How to Stick with a New Year’s Resolution

We have just crossed the threshold of the New Year and statistically, just one week beyond our resolution date, half of you have already jumped ship and in another couple of weeks another half are likely to take the same watery leap.  If truth be told, some of you are already willingly walking the plank to get a good view of how others are landing and thereby planning your plunge accordingly. 

            So, why is it that so many of us fall victim, year after year, to the icy waters of broken commitments?  The answers could number in the thousands if we tried to personally psychoanalyze each of our contributing factors, so I will provide you with an accurate, helpful, yet oversimplified reason for this all too common dilemma.  Are you ready?  The only guarantee we have for accomplishing the goals of a fulfilled life are those that are made in Christ.  The goals that we make, even if they are righteous in their intent, that are merely made upon the shifty foundation of our mind are not promised by God to bring forth fruit. 

            Look at the life spoken of in Psalms 1.  The man who is guaranteed to “bring forth his fruit in his season, [to not have] his leaf wither, and whatsoever he does will prosper”, is the man who positioned himself in an environment that was conducive to fruitfulness.  Said from a different perspective, he is not the man who stayed exactly where he was and made a mental determination to turn his life around in the New Year.  Fruitfulness, peace, joy, prosperity, and favor are all a part of the Believer’s benefit package.  If you do not “walk in the council of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful…but delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate in His law day and night” then you are guaranteed to resemble the fruitful life mentioned above. 

            New Year’s Resolutions can be very positive.  It is good to set goals for personal breakthroughs in our lives.  I have a close friend who was a part of NASA’s space race program during the presidency of John F. Kennedy.  I was amazed when he told me that during our nation’s race to become the first to put a man on the moon, NASA would actually schedule breakthroughs in their research process!  NASA had resolved that the United States of America would forever be known for our scientific genius and to ensure that we did not even dip our toes into the icy waters of failure, NASA actually scheduled breakthroughs into their research process.  How amazing is that?  Likewise, I believe that it is very beneficial to schedule times that we do personal inventory of our life’s direction. 

Statistically, December is the time that we take notice of our life compass and then make a list of changes to implement in the coming year in order to turn our ship the appropriate amount of degrees in the correct direction.  Most will find the ship too difficult to redirect.  Some will persevere the turbulence of the choppy waters and the force of normalcy’s current and successful change course.  But even for those who are successful, we must never forget that, “except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalms 127:1).  A life redirected without a change of the captain is susceptible to the same misdirection. 

            To ensure that you reach your newly set goals and ultimately, your life’s potential, may I suggest a changing of the captain?  I know that your captain’s chair is really comfy and you like all the attention you get wearing your special little hat, but are those superficial comforts worth the cost of reaching the wrong port? 

            God has created you for greatness!  He knows exactly what you have been created to endure and to avoid.  Psalms 103:14, says, “He knoweth our frame…” God knows what you have the potential to accomplish and if there is a desire for change in your heart then be encouraged that your heavenly Father, who knows your frame, has promised to “give you the desires of your heart” if you “delight yourself also in the Lord” (Psalms 37:4). 

            Every eternal change begins with a change of position.  No one can think their way into a life that is pleasing to the Lord and statistics prove that your chances are almost as slim to bettering your natural circumstances by use of the same effort.  But the man who removes himself from the fellowship of the ungodly, delights himself in the Lord, and meditates in his law day and night, is guaranteed a fruitful New Year!

            How can you stick with your New Year’s Resolution?  Position yourself on a foundation that never changes.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).  The change occurs as a result of your position not your decision!

Grace and Peace to you this year,

Jonathan “JJ” Jacob

Ministry Update

Would you consider financially partnering with this ministry in 2011?  Click here to make a tax deductible donation  God is opening up some doors of ministry that are far different than what you would find in your typical church setting.

Beyond my evangelistic meetings, preaching and teaching commitments, outreach to our local rehabilitation center, and one-on-one outreach encounters, I have been blessed with a brand new opportunity that I am very excited about!

Beginning this year I have been given the opportunity, as a non-profit organization, to work with paroled teenagers required to fulfill community service hours.  I envision this being an opportunity to work along side troubled teenagers who need the life changing message of Jesus Christ while we accomplish their required hours through serving widows and orphans, as Jesus commanded. 

Through your support we will see lives eternally positioned upon the foundation of Jesus Christ!

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A Cry for the Lost from Down on the Bayou

I was witnessing on the streets of Baton Rouge Louisiana this week when I stumbled upon what I considered to be a true honor.  I met an authentic Mr. Thibodeaux. 

Being raised in Mississippi, just a three-hour drive from the city of New Orleans, I have always had an affection for the Cajun style of those down on the Bayou.  They speak a mixture of the French and English language with an accent that is undeniably their own.  I truly love the dialect of South Louisiana and I regret that my Mississippi-style southern draw doesn’t allow me to blend in very well in this part of the world.  

There are many things about the Cajun culture that I absolutely love.  They are among the most hospitable people you will ever encounter which works very much to your favor if you’re here around dinner time because they also happen to be the world’s finest cooks.  You have never known how food is really supposed to taste until you have been introduced to true Cajun cuisine.  When you sink your teeth into their fried alligator or take on a bowl of their incredible gumbo it’s enough to make a Mississippi boy say “Who Dat”!  They also have a wonderful ability to not take themselves too seriously.  It is as commonplace in the Bayou to hear jokes about “Boudreaux and Thibodeaux” as it is to hear Redneck jokes at a Jeff Foxworthy show.  And here I am getting an opportunity to meet a member of the Thibodeaux family and share with him the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I allowed a bit more time for conversation than what is typically necessary when you’re fishing for souls simply because we were truly enjoying one another’s company.  We talked for almost half an hour about his neighbors, what his neighborhood looked like 50 years ago, and how he built houses his whole life.  Given all the personal time that we spent together it wasn’t difficult to deduce that Mr. Thibodeaux needed Jesus Christ to be his savior. 

He had told me repeatedly that he was 82 years old and that was all the information I needed to easily transition our conversation from the natural to the spiritual.  I simply asked him where he thought he would be in 20 to 30 years.  He chuckled and told me, “I’ll be a’gown” (Cajun for “gone”). I effortlessly followed up on his response by asking him, “What do you think happens when you die?”  This was not something that he had ever thought about.  He literally told me so!  No matter how many times I find myself in this exact situation it never ceases to grieve my spirit that so many in this world are knocking on death’s door and have never even considered what awaits them on the other side; primarily to the fault of Christians who have refused the call of God to seek and save those who are lost. 

 Now that our conversation is engaged on the spiritual it was not long before Mr. Thibodeaux defaulted to his Catholicism as his savior.  Another uniqueness about the Cajun culture is that they are a very religious people and Catholicism is very prevalent.  When I confronted him with the sobering reality that, according to Hebrews 9:27, when he dies, he will stand before God to be judged of his deeds (words, thoughts, & actions) done in this life, he at first seemed shocked and then let me know he was Catholic as if that made God less angry with his sins. 

  I am very careful to not attack someone’s religion when sharing the gospel because the Bible is fully capable of standing on its own.  It needs nothing to contrast itself against in order to be seen as truth.  The Word of God is true, period!  So, I asked him if he thought that God would be ok with people living any way they wanted to as long as they went to church on occasion.  He replied with an honest, “No”.  “You’re right”, I told him, “because God in His holiness cannot tolerate sin and going to church doesn’t remove our sin.  Only Jesus can take away our sin.” 

In our time together I was able to confront him with the realization that he is a sinner, that church cannot save him, and that Jesus is the only way unto salvation, but that’s where it ended.  Mr. Thibodeaux was so consumed with the false teachings of the Catholic church that he turned away offended that I would presume to know what happens when someone dies and whether or not he would receive hell as his punishment for denying Christ.  What had been a very pleasant time together ended with him walking away from me and closing his door to the gospel. 

Mr. Thibodeaux is 82 years old, he has been in church his whole life, and until this week had never been told about his need for Jesus’ forgiveness.  Time is not on his side!  In what will feel like a moment he will be standing before his Creator giving an account of his life and unless he accepts Jesus he’ll be doing so as a sinner.

How many Mr. Thibodeaux’s do you have in your town?  In your church?  In your family?  It is necessary that the body of Christ, in America, once again become faithful to loving our neighbor with the love of Christ.  We must embrace the life of sacrifice to which our Lord Jesus Christ called us.  We must, once again, submit ourselves to God’s spiritual source of defibrillation…the Holy Ghost.  The body of Christ desperately needs the rhythm of our hearts to resemble the cadence of heaven.  It was in a march to this heavenly symphony that Jesus danced a dance of submission to the cross.  His Father’s love for the lost created in Him a submission to “death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). 

If you are more crippled by the fear of offending someone’s false religion than you are driven by the commands of Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost then it is time for repentance and boldness. 

I’m praying that someone else will follow behind me to water the seed of God’s Word in Mr. Thibodeaux’s life and I’m praying that you will become bold in your obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost.  We must live our lives conscious of the fact that God expects us and has equipped us to win the lost and we will also stand before and give an account of our lives. 

II Cor. 5:10-11, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.  Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…”

Luke 10:2, “...The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.”

Matthew 22:9, “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.”

Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

Teaching our children to have faith in Jesus for miracles

Stength In Being Bound

Teaching on the power of a submitted life at a 

Christian Rehabilitation Center

What if God Only Answered “Yes”?

Have you ever thought about what you’re life would look like had God answered with a “yes” to your many petitions and prayers?  Where would you be living right now?  What would be your occupation?  Who would you be married to or divorced from?  Or what about those seldom thought of intricate details of our lives like - what lessons would I have forgone leaving my character undeveloped in certain areas?  What hurts in others lives would you be incapable of consoling simply because you “skipped that class”?  How many lost people would eternally remain lost because of God’s “gracious” YES to that momentary cry of our hearts? 

It is difficult for a finite people to comprehend many of the actions orchestrated by our infinite heavenly Father, but that seldom stops us from throwing our red challenge flag onto the field our lives, demanding further review, does it?  To this very day I can clearly recall participating in a gambit of theological questions hurled around my Intro to Theology class at Southwestern Assemblies of God University.  Allowing us to ponder the infinite “why’s” was the intended teaching tool of Dr. Paul Alexander that day.  The course of that class has forever marked my life in Christ with a great assurance in the omniscience and sovereignty of God, which came as a result to the final question that could not be answered. 

As our discussion shifted to the omniscience of God our questions began to fire by the dozens: “Since God knows the end from the beginning then why is there sin in the world?”  “If God knew Adam would fall why did He put the tree of knowledge in the garden?”  “If God knew Lucifer would rebel and take 1/3 of the angels with him then why would God create him?”  The question that Dr. Alexander gave in response to our long list of such queries was, “Have you ever considered that we’re living in the only option possible?”  Wow!  Until that moment I had not taken the time to consider that despite my long list of well thought out questions maybe it was possible that God, being omniscient, had already considered them all and rightfully concluded that the life which we’ve been given is the very one by which we needed to know Him as the I Am. 

All of us have endured situations that if given the choice we would’ve avoided like the plague, but through them, if we were faithful to God and His will, we learned about His goodness in way that otherwise we would have been forever ignorant.  It is even said of Jesus, “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”  (Hebrews 5:7-9). 

What were the prayers that Jesus offered to his Father with “strong crying and tears”?  In reference to the cross, the very reason for which Jesus was born, he prayed at least twice, “Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”  (Emphasis mine, Mt. 26:36-46)  Don’t miss that last statement friend for in it is found the goodness of God for our lives.  There was never a single prayer that Jesus prayed that God did not answer!  Including this one!  Because Jesus faced his greatest struggle and temptation and prayed, “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt”, he was able to depart from this earth batting a perfect 1,000 with his prayers.  Our heavenly Father answered Jesus’ prayer of desperation with a “YES” because he came not to do his own will, but the will of the Father who sent him (Jn. 5:30).   

You might be asking, “Why is it important for me to know that Jesus batted 1,000 with his prayers?”  Maybe you feel more like the strike out king of prayers and you’d be elated to just make contact with heaven even if it resulted in a foul tip.  The reason it’s important friend, is because if you are a believer then you are in Christ and because of His faithfulness Jesus assures us, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” (Emphasis mine, Jn. 14:13-14)

Because Jesus only did what he saw the Father do and he only said what he heard the Father speak, he remained at all times in perfect union with the Father and that same Jesus lives inside of you! 

Why is it necessary that we take up our cross daily?  Because the more we die to ourselves the more the prayers of our great intercessor, Jesus, can be heard.  When His prayers are heard, heaven responds 1,000 % of the time! 

Have you ever considered that God’s desire is to always answer with a “YES”? 

“For all the promises of God in him [Christ] are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (II Cor. 1:20).   

Let’s strive to clothe our every petition to heaven in the garment of “let thy kingdom come and let thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Mt. 6:10) and we’ll see our prayer batting average drastically improve. 

Get ready for the All Stars!

"The Booger Sermon" -- Open Air Preaching

There are so many who will never make it inside the walls of the church unless we first reach them with the life changing message of Jesus Christ where they are.  Let us not forget that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).  Jesus came to a world that he knew was lost and to a people who he knew would crucify him, yet he came.  He came denying himself, embracing his Father's will, and loving those who were lost.  We must do the same.

Preach the gospel everywhere!  You are someone's roadblock to hell.  We must deny ourselves, accept our Father's will, and love the lost by preaching Jesus crucified, raised from the dead, and soon returning for His bride.

Ending in Error

It's interesting to me that the Apostle John concludes his gospel by revealing an error of the other disciples in how they interpreted the last thing he records that Jesus taught them.

Jn 21:20-23 records Peter's question to Jesus concerning John.  In the previous verses, Peter had confirmed his love for Jesus and in return Jesus prophesied the manner in which Peter's love would be manifested through his martyrdom.  Peter's response was one of great faith and maturity (sarcasm), "Well, what about him (pointing at John following closely behind)?"  Isn't it interesting how we so often compare God's plan for our life to what we see Him doing in the lives of others?  Furthermore, isn't it sad that we too often judge God's goodness based on our evaluation of this distribution?

Peter has just received a very sobering word.  A word so powerful that he would now live his life like a man who wasn't created for, connected to, or in any way desirous of this world.  A word so powerful that he would live his life, from this moment forward, like a man destined for death; leaving nothing undone, holding nothing back, not concerned with people's opinions, not building up his 401K so he could kick back and take it easy in his 60's.  No!  This word from Jesus rearranged his life in a way that he would now live for one purpose alone --- feeding Jesus' sheep.  This word was so powerful that it would eventually equip Peter with such boldness and authority that he would even change the method by which his executioners had determined to end his life.  Church history, attested to by Tertullian at the end of the second century, and by Origen in Eusebius, Church History III.1. Origen records: "Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer."  Did you get that?  The prophecy Peter received from Jesus created in him the manner in which he DESIRED to be martyred.  

Most of the church today hasn't gotten enough of a revelation of Jesus to even desire to endure tribulation!  Forget about us living in a way that we actually walk around with a desire for how we would like to be martyred.  We're still trying to love Jesus enough to not leave the church over someone failing to compliment our casserole dish that we brought to the church fellowship.  Oh how different our world would be if we once again lived our lives like this world was not our home.  Is it possible that we’d be better off if we truly took to heart Jesus’ prophecy of hardship and martyrdom to us, as believers, when he commissioned us in Jn 20:20-21?  His charge to every believer was spoken as He revealed His nail pierced hands and sword pierced side and said, “As my Father that sent me, even so send I you.” 

What if we lived like one of these “sent ones”?  Peter did!  But before he took hold of this powerful commission, John concludes his gospel by revealing the error of Peter and the remaining 9 disciples.

John 21:21-23, “Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? (22) Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?  follow thou me. (23) Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” – The very last thing that John records of Jesus’ teaching is that those closest to Him misinterpreted Him because of their own perceptions.  They allowed their perception of John and Jesus’ relationship to make blurry their ability to properly listen.  Instead of just taking Him at His Word they took His Word and conformed it to their way of thinking.  Let’s not let such a thing befall us to whom has been given the full revelation of Jesus Christ.

Rather than list examples of common misconceptions of the Word (a.k.a. Jesus) I’ll allow the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth (Jn 16:13), to do His perfect work in you through your willingness to answer these final questions. 

Are you taking God at His Word?

Does your belief in the gifts of the Spirit line up with the Word?

Is your theology of healing based on the unchanging Word of God or by your experience/lack there of in healings? 

Is God serious about His 10 commandments? 

Did Jesus, who never changes (Heb. 13:8), always mean what He said?

Are you exempt from a life of sacrifice that every biblical disciple of Christ experienced?

Is the Word God?

Let’s not end our lives in error.  Pray with me today --- Holy Ghost, I acknowledge and accept your leadership and desire to be led into all truth, Amen.