Jesus was the first born of many to overcome death.

This is why we celebrate Easter, yes this is the identification of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to life. We like Paul, identify ourselves with the crucifixion by recognizing that we have been "Crucified in Christ Gal. 2:20," we identify ourselves by being baptized into his death, therefore we have been" buried with Him" and by the Glory of God we were "resurrected with Him" so that we may walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4).

Why is it vital to realize that they found not? They found not, meaning that He was raised to "life" never to face death again, and you who are found in Christ was raised to "life" never to face eternal death but to taste the "eternal life" that you now have in Him.

Easter is about the resurrection to life.....Luke 24:3 " but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus"

Stop and pause today reflecting on the life that has been provided by Christ because of the resurrection....

Jason

"Family" March Update

2009-03-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

3-16-09

In trying to define what our Monday Night Fellowship is like to someone, we sometimes find it difficult to convey exactly what is going on! To some it may seem that no pre scheduled event is pretty much chaos; however, community is not sanctioned by itenararies.

Chaos defined is = a state of utter confusion.

On Monday nights we have several families who enter the door at "The Place" and enjoy a time of unorganized fellowship. One of the beautiful things about our meeting is that we all have small children 5 years and younger.

Chaos breaks out at some point in each meeting because kids will be kids...It is a wonderful sight to see our kids enjoying themselves amongst the conversations in the room, amongst the songs being sung, and the scripture being read because we know that the words are being heard and the influence of family is being seen.

How would we describe Monday Night Fellowship in one word, it's "family." Monday Nights are about being family and focusing on the body, in turn that is what makes Christ happy, we are accomplishing His purpose for us each Monday night by doing exactly what He is leading us to do, whether through conversation, communion, worshiping God through music, scripture, or enjoying Him through choas. It is about the Body coming together and being the body and being yourself.

3-29-09

As I left the house this morning in my truck driving to town for breakfast, I realized that God was ready to share some things with me that have been question marks in my mind. The previous evening I sat down on the couch next to Kathy and began to share with her some things that God has been bringing up in my mind, namely, the fact that He has led me to do several things and each one of these several things are left unfinished or not carried out.

In my flesh, that bothers me enough to question if I’ve done anything whole heartedly after God to completion. In my spirit, that does not bother me because I know God is completing the work that He has begun in me.

God began to speak to my spirit this morning of his love over me and his joy over me as his child, He told me that he will accomplish the work that he has sat out for me to do. This is not a work to be pleasing, this is not a work to be satisfied, not a work to clear a guilty conscience, it is however, a work by His hands that he will complete.

Paul wrote, he who began a good work in you will complete it…. Do I believe that God will do that? Honestly I question it sometimes as if I have some authority over his decision. I know that’s not true and so do you. I write only to say this that God met me on the way to town in my truck this morning because He wanted to tell me that He loves, He’s crazy about me, and that He is going to do His will in me.

My desires are to become a more well rounded writer, to travel the country side with my family in tow singing songs that God has given me to sing, telling the truths that God has given me to tell, to build community within the city we live in amongst all backgrounds including the church I grew up in, to point students to Christ as their life, to point adults to Christ as their life, and to point my family to Christ that my children would love God for free with the same love that he has loved them with and towards me.

If God chooses to do these things in me, then so be it; however, if God does not do any of these He is still God and is still in control.

The battle is not so much with what he is going to do, but with how He will do it. I wanted to share with you these thoughts because I know I’m not the only one who dig’s through these questions. I just want to live and let God be Himself in me and that others would see His presence manifested in my life whether through writing, singing, sharing, community, or family… God, thank you for meeting with me and loving me just the way I am.

3-31-09

Wanted to write a quick update on "Joe" she is still in ICU and being monitored and I wanted to say thanks to all of you who are praying for her and her family. As you remember to pray, please continue to do so.

Also, we've really enjoyed having John Cordova here to lead our ACE at The Place on Tuesday Nights. God has gifted John to teach and to have an understanding of God's Grace and He does a great job of relating to people involved at Teleo Ridge. Pray for John as he prepares to go back to LFR (Lake Forest Ranch) for the summer, we look forward to having him back in August.

Pray for us as we continue to build community with our local folks, it is fun to watch God work.

Jason

Permission to Hug the Father

2009-03-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

It's funny how God so often speaks through simple everyday happenings. For this to make sense I will have to tell you a little bit about Jason's two daughters, Zoe and Lucy. Zoe is four and Lucy is about 18 months. Now these two have quite different personalities as is usual with first and second born and this difference is what God used today to remind me of who He is. Zoe is a little shy and reserved but very loving when you get to know her, or rather when she gets to know you. Lucy on the other hand is very out going and looking for someone to play with most of the time. This story started Saturday night while I was standing talking with some people at the Place during our Saturday night game time. Kathy came in with Zoe and Lucy, she set Lucy down and I squatted down and called Lucy's name. She hesitated for a moment so I spread out my arms and she came running with her arms out to hug me. Now Lucy may come running to you whether you call her name or not but Zoe is a different story. As Lucy came over I noticed the look on Zoe's face. It was not a look of jealousy but more of a “I wish I could do that” so I spread out one arm and called her name and she came running and gave me a hug and then was off about her business of curing Tigger of some make believe ailment or arranging all the stuffed animals for a party. All those important things that us adults miss out on to often because we are to busy with other stuff. We should make it a priority to heal Tiggers of make believe ailments every chance we get or at least that is what I think. Just be careful, they are bouncy, pouncy and fun fun fun. I didn't think about this much more other than how Zoe's countenance had changed after the look on her face to start with. I've seen that face and felt myself making it on numerous occasions as a child. Wanting to do something but a little to timid to ask permission and hoping for an invitation. The memory of Saturday came rushing back this afternoon as I was sitting in the coffee shop. Kathy came walking by with Jason's sisters family and as they passed Lucy turned to come in the coffee shop. She really likes it so she could not be deterred from a visit so as she stuck her head in the door I called her name. She wasn't paying much attention but what happened then surprised me. Zoe came running in past Lucy and came and gave me a big hug. What struck me was that she had taken the invitation on Saturday night not as a one time thing but as open and ongoing. It made me smile to think that she knows me well enough to know that she can do that and it's a safe thing and that I would never refuse her a hug. I little later as I was telling Jason about it God brought a thought to my mind that I often forget. He reminded me that I have an open invitation to run and hug Him. He has given me permission to hug Him at any time no matter what is going on and that is absolutely nothing that can keep me from Him and I can stay as long as I want. His love is so great for me that that permission has no conditions on it what so ever and nothing I do or can do can change that. He simply says come and let me love on you no matter your condition at the moment.

Today was one of those days when God came to me and loved on me through a hug and smile from a little girl named Zoe and reminded me of those things I should not forget.

Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

I hope that you have loved on God today or let Him love on you.

In Christ,
Johnny

February Update

2009-03-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

February Update

Greetings family and friends of Teleo Ridge

I wanted to share a few updates and some thoughts with you all. I would like to ask you all to pray for a friend here who is an intrigal part of our ministry here in mineola, Bobby and Amanda Simmons whom just gave birth to their second son (Oliver Thaddeus Simmons). They are precious to us. We also ask that you remember their first son Trey who will have to adjust to not being the center of attention. Bobby leads are Music program on Saturday Nights and the kids love what he is showing them musically. Bobby has an excellent teaching style that is easy for the kids to learn and respond to how music feels. Pray for Bobby and Amanda that they would allow God to direct them in raising these two good looking dudes.

Also we are inching closer to Non Profit Status, and we are in the process of finishing the articles of incorporation and meeting all that the government requires. Please pray for a steady and easy process in establishing this status to help us in moving forward impacting the lives of students and our community.

Pray for Kathy and I, I am going back in for my 3 month check up soon for the Melanoma and we are walking in the fact that God has taken care of this, yet my mind always waivers to the unknown and what’s ahead. Pray that I would just continue to rest in the finished work of Christ on the Cross.

If you haven’t had a chance to read the Teleo Ridge blog please take some time and read, you will find out some interesting details about Teleo Ridge and the people involved and ultimately we hope to encourage you with the words that God is giving us to share. I would ask that you become a follower and leave us your comments and thoughts and how we can help, pray, and encourage you in this journey of living life.

thanks to you all,

Jason

Not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God

2009-02-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

Tattoos. I was thinking about what to write here in regards of where I am at in my own personal life journey. And for some reason I keep looking at my tattoos, so maybe that's what I should write about. However, I'm not writing about ink on this spaniard body of mine but of the Spirit of God who will not fade away. My tattoos tell of a story of how God has and is revealing more of Himself in this temple which contains His living Spirit.

Grace. This was a start of a new understanding and knowing Christ more. I can only know God by His grace for it was how I even began to see the gospel and even hope to experience the gospel on the day to day basis. It is only by God's grace that I desire Him, long for Him, and want to taste Him. Apart from that, I would be prone to live freely in the desires of the flesh and not seek God.

Yes, I am. My understanding of my identity in Christ was another huge moment in my life that is a continuing journey for me. I know that my heart longs to see myself as how God sees me in Christ. I feel compelled to teach about our identity in Christ because I've seen the lack of teaching in this area. We've all received messages about ourselves from hurts, wounds, and pain and ultimately we must receive and believe that Christ is our all in all.

Vine and Branch. Another analogy of our relationship/identity with God. God has taught me through difficult circumstances that I am nothing apart from Him. He is my very life and the producer of anything good that people see in me. I can only be me and noone else, and that's exactly how God meant it to be. I am the branch that God chooses to show that His surpassing power belongs to Himself and not to me. Freaking sweet.

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about the ministry of the new covenant which is the ministry of life, namely Jesus Himself. He says is verses 2-6, "You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life".

This is my heart here in East Texas Mineola. I desire to be a minister of the new covenant to those around me. I am not sufficient in myself and my tattoos remind me of this everyday. I want people to read my story, my friend's stories, see the life of Christ and experience this ministry of the new covenant called Teleo Ridge. We are letters written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, freely moving and being Christ in us.

A letter,

John Cordova

2009-02-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

I really expected today to accomplish great things for God. What do you consider accomplishing great things for God? Personally, I believe that God has provided daily for us to accomplish something great… this great purpose is to live in His presence, to accomplish the act of being the man or woman God has created us to be.

I remember struggling with the fact that I had to put a mark on each day and accomplish a great task for God. That is why most of my college days were miserable because I tried so hard to get others to see my works. Thank God I’m not saved based on my works or accomplishments correct? Do you ever find your self in the same predicament? “God I’ve done nothing today that would merit your favor, do you still love me?” I would actually pray that on a daily basis.

Well Jason that is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard! Maybe, however, it’s true. Last Night I sat with a group of people that came to meet and just be themselves, we watch a video of a friend by the name of Dave Busby who expressed that God showed up and answered a question for him, watch the video, it will make you laugh and encourage you here it is: www.davebusby.com go to the website and watch it.

I thank God that God is the one who is accomplishing His work in us, through, and for us. I cannot assume the role of doing great things. I just get to "be" in Christ and He does the work. I know that when I'm down on myself, feeling guilt and shame, and wondering what my worth is I constantly am reminded of finished work of Christ on the cross.

blessings to you all

I would love to hear from you on this subject, have you dealt with some of these same issues?

I'm Yessed

2009-02-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

2-2-09

This is a T-Shirt I had designed for my youth group at Hainesville Baptist Church. What is the significance of the statement, "I'm Yessed?"

At Teleo Ridge we believe that in Christ you are yessed. 2 Cor. 1:20 says,

" For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us."

Beginning in January we started a youth community time called "CYF" or Community Youth Fellowship at The Place downtown. On this previous meeting we were able to involve ourselves with the kids by sitting in a circle and playing our instruments together and singing songs of praise to God. It was really cool.

On Saturday nights we have added a time which is being led by Bobby Simmons that is introducing music to the kids in a unique way. Bobby has an excellent talent for teaching music and He is a talented musician in his own right.

This is an example of how we are supporting the hearts of those involved in the ministry here at Teleo Ridge, Bobby is called to music, God has opened the door for him to build relationships with students through music.

The same goes for Johnathon McBurnett, who is joining Bobby in this venture of building relationships through music that point to Christ.

These things are so exciting and we are able to watch God move and work in and through us, drawing the kids to himself.

Living in God's Yes means simply that we are loved, accepted, and pursued. God loves us as much as He loves Jesus. Isn't that exciting? John 17:23 proves to that God is passionate about us, that He is interested in us.

Jesus is praying for the disciples and the future saints, "the knowlege of life (17:3)," "everything is given from God (17:7)," "We are one with God (17:11)," "we are not of this world (17:14)," "we know that we are sanctified through God's word (not reading scripture, but the living word Christ that sanctifies us) (17:17), " "not just glory given to Jesus but to us as well that we may be in Him glorified (17:22).

I in them (Christ in us), Thou in me (God in Christ), that they (we) may be (teleo= complete) perfected in unity, that the world may know that thou didst send me, (God sent Jesus) (God loves us) thou didst love them, even as thou didst love me (even as God loves Jesus).

This should take you back and help you see how God views you in Christ, that you are loved with the fullness of God. If God loved us any less, then He would not be God and we would not be yessed.

This month pray for us to begin this non profit process and that God will lead us in the right direction of who we should choose to help lead us in completing this task.

Pray for our students and the leaders here who are volunteering to impact their lives on a weekly basis.

Pray for John Cordova as he comes back to Texas and begins his journey with Teleo Ridge in the coming months, we are excited to have him as a part of what is going on here. We look forward to God revealing himself to John and us having the opportunity to love Him as God as loved us...for free.

much love to you all from us here at Teleo Ridge,

Jason

January Update

2009-01-29T14:00:00.000-08:00

1-29-08

I tried a few days ago to post a message using just the facebook site and I messed it up pretty bad; however, I thought this would be a good way to write updates and share thoughts about how God is working through us here in Mineola at Teleo Ridge. I'm seated here at our local Coffee shop named B&B's Legal Grounds which sits next door to our office with Jacob who is along with his family apart of our Monday Night Fellowship. I enjoy having the opportunity to enjoy God with other people and in other people. I have often contemplated what true ministry looks like and it is something that is not easy to describe but I will give it shot with my finite words. Have you ever wondered when you first had a genuine taste of God? I'm not even sure how to say it in terms of how it feels because it is God who has to give you the taste and it is God who makes the truth known. If you have ever had a genuine taste of God, then you know exactly what I'm saying.
For many years I've been apart of some incredible ministry opportunities over the years but very rarely in those opportunities did I receive a taste of God. I think the reason for this lies in the fact that I tried to produce a taste of God that only God Himself can give.
I found myself trying to produce ministry and failing at it miserably, the problem became evident when I found myself just existing in my relationship with God instead of living. I had to learn that I cannot do anything of myself; God revealed to me that He produces ministry and that He produces the living. God produces the taste. When God Manifest Himself you cannot help but to receive a taste.
My first taste of God that I remember came in 1996 when my friend Joe Shelton spoke of how God was not interested in my works, but that He was interested in me, He was not mad at me, He was not disappointed in me, but that He was interested in me. This was a taste of God that changed me forever. When we taste God, a change occurs...that's it! A taste of God will change your life.
A taste of God will give you a desire to pursue God, to know God, and to be intimate with God. If you will pursue God, He will give you a taste. The buffet is there for us to enjoy without cost, without demands, just us wanting to know Him. Through the ministry here at Teleo Ridge, a taste of God is happening not because we are mustering up the work to make it happen, we are just asking God to produce the taste and we are watching the change happen.

O taste and see that the Lord is good...(Psalms 34:8).

Jason

Please share your comments and thoughts with us, let us know what your thinking and how you are doing. We appreciate you support, your prayer, and your friendships.