Community: A Way of Jesus

I’ve been studying a bit about what Lord Jesus didn’t do. It’s a fascinating subject! During His time before Herod, Jesus wouldn’t respond to his insincere questioning. (Luke 23:8-11)

Why not? Lord Jesus said, “Do not give what is holy to dogs and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7:6) Discernment is necessary.

Yesterday I was visiting a doctor for a checkup, a Christian man, he told me that he was reading a book about the things Jesus didn’t do. That’s confirmation from God.

Lord Jesus also did not live alone. He lived in a community of believers in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. (Matthew 4:13) Most of His disciples were called to follow Him from that area. He healed people there. In a sense it was His headquarters.

When The Lord traveled, walking, from village to village, His followers went with Him, both men and women. The place, Capernaum, was not the community, but the people, the fledgling beginning of the Church, was the community. (Matthew 10:1-4; Luke 10:1; Matthew 27:55-56)

After Christ ascended, His people, the Church continued living in community in Jerusalem while around them was persecution. (Acts 1:15) As the Church grew and spread, more and more parts of the Church body were established.

Paul planted some of these communities—Rome, Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica….while around them was persecution.

Lord Jesus said,  “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) A sheep pen is an enclosure or a cave with only one entrance. The sheep go in an out of this entrance to feed. But at night, the shepherd himself is the door; he lays down across the entrance so that no sheep wander off and no wolves get in.

Believers are the sheep, kept together in a community. The door to the community is Lord Jesus. Believers go in and out, which means freely about their daily activities. (Jeremiah 37:4; Psalm 121:8) There is protection in a community of believers. It is a way of Jesus.

In 1984, my college class took a weekend trip to Chicago. There we visited Jesus People USA. It is a vibrant community of believers living together in a 10-story building in Uptown Chicago with the purpose of serving the poor. Within their ranks are young people, senior citizens, married couples and children. Begun in 1972, with a group of hippies living together in a basement, today they number about 200 souls. Sounds radical doesn’t it? But it has worked for nearly 50 years.

The heritage of Christians has been community, for support, safety, help in need, care, edification, etc.. It is how the believers of the Holy Land have survived and remained for 2,000 years. It is the legacy of the Mayflower Pilgrims, the Puritans, Mennonites and all other Christian communities that have come to America to worship in freedom leaving behind the persecution of the Old World.

The Amish also came to the United States for freedom of religion; theirs is a history of martyrdom, extreme persecution. Though they primarily live in rural areas, they keep together as a church, where there is safety to practice their own ways, help when life’s storms come, and they take care of their own seniors and people who are disabled. Together they celebrate marriages and births and mourn with those in mourning. No one is left to bear his burden alone.

The first large group of Amish arrived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1730. They have been growing strong for 290 years.

The modern church has deviated from this way of Jesus. Community, where people care. Where safety resides. Where there is freedom in everyday life.

Lord Jesus never lived alone. Neither are we to be monks, isolated, living alone, watching tv.

If you are alone, in isolation, reach out to a church community where you live. Go there. Jesus People USA welcomes visitors and those who would live with them. Even the Amish welcome outsiders to come in to their fellowship if they will abide by their ordinances.

As God has led His Church in the past, so He is leading her now. There is no safety without The Lord.

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FORGIVENESS, A WAY OF GOD

(C) 2020 Kelly Jadon

Jesus Is Calling Doers

In April of 1988, I purchased my wedding dress. Actually, my mother purchased it for me. I had tried on around 10 that were in my affordable category, $300 or so. Afterward, I chose the first one I had pulled off the rack.

In July of 1988, I wore the dress, not once, but twice. My spouse and I had two wedding receptions, one in Florida and a second in Michigan. Today it is preserved in a box, shelved up high in my closet.

Though historians claim that the white bridal dress was first popularized by Queen Victoria when she married Albert of Saxe-Cogburg in 1840, the true origin is Revelation 19:7-9.

 “‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.’ 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, ‘Write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”’ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’”

The bride of Christ is the body of believers, disciples of Lord Jesus. We are to be clothed in fine linen which is bright and clean in Heaven. The linen is given to us because of our righteous acts.

Aha! We are to be doers not just speakers of the Word. (James 1:22) And, we must put the linen on ourselves—”the bride has made herself ready.” Another indication that we must be doers.

After Lord Jesus settled in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, He went walking by the water. There He called His first disciples to follow Him: Peter, Andrew, James and John. The four were fishermen and had been busy casting nets, mending nets and fishing with their father. (Matthew 4:18-22) Immediately they left what they were doing (their work) and followed Lord Jesus (a full-time commitment).

These men were already doers, not afraid of hard work, just as those in the Old Testament were. David kept sheep while fighting off bears and lions. Amos was a farmer. Moses was tending his father-in-law’s sheep. Gideon was threshing wheat. Elisha was plowing his fields. God calls doers to discipleship.

Discipleship means leaving behind the nets, the boats, and farming equipment. It means following immediately where Lord Jesus leads.

He calls us to live a life of righteous acts that He calls us to.

Some will be called to preach.

Some will be evangelists, teachers, prophets, etc…

But we are all called to do something for God, not out of our own imagination, but specifically in the role He gives to each of us.

Nancy Halford works at a WalMart. She reacted immediately when worship began inside her workplace. Nancy stopped work and joined the celebration. God used her video for His glory. Doer. (Libby Emmons/The Post Millennial)

The worshipers had felt called to hold a service in a WalMart because churches were closed. Doers.

Sean Feucht has gone into the middle of the riots in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington to lead worship in the face of open threats and curses. Many were touched and came to know The Lord. This is obedience to divine direction. Doer. (Aimee Herd/BCN)

Humbly, The Lord has called me to write. I write five days a week. This blog reaches Africa, Canada, Europe, the USA, and Asia. Who reads it? People like you, who are from the Church, part of the body of Christ. It is a way that we might stay connected. Right now, this is what I do for God and the Name of Jesus.

Yes, I do get some flack for it. But I have not yet been threatened.

What are you doing? What are your righteous acts? God is calling you to stand up and act.

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TEACH YOUR CHILDREN NOT TO FEAR

(C) 2020 Kelly Jadon

Changing the Church

The summer of my junior year in college, I worked as a counselor at a Free Methodist Church camp in Ontario, Canada. One blustery night a ferocious storm blew through, fronted by lightning and thunder. It felled a large ancient oak. It landed just between the cabins on soft green grass. My turn on the maintenance crew that week required I help cut it up. A chainsaw was placed in my hands and I cut off great limbs. The trunk was left to professionals, who had better stronger equipment and more expertise.

Sometimes the old things need to be cut down to make way for new and better things.

Lord Jesus said, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.  No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:21-22)

What was The Lord referring to? He’s speaking about the old religious systems that are so stuck in tradition that they’re inflexible and cannot contain a new work of God. And so, God goes outside these systems.

One good example would be Operation Christmas Child, run by Franklin Graham’s organization, Samaritan’s Purse. With a shoebox gift of love, they reach thousands of children for Christ who otherwise would have remained in darkness. It is one of the greatest moves of God in our time as each day thousands of children come to know Lord Jesus.

Another local example would be Roxanne Brown’s Carebag, Inc. which reaches hundreds of the homeless, giving them necessary living items, showers, and the love of God.

The list is endless. God is moving in His Church, taking us to knew and better ways of reaching the unreached, the unchurched, and those chained in darkness.

During these chaotic last six months, many churches have closed their doors. Some have reopened, some have not. Some never will reopen. (Michelle Boorstein/Washington Post) Not every church practices Godliness. God is cutting off limbs, preparing for new things.

When The Lord led His people, the Hebrews, out of bondage in Egypt, He began bringing about new things, teaching them to be a holy nation, set aside to Him. Old ideas of life in Egypt had to be thrown out—idol worship, being content as slaves, etc..They were stuck in their old mentality.

God instituted holiness through change, culminating in worship of Himself and the creation of the Tabernacle. (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

The Lord does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. (Hebrews 13:8) He brings change. He wants an end to sin and old ways of thinking.

This morning I went out to cut down an old dead orange tree in my backyard. I used a smaller battery operated chainsaw. I worked at it, a little at a time, sweat dripping into my eyes, thorns puncturing my calf, but I could not cut it down. I knew I needed something bigger and more powerful. God knows my thoughts. Then my new neighbor came to the rescue with his bigger better chainsaw. In a minute, the tree was cut down to the ground, leaving only a stump. The wood was hard, that’s why my smaller saw couldn’t do the work.

Believers, we cannot save ourselves. No president can save us, no army, no Homeland Security. What will save us is obedience to God. We must humble ourselves to His desire to change us, His Church and this nation. He begins first with His own people, “to the Jew first and then the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16) Like the tree, the old ways are hard and difficult to alter. Like the neighbor man from next door, we need God’s power to do the work. We pray. He does the work.

Hard times cause the Church to turn to God and away from our own strength.

Let us pray for holiness and Godliness first in ourselves, our church and then our country, the United States. And let us pray that His will be done, His purpose be accomplished.

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LAWLESS TIMES

(C) 2020 Kelly Jadon

Jesus Matters First

When I attended college, at Spring Arbor University in the 1980s, like the typical student, I changed my major a few times. Back then, I really didn’t know what to major in, so I studied what I both liked and knew that I could handle. I became a teacher certified in Secondary English and Music education. What I did know is that God guided my life.

Moses was a man of the Old Testament who was born a Hebrew, under an Egyptian death sentence for male babies. His mother made him a private little ark and cast it away upon the waters. Providence saved Moses when Pharaoh’s daughter, a princess of Egypt, had his the ark pulled from the Nile River. Moses grew up in the courts of the Pharaoh, with privilege, great wealth, and education. God’s providence kept him safe. (Exodus 1-2)

Jesus, the Son of God, was born to the tribe of Judah, in Bethlehem to a virgin. (Luke 1:26-37) Worried about his own power, King Herod implemented a death sentence for male babies. Then Joseph, Mary’s husband, had a dream in the night. An angel of the Lord warned him to get up and take Mary, the Lord’s mother, and baby Jesus, and flee to Egypt. They remained there five years until God called them out of Egypt and back to their original home in Nazareth. (Hosea 11:1) God saved His own Son, Joseph and Mary. Lord Jesus grew up to be the Messiah, the Sent One, in the home of a carpenter in an obscure town, under the care of an adoptive father. God’s providence had kept Him safe in humbleness. (Luke 2, Matthew 2)

Both men became what the Lord called them to be. Moses—a prince. Lord Jesus—a carpenter.

Both men became the leaders of their people. Moses—led his people out of physical bondage and Egypt. (Hosea 11:1)

Lord Jesus led those who followed Him out of spiritual bondage and slavery to the world.

Moses led his people around the wilderness, demonstrating God’s great miracles.

Lord Jesus led His people for three years, demonstrating God’s great miracles.

Moses died and God buried him. (Deuteronomy 34:1-8)

Lord Jesus died and God the Father had arranged for His burial through His providence. (Mark 15:42-47)

Moses lived on spiritually and was seen by Peter, James and John at the Lord’s transfiguration. (Matthew 17:1-13)

Lord Jesus rose from the grave spiritually and physically in a glorified body and was seen by hundreds. (1Corinthians 15:6)

Moses is a type of Lord Jesus Who would come to earth. (Romans 5:14)

Why did God give these types long before Baby Jesus came?

To tell us to watch for Him. Some did. Simeon, Anna the prophetess, the three magi, prophets. .

Jesus’ first coming was that important. He altered the world, permanently.

There is so much turmoil happening in the world today. “Black lives matter (BLM). White lives matter. All people matter.” Even, “animal lives matter.”

But the only thing or person Who truly matters is Lord Jesus. All black, white, red, yellow and brown peoples are His. He is the Creator. (John 1:3-4; Genesis 1:1)

Nations rise and nations fall. Leaders die. Governments become corrupt. Governments are overrun.

But God still is. He does not change.

Before the Earth existed, He was.

Today He is still the great “I AM.” He oversees all things and is sovereign. It is a relief to know that He is in firm control.

No government nor organization will save us, the Church. No president nor elected official can be our savior. Look instead to Lord Jesus, Who sits upon the throne of Heaven.

For peace in this storm of many waves, look to The Lord. He saves. Ask Him to guide you through these trials. He is the only truth and peace that truly exists. Jesus matters first. May His will be done.

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HOW THE CHURCH CAN HELP THE CHILDREN

(C) 2020 Kelly Jadon

HE is Pruning His Church

It’s hot out! The air hangs heavy with heat just after sunrise at 7AM. The other day I worked in my front yard around the sidewalks, digging up old dead plants, pruning dry lifeless branches and replanting, this time in portable containers. When I returned to the air conditioning of my house, my face was all bright red and splotchy, not from sunburn, but from the heat index. With Florida humidity, it pushed the temperature up over 100F!

Lord Jesus used examples from nature and man’s relation to growing plants in His teachings that all people can understand. He said, “I AM the true Vine, and my Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1-2)

We, God’s people, true believers are the branches. In us flows the life from the Vine, Lord Jesus, which is Holy Spirit. At times in our lives we are pruned of the old dead stuff, diseased parts, and twigs covered with parasites. God the Father decides when, where, and how. He is the Vinedresser.

God does this for our own good because the old stuff is sucking the life out of you. Pruning allows for new growth and an abundance of fresh fruit on green branches.

Sometimes we do not wish to be pruned, continuing in our old habits, living with a painful condition, or holding on to a sin much to our calamity. Resistance against God’s work in our lives produces little fruit. God sees this.

To prune us, God cuts, just as I used pruning shears, large cutters and a saw for branches. Cutting removes something permanently.

God uses the Sword of the Spirit—His Word and Holy Spirit, (Ephesians 6:17) both of which convict us of sin, show us an area of weakness being taken advantage of by the enemy, or expose a curse. He gives us knowledge and power to break these things, cast them off and free us from the entanglements through His Word and by His Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 4:12 states, “For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The process hurts. We must agree to abide by God’s will, but the final result will make us better believers, with improved characters, demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)

In the Old Testament, God brought the children of Israel (approximately 2.4 million) out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. In that country, they had learned the Egyptians’ ways, which included idolatry, grumbling, giving up on God and not obeying Him. They remained wandering under God’s leading in the wilderness 40 years, until the last generation and their sinful ways had passed. The pruning took 40 years. Then they entered a new land. (Book of Exodus)

He pruned the nation that carried The Messiah, Lord Jesus, into the world, of sin with His Word. The Lord spoke to them through Moses, the man of God, and through the Word of God, written on stone tablets with His very finger—the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 31:18)

When God prunes His church, as a body, it takes time. It happens in stages. (Exodus 17:1) The purpose is to bring them into one body, cleaned up and ready to go produce an abundance of fruit!

Some will allow Him to prune them, some will not. Those who don’t will continue in their sins. The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)

Every branch that does not bear fruit, He takes away. (John 15:2)

Are you allowing God to prune you of sin?

(C) 2020 Kelly Jadon