Sharing the Gospel

Every Sunday, it's my aim as a communicator/preacher to shed light on the gospel. It may not be as direct as the "Roman Road" (Romans 3:23; 5:8; 6:23; 10:9-10; 10:13), but my hope is that everyone (Christian or non-Christian) walks away with a better understanding of the gospel.

However, this Sunday my hope is to be direct and take dead aim at explaining how God makes knowing Him possible. The friends you bring along with you (you are bringing a friend right?) will receive about a 35-40 minute explanation of the gospel of grace, and in doing so, my hope is also to provide you with a model of how you can also explain the gospel. Here's rough outline of my message that you can use:

1. "...(God) took on flesh and dwelt among us..." (John 1:14)

a. God became one of us to identify with our lives

b. He dwells among us to so we can really know Him

2. The invitation of salvation is for everyone (John 3:16)

a. People no one else wants to relate to

i. Samaritan woman (John 4)

ii. Woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11)

iii. Mary of Bethany (John 12:1-8)

b. People who are low on the totem poll (Peter, James and John - Luke 5)

3. Jesus came to show us truth and grace (John 1:14)

a. He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life (John 14:6)

b. We don't earn anything it's grace

i. unmerited favor

ii. through the death of Jesus

4. Sin deserves death (Rom 6:23), but by trusting in Jesus we get life

a. Why did Jesus die if he didn't sin?

b. He took our sin and we get his perfection! (2 Cor 5:21)

5. Now what?

a. We don't walk with a swagger as if we did anything (humility - Eph 2:8)

b. We don't loathe life as if we are still under condemnation (Rom 8:1)

c. We worship with our whole lives (Eph 2:10; Rom 12:1)

I'll see you and your friends on Sunday!

What is an Elder?

Read this great post about eldership by Rick Hein.

Another Jubileeite Gets Baptized

Nathan Deming is a student from Webster who connected with Jubilee last year through Latitude. He had quite a year with us as God really broke through in his life. He ended up participating in the Evangelism Internship in Chicago last summer. Currently, he is studying abroad in London and is attending one of our (Newfrontiers) churches in London called ChristChurch.

Check out his baptism from last week!

Nathan plans to return to St. Louis and Webster next semester.

I Hope Your Friendships Are Deeper than Andre Agassi's

Saturday afternoons are pretty intense sermon prep days for me primarily because it is non-stop from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. So, I need little points of relief throughout the day and one of the most common is checking out the headlines on ESPN.com. This Saturday, the headline that caught my attention first was: "Ex-coach had 'no clue' Agassi was taking meth."

Here's a quote from that article by Brad Gilbert (Agassi's former trainer and friend): Because we (Gilbert and Agassi) hung out a ton, but that doesn't mean you ask things that are personal. As I read the article, I became deeply saddened by the reality of most people's relationships.

I believe that in a Biblically functioning church, relationships are intensely personal. Now granted, not everyone in the church will be best friends, but the ones you "hang out a ton" with, better be personal. How sad is it and unloving is it that we would never ask, "Hey bro, how are you doing...really?" That all we would do is gather together and watch TV, play board games, eat guacamole, but never be caring enough, be loving enough to make it personal. Recently, I had very good friend of mine asked me how I was doing in the area of spending time with my son. The long and short of it was that he was able to show me that I was, in fact, being inattentive with my son. Furthermore, this inattentiveness was resulting not just in a lack of relationship, but in a lack of discipline, which really is a lack of love that puts stress on my wife and will someday, cause my son to pay a bigger than expected price. I made the adjustment and things are much better because of good friends who ask personal questions.

With the backdrop of a hyper-individualistic and relationally desolate culture, the church must rise up and be different. We must be personal. We are in relationship with a personal God. The world didn't start with power by an isolated and alone God. It start with love and community within the triune God and out of that overflow, the world and human beings were created. Sin in your life will cause you to drift from relationships (real relationships), but as you draw near to God, expect (and inspect) that you will draw near to others as well.

Video Blog on Prophecy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSpqnQMdfW8

Want a T-Shirt?

Last Sunday, I kicked off Jubilee’s new sermon series titled the “God Series” where we will look at 10 characteristics about God (a complete list found at www.jubileestl.org/city). I started the God Series with “God Creates” and to help promote the subject I wore a t-shirt with the title on the front (as I will each week throughout the series). I received a lot of requests for the t-shirt so we called the company we bought the shirt from to make more available. If you’re interested in getting a shirt, they are $10 and you can select your favorite color, title and series title through this order form.

The Bible in 90 Days, Part 2 (Guest Blogger)

On October 1, the elders and staff of jubilee church st. louis city embarked on a 90-day adventure through the entire Bible. Our hope is that we would gain a new perspective by reading the Bible quickly (an "aerial" view) versus and reading the Bible devotionally (an "on the ground" view). From time to time, I hope to share our insights. Here is one from one of our Administrative Assistants, Amie Fox:

I have felt incredibly inspired by God through the stories I’ve read so far. Some of my previous understandings of Him have definitely deepened and I find I’m just more in awe of Him than before. I’m sure that will continue through the rest of the reading plan. There is one thing that I specifically wanted to mention because I thought of our (Jubilee’s) presence in St. Louis and sensed God’s favor. In Exodus 3:19-20 when God is speaking to Moses about the Israelites enslavement in Egypt by the Pharaoh, He said, “I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go except under heavy pressure. So I will reach out and strike at the heart of Egypt with all kinds of miracles. Then at last he will let you go,” and I remembered how in previous years it was prophesied over Jubilee that God would cause us to be fruitful throughout the St. Louis region and specifically at the heart of our city...

In reviewing what I know of St. Louis and what I know of God, I was encouraged by the fact that no matter the type or degree of enslavement our city can be experiencing in poverty, depression, abuse, etc. -we serve a God whose arm is not too short to save or incapable of breaking the chains. In fact, the heavier and stronger the chains, the greater and more powerful His miracles!

Above it all though, as I continued to follow their journey into freedom, what I was most moved by was God’s heroic nature. His determination to rescue us despite our circumstances is so captivating... and a reminder of how He alone is worthy of my worship.