SE7EN: Week 2 > To the Church in Smyrna: “Provision in Poverty and Pain”
Week #2: To the Church in Smyrna:
“Provision in poverty and pain”
The Power of “that”
There are times when the experience of being a Daughter or Son of Adam redeemed by the Second Adam is a glorious reality; those are life’s transcendentally joyous moments. We might call them “a little taste of heaven.”
There are also times when the reality of being a Son or Daughter of Adam means that the curse of Our Fall seems to overwhelm; those are life’s all-too-inescapable distortions and deaths to life, relief, and goodness. We might call them “a bitter taste of hell.”
This realm of our existence is, indeed, “the Shadowlands.” Not everything is bright and clear, yet Light is here and it illumines the darkness. The early church at Smyrna lived through extremes of Light and darkness. Their story teaches us that this sometimes tortured “living” is absolutely within the Lord’s Ultimate Purposes for His People. Consider this verse:
Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you
into prison, that you may be tested…
There is an unmistakable relationship between suffering and sanctity; we have no greater example of this than Our Lord. And He invites us into the “fellowship of His suffering” that we might be transformed into His likeness.
We have brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering. Some of them are even being thrown into prison. The devil is all over them to steal and destroy. Yet, as we learned last week, Christ is with them, taking them through these “bitter tastes of hell” because He knows that a Shadowless Glory awaits.
Tests will come, that we might prove His surpassing glory.
News & Announcements:
- Prayer gathering this Wednesday: 7:00 @ the church
- Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer January – Cardiovascular Care Unit
- A Little Night Magic!
Valentine’s Dinner for Couples
@ Broadview Mansion
Saturday, Feb. 11
Guys: ask Harvey & Cary how you can help…
and start practicing your manners! - Summer in the USA!
Lord-willing, we will once again host Basque students next summer. If you want to play a part, pray a part, or help plan a part, please let Bob V. know. - Annual Business Meeting
Right after church – a review of last year’s numbers and ministry; ideas/opportunities for 2012
Lunch provided. - Weekly Soul Food:
Women: 6:00-7:00 p.m., Thursdays @ church.
Men: 6:00-7:00 p.m., Mondays @ Dave Park’s Place
6:00 a.m., Wednesdays @ church (Fraternity)
Readers: Tuesdays @ Noah Poirot’s, C.S. Lewis speaks with British accent weekly @ 7:00 p.m.
Next week:
#3 of 7: What Jacob’s Well can learn from… The Church at Pergamum > Living for Christ in the midst of strong Satanic influence
Read More
SE7EN: Week 1 > To the Church in Ephesus: “Your hard work really matters only if it is driven by love for Me, your First Love.”
Week #1: To the Church in Ephesus:
“Your hard work really matters only if it is driven by love for Me, your First Love.”
Loving God @ The Jake
John Piper says many profound things. One of my favorite “Piperisms” is:
“God is most glorified in us
when we are most satisfied in Him.”
Take a minute to meditate on this.
On Christmas Day our message was built upon this remarkable revelation from John:
“And 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.”
Take a minute to meditate on this.
John tells us that he wrote his gospel so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that by believing, we might have life in His Name.
Take a minute… you know the drill.
So why did John write the Book of Revelation? For the same reason… and more. The opening verses tell us:
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants[ the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
It’ll take more than a minute, but meditate on this.
God is speaking, revealing mysteries of His love. May we bend our ears, bend our knees, and bend our souls to listen, obey, and be satisfied with Jesus, for that is our loving response.
News & Announcements:
- Prayer gathering this Wednesday: Blessing the Encounter Campus House at 300 Normal Ave., 7:00
- Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer January – Cardiovascular Care Unit
- Summer in the USA!
Lord-willing, we will once again host Basque students next summer. (The word is out! There are students over there ASKING to come to the Jacob’s Well families!) It’s time to start planning and praying, praying and planning. If you want to play a part, pray a part, or help plan a part, please let Bob V. know. - Annual Business Meeting … Next Sunday right after church. Lunch provided.
- Weekly Soul Food:
Women: 6:00-7:00 p.m., Thursdays @ church.
Men: 6:00-7:00 p.m., Mondays @ Dave Park’s Place
6:00 a.m., Wednesdays @ church (Fraternity)
Literate people of all ages: Tuesdays @ Noah Poirot’s Place, “the Fellowcopter Pad.” C.S. Lewis speaks with British accent weekly @ 7:00 p.m.
Next week:
#2 of 7: What Jacob’s Well can learn from…The Church at Smyrna >
Surviving Satan, Slander, & Suffering By the Power of Love through Poverty of Spirit
Read More
Reflecting … Forward
Reflecting … forward
Reflections on 2011: May the Past be Prologue
We can learn a lot from Moses. One of the key precepts he taught – and a theme repeated throughout the five Books of Moses – is “remembering.” Consider the Book of Deuteronomy, for example: the first four chapters are essentially a lesson in remembering what the Lord has done for the children of Israel. Over and over again (more than 20 times in Deuteronomy), Moses encourages and warns the people to “forget not.”
Deuteronomy 4:9 is a great verse for the family of God at Jacob’s Well to embrace and hold tightly to:
“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children –“
Our eyes and our hearts saw the Lord do wonderful things in 2011. The list could go on and on, for maybe the greatest things He has done will never be fully known to the Body at large, for they were the moment-by-moment provisions and protections He continually provides beyond our ability to perceive or understand. But within our perception, when I think of 2011 I think of: babies, baptisms, Basque students, Bible studies, beautiful music, ball games, bountiful garden, wonderful weddings, VBS, Valentine’s “Table for Two,” conversations over countless cups of coffee, prayer over people and places and predicaments and promises, new building and old building improvements, and most memorable of all: new people worshiping and serving with those who have loved Christ and His people here for years.
Do not forget the mercies of the Lord towards Jacob’s Well.
News & Announcements:
- Prayer gatherings resume 1/11/12
- Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer January –
- Summer in the USA!
Lord-willing, we will once again host Basque students next summer. (The word is out! There are students over there ASKING to come to the Jacob’s Well families!) It’s time to start planning and praying, praying and planning. If you want to play a part, pray a part, or help plan a part, please let Bob V. know.
New series starts next week: Seven
from the Book of Revelation 2 & 3
Read More
