Open your eyes!

Good morning everyone. I am going to be talking about being spiritually blind. In John chapter 9 verses 10-11, and also 35-38,39. Jesus has healed a blind man in these verses. I find it funny how the religious leaders demanded the man tell them who done this for him! Anyway that's another story for another time! Jesus said something in this scripture that blows me away. ' I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind!" The last part rocks my world. He is saying we should become blind to our plan and follow his! That's awesome that the creator of the universe would choose us. In this text the miracle is great. Jesus encounters one who has never seen or known light-a blind man from birth- and he gives this man sight and light. After Jesus spit on the ground and made mud, he covered the mans eyes with the mud. What happens next is a sign of how strong the mans faith was. Jesus told him go to the pool of Siloam and wash this off and you will see. So the man had to step up and go! After he washed his eyes he could see i can only imagine the excitement that came over him! He never had to go back to his begging post again! You see in verses 35-38 was the conversion. Jesus gave him a spiritual light also he could now see with his heart. The way to see in this world is a willingness to admit we are blind. The blind man did not argue with Jesus. He acknowledged his condition and his need. He submitted himself to Christ and was OBEDIENT! My question for you is we all have certain things we try to keep in the Dark! What are you trying to keep hid in your life? You see Jesus sees it all you can't hide it from him. Instead of hiding it ask Jesus to take it away and watch him do another awesome and great work! Love you Guys! Jason

God's Dream

If you had to answer in a single word what God's dream for human beings is, what would you say? Consider the word community. Community is not a human invention. It is not a mere social phenomenon. Community is God's dearest creation. It is only within community that there is the possibility of knowing and being known, loving and being loved, serving and being served, celebrating and being celebrated. Because God is community-Father, Son, and Spirit in oneness of being-he creates community. It flows from who he is. When God created the first being, he astoundingly declared his creation to be "not good" because it was solitary; so he created a partner. God's supreme achievement was not the creation of solitary man but the creation of human community. However, because of sin, God's ideal of community often seemed to have been lost. Many times, it hung only by a thin thread of hope. If God were a quitter, it might have ended altogether. But over the rubble of failed human community stands the towering form of the cross. The very shape of the cross suggests the two main transactions that were affected through it. The upright post stands for the restoration of our community with God. God reached down from the holiness of his transcendence above, into the abyss of our human need in order to reconcile us to himself, through Christ. It reflects God's forgiving grace extended to receptive sinners. But the vertical trunk itself does not make a cross: it also requires a crossbar. The arms of Jesus were stretched on that horizontal beam, and his servant hands nailed to it. His extended arms reach out from the crossbar to all who want reconciliation with God in order that we may also be reconciled to one another, forming one body in his embrace of love. Perfect community is to be found at the intersection of the two segments of the cross, where those who are reconciled are reconciled together-where we love God with all we have and we love our neighbor as ourselves. It is where we learn to care and share, to challenge and support, to confide and confess, to forgive and be forgiven, to laugh and weep, to be accountable to each other, to watch over each other, to be servants together. It is the place of transformation. Community. It alone will survive from this world into the next. Then God's dream will be fulfilled when the church is eternally united as a bride to her husband in the Savior's embrace of redemptive love. So, will you be a part of building God's dream? Hey guys when I first read this by GILBERT BILEZIKIAN it rocked me to the core and it challenged me! So, I had to post this hoping and praying it would impact your lives and challenge you as believers. Our community needs Jesus and its up to us to reach out. Love You guys and Gals JASON

Update on Ministry

I want to hit you with a quick update! Ministry went well on Friday we reached out to over 80 people and many accepted Jesus into their lives! We give out food , bags of clothes, shoes, bibles, music, etc.. OK Now for today We had over 25 people on the bus and that's counting 6 new comers from the street! 2 of them accepted Jesus and signed up for Baptism so Praise be to Jesus our Lord! We are constantly seeing the numbers increase each week so Thank You to all our supporters we Love you and want you to know YOU MATTER, YOUR PRAYERS MATTER! We also seen over 35 kids ride the bus to youth group this past Wednesday THAT BLOWS ME AWAY! 5 newcomers and we poured Love all over them as well! Pray for us this week as we prepare to take Jesus Christ to the streets on Thursday! As always PRAISE AND GLORY TO JESUS AND HIS KINGDOM! A special Thank You to Tommy, Matt, Michael and all our other LEADERS you guys and gals make it happen week after week! Love you all Jason.

Values for Spiritual Formation

THE TEN CORE VALUES FOR SPIRITUAL FORMATION 1. Spiritual transformation...is essential, not optional, for Christ-followers. 2. It is a process, not an event. 3. It is God's work, but requires my participation. 4. It involves those practices, experiences, and relationships that help me live intimately with Christ and walk as he were in my place. 5. It is not a compartmentalized pursuit. God is not interested in my spiritual life; he's interested in my life-all of it. 6. It can happen in every moment. It is not restricted to certain times or practices. 7. It is not individualistic, but takes place in community and finds expression in serving others. 8. It is not impeded by a person's background, temperament, life situation, or season of life. It is available right now to all who desire it. 9. And the means of pursuing it, will vary from one individual to another. Fully devoted followers are handcrafted, not mass-produced. 10. It is ultimately gauged by an increased capacity to love God and people. Superficial or external checklists cannot measure it. WOW now that is good stuff. I have applied this teaching to my life and WOW at the result. John Ortberg taught this in a series about 9 years ago called "The life giving power of community. I hope you enjoyed this post. I felt I needed to share it with you guys and gals. I will be writing alot about community over the next few weeks. So check it out as I update and be open minded about what God might want you to learn. Love you all, Jason

Acts 4

Acts Chapter 4 (I have 2 questions WHAT IF? we the Church Cared like the first Church Cared? and Loved as they Loved?) Wrestle with that! Unpack that! Just thought I would issue that Challenge to you guys and gals! Love yah Jason

Digging for DIRT?

I would like to start out today’s post with a question I think we all need to answer. Are you going for dirt or gold? Please! Let me explain. Encouragement is a great thing; we all like it and want more of it. In a very negative world encouragement is hard to locate. It seems like everyone’s out to get dirt on somebody. We see it in Hollywood everyday, it also happens in the workplace and yes even churches all across this country. The fact of the matter is some people would like to see you screw up more than see you succeed! I know it’s sad but these types of people are not happy and they screw up so much they like to see you screw up just to make them feel better! Thank God not all people are like this! There are still people out their willing to look past the dirt to what’s behind it GOLD! You see gold miners often have to drill through tons of dirt to get to 1 ounce of gold. They are determined to find something great! Lets face it we are all not good people, but we all have positive attributes about us! So realize this, we all have gold behind our dirt but often people would rather see your screw ups than your success! Jesus Christ makes no mistakes and when he created you he created something beautiful and he has an incredible plan for your life. YOU HAVE A PURPOSE! So try today to look at the positives in each other; people you work with, family, friends. Look past the dirt “We All Have It” and look for the gold. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up….” We must encourage not discourage! Let me hit you with a rhyme for one second “You see Jesus is the up not the down. Not the bottom, he’s the top. He’s the left, he’s the right. He’s the go, he’s the stop. He’s the light of the world that never burns out; he’s the author of the book so he knows how it turns out!!!” This rhyme or rap as some would call it is so true. Jesus is the up so look up today. Encourage one another and smile with love in your heart at someone today! Your smile may be the only one they see all day! With love to ALL! Jason

Pharisees

What is a Pharisee? That’s the question I’m going to answer today. During Jesus Christ ministry on earth (which is still at work today by the way) he seen a person or groups of people that kept God in a box of rituals, laws and explanations. These people believed there was no more to be unearthed, revealed or discovered. It was there way or no way. Spiritual fulfillment that led to no questions, no new mystery, and no new promises. Jesus was very clear he doesn’t like this type of thinking. Thinking brings about action. This type of thinking was and still is hypocritical and lacks Love. Pharisees tried to lock people out of the Kingdom of Heaven basically! Jesus despises this type of attitude. He said in Matthew 23:13 “For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them” You see Pharisees think its all about them and the Hell with the rest of the world! You see the Kingdom of God is open to all who will accept the free gift of salvation. When I say free I’m saying Jesus Christ paid yours and my penalty through his crucifixion. A Pharisee is not Kingdom minded they are selfish, bitter, and if they can’t get the glory it’s considered wrong!! WOW! Did anyone pop in your mind when I said that? You see the Church was created for the lost and it takes change and staying in tune with culture to reach them. You have to meet the lost where they are! As long as it’s biblical and the truth of Jesus is being proclaimed it’s not up to us to say what goes on or who comes in! Last time I checked Jesus Christ draws man to him, so he is in charge of who comes and who don’t, not a committee or a Pastor or a Deacon. There are Pharisees all around us, inside the Church and some Preach behind the pulpit! I have seen racism taught which is non biblical. I’ve seen Pastors speak against interracial marriage that’s not biblical. Moses had an interracial marriage by the way! You get my point, things get taught inside the church that are not of God and those speakers will answer to God for leading people astray. So don’t put God in a box today! Love you Guys and Gals!