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GOd Invites Us to Prayer

7/31/2018

Dear Friends,

God invites us to prayer. The twelve disciples of Jesus were all Galileans except for Judas Iscariot, who was from Judah. Most were considered to be either zealots or violent Jewish nationalists. Yet, one thing they did have in common was that they were devout Jews. They knew about prayer and probably prayed regularly, a couple times a day, according to Jewish custom. However, the one and only thing that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them was how to pray. The disciples noticed that the prayers and prayer life of Jesus was different.

For Jesus, prayer was not just a religious responsibility or obligation; prayer saturated His whole life and being. He prayed before each decision, miracle, and answer. Through prayer, Jesus allowed God to work through Him. His prayer life was more private than public, and it demonstrated a deep intimate relationship and dependency on God the Father. The story of the Bible is the story of God’s pursuit of man. He wants to restore us to a relationship with Him. Prayer is how we develop that relationship. God desires prayer as much as we need it.

Prayer is one of the most important lessons that Jesus could have taught His disciples. God not only invites us into a prayer relationship with Him, but through prayer, we invite God to work in our daily lives. Through prayer, we are transformed into being more like Christ as our intimacy and dependency on God increases. Josephus described Galileans like this: “They were fond of innovation and by nature disposed to change and delighted in sedition. They were ready to follow the leader and to begin an insurrection. They were quick in temper and given to quarreling and they were very chivalrous men.” These Jewish men were seeking a Ruling King that would save them from the oppression of the Romans. Instead, they found a Suffering Savior as their leader. Through their prayer life, we see these disciples transformed. Love replaces the violence in their hearts. God invites us to prayer, so that we can experience that same transformation and intimate relationship with Him.

There are many different types of prayer. If you would like to learn more about prayer or how to deepen your prayer life, I would be happy to meet with you. If you already have a consistent and deep prayer life, consider trying a new form of prayer or engaging prayer in a different way, and please add Agnus Dei to your prayer list! Everyone could always use a little more prayer support! Have a wonderful week!

Until next we meet,

Pastor Jessi

Scripture Study: Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:1-13

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Habits of the Mind - Fall 2018

7/29/2018

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FALL 2018 BOOK LIST

Here are the books for the Fall of 2018 for the Habits of the Mind Book Club. All of the book prices below are what I discovered online. They are all the paperback versions, except the Amazon Kindle version. These are the places that I normally go to when buying a book. There are many places online or brick and mortar buildings where one can buy books, including used bookstores. I am not affiliated with any of these authors or companies. Prices are subject to change, so do your own research before purchasing. Check my blog often for the times and locations of the Fall 2018 meetings as well as update information.

https://inkandsouls.wordpress.com/habits-of-the-mind-book-club/

September 2018
Book: Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation
Author: M. Robert Mulholland, Jr.
Meeting Information
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Possible Places To Get It:

Amazon Paperback – $13.50
Amazon Kindle – $9.99 (It also seems to be available on Audible.)
www.christianbook.com – $12.99
LifeWay – Not available
Barnes and Noble – $15.30
Cumberland County Library (Fayetteville, NC) – Not available

MY NOTES: This book is about developing our spiritual lives. Living in Christ is a gradual transformation and journey, not an instant one. It is a lifetime of moments. Mulholland explores the spiritual disciplines and how they help us to live more like Christ. It does not matter where you are at in your Christian walk. This book is for all. I have not read this book yet, but it was strongly recommend to me by a friend. I am passionate about spiritual disciplines, so who am I to turn down a book about them?!

October 2018
Book: Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament
Author: Christopher J.H. Wright
Meeting Information
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Possible Places To Get It:

Amazon Paperback – $14.53
Amazon Kindle – $10.99
www.christianbook.com – $13.49
LifeWay – $18.00
Barnes and Noble – $16.13
Cumberland County Library – Not available

*The 2nd edition is the most recent edition, but, for the book club, it doesn’t matter which one you get.
MY NOTES: Have you ever wondered more about who Jesus is? Or how Jesus relates to the Old Testament? Or have you wondered if we have the New Testament, why do we need the Old Testament? Wright’s book does a great job in taking the Gospel of Matthew and relating it back to the Old Testament. He even digs into the genealogy (a section many of us tend to skim over!). Hopefully, after reading this book, you have a new appreciation for the Old Testament. This book does cause you to think, and I am looking forward to the discussions that we have stemming from it. I have only read portions of it, so I am looking forward to reading the whole thing!

November 2018
Book: Why the Universe is the Way it is
Author: Hugh Ross
Meeting Information
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Possible Places To Get It:

Amazon Paperback – $13.59
Amazon Kindle – $10.99
www.christianbook.com – $12.99
LifeWay – Not Available
Barnes and Noble – $16.30
Cumberland County Library – Not available

MY NOTES: I have not read this one yet. Hugh Ross is an astronomer as well as a Christian author and apologist. He shows how new scientific research about the universe and key biblical principles support each other. If you are like me and science is not your strong suit, this book may challenge you a bit. But challenge is a good thing, because it makes us grow. This book is for the believer as well as the skeptic, and it should produce some interesting discussions! You can find out more about him as well as a wealth of resources at his website: www.reasons.org

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July 29, 2018 - Sermon Notes

7/29/2018

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Sermon Notes

Sermon: Rooted in Christ’s Love by Rev. Jessica Johnson
Date: July 29, 2018

Scripture Passages:

Ephesians 3:14-21

Key Points:

Prayer
In Ephesians 2, Paul preached on unity in Christ and told the Jews and the Gentiles that they are to be one body in Christ. Now, in Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul is telling the Jews and Gentiles that they should love each other as if they are one in Christ. Basically, they need to act like and live like they are one in Christ. The point of Paul’s prayer is that Christians have the power to understand, in reality, the fullness of Christ’s love. His love surpasses all understanding, but through the Holy Spirit, we have the capability to understand what we need to know. Through the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to love as we are in Christ.
Strength
Paul prays that the Ephesians are rooted and well-founded in Christ’s love. Christ’s love provides love and sustenance. It provides power and strength. Even when bad things in life cut us down, we can regrow. Our roots are entwined with Christ, and no one can tear up and destroy our roots. For as Romans 8:31 states, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
God is the source of our strength as long as we are rooted in Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, God provides us strength through reading the Bible (God’s Word to us), praying and worshipping God, and living out of obedience to God.
Depth
To know God is a knowledge that supersedes all other knowledge. The nature of God is endless, His attributes, too numerous to count. Paul’s mission is to grasp God and all that He is. But as F.F. Bruce states, “To grasp this revelation in its totality is not the achievement of a moment – Paul himself, toward the end of his apostolic career, did not suppose that he had fully comprehended it – but to grasp it was his personal ambition, and he prayed that his Christian friends might share and attain that ambition. Here was a spiritual exercise that would make demands on them all their lives.” Paul was under no illusion that what his goal was would be achieved in a single lifetime.
“To know the love of Christ involves the personal knowledge of Christ Himself, that personal knowledge whose attainment was Paul’s own high ambition. Paul prays that his readers may be endowed with all the resources of spiritual strength necessary to attain this knowledge, and he addresses his prayer to the Father.” – F.F. Bruce
Apprehension
We can comprehend, or understand, something. But until we apprehend, or grasp, it, we cannot make it our own. This is when we develop our own faith through understanding. This is the difference between knowing about God and knowing God. We never had to be worry about having inadequate spiritual resources to meet the demands of life and to live up to being in a relationship with God. God provides us all the resources we would ever need to know God; we just need to reach out and grasp them.
F.F. Bruce points out, “The disclosure of this mystery is the heritage of all the people of God: it is fitting that they should have an intelligent appreciation of it.” As children of God, we should desire to know Him more. And God wants to be in relationship with us. 1 Corinthians 8:3 states, “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” God is reaching out to us just as much as we are reaching out to Him.
Fullness
The glory of God can be seen as a total of all his attributes. You cannot have knowledge without love, and you cannot have love without knowledge. You need both. F.F. Bruce says, “Both the knowledge and the love are mutual, in both it is God in Christ who takes the initiative.” But those are only two attributes of God. There is always more to know.
Dwell literally means “be at home in”. Christ needs to feel at home and be an integral part of our lives. The Christian should be so full of Christ that Christ is the dominating factor in their attitudes and behavior.
Final Thoughts
Paul was praying for the inner man. Intercessory prayer is probably the most common type of prayer we have but take a moment to evaluate what types of things you pray when you pray for others. Too often, our prayers are about physical and material needs. Many times, the prayer requests that I get have to do with physical healing or finances or accomplishing a goal. It is not wrong to pray for these things. God tells us that we can bring all our worries and troubles to him. However, while we may pray for our own inner being, how many times do we pray for someone else’s inner being? How many times do they ask us to?

Further Suggested Study:

2 Corinthians 4
Colossians 2
Romans 8
Philippians 4
Psalm 1

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Sermon Notes: Unity in Christ

7/24/2018

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Sermon Notes

Sermon: Unity in Christ by Rev. Jessica Johnson
Date: June 22, 2018

Scripture Passages:

Ephesians 2:11-22

Key Points:

The Ephesians are Gentiles, and, up until Christ died on the cross, there were many barriers between the Jews and the Gentiles. These barriers were physical, sociological, and religious. These barriers impacted every area of their lives. Christianity, at that time, was still somewhat considered a sect in the Jewish religion, and the Gentiles were wondering what their status as new believers were in the Church. Where did they fit in?
The Jews had 5 religious privileges that the Gentiles did not have before Christ died on the cross. First, the Gentiles were separate from Christ and did not have the hope of a Messiah to rescue them. Second, they were excluded from citizenship to the nation of Israel, so they were not and never could be a part of God’s chosen people. There were some Gentile proselytes, but Gentiles as a whole were alienated. Third, because the Gentiles were not citizens of Israel, the Old Testament covenants and the promises and blessings of those covenants did not apply to them. Fourth, the Gentiles were a people without hope. Fifth, the Gentiles were a people without God. They had many gods and goddesses, but they did not have the one True God. Without Him, they had no meaning, hope, purpose, or direction in life. They had no means of salvation.
However, Christ changed all of that. Through His life, ministry, death, and resurrection, the situation of the Gentiles radically changed! They were a transformed people and admitted into full citizenship privileges in the kingdom of God if they followed Him. Now, while this was true, it was slow to come into full realization.
In Christ, there were no Jews, no Gentiles…no divisions. Rather, there was one body. In the Church, there was a new humanity united in Christ. This is not yet fully realized, but it was and still is occurring. Church is just the beginning of this new creation of a new humanity in a new society where the Jews and Gentiles are one body. F. F. Bruce states, “No longer did circumcision or uncircumcision have any religious relevance: such matters as the observance of special days or abstention from certain kinds of food belonged henceforth to the realm of personal conscience; with regard to them everyone should be ‘fully convinced in his own mind,’ without being condemned or despised by anyone else for his decision.” Now, Paul and F.F. Bruce are not talking about situational ethics or “to each their own” kind of lifestyle and attitude. Rather, they are specifically talking about spiritual practices and life within the church.
Bonhoeffer writes of Christ as the mediator. Christ not only brings reconciliation between God and us, but He also brings reconciliation between us and other people. Bonhoeffer is echoing Paul’s message here to the church in Ephesus. And it was a common theme throughout Paul’s preaching that there is another way, a better way, a united way. In verses 19-22, Paul tells the Ephesians (and us) that the foundation of this unity and of the Church is Christ. The Church is a sanctuary for the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. This applies to both local church and the universal church as well as individuals. In verse 18, through Christ and by the Holy Spirit, we have access to God. This access is to ALL who believe, not just the Jews or one select group of believers.
Some want to refer to Christ as the keystone here, but that is a fallacy. While everything in the arch rests on a keystone, the keystone is placed last in contrast to the cornerstone which is placed first. The analogy of the keystone falsely implies that Christ has no role until the very end. Jesus is the cornerstone or foundation stone. This means that everything is being built upon, supported by, and shaped by Christ. Jesus is our cornerstone. Believers of Jesus are the stones with which the church is being built. Every stone is important, and every stone is needed to complete the construction of the Church.

Future Suggested Study:

Ephesians 1-2
Acts 21:27-36

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Sermon Notes: God Chose Us

7/15/2018

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Sermon: God Chose Us by Rev. Jessica Johnson
Date: July 15, 2018

Scripture Passages:

Ephesians 1:3-14
Acts 19-20
Zephaniah 3:17

Key Points:
Ephesians 1:3-14 tells us that all of us are blessed to be chosen by God as His children. We are predestined to be adopted by Him. Earthly adoptions give us an idea of what it means for God to adopt us, but it is not a complete picture. In earthly adoptions, we have somewhat of a say in who we adopt. We can ask for certain age, gender, race. We can interview the child to see if it would be a good fit. Adoption is a very long process in which the parents and the child all go through a complete and very personal evaluation process.

With God, it is different. God chose us before we were born. Verse 4 says that “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”. He is omniscient, which means God knows everything, but God did not choose us because of our race or gender or age. He did not choose us because of our gifts or passions. In fact, God did not choose us BECAUSE of us, God chose us BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS. God created mankind for His own purposes. God always intended us to be His. And no matter what we have done or not done, we are predestined to be God’s children. He wants that for us, so much so that He sacrificed His one and only son, Jesus, for us.

We have all had friends that will not go to church or will not accept Christ, because they have done too much. They think that they have done so many bad things that they are not worthy of God’s grace and redemption. That is the beauty of the Ephesians 1 chapter: God wants us, no matter what.

Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

God is with us. God delights over us. God loves us. He loves us so much that He breaks out in joyful song over us. Just think about that for a moment: God sings love songs about us.

In the Ephesians passage, Paul is reminding these new Christians that GOD CHOSE US.

But why? Why are we here?

Are you ready for the answer to the ultimate question? The purpose of our entire existence is the glory of God. It is all about God’s glory. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 talk about the purpose of God’s will according to His glorious grace. Verses 12 and 14 have the phrase “to the praise of His glory.” The meaning of life is God. Our purpose is to praise God and honor Him for His glory and grace.

To me, Ephesians 1:3-14 is one of the most intimately and beautifully written passages of the Bible. Paul is sharing with the Ephesians that message of redemption and grace that only God can give us and wants to give us. Look at what is promised to those who follow Christ:

Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (vs. 3)
We should be holy and blameless before Him (vs. 4)
Love and adoption as His children (vs. 4-5)
Redemption through His blood, forgiveness of our sins, and the riches of His grace (vs. 6-7)
Making known to us the mystery of His will (vs. 8-9)
To unite all things in heaven and on earth in Him (vs. 10)
An inheritance (vs. 11)
That in our hope in Christ we might be the praise of His glory (vs. 12)
Promise of the Holy Spirit (vs. 13-14)

All of these blessings are sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives protects us, prepares us, and keeps us in Christ until we are ready to receive our inheritance. He serves as a trustee, and He is our guarantee that we are and will be members of God’s kingdom. The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives is what provides us that blessed assurance that we truly are God’s children and will get all of the spiritual blessings listed in Ephesians one.

Why am I here? As Christians, we are blessed to be able to know the answer to that ultimate question. The answer is this:

God chose us as His children. He wants to redeem us and make us holy and blameless in order to reunite us to Him in perfect love. All of it is for the purpose to praise the glory of God and His precious grace.

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God is With US

7/13/2018

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“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV

Dear Friends,

I spent my high school years in Baumholder, Germany. This past week, while they were doing some construction in Baumholder, they came across two WWII era 250-pound General Purpose bombs. The area was roped off while they safely removed and disposed of the bombs, and construction is halted until they do a complete search of the area to see if there are more. No one was harmed. The location of the bombs was near the barracks were soldiers lived and in walking distance of where my family had lived. Six hundred people were temporarily displaced due to the discovery. Those bombs have been there for years and years.

When I was in college, I supervised the teacher education computer lab. When I worked on Saturday mornings, the lab was pretty much empty. In fact many Saturdays, the campus would be empty, because students would be off campus doing ministry, working, or just hanging out. One particular Saturday, it was just one other student working on a project and me in the lab. Our building was pretty much empty, and so was campus. All of a sudden, there was an explosion. The other student and I both ran to the window, and we didn’t see anyone or anything. No people running around. No emergency vehicles speeding up the road. Then, there was a second explosion. Yet, everything outside remained as calm as could be, but all I could surmise was that it had to have been a bomb. Later, I found out that it was not a bomb, but rather a Civil War cannonball. Apparently, there were two cannonballs donated to the college while some of the administrators were on a trip. Those cannonballs were rolling around in the van their whole drive home. However, it turns out they were still “live” and were safely detonated in the nearby field.

Stories, and hundreds more like these, remind us that God is always with us. He is looking out for us even when we aren’t even aware of the danger around us. We can stride forward with confidence and do God’s work, because He always has our back. God has promised to be with us and never leave us, and He keeps His promises. When the angels would appear in the Bible, often they first thing that they would say is, “Do not be afraid.” God is always with us. We have no reason to be afraid of anything else, because God is stronger and more powerful than anything else in existence (omnipotent). He knows everything about everything (omniscient). God is everywhere (omnipresent). All of these things combined show that God can be trusted to know what is outside our realm of knowing and see the big picture. They show that God can be depended upon to come to us in our time of need, better than any superhero, because He has aided people time and time again. God protects us from dangers known and unknown. We just have to trust Him.

As you go throughout this week, keep in mind that God is with you. He has your back when the day gets rough. He may not fix everything in life, but He will get your through it to the other side.

Until next we meet,

Pastor Jessi

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Rev. Jessica Johnson

A few of my favorite things…

Meaningful Passages:
John 1:1-14
Acts 8:26-40
Colossians 4:2-6
2 Timothy 3:16-17
1 Peter 3:14-17

Favorite Authors:
C.S. Lewis
J.R.R. Tolkien
James W. Sire
Jane Austen
Ravi Zacharias

Pastimes:
Watching my boys play
Chatting with a friend over a cup of tea
Reading
Writing
Watching Movies

GOd Invites Us to Prayer

Habits of the Mind - Fall 2018

July 29, 2018 - Sermon Notes

Sermon Notes: Unity in Christ

Sermon Notes: God Chose Us

God is With US

Rev. Jessica Johnson

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