Soiled Saints

to all my friends, family and even enemies (of whom I don’t know who you are..).

May Christmas find you enjoying the greatest gift of all: salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

SDG,
Jason

It’s shaping up to be a busy one, filled with meetings, joy and more.

Today, I meet with Kevin to talk about Sunday and the past year. I also meet with Bill to further my ordination process.

I also meet with Jon and Becca, two very sweet people that I have the privilege of marrying in March 2010.

Tomorrow sees a meeting with Ryan from Pearland area Young Life, and me speaking for Jason Crandall and FBC Pearland Wednesday night. Please pray.

Thursday sees me meeting with my bro Mike Skinner, whom I love very much. Also meeting with Larry and the DVULI crew, both whom I also love very much.

Friday is elder meeting. Saturday I get to meet with Tracy Holcomb at Heights Baptist to talk about winter retreat.

And Sunday….well, you know Sunday!!

Yesterday was December 14th. It was a year ago (was a Sunday, this year a Monday) that some very emotional stuff went down.

I preached at Fellowship that Sunday. I also told them I was leaving. I had to tell the praise team before we got going that I was leaving. That was hard.

Not as hard as what would happen over the next three hours. I had to preach, then let people know I was leaving. The reactions were even a year later, hard to think about.

Krista cried. She knew as long as nearly anyone other than elders and staff. She certainly knew before any other student. Nevertheless, she cried.

Joy cried. Joy usually doesn’t cry……..in public. She did that day. A lot. I told Krista to find her. And I just held Joy for a while. If I can take anything back from that time, it would be the hurt I caused her that day.

Linda cried. Who’s Linda? Joy’s mom. That was a surprise. She was bawling. I didn’t expect that. A few other students and adults cried as well. And not to demean or diminish their emotions, but those three folks stood out the most to me.

Coming in 2010:
-I will be wrapping up a blog series I started some months ago about people that have shaped my life.

-I’ll be debuting a new website that I think (Hope) you’ll both enjoy and frequent often.

-I’m doing p90x with Mandy. We’re calling the period between now and January 11th “pre90x,” and I’m already not happy with the program….and that’s a good thing.

-And there’s more to come.

Grace and peace,
Jason

Kevin was here for the first time since October 2008, and the first time since I’ve been pastor.

He did a great job in our “coming soon” series talking about Joseph’s dream in Matthew 1:18-25.

His two main points were crucial:
1. If anyone had a right to NOT believe in the virgin birth, it was Joseph. He had been seemingly wronged, seemingly damaged by Mary’s seeming indiscretion. Yet, by the end of Matthew 1, his posture went from skeptic to servant, and his attitude went from bewilderment to obedience.

2. Kevin’s closing question sealed the deal: Is God calling you to do something that your feelings are rebelling against? Tell the feelings no.

That’s a great question, one worth pondering and pursuing in the week ahead.

T’was a good day.

Jason

No matter what you face, or what you enjoy…we must face or enjoy in light of God’s great grace.

Our culture is completely whacked.

We glorify the wrong stuff and deify the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

In the last three weeks, I’ve perhaps read way too much on Tiger Woods.  Who’s sleeping with whom, and the whole issue of his alleged-but-probable affairs.

“Another role model has bit the dust” is something I’ve heard many times.

HE’S NOT A ROLE MODEL.  He’s not marketed that way, not presented that way, never asked for that (to my knowledge) to be laid upon him as a mantle to wear or a cause to live for.

He can drive a golf club better than nearly everyone alive.  Does that automatically give him the right to be a role model?

Sure, he’s by his very presence and stature a wonderful example of bridging races with his golf success.  But again, is that an automatic stamp for role model?

I don’t think he asked for it.  And I don’t think we should give it to him.

Should we really be surprised that a guy who never asked to be put on a pedestal fails to live up to our expectations?

No.  We should be praying that his marriage stays together, that his life would be transformed by the forgiveness that Christ offers and gives.

And we should pray that “re-nup” doesn’t enter our vernacular as commonly as “pre-nup” has.

Geez……

Jason

On Monday, it was Pearl Harbor Day, and the 68th anniversary of that tragic event that hurt and killed so many people.

For me, it was a different type of anniversary, one, that I’m happy to say is a bit more joyous.

It was on December 7, 2008 that Southway asked me to be their pastor. And I accepted.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a year since the day I started here. But it’s been a year since my life changed forever.

And the changes have not stopped.

Thank God.

Jason

This past Sunday, Taylor led worship through song. He did a great job, as usual. In between the 2nd and 3rd song. He spoke to us from 2 Corinthians 11, where the NIV uses a great word in describing false teachers.

The verse quote was: “12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” 2 Corinthians 11:12-15

Taylor had earlier used this quote as his facebook status update:

“May I not masquerade righteousness! Rather by the knowledge and grace that has been given, humbly live out the Gospel.”

He launched off that to warn and encourage us not to wear masks before a God who knows it all anyway. Using the imagery of a masquerade ball, where people dress up and wear masks, Taylor urged us to not treat this “party” (worship celebration) as a masquerade and to be transparent and real before a God who knows it all anyway. And since this morning, that got me to thinking:

Masks reveal faddlish idols: If I’m masking, I’m more concerned about my public image than the name of Christ. My image will fall…like a trillion others fads. I’m more concerned with looking good than showing the often-dirty, always-slow process of being made more like Jesus Christ in which He is seen as the hero.

Masks reveal foolish insecurities: If I’m masking, I haven’t grown in my appreciation for justification that is given through Christ.

Masks reveal foul intentions: To think that I would try to present one thing while being another…..that’s foul…..that’s a lie….that’s showing that I don’t love people enough to be real with them. And that I don’t love God enough to expose flaws (again, not saying in inappropriate ways) and be okay with “I’m not okay and I’m not staying that way.”

I have a feeling I’ll be musing on this for a while.

being debt free.

You know, in one sense, since I was young, I’ve been debt-free.

(And you know where this is going. Stay put anyway…)

I owed an impossible-to-pay debt, with interest incurring exponentially every time I tried to pay off God.

Yet, in his grace, he not only wiped the debt clean, he insured that I’ll never go into that debt ever again.

Now, let the joy of my monetary debt-freedom continually remind me of the massively-bigger debt-freedom I enjoy by God’s grace.

Jason

T’was a very cool day outside, but it was warm inside..both temperature wise, and in intensity.

-Here are some things we covered in our Advent Series called Coming Soon, in part 2 called 2 sides of the story…

-What if the 2 sides of Jesus’ story helped us understand the massive implications of Jesus Christ to our own lives?

-What difference do the 2 sides of his story make in a 21^st century world ripe with problems and possibilities?

-Here’s how we defined the 2 sides:  Jesus is Fully God and Fully Human.

The Greek word: Anthropos:  God-Man

Hypostatic Union:

451 Council of Chalcedon came up with the Chalcedonian Creed.  Jesus is one person with two natures:  fully god and man.  Hypostatic union is taken from Greek word hypostasis for person.

Humanity of Jesus:

He was born of a woman: ⁴But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, Galatians 4:4

Had a normal body of flesh and bones: ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Luke 24:39

Got hungry and thirsty:²And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  Matthew 4:2

Had compassion: ⁴¹Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”  Mark 1:41

Funny: ²³And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24.

Grieved and Angry:   ¹ Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. ²And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” ⁴And he said to them,  “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  Mark 3:1-5

Pained: ³⁷And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Matthew 26:37

Jesus was human:  He experienced the full gamut of emotions..betrayal, joy, anguish, pain, relational difficulties.

Divinity of Jesus:

⁵And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Mark 2:5-7

²³ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”   (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:23

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

¹³He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. Colossians 1:13-16

Jesus was God: He is enough for us.

Mistakes about Jesus’ nature:

-JW:  Jesus was created by God the Father billions of years ago as Michael the archangel.

-Mormons:  Jesus was born as the first and greatest spirit-child of the Heavenly Father and Mother, and is also the spirit-brother of Lucifer.

-Oneness Pentecostals:  Jesus appears in roles of Father, Son, and Spirit.

What we took away today:

As fully man, Jesus understands us like no one else would.  As fully God, Jesus has done for us what no one else could.

We closed with:

¹⁴Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  Hebrews 4:14-16

After months of waffling back and forth (options to be explained), and after getting wise counsel in both ways, Mandy and I decided to make the decision, and take a leap of faith.

I’ve listened to Dave Ramsey for a while, and as you may well know, he hates debt and encourages, chastises, cajoles (and anything in between) people to get rid of debt as fast as possible.  That’s option 1.  I’ve also paid attention to the people that say pay back the sizable student loan in chunks, due to the interest rates being so low.  That way you still pay it off accelerated, and keep some of that hard-saved money.  That’s option 2.

Well, Dave won.  And I’ve said goodbye to a….friend….

On Thursday, I pulled out a significant sum of money (for us, and for many we know, the amount would be significant.) from our bank, and applied it to a cashier’s check.  I then took said check, and mailed it with all the bells and whistles (certified, had to sign for it, got tracked, etc.) to the post office, and gladly spent the $20.00 it took to overnight it to Sallie Mae.

Sallie Mae may not be your facebook friend. In fact, I doubt, for many of you who know her, that she’s a friend at all.   I thought she was a friend at first, but over time, I’ve realized that she’s not been a friend to Mandy and I over the four plus years we’ve had to put up with her.  Here’s what she’s been like:

She’s rude:  Every time I call her to see about something, she always makes me jump through all sorts of hoops before I get to talk to her, and then, she always is wanting me to go to her website, rather than talk to her in person over the phone.

She’s demanding:  If I don’t do what she wants at her time, she is quick to warn me about defaulting in our relationship.  She’s not grace-oriented, and in my opinion, even though she “says” she offers grace, I don’t think she’s had an encounter with grace in her life.

She’s all about her: I can never seem to have a relationship with her based on mutual edification.  She’s basically always late with my needs, and never late-always complaining about her needs.

How many of you know a real person like Sallie Mae?  Do tell…

While I may not get on Dave’s radio show (which is simply awesome by the way) any time soon…allow me to say like so many others on his program….

WE’RE DEBT FREE!!!

And…we’ve lost a….friend…forever.

Only by grace,

Jason