Month: August 2018

August 16, 2018 OneLife Couples Ministry
OneLife ministry fellowship 2018
Grillin’ and Chillin’

OneLIfe Ministry has enjoyed an eventful summer so far. Since the last report (there was snow on the ground), we gathered for fellowship and fire with group members and group visitors, hosted four decently attended neighborhood cookouts, a group of us went to Kentucky on mission, and we have formulated some plans for the rest of summer and fall.

What Was

We started out the summer with neighborhood cookouts in July at Pederstuen’s and Samens’. The day was quite warm but meat was roasting and conversations were cooking. We met some new people and said hello to some familiar neighbors. Later, O’Gara’s and Dyer’s (via Cline’s) hosted a second set of cookouts. A number of the people invited from our hoods were people that the host home was already connecting with outside of OneLife. This has shown to be a more natural way to hang out. We will be looking for more opportunities like that.

Fire Time!

Additionally, we held a fire fellowship at Tom and Becky’s house. Originally it was our intention to go camping this summer, but with Kentucky on the calendar for a good number of us, it wasn’t likely to happen. We have opted for at least this year to make time to fellowship with all members and visitors at least twice this year, giving opportunity for good conversation. Perhaps camping is in the cards for next year?

What Is

Currently, OneLife ministry members have been scheming up some games for the church campout this year. This Sunday we will be bringing into focus some solid options. You want a glimpse? …“In the Water”-beach volleyball! We’re planning to get the net out into the water to go head to head with anyone who wants in. I sense some dampness coming on. Be on the lookout for other fun games on the list (to watch or participate in). Events will be listed on the activity board by the mobile coffeehouse.

Before August is out, OneLife members will be heading out to the Drive-In Theater again. This has proven to be a fun time in the past (no matter what potentially yucky movie was playing). We always have fun just hanging out and meeting people.

What Next

As OneLife ministry heads into fall, we have bikes and tacos on the brain. You guessed it! Biking for Tacos is coming in September and we’re partnering with the Menomonie Public Library. We’ll be riding the loop around the lake and so start/finish will be at the library… where the tacos are! Students will be back and community (church and city) are all invited. Date and time is coming soon… Stay tuned.

We also are gearing up for fall retreat time for us. We’re set for heading to the JFB campground on September 21-22. Pray for good weather and an enriching time with the Master. For those wondering, stew is back on the menu.

Also, as I rub my temples with my index fingers in circular motions, I sense an October chili and flag football game in the air. We did this once a couple of years ago and, other than the Heinous-Brunner-Domination happening left and right, it was a really, really nice time. Our members really get on that. It’s a great time of exercising (and not the demon-removal type)!

Once winter makes its ugly return, we will be looking indoors for new adventures. We hope to translate the “neighborhood cookout” idea into something in homes some way. We have a creative bunch, something will pop.

Mad-town flexin'
Grrrrr!

Who We Is

OneLife Ministry is for young couples / families to be together both missionally and in fellowship. Usually we meet at 2pm on Sunday afternoons. If you would like to take part or even join as a member, get in touch with us. We would love to connect. onelife@jfbelievers.com

August 14, 2018 Believers Church

“How much wood could a…”

Last Sunday, the members of Gnosko, Kindred, and OneLife (the splitters) took on the job of replenishing the wood supply at the church campground. The project included falling a tree and chopping up several downed trees. With the help of a couple of Stihl saws, hardcore splitting machinery, and some sweat and muscle, we were able to make a good supply for the church camp out, future fall retreats and incidental fellowship days. In addition, a couple of the crew members brush-hogged and brush sawed the encroaching weed-ness back to a more acceptable line.

Thanks to all who participated. It was a perfect balmy 90 degree summer day to do this project. We all went home a little less fresh.

Ministry Community

This weekend also included a get-a-way for the Ministry Community here at JFB. We cruised over by Gilman, WI for some fellowship and learning around a nice camp fire. Hard to believe the School of Ministry began 21 years ago.

August 13, 2018 Believers Church Duluth

Recent Stuff

This past month has marked milestones for JFB Duluth. Thanks to those who joined us in celebrating our 10th anniversary. It is truly a privilege to be a part of JFB Duluth. We are truly thankful for the faithfulness, prayers and support of those from Menomonie in helping establish JFB Duluth. As we celebrate the past 10 years, we are careful not to rest on our laurels. It seems God has been impressing upon us as a church and individuals to truly seek His will for our lives in all the details; therefore, we make it our aim to continue to press on for what God would have JFB Duluth to become both corporately and individually.

What’s New

A new ministry group has taken shape this past month in Duluth called the community group. Essentially, this group consists of those who are already actively involved in the church and beyond the age demographic for Street Level. The group met together and brainstormed our vision for the next year which will consist of regular, consistent events in the community as well as occasional Bible/book study and possible construction/hands on projects for those in need. The community group is also responsible for our weekly curbside coffee which is now in its second year. Thus far, we’ve gone to a local park and given away food. Most recently, we gave away over 70 root beer floats! The weather was quite cooperative and we enjoyed fellowship with one another while meeting local Duluthians. Please pray that we’d be attentive to each other while also reaching out to those in the community.

Teaching

We continue to march through the books of 1 and 2nd Peter on Sundays. This has been a helpful book in examining the themes of suffering, humility and submission. Wednesday nights have consisted of the usual Psalms and a recent video by Francis Chan that sparked discussion about seeking God’s will for our lives. We are truly blessed to have such deep teaching and access to God’s word, yet we are reminded that without personal application and obedience there is no experience of knowing God and his power.
Please pray for the upcoming fall semester for Street Level as well as the community group. Specifically, pray that God would add to our number those who would labor alongside us in reaching
the Twin Ports.
-Matt
August 10, 2018 Pastor Justin Thomson - Duluth

The Disciples were drained…

Having spent the entire day absorbing doctrinal lessons on an empty stomach (Mk.6:31-34) would have left them mentally exhausted. When the teachings were finally finished there was still plenty more to do. Though the day was already “far spent”, the Disciples (at Christ’s command), served 5,000 men (+ women & children) the best all-you-can-eat buffet in the history of mankind, which would have left them physically taxed to say the least. Compounding the difficulty of an already challenging day was the fact that it all began with the tragic news of John the Baptists recent murder (Mt.14:12-13). In considering those few details, it goes without saying that these Disciples were maxed out; mentally, physically, and emotionally. They had been with Jesus all day long, obeying His every command from morning till night…and it wasn’t even over yet.

After they had finished cleaning up the mess, Jesus “immediately made His Disciples get into a boat and go before Him to the other side of the lake” (Matthew 14:22 says the same thing: Jesus “made” them do it). This wasn’t an option, this was an order. They weren’t given a choice. It was time now for more obedience. This is a remarkable situation: It’s already late, they’re absolutely drained, they’ve had no rest and nothing to eat, they’re still bearing the emotional weight of the loss of a spiritual brother, and yet, the commands just keep coming. It’s almost as if Jesus is pushing His men into a place where they will fail. Does He even want them to get to the other side of the lake?

Four miles in to an eight mile journey, the boys were met with trouble. The wind had shifted and was now against them, kicking up waves and preventing them from paddling any further. They were stopped in their tracks; stuck in the middle of the sea. “Straining at rowing” (Mk.6:48) was all they could do to keep from going backwards, and with little energy left, the situation was hopeless. Failure to obey Christ’s command to meet Him on the other side was now inevitable. They had already reached their mental, emotional, & physical limits, but now, with disobedience just around the corner, they were about to experience spiritual incompetence as well.

Most of us would rather hear about our need for forgiveness & mercy in a book or Bible study than to be shown our need through personal failure.

Failure was on the horizon for them, and even if they couldn’t see their need for help yet, Jesus could. He wasn’t satisfied to simply tell them about their need for His mercy, He decided to show them. Is it any accident that the wind came against them when it did? After all, Jesus had only recently demonstrated His ability to control the forces of nature (Mt.8/Mk.4). The process by which God made His Disciples aware of their need for mercy was complex & lengthy, but it got the job done because, just like He does for all of His disciples, He needed to create a situation where they’d see it for themselves. God always finds a way to remind His people of their need for His help. He will even supernaturally arrange your failure if He has to. Most of us would rather hear about our need for forgiveness & mercy in a book or Bible study than to be shown our need through personal failure. But hand’s-on experience is always preferable to God. It may be a painfully frightening ordeal, but it’s good for you.

The reason so many people want God to eliminate sin from their life with the quick snap of a finger instead of through the long, hard road of repentance is because they don’t want to need the Lord’s mercy. We sometimes see mercy as a favor from God that we’ll have to eventually return. Our logic tells us that if we could just convince God to make our sin go away overnight, we could wake up in the morning with no further need of Him, which is exactly what some of us want…to reach a level of spiritual competence by which we’re able to live independently of God. It’s the same evil desire some Christians have always had, even in their former days of sinful self-governance and unbridled lust. Their craving for independence is greater than their longing for God Himself. They don’t have a problem serving Him all the time (they’ll even exhaust themselves doing it), but needing Him at all makes them quite uncomfortable. It makes them feel indebted to God, and they don’t like that. They’d rather feel as if God is indebted to them. Self-satisfaction takes priority over God’s being satisfied. So they pursue a certain degree of piety & perfection, rather than spiritual contrition and a heart that’s broken over its own sin. You see, receiving God’s mercy has a natural humbling effect, which is why, in our pride, we can easily turn church into a place where we silently compete against one another to see who needs it least.

The pursuit of independence from God is as wicked & as dangerous as any other transgression, and He knows it. In order to protect us from the harmful effects of such an unhealthy craving, the Lord Himself “consigns everyone to disobedience, so that He may have mercy on everybody” (Romans 11:32). That statement should be as shocking as it is comforting. It’s shocking, because one would think it beneath God to make use of sin like that. The meaning of the term “consign” here, is that God “delivers you up to the power of sin so that you’re completely shut in by it without means of escape”. His “consigning” us to disobedience then, has an eerie ring to it, wouldn’t you say? And yet, the Scriptures reveal that consigning us to disobedience is a regular practice of His, with no concern for what it might do to His reputation by admitting it. He sees to it that everyone will sin whether they want to or not. Again, did Jesus even want His Disciples to get to the other side of that lake?

God isn’t bothered when we cry to Him for rescue… 

… He specializes in it.

The fact that God “delivers us up to the power of sin” is not only shocking, but also strangely comforting. Comforting because it says that my sin doesn’t surprise Him. Comforting because it reminds me that my coming to Him for mercy is all part of His plan; it’s ok that we need Him. He doesn’t mind it when we ask Him for forgiveness. He welcomes it. He isn’t bothered when we cry to Him for rescue. He specializes in it. We might have a problem with appearing needy to Him, but He doesn’t. Not at all.

Now this shouldn’t lead us to mistakenly believe that we can freely disobey God because He seems to be pushing us in that direction anyway. We all know what the Apostle Paul would say to that (Ro.6:1-2)! It simply is not true. After all, the Disciples never quit rowing, did they? They strained at it. It’s not our job to give up, it’s our job to obey, all the while knowing that even the best of our obedience will still fall short. Again, this is no excuse for sin, rather, this is a strong incentive to follow Christ with the joy of knowing that when we do sin, there’s mercy for us.

Any reasonable Christian knows how impossible it is to bypass their continual need for God’s mercy. No matter what the situation, mercy is the answer. We need it more than we know, but God knows how much we need it, and He will show you just how deep that need is. When He reveals to you just how badly you’ve failed, and just how desperately you need His mercy, don’t look away. Don’t pretend to not notice it. Perceive it, freely confess it, and accept the mercy that is yours in Christ. Knowing your need for mercy is a sign of hope; humbly asking for it is a sign of spiritual maturity; and gladly receiving it is true salvation.

So, did Jesus really want His Disciples to get to the other side of that lake? Or rather, does Jesus want you to obey His directives and live an obedient life? Yes, of course He does. But not without Him. You’ll never get to the other side on your own. It’s the one who fails to realize this who spends their time stuck in the middle of that proverbial sea “straining at rowing”…impressing themselves with how little of God’s help they need…going nowhere.

Is that you? Jesus wants to be the one who brings you across the lake we call “life”, and if you’re trying to get there without His help, He’d be glad to show you just how much you actually need it. So, is there room enough in your boat for Him, or do you prefer your independence?

August 1, 2018 Believers Church

DISCOVERY

In a recent discussion in the School Discipleship, we were engaged in a conversation about the apostle Peter and his “commitment issues”. No doubt, Peter’s story is an insightful one to us. He walked with Jesus and was taught by him. Peter walked on water when the Lord called him out of the boat. He even stood in the very presence of a radiantly transfigured Jesus. But in the modern church age we often quip about Peter like he was some idiot. You know the stories… He pulled Jesus aside and rebuked him for talking about being arrested and killed (Matt. 16:22). Also, when Jesus was humbly washing the feet of the disciples, Peter proudly shut Jesus down, “You shall NEVER wash my feet!” (John 13:6-8) Even in the book of Acts, he was experiencing a vision from God and promptly said “No Thanks!” to the command God was giving him (Acts 10:13-14).

Now, before we get too judgmental about Peter, anyone out there want to put their ministerial life up against his? Nah, I didn’t think so. Peter indeed had his failures, but his life tells a different tale.

People today seem to be mostly committed to themselves. It’s kind of ugly and it’s not the way of the Christian

OBSERVATION

Commitment is often a curiously absent characteristic in the modern age. People don’t remain committed to really much except to their own lusts, desires, comforts and personal well-being (or perhaps their favorite sports team). I am awestruck when I legitimately see it today. I see it in many members of the military, for sure. Negatively, I have seen it in religious radicals, too (suicide bombers, etc.). Do you know that people used to be commonly more committed to things like their jobs, spouses, family members, or even good causes? People today seem to be mostly committed to themselves. It’s kind of ugly and it’s not the way of the Christian.

An element that came out of our discussion was something I found quite revealing. For all of Peter’s “commitment issues” in those three stories (and others), we must admit Peter was still a great servant of God, full of the spirit of God, and a fighter for the Kingdom of God. Looking at his life, no one can argue, Peter was a clear representation of a “Christian” by the strictest definition. With that said, I’d like to point your attention to the common thread in these three stories about Peter. The common thread is that Peter was engaged with God and God with Peter. Even though foolishly sometimes, Peter was clearly in relationship with God.

It could even be argued that in each of the stories, Peter had sincere motives for telling God “no!” With his rebuke of Jesus, maybe Peter did not want to see Jesus die perhaps because he thought if Jesus died it would mean the end of what he had left his old life for.  With his rejecting Jesus’ foot washing, maybe he thought so highly of Jesus that perhaps the idea of foot-washing should have been beneath Jesus. And finally with the command in the vision from God to kill and eat unclean animals, what if Peter was trying to honor what he had learned of the law of God? This is just conjecture but, in each story, there is at least a commitment (albeit misguided) to Jesus’ life, Jesus’ honor or God’s law. This is a far cry from what is seen today.

APPLICATION

Today’s church-goer (maybe you) looks at “commitment” and says, “Commitment means I go to church and read my devotions and say my prayers… believe in God. Non-commitment means I skip church, miss my bible readings, and neglect my prayers.” There are problems with these definitions. The first question I would ask you is, “Why do you do such things (church attendance, devotions, and prayers)?” My guess would be that, while you might never say it out loud, you hope that by your good committed behavior, you’ll get something from God. That is, by definition, “manipulation”. [Manipulation: 1. controlling someone or something to your own advantage, often unfairly or dishonestly. –Cambridge Dictionary]

So, perhaps you have created a list of things you believe will make you “acceptable” in the sight of God, and therefore “committing” to do those things should grant you God’s favor; eternal life. God is not blind, stupid, or gullible. He calls false motives out from a thousand miles away. Honestly, that type of life is far from the commitment of Peter or of the scriptures. The reality is, living that way is not actually commitment but compliance; a compliance that is ineffective with God and is not effectual… empty.

Commitment is liberty and compliance is legalism

So, I leave you with these definitions and a question:

Commitment: 1. The state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.

Compliant: 1. Disposed to agree with others or obey rules, especially to an excessive degree; acquiescent.

Question: Which one describes your Christian life? …Are you a person behind the cause or one who seeks to fulfill his quota?

-=pastor tom