What do you know for certain today? In the midst of all that has gone on in your life today … the tears from a child who didn’t get his way … the reality of a business deal that isn’t working out … a test that you didn’t do well on this morning in class … a hard conversation with a spouse or a sibling or a friend … and the list could go on!  What do you know for certain in the midst of all of this brokenness that often accompanies us on the journey of life?

Do you remember what David said in our text this week—right in the middle of a very broken and troubling situation, he said, This I know, that God is for me (Psalm 56:9).  We saw him battling for belief, for faith.

How are you doing, Jubilee Family? Are you fighting for right thinking and belief?  Are you, like David, calling out  ”Be gracious to me, O God, that I may walk before you in the light of life.”  Remember, we don’t fight alone. Ask someone to help you.

Praying that you will call out all day long for help from our great God!
Dan

This Friday 246 fellowship meals are happening. Do you know where you are going? If you need to double check where you are going, or find out how to get there, see the latest 246 map sheet. This has the full schedule for 246 Fellowships, freshly updated, with maps to each host’s house.

Do you want to find out more about 246 Fellowship Meals, or do you want to be included in these? Contact Dan Porch

246 Fellowships Schedule with Maps

New sermon available by John Erickson, on Matthew 5:13

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

Last week we learned that the world is like a slab of rotting meat, and we are the salt of the world. Jesus has made us to be the preserving agent in the world, and the element that adds seasoning and flavor. But if we add other things to our salt shaker, such as flour and sugar and sand, our salt because tasteless and useless.

Listen to the sermon

There are three new sermons posted in our sermon library available for listening and downloading.  May the Lord make us a people who more and more reflect the heart of Christ in the beatitudes.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, by John Erickson

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God, by John Erickson

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, by John Erickson

The Bird’s friend, who spoke at the beginning of the service last Sunday, really challenged me, and my faith.  I’ve been thinking about what reasonable faith looks like. Below are some thoughts:

I’m sure you have heard the expression “a blind leap of faith.” Somewhere along the line belief in God, or living by faith, became unreasonable, irrational, and wildly speculative, like leaping in the dark. I’ve been thinking about leaping ever since a Brazilian rice farmer, who now runs an orphanage in Ethiopia, challenged my church to “Get out of the boat.” He was referring to when Peter walked on the water with Jesus. And he was challenging us to rely upon the power of God, to do things that don’t make sense to the world.

The immense gulf between blindly leaping in the dark and the measured faith of Peter stepping out of the boat really struck me this week. Walking home in the dark, I knew how stupid it would be to walk across the street with my eyes closed. No, I checked both directions first. But Peter didn’t have his eyes closed as he stepped off that boat; he was looking into the face of Christ, the one one who created water.

Consider the evidence—the empirical evidence—the disciples had for trusting Jesus. The disciples had seen Jesus:      (Keep Reading)

I am wondering how your life is tasting to those around you today.  Are folks tasting a humbleness that reflects a knowledge of neediness and God dependence?  Is there a hint of sadness they can taste due to recognition of sin and sin’s destructive tendencies?  Do they taste a spirit of serving flowing from ownership and responsibility?  What do they taste as your own appetites are revealed to them? A settled contentment?  Are they tasting gracious speech and acts of mercy in interactions with you?

How about the taste they get from your pursuits in life, selfish or God honoring?  Does peaceful strength cause their taste buds to pop with refreshment?  How about the bitterness of rejection: does that characterize as they taste your life and realize that something greater than the world is at work in your life?

You are the salt of the earth, Jubilee.  And Pastor John has walked us through some weeks of study that help us understand how that salt is to flavor and preserve the lives we lead.  Read and re-read those beatitudes. Reflect on the taste that emanates from your life.  Pray … asking God to draw you into himself so that you taste more and more like him.

May we never lose the taste that defines saltiness, a taste given to us from above!

Dan

Have you ever been persecuted for righteousness sake?  Of course you have.  Every day you are given the opportunity to represent what is true with your life.  It might be in the way you drive or the answer you give or the decision to remove yourself from a situation.  And in every aspect of life there will be opposition to the way of truth.  It might be your flesh rebelling against what you know is the right thing to do.  It might be a friend laughing at you for your silly stand for truth.  It might be a stare, a taunt, a word of rebuke, a cuss word.  Persecution will meet you daily if you determine to stand in the way of the righteous.

Pastor John reminded us that the value system of the kingdom of heaven and the value system of this world are very different, and they are headed daily into a clash that is never pleasant.  We have to prepare ourselves every day for the unpleasant reality of that conflict … we are in a war … a battle for our very souls and the souls of others!  We must prepare daily for the fight by reminding one another of the life and the reward that are ours in Christ Jesus (the King of this kingdom of heaven) and by seeking him in prayer.

Don’t forget what we learned in Colossians.  Pray this around the table as you launch out into your day, as a family or as a single … a day of conflict.

Father, will you fill us with the knowledge of your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we might walk in a manner worthy of you, fully pleasing to you, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of you?  Would you strengthen us with all power according to your glorious might, for all endurance and patience so that with joy we might give thanks for your work of qualifying us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 

Praying with you,
Dan