MIDT (Thats Short for Midweek Thoughts)

Hello,
Good morning everyone hope your wide awake and kickin some butt at work or school. Next Sunday is Easter, and i know many of you will have family dinners and crazy Easter egg hunts going on but it would be a great week for you to bring the family or friends to the Journey. This Sunday we are going to be talking about the Resurrection and why the resurrection is so important. We also will be taking communion again. Take a min when you have a break today and ask yourself "What if Jesus didn't Raise from the Grave". What would be the implications? So that's where we will be Sunday.
As for last Sunday night. I hope our first week back into the Gospel of John was challenging for you. If you remember the last thing i asked was that you would go and read the last verse in John chapter 14. I just want to give some quick insight on that verse. Jesus says "But i do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that i love the Father. Rise, let us go from here". Jesus finalizes His answer to Judas question with this one verse. Jesus did as the Father commanded so that He would be known to love the Father. 1 Cor. 5:17-21 talks about Jesus entrusting the Church with the message of reconciliation for Gods people. This leads us to know that the same way the World knew that Jesus loved the Father (By doing as the Father Commanded) the world will know by our obedience to the Father. For it is by Grace you have been saved and given a new heart. You are now free to do what your new Heart deeply longs for! Obedience!
Looking forward to next Sunday cant wait to see you all there!
Jared

Music listening to: Hillsong United Savior King
Hope which was lost now Stands Renewed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pastoral Epistles Part 2

A few weeks ago i posted a blog highlighting the headings of each chapter of 1,2 Tim and Titus. Hopefully you readers got to open your bibles and check some that out. I want to spend just a few min and talk about why those books are so important and what they mean to me.
Both Timothy and Titus were disciples of Paul. Paul had deep affection for both of these men, as he called Timothy his true son in the faith. I can imaging being Timothy or Titus and just being excited to be able to meet Paul and hang out with him. In 2003 i applied for a job that i really wanted, and at the first hiring i did not get the job. It wasnt till a month later that i got an email that said someone had dropped out and that i was wanted for the position. I can remember freaking out, jumping up and down with my family, and just being so excited. Maybe you have had a moment like that when you know that God opened this "Thing" up and sovereignly put you there. For Timothy and Titus the opportunity to be lead by, taught, walk with, hang out, and be children in the faith by Paul was there big "Moment".
These men would walk with Paul and travel with Paul and ultimately be totally trusted by Paul. These men did life together in every way. I can imaging them traveling from city to city praying for the churches and joking by the fire. They studied together and talked about the strategies of evangelism together.
There time together in ministry lead Paul to "Know" these men and trust these men. He would send Timothy to Ephesus and he would leave Titus on the island of Crete. The Pastoral letter come from Paul writing instructions to these two men about what to do in the churches that they were left to oversee. Paul know Timothy and Titus are "Men" who can handle fighting for sound doctrine while rebuking any who would contradict. Paul would write to them both to "Guard" the people that have been entrusted to them. He told them to appoint "Godly Men" to sacrificially lead at all cost for the sake of the Gospel.
These books are so important today because it speaks to us about the importance of Godly leadership and sound biblical doctrine! Almost all of the problems the church has had historically up till today is simply because a lack of biblicaly qualified leadership and abandonment of sound doctrine. These letters address both (Or as i pronounce it "Bolth").
I love these letters! Paul, Timothy, Titus were summoned by God soverignly picked to be disciples of Christ. I would challenge you all to study these letters. Men i challenge you to be "Men". Our life is not our own! These letters are a constant reminder to leaders to "Keep a close watch yourself and on the teaching, Persist in this, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers." 1 Tim 4:16. Wow!

Midweek Thoughts "Wasted Morning"

I am going to make this quick, cause i still frustrated from 3 hours of talking with verizon trying to get the internet to work at Hits. It turned on for about 30 sec. just long enough to hang up from the tech guy. Awesome! So it was a good wasted morning. Hope yours was better than mine and hope you all have had a rockin week up to today.
Last Sunday we finished out series on Gender Roles with the Role of Women in the Church. I hope the last 4 weeks have been beneficial to you, and i encourage you to continue to read and pray through the scriptures that we talked about. I believe that we truly are moving in the right direction.
This week we are continuing in our study of the Gospel of John. We are trying to get creative, so we are calling this second part of John our "The Last Week" series! We will be in John for around 15 more weeks so buckle up! Our text this week is John 14:15-31. These next few sermons are going to be challenging to us all as we talk about Abiding in Christ. Read ahead, study, get to know the scriptures.
Talk to ya soon.
Jared

Midweek Thoughts Again

Hola,
In about 4 months our team will be going on a trip to Mexico, so i figured i would start off the blog with a Spanish greeting. Your welcome.
I hope the last 3 weeks have been challenging to both the men, women, married and single. It is amazing to me that the scriptures are timeless, with no need to change from culture to culture. Some would say the things we have been talking about are really outdated and not for us. They would say gender roles and differences are simply a historical idea that we have finally outgrown. However, after the last three weeks i hope it has become evident the the Bible simply has it right. It is my desire that the men of the Journey would know what the bible says a man is and live it out. It is a high call to be the man the bible calls us to be, and we all have a life of growing ahead of us. It is also my desire that the women of the Journey would be strong women who love Jesus, love the scriptures, love there family, love there church family, and are all the bible says they are.
For the sake of our future generations, may we step up and fight, to be biblically faithful in everything that we do. I believe the the great commission in most effectively lived out when men are men and women are women living on mission together as the church.
This Sunday will be our last Sunday in this series. We will be finishing up with Role of Women in the Church. The texts we will be from 1 Cor. 11 and 13, Titus 2, 1 Tim 2, Acts 16, and Luke 2. We will be taking communion Sunday night as well.
If your at work or school or sitting at home when you read this know that you are being prayed for today. Take a sec and think about someone you know and see everyday that does not know Christ. Live like Jesus and Pray that God would move!

Recommended Sites: Here There are over 5000 sermons and teachings from men and women.

Recommended reads
Feminine Appeal Carolyn Mahaney
The Chandlers Blog :Link to 2. 25 Inches to the Right and 4 Inches Up (To the one who thought that was funny last time. There it is again. Haha)

music listening to
Coldplay Viva la Vida

Midweek Thoughts "Issue 3"

Hello Readers,
Well hey again to all you out there on the edge of your seat excited about the new blog post. I hope you week is going well and challenging so far. I have had a great week so far, other than losing bad in our game monday night. I have gotten my roof fixed and worked out (as you will notice on Sunday) for the first time in over a year, and bunch of other stuff in the last couple days.
If you have been with The Journey the last couple weeks you know that we started up finished the first half of the roles series. This week we are going to be talking about The Role of Women in the Home. It is funny (Not Really) that in the last 50 or so years feminism has successfully made "Tabbo" a housewife and a stay at home mom. We are going to talk a little bit about this. For the record i do not believe it is wrong for married women to have jobs, so don't freak out.
I know that at least half our our church is single. It would be easy to look at these subjects and ask "What does this really have to do with me" if you are single with no kids. This stuff kinda just seems to be for all the married people. Well i hope as we have seen the last two weeks and as we see in the weeks to come, that it is essential unmarried to know the differences between men and women in Gods perfect plan. I believe it helps us all, to look to the bible and have God define for us who we are called to be. We are not just "Persons" we are men and women. It is easy to get into a lot of trouble when we tell God that we "Know" better than He has designed. This week we are going to be all over the bible. We are going to spend some time in Proverbs 31, Ephesians 5 and in Titus 2. Hope to see you all Sunday.
Recommended Read on the Subject
-Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
-Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney

Pastoral Epistles

I love 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. These letters are often called the "pastoral epistles". I have posted below, the outlines of these three letters out of the ESV. Check this out, and open up your scriptures and read. You will be challenged! I will be posting soon about why i love these letters.


1 Timothy

Chapter 1
1-2 Greetings
3-11 Warning against false teachers
12-20 Christ came to save sinners
Chapter 2
1-15 Pray for all people
Chapter 3
1-7 Qualifications for Elders
8-13 Qualifications for Deacons
14-16 Mystery of Godliness
Chapter 4
1-5 Some will depart from the faith
6-16 A good servant of Christ Jesus
Chapter 5-6:2
Instructions for the church
Chapter 6:2
2-10 False Teachers and True Contentment
11-21 Fight the Good Fight

2 Timothy

Chapter 1
1-2 Greetings
3-18 Guard the deposit entrusted to you
Chapter 2
1-13 A good soldier of Christ Jesus
14-26 A worker approved by God
Chapter 3
1-9 Godlessness in the last days
10-17 All scripture is God breathed
Chapter 4
1-8 Preach the Word
9-18 Personal Instructions
19-22 Final Greetings
Titus
Chapter 1
1-4 Greetings
5-16 Qualifications for Elders
Chapter 2
1-15 Teach Sound Doctrine
Chapter 3
1-11 Be Ready for Every Good Work
12-15 Final Instructions and Greetings

Midweek Thoughts "2"

Hope everyone's week has been good and challenging for you so far. Thanks for the feedback from all you blog readers from last week, glad some folks are reading. Big air high 5 coming your way right now, if you are reading this week "1,2,3, High 5!"
Last Sunday night we kicked off our "Roles" series with "Role of Men in the Home". We talked about the differences between male "Domination" and male "Headship". In our culture, headship is wrongly associated with domination. I presented the differences between the two as we dove into Gen and Eph. and just let the scriptures challenge the men. It is clear in the bible, that male headship in the home is used as an analogy for male headship in the church. This week we are going to be in the book of Titus, looking at the qualifications for eldership in the church.
I believe one of the biggest problems we have in the church today is unqualified leadership. Church governments are set up in unbiblical ways with bad leadership, which leads to all kinds of problems. The bible lays out for us clear restrictions and requirements laid on any man that aspires to be and elder in the church. This is what we will be talking about Sunday night. For anyone who would like to read further about biblical eldership check out this link http://theresurgence.com/alexander_strauch_1997_biblical_eldership.
I would also say to any man who wants to lead in any way that he should know well 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. To the ladies, i hope last week was helpful for you as well. If you think your husband is dropping the ball, pray for him. Men I hope, pray and trust that we would "Step Up" and lead. See you all Sunday night. Bring someone from you work or school if you can.

Music i listen to while blogging. U2 "no line on the horizon". Great album!

Jared