Jeff Jackson Live

A few days ago I wrote an article entitled “Where is God in the midst of my sin?” I made a point about the Gospel being the driving force for our sanctification and I wanted to elaborate some on this topic.  Being a pastor of a local church I hear some things that make me wonder some time.  I have heard people complaining that their church always talks about the Gospel (live, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) and fail to give the meat of the scriptures.  Early on I didn’t understand why this didn’t sit well with me until I started to understand the entirety of the Gospel.  You see the Gospel is not for sinner alone but also for the saved.  We systematically think that someone who is not redeemed needs the Gospel and those who are need Theology.  While this is true, we must also include the Gospel in our Theology.  In fact the Gospel is the root for all Theology and its the driving force behind developing christian to be more like Jesus Christ.  The more we understand the Gospel the more we begin to understand the gravity of our sin.  This draws us closer to God and drives us deeper into the study of our God which results in becoming more like our Savior. In fact, its our destiny to become more like Jesus Christ.  Look what Romans 8: 29 says:

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Without the Gospel we have no foundation for our Theology and we can’t grow into the image of Christ.  So realize the Gospel is the meat of the scriptures and fosters our growth as believers.

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Well if you could hear all of them you would probably freak. I want to share one thought with you because I believe that if we are not careful we will turn our churches into country clubs.  Sure country clubs are nice and entertaining places to frequent but if our churches become country clubs then there is no accountability, we can come and go as we please and we take just enough of Jesus until it starts to hurt or until He inconveniences us.

Sometimes I wonder what we are doing in the American Church.  We have brothers and sisters around the world that would give up everything to worship with their church family during the week.  In China, they are driven to meet in secrecy because the persecution from their government, yet they still meet and worship.  In Haiti I personally met families who live 2 hours away by foot, yet they still make it to worship.  Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani who has been given his own personal execution order could recant and his execution would be reversed, yet he still remains faithful and still continues to worship even in the face of death.  Believers are being persecuted all over the world for their faith and we can’t even make it to church because our child’s activities or because we stayed up too late watching some stupid fireworks.  The American pop culture church has lost their way, REPENT.  Now some of you will read this and say I am being too tough and its okay to miss church every once in awhile.  Here is what I have for you…in our Savior’s words, “Get behind me!”  You are the biggest part of the problem.  It’s not okay to miss fellowship with other believers and worship of our God.  The reason you would say this is because you think this life is all about YOU and you are sadly mistaken.  This life is not your own, you have been bought with a price and I can guarantee that Jesus didn’t suffer a brutal beating, have the flesh ripped from his skin, wear a thorn of crowns and drown in his own blood so you can be a half hearted Christian.

Today is the day to start living your COMPLETE life for God.  Don’t be satisfied with just almost and don’t live this life with regrets.  Lay it all on the table because this is exactly what our Savior Jesus Christ did.

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Maybe not a question you are asking your small group or your pastor but definitely one  you are asking in your heart.  Let me explain.  When we sin and our lives are filled with guilt and shame we naturally detach from community and fellowship with God.  We don’t want to face accountability and fear our sin might be exposed by the light. Mostly I feel people detach from community and hide from God because they don’t have a correct view of the Gospel.  Most Christians understand the Gospel to be for the lost and fail to realize it is just as much for the redeemed.  We believe in the saving power of the cross to redeem sinful souls but we fail to see the sanctifying power of the Gospel for the believer.

The Gospel is what removed all the guilt and shame that kept us from the father yet we find ourselves living a condemned life through a redeemed soul.  STOP, this is sin and we must begin to embrace the Gospel and allow the work of the cross to sanctify and form us into the image of Jesus Christ.  It’s not easy but understanding the depth of the Gospel and power to set us free from our bondage and allow us to live in the freedom of the cross.  Next time you find yourself checking out draw near to the Gospel for its ability to save and remove your shame is incomprehensible and will move us closer to God.

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I recently read this week that pastors should quit using the word Gospel unless they define it. We talk the talk but are we living the Gospel out on a daily basis. I want to make sure everyone at Journey Church knows what the Gospel is all about. So here we go! I believe the more we learn about the Gospel the more we realize how messed up we are and in need of the Gospel. The Gospel, or the good news, is the story about how Jesus Christ came and lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death for OUR sins and rose to life so SIN could be conquered indefinitely. Our sin is so bad that Jesus had to come and die for us.

Like I said before the deeper we understand the Gospel the deeper we understand our sin and we also know how bad we are and how much Jesus loves us unconditionally showing us by dying for our sin and taking our place on the cross. That’s the Gospel.

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I recently took my daughter swimming on our vacation and after I was throughly worn out I experienced something very unique. My daughter started playing by herself and her vivid imagination went into action. For about thirty minutes she played a game where she fought alligators while being spiderman. She moved back and forth with great emotion like she was vying for a Grammy Award. During my time of being a proud dad and feeling so blessed I begin thinking of Psalms 116:6

The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and he saved me.

We’ve read this verse and ones like them and without hesitation we tell people to have child like faith but do we really comprehend the implication of this faith?

How would your faith change? Would you have a vision for what God is going to do that apart from Him would sound impossible. Having a child like faith allows us as Christians to believe without barriers, trust without fears and believe for the impossible!

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Most Christians that I meet and will meet are in need of an intense rediscovery. They walk through everyday life going through the motions and missing out on some of God’s richest blessing because they think they are doing what God has called them to do, when in reality they have no idea. So that begs the question, “What has God called you to do in this life?”

I’m not talking about a general calling but rather a specific calling, one that is unique to you as a believer. We must being to live inside the call that God has placed on our life so we don’t get to end of our lives and say, “I wish I would have…” What is He calling you to do and how will you respond?

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What would your life look like if you were living out the calling God has placed on your life? I find most people work their way through the corporate grind punching the time clock allowing a dream about retirement to be the only motivation to get up each day. I am not satisfied with that notion. I believe we are missing a complete dimension of our faith when we fail to live a sent and called life. We need a generation that will step up and live an audaciously transformed live. A live that will not stop until God’s call is accomplished.

What does audacious transformation look like? Audacious transformation is arriving at the end of your life with no regrets. Most people will end their life with all the regrets in the world. Start identifying your calling God has placed on your life today.

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You always have to ask is your organization, project, cause, etc is answering a problem. If it is not, then you need to regroup and try again. Well, www.helpendmalaria.com is our answer for fighting malaria. Although we are not going to conquer this deadly decease on our own we feel we are doing our part to make a difference. Big things are already happening through helpendmalaria.com. We are doing some cool things with World Vision coming up so stayed tune. And when I say huge…its huge!!

Every shirt you purchase at www.helpendmalaria.com we will send a treated mosquito net to Mozambique a county in Southeastern Africa. Buy your shirt now and start saving lives.

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I was recently challenged with a new idea for spiritual formation in the church. Most commonly, the church will do there best to “assimilate” their members into the church. This commonly happens when we connect people to small groups or a bible study. Churches have full time pastors on staff just working to assimilate or orientate their people into the fold. Lets just pause for a moment and consider we might have been doing this in the wrong direction….?? Yes, possibly we have been doing church wrong for years. The purpose of assimilation is to connect your people and for discipleship. What we we started asking people, “What talents has God given you that can serve the body?” or “What are you passionate about?” “What makes you move?” You see, maybe, if we started identifying peoples God given talents and passions and equipped them to live and operate within God’s structure instead of the church’s structure we might see more participation and more assimilation than ever in the history of church. I don’t know, I’m just a nobody in this mix but its time to start looking at how we do church and ask the tough questions. What do you think?

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I recently was reminded that in our culture men have become wimps. I for one am fed up with this and challenge all men to start acting like one. Our grandpas wouldn’t walk around without a pocket knife and now we can’t walk around without a latte. Something is wrong with this picture. I am not saying there is anything wrong with lattes but we have let culture ruin our perception of the man. TV will tell us that men are spineless, incompetent and unimportant. I know we are not perfect and we have definitely brought some of this misconception on ourselves but we have to be done acting like boys. MEN…grow up, man up, put a pocket knife in your pocket and eat some red meat. Just some randomness from my scattered thoughts. What do you think?

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