Fierce Grace has moved!

The blog can now be found at:

http://fiercegrace.wordpress.com/

Thanks!

An Excellent Book

Some of you who read a copy of my "Annotated Bibliography" a few years back will remember that Jerry Cook's first book, Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness, was on my all time Top Ten list. It's still there, and it's now been joined by it's sequel, Monday Morning Church.

MMC is one of those books that made me say, "Yes, this is what I've been trying to communicate to the church!" Of course, Cook's thoughts are cogent and persuasive, while mine rattle around my head like the last two Milk-Duds in the box...

The book is about what it means to "be the church" in the world we live in, rather than "going to church" in a building.

Here's an excerpt that I hope will whet your appetite:

Everyday Evangelism: Christ in You
You are called not so much to do great things, as to be a great person--and that person is Jesus Christ. The Church is the resident presence of Jesus in the world.

No matter how big church attendance is on Sunday, it will never penetrate the culture with Jesus. The reason is clear: The church on Sunday is experienced by the church community; it is only observed by the unbelieving community.

However, Monday through Saturday, the church operates in the experience of non-believers. It lives on their turf, moves in their society, and operates in their culture. On Monday Jesus becomes incarnate through you. And because He can be seen and touched, He can be received or rejected. True evangelism is possible.

Your Strategic Placement

Most Christians have been trained quite well to be the church on Sunday. But what does it take to be the church on Monday?

The first step is to recognize your strategic placement. “Strategic placement” means this: each redeemed, Spirit-filled Christian has been strategically placed by Jesus, the Lord of the church. Where each believing man or woman lives and works is part of that strategy. Christians are people of destiny, purposely placed deep in our culture. We are God’s points of penetration. Because of us Jesus is present at the very heart of society. And it is this strategic presence of Christ that opens the door for his revelation as Savior to man.

Incarnational Christianity doesn’t try to get people to God. Many men and women don’t want to get to God. Others are unaware there is a God to get to! The incarnation was God coming to us; in a similar way, incarnational Christianity brings Jesus to man.

That’s the basis for true evangelism: in the believer the presence of Christ reaches out to others. It’s also the basis for true discipleship: in the believer the presence of Christ walks alongside the new believer. Thus, the two main activities of the church–conversion and discipling–are wed, as they were meant to be. The Great Commission, after all is not simply to go into all the world and make converts; we are to go and make disciples.

Jesus said simply, “I am the way. If you have found me, you have found God.” Unfortunately, the church often adds a debilitating step to the divine program. We say, “Jesus is the way to God, and the church is the way to Jesus. Come to the church and find Jesus, then Jesus will take you to God.” We must never allow the church institution to be the way to God. Jesus himself is the Way. The goal of the church on Monday is to make the Way present and visible in the world.

Open for Business

Of course, it does no good to have a strategic force in place if the people don’t know they are strategic, don’t know they are a force, and don’t know they are in place.

Most Christians give mental assent to this idea of strategic placement, but they have no concept of its implications. Some think of inviting hurting people to a church program, others think of using some type of soul-winning gimmick to make a convert. Most, however, don’t do anything with the idea at all. It simply floats around, untapped, in the background of their experience. They’re strategically placed, but they’re not “open for business.”

"Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27) means you are filled with the Holy Spirit and Jesus is present wherever you go. You are capable of responding to the needs of others exactly the way Jesus would. The gifts of the Spirit are how Jesus works through you to touch people’s lives.

Our time on earth is about being Jesus in our world. Jesus didn’t come to our planet on vacation; He came on assignment. Likewise, you and I have not been born here and now accidentally. We don’t just happen to bump into hurting people. There’s divine strategy at work. You are where you are because God strategically placed you there.

I’m convinced that if more Christians were open for business, then more business would show up. Evangelism as a primary goal is often artificial and powerless. But when it’s a serendipity of spirit-filled believers being Jesus in their world, it is natural and unstoppable!

--Excerpted from The Monday Morning Church by Jerry Cook. Reprinted with permission from www.jerrycook.org.

I Could Use Some Help

I'm working on a project and here's what I’m needing – We use the "Finding Your Spiritual Gifts" inventory by Peter Wagner with our folks who are seeking to know more about their gifts. It is a revised and expanded version of the old Wagner-Modified Houts Questionnaire. And yes, I realize Wagner's identification of 27 spiritual gifts is controversial in some circles, but I managed to get past that and I'm not too interested in discussing whether or not he's right.

What I am interested in is rethinking the gifts with an "outward" or missional focus. Traditionally, we have encouraged people to use their gifts in "service to the church," but I see Christ's followers being told to wait for the Spirit's empowering so they could fulfill the Great Commission, which takes place in "the world." I want our folks to begin to see and use their gifts in service to the community beyond our church walls.

So, I'd be interested in your ideas. What types of outwardly focused, missional ministry could be facilitated by someone with, say, the gifts of mercy and helps? Leadership and administration? Miracles and healings? Etc.

Am I making any sense? If so, I'd sure appreciate you helping me connect some dots between the specific gifts in the survey and missional ministry. Y'know, when you've got a spare couple of hours to help a brother out…

BTW, I also "get" that some folks believe certain gifts are no longer being given to believers. That's ok, I'm not interested in debating the right/wrong of cessationism with anybody. Just let me know your ideas on the gifts you do think are still given.

I will compile and distribute back to anyone who's interested what I receive.

Here's a link to a church website that uses Wagner's list, and the definitions for the gifts: http://buildingchurch.net/g2s-d.htm

P.S., Feel free to pass this on to other ministry leaders you know. I'm sending out an email and posting this in a couple of forums I participate in. If you'd link to it and pass it on to other ministry leaders you know, I'd sure appreciate it.

For Pastors... and the people who love them.

On a forum I am active in, a fellow member, and pastor, wrote this:

A local minister on Sunday rose and told the congregation that he would be taking a sabbatical with his wife. They had had problems and the marriage was suffering greatly - they were crashing. The leaders allowed them to take some time away. If when they return things have not improved then he will resign his position. It is sad for this guy. He seemed like a nice guy. Always active in many things. But in the end the one thing that should have mattered suffered.

Too often the flock in our immediate reach go untended and then the wolf attacks them scattering them to far off places. It is even more a wake up for me. This guy had kids who were out of the house and on their own, so they did not have to take care of kids on top of everything else. My wife and I, on the other hand, do. Though we have managed to keep boundaries intact for now, the fact remains we must be careful.

I immediately went back in my mind to a national Pastor's Conference I attended 20 years ago. A well-known and successful pastor of a large church was speaking to us. I don't remember most of what he had to say that morning, but I will never forget his eyes welling up with tears when he said, "For almost 30 years now I have done ministry the way I was taught, the way it was modeled for me. I went to every meeting of every group and committee in the church... I made every hospital and nursing home visit... I attended every service and function even remotely related to the church... I knocked on thousands of doors... I answered every call and went everywhere and anywhere anytime anybody in my church needed anything. On top of all that, I prepared two sermons, a Sunday School lesson, and a Midweek Bible study every week. Today my church is large, and some would say, influential... But I have no relationship with my wife, and my daughters basically grew up without my involvement in their lives." At this point the man broke down and began to weep openly. In a moment, he recovered enough to say, "Please don't allow yourself to get so caught up in your work that you neglect you family... I would trade everything I have today to get back the time I missed with my family." It was one of the most sobering experiences of my life.

God never called anyone into ministry to neglect their family. Our spouse and children are our flock. They need us just as much, even more than the folks in the other flock.

And so, a few somewhat random thoughts related to all this:

• Protect your time off. Sunday is NOT an off day, Pastor! Take, at minimum, one complete 24 hour day off every week, two days is better, one and a half days is a fair, doable compromise in most situations.
• Take your vacation time. You've earned it and deserve it. Go away somewhere nice if you can afford it, or just to visit relatives or friends. If "things will fall apart" if you go on vacation, your situation is probably already so bad that you NEED to get away!
• Spend time with your family. Please don't give me the tired, old "quality time vs. quantity time" stuff. None of us is good enough at quality to make up for a lack of quantity. Our families spell "love" T-I-M-E. If you have to choose between a meeting and a child's activity - pick the child. Block the time out on your calendar or daily planner, and let nothing other than death derail it. A good rule of thumb is to spend as many nights at home with the family, or in family activities as you do in church related activities each week.
• Date your spouse. Take them to lunch, or dinner and a movie. Take some sandwiches to the park, hold hands, walk and talk. Resist bringing up church business or problems with church people. Use the time to reconnect with your most important ministry partner.

I know most of the people who will read this already know this stuff. The question is, are you doing it? Pastors, we cannot succeed in the ministry if we fail with our family.

10 Random Thoughts...

1. The gospel informs the doctrine, not the doctrine the gospel.

2. If we don’t multiply as a church we will die.

3. If we can simply agree on where we are going, we’ll be able to figure out how to get there…together!

4. Unity does not mean we always agree, but it does mean we will do all we can to get along in spite of disagreement.

5. Our structures must adjust to allow us to be empowered, not endangered.

6. Freedom without responsibility is anarchy.

7. Responsibility without authority is misery.

8. I don’t know everything, but this I do know: I don’t know everything.

9. I’m not sure “comfortable” is a Kingdom value.

10. God is God, we are not. We need to get used to it!

(props to Nonnis Spinner for the original list which I have adapted and modified.)

Another "Wow!" Quote...

"Walking after the flesh is living independently of God, and it doesn't matter if the world rewards or punishes it. Flesh is flesh no matter how good it looks. And if it's flesh, it's sin."
-- Preston Gillham, Lifetime Guarantee Ministries

43 Things I Love about My Wife

She turned 43 last week, but I swear when I look at her I still see that 17 year old girl I met on my first day at Atlanta Christian College. In honor of her, I have composed a list of 43 things I love about her. The real chore here was deciding what to leave out! If she lives to be 120, I will still have lots of good stuff that couldn't fit on the list.

In no particular order...

1. Her beautiful brown eyes
2. She still laughs at my jokes
3. She has a great laugh!
4. The way she says "awwww!" when she sees puppies and kittens
5. How natural, and peaceful, and happy she looks when she’s holding a baby
6. She cries at movies, tv shows, and commercials - just like me!
7. Her encouragement when I'm down
8. Her support during the "wilderness years"
9. Her love for the Lord
10. The way she worships the Lord
11. The sound of her voice when she's reading to the boys
12. The smell of her hair when we kiss
13. That she always know where to find stuff when I can’t
14. She's put up with me for 20+ years
15. Her hugs
16. The love she has for our children that is strong and deep, yet tender
17. When she calls me at the office just to tell me something like what we got in the mail or just to say hi
18. That happy and excited "hi" I get – most of the time – when I call home
19. She's a good friend to other people
20. She's a great cook
21. How competitive she is at "Slug Bug/Cruiser Bruiser"
22. All she went through physically to produce those six little babies
23. Her willingness to sacrifice for her family
24. That she doesn't slap me down when I get all egotistical and obnoxious
25. The way she loves my mom and dad
26. That she moved all those times, even though she didn't always want to
27. The way she looks in an old t-shirt and blue jeans
28. When she buys something at a thrift store or yard sale because she thinks I'll like it
29. She makes great coffee
30. She always believed I would be a pastor again some day
31. The work she puts into her flower beds and gardens
32. The way she tears up when we talk about the boys growing up
33. That she love bookstores as much as I do
34. She became an Alabama fan
35. She's beautiful, but she thinks she's not
36. The way her hand fits exactly into mine
37. She always knows when I need a kiss, a break, a nap, or a kick in the butt (and on rare occasions, all four).
38. When we say the same thing at the same time
39. The way she gets excited over little things
40. Her willingness to forgive
41. That she really tries to beat me at Putt-Putt
42. She works harder for less pay than anyone I've ever known
43. The overwhelming feeling I get when I look at her that there is something important and valuable in my life

Good Question

In our pastor's prayer group this morning, someone mentioned wanting to start a "book of Acts" kind of church. One of the other guys spoke up and asked, "How come nobody ever wants to start a church out of the book of James?"

Hmmmm....

Stream of Living Water - Batteries not included.

I bought a fountain to put on my desk. It was cheap and plastic, but it came with real rocks! I've told everyone it was my "stream of living water..." But there's an unanticipated problem: the batteries wear out, and the never-ending stream stops flowing. Of course the issue is the power source - double "A"batteries are only temporary, they get weaker and weaker, and eventually they die.

And the truth is, the same thing happens to me and my "stream of living water" if I'm only drawing from a fleshly, temporal power source. If I "feed the stream," it will only last for a little while. If it's fed by "Christ in me," it will be an unending source of living, and life-giving, water.

Jesus said if we drank that water, we would never be thirsty again. Well, I still get thirsty, and it's not Jesus' fault. I let that well run dry when I disconnect from the power source and live in my own strength. How long will I just use the Bible for sermon material? How often will I have the crashing realization during a "Pastoral Prayer" in a Sunday service that this is the first time I've prayed in days? How many times will I tell thirsty people where to find water, while speaking through a parched throat and cracked, dry lips?

The apostle Paul had the right idea, when he said in Ephesians 5:18 that we should put ourselves in the place where we can continuously be filled with the Holy Spirit. My prayer today is to be constantly full of the Holy Spirit, and for my flesh to die to the point where I can say with Paul, "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

Great Week at the Fair

We had a very successful week at the fair - gave away over 1000 bottles of ice cold water, and tons of free materials!

We heard encouraging comments - one young lady said our booth was "the best one at the fair"! And we made contact with some folks who are searching for a church home. Hopefully, our act of not-so-random kindness said to them, "Welcome Home!"

We also had many "thank you's" and "good jobs" concerning our new Answer magazine that went out at the first of the month. We received a fantastic testimony of a young wife and mother who was facing some problems in her marriage. She received Answer, in her words, the "very day" she needed it. She read the lead article, "Stress and Your Marriage," and got her Bible out to look up the scriptures. She was still reading her Bible when her husband came home from work that evening, and she told him he needed to read the article too! Praise the Lord!

Thanks to everyone who helped with the fair booth: Josh, Heather, Tony, Jo, Chris, Ron, Kathy, Jerry, Janice, Ryan, Scott, Ben, Sam, Nick, Mike, Renee, Denise, David, Cameron, Jalen, Greg, Titus, Jim, Michelle, Jimmy, Elisabeth, Annette, Bob, Todd, Kay, and Juanita!

Knocking Off the Cobwebs

Wow, this place looks like no one's been in here in years!

Well, I guess no one has, except for faithful readers who logged on looking for wit and wisdom, got diddley-squat instead, and grew disenchanted, moody, and estranged...

What can I say? Other things muscled their way to the front of the line and the blog waited in the back like a chubby kid with horn rims and dress shoes on at a pickup basketball game.

Well, I'm gonna try to get the place back in shape for company...

Note to RWW and CR: Your tactics of shame and humiliation finally worked. Aren't you proud?

“Scientific Research Proves First Corinthians 14:14 is True!”

"For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful."

OK, I made up the headline. But that seems to be the fascinating conclusion of recent research, as reported on ABC’s Nightline for Thursday, March 20th.

Here’s an excerpt from the online edition…

At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Andrew Newberg has been conducting a scientific study of the phenomenon for a long time. According to an ABC report, Newberg found that brain scans show quite different results with Christians praying in tongues compared to Buddhist monks meditating and Franciscan nuns praying. The frontal lobes—the part of the brain right behind the forehead that's considered the brain's control center—went quiet in the brains of tongue-speakers.

"When they are actually engaged in this whole very intense spiritual practice...their frontal lobes tend to go down in activity. It is very consistent with the kind of experience they have, because they say that they're not in charge. [They say] it's the voice of God, it's the Spirit of God that is moving through them," said Newberg.

"Whatever is coming out of their mouth is not what they are purposefully or willfully trying to do. And that's in fairly stark contrast to the people who are—like the Buddhist and Franciscan nuns—in prayer, because they are very intensely focused and in those individuals the frontal lobes actually increase activity."

You can read the entire article and access video at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2935819&page=1

"Stuff I Wish I'd Said..."

New regular feature, quotes and articles that make a good point in a compelling way...

Priscilla Brown Jamora writes a funny and thought provoking piece in today's Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier. Here's an excerpt:

[A]s a society we used to reserve clapping for major accomplishments, such as Mother Theresa winning a humanitarian award or the Boston Pops at their famed July 4th concert, complete with canon fire. Soldiers in a ticker tape parade returning home from battle.

Let's look at what we now congratulate. The list includes, but certainly is not limited to, the following:

Little Danny's first successful trip to the potty.

Anything Oprah says.

Anything Oprah's dog trainer says.

Every single member of our child's little league team who swings and misses the t-ball every time. (No wonder they miss. Our clapping confuses them. They think missing is the whole point of swinging.)

Emeril's addition of garlic to any recipe

Can we please get back to making clapping actually worth
something?

Read the article at http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/OPINION/703240309/1144/OPINION

Friday Fluff n' Filler

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Imperial Majesty Scott the Implacable of Buzzing St Helens Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

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Last night we experienced the particular joys of The Sixth Grade Variety Show. "Variety" was accurate: Wisecracking emcee's... kids who sang surprisingly well (the young man who sang "Drift Away" really blew it out)... some funny skits... dance routines (one involving nuns, but you're better off not asking)... and a couple of instrumental solos... All being dutifully recorded for posterity - and YouTube - on matchbox sized camcorders.

We assured our 6th grader that he and his buddies pantomiming and dancing to "Numa, Numa" was the highlight of the evening.

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The blogroll will be expanding as I locate more interesting and diverse blogs. I'll try to feature one of them on Friday's...

Chuck Warnock's blog documents his small church's adventures of being "missional" in a small town. They are doing some amazing stuff, and he certainly challenges those of us who begin a lot of sentences with "Well, a small church can't..."

Be sure to read "Catch Every Ball" for Johnny Bench's opinion on Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame, and "Here's What We're Doing".

http://chuckwarnockblog.wordpress.com/


Shout out to "William" for the link!

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That's it for now. Have a great weekend! You preachers preach it like it's hot!

Doughballs, Plastic Worms and Spinners (or "Getting Over 'Outreach Outrage'")

Right up front, let me be clear – I believe that the preaching of the Cross is the power of God unto salvation. I believe we need to lift up Christ, who said He would draw all men unto Him. I believe we must "preach Christ crucified" to see genuine life change in the people we minister to.

I don’t give 'talks' on how to have a better marriage, advance your career, or raise happy, shiny children. I preach expository messages from scripture – which, by the way, provides us with God’s principles and directions for doing all the aforementioned and much more…

If anything you read from here on causes you to think otherwise, please re-read the first two paragraphs.

I’m just getting really tired of Christians picking on other Christians because of how they do 'outreach'.

It happens anytime a church does something different. Maybe it’s a very contemporary, or even edgy, advertisement… A sermon series on a controversial or provocative topic… An unusual method of appealing to unsaved and unchurched.

And the hounds of protest begin to howl…

It cheapens the Gospel…
The Gospel has held up pretty well the last 2000 years even though it’s been ridiculed, rejected, and ignored. I think it can endure church coffee shops.

What you win them with you win them to...
This could actually be true, but only in the absence of good teaching and preaching that lifts up Jesus. I’ve seen families get involved in church because they first came to a church-sponsored Easter egg hunt, and they don’t show up every Sunday with baskets in hand looking for jelly beans and hollow bunny handouts.

And the silver bullet, it’s worldly…
Yeah, there are some places in outreach that I’m not going to go. There are some current forms of “evangelism” that I find tacky, silly, and distasteful. My solution? I don’t do those things in my church, and I resist the urge to throw a brother or sister under the bus because they do.

So what if they’re doing it wrong? When Jesus’ disciples got upset that someone who wasn’t part of their circle was doing ministry, Jesus said, "He who is not against us is with us." Paul said of those whose motives and methods were suspect, “The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.”

Of course, part of the problem is that often the assumption is made that Christ isn’t being preached in a church that’s stooping to such unseemly methods. And if we’re going to make such assertions, we’d better be sure we have full knowledge of the content of sermons, Bible studies, and children’s ministry materials used in those churches.

Every fisherman has run into that guy who knows how to fish better than you do and isn’t shy about telling you. He’ll criticize your bait choice, your equipment, your location, and your casting style. He’s a nuisance, but at least he only treats you like you’re stupid, and not like you’re a sleazy, worldly sell-out.

(And yes, I know the arrogance and disdain is on both sides of this issue. Often, those in “cutting-edge” churches act like everybody who doesn’t do it like they do is hopelessly out of touch and outdated. That attitude stinks, too.)

Instead of critiquing the bait, let’s get excited that folks are fishing, and pray that the hook will always be the Gospel.

Expiration Date

The magazine section of Saturday's paper included a fascinating article on life expectancy, and included a link to http://www.livingto100.com. On the website, I completed a "life expectancy calculator." It asked questions about diet and exercise... home life and family... job related stress... personal hygiene (you can add up to fours years to your life by flossing your teeth everyday!)... family medical history - then used this information to calculate how long I could expect to live.

I was "okay" with my result, at first. It is older than the current ages of my parents, and longer than any of my grandparents lived. It did torque me a little that Vicki will apparently outlive me by six or seven years...

Then I started thinking... About how old my children will be at the "check out date" I was given... About things I want to see and do with my wife... About ministry and mission work I'd love to be involved in...

Suddenly, my expiration date seems to come way too soon.

So, a couple of thoughts...

Because we have no guarantees of how long will live, our focus should be on how we live. In the Scriptures there are a handful of verses from Exodus and Deuteronomy that promised long life to the Children of Israel if they kept the Law. Apart from that, the thrust of the Bible message on age and length of life is focused on quality, not quantity.

How would we live if we could know when our "number" was coming up? I suspect I would try to make each day count... My wife would never doubt how much I love her, need, her, and support her... My kids would be well prepared to face life with a foundation of faith... I would be serious about sharing the Gospel with the lost, befriending the lonely, offering hope to the hurting...

I guess I've had the sobering realization that I won't live on this earth forever, and most encounters with other people are more significant than we know. I want to really live, and not just mark time on a calendar. I want to spend my remaining days on this planet - however many or few there might be - in such a way that eternal life will just be a change of venue.

I gotta go floss...

Working On It

Working on some improvements around here. More regular blogging... links to some fun and interesting stuff... a "blogroll". Blogger has added some help for tech-mo-nology dummies like me, so it should be a little easier to do what I set out to do with this place.

Anyway, any helpful comments or constructive criticism would be appreciated. In other words, the "mean stuff" will never see the light of day.

To give the illusion of gravitas, I will close with a quote from the eminent philosopher, Homer Simpson:

"Look, the thing about my family is there's five of us. Marge, Bart, Girl Bart, the one who doesn't talk, and the fat guy. How I loathe him."

Unthinkable

My cousin's son's death in January... a couple who lost their son in the war... the death of high school students in the tornado in Alabama... the bus crash that killed the members of a college baseball team this morning. I sit with tears in my eyes as I recoil in horror at the thought of losing a child. No matter the reason or cause of death, the pain is unimaginable and unthinkable.

A ministry friend and I were talking with a man in our community who lost a son in an automobile accident twenty years ago. His voice still catches and his eyes still get moist when he speaks about his boy. "No one can know what it's like," he whispered to us.

My friend replied, "The Father knows."

The Father knows. He lost a Son. Not in an accident or on a desert battleground, but purposefully on a cross. The One died for the many because His rebellious creation had sinned themselves into a corner they could not escape without bloodshed.

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NASB)

We have a great circle of friends. Some of them have walked with us through some very tough times, and we love them like brothers and sisters. But if we were told that one of our sons would have to die so that all of our friends could live... I'm sorry, but we couldn't make such a sacrifice.

And yet, that is what the Father did, And He did it for enemies, not friends. God was willing to bear the searing pain of loss so that His enemies might live.

Amazing love, how can it be, that You my King would die for me?

Jubilee

A very unusual natural phenomenon occurs in Mobile Bay in south Alabama. From time to time, and only just before daylight on warm summer nights, sea creatures will swarm the shores of the Bay. Blue crabs, shrimp, flounder, stingrays, eels – so many of them swarm the shallows that the water seems to be boiling. People living near the shore ring bells and knock on doors and call out to alert their neighbors so that everybody can rush down to the water with washtubs, gigs and nets, and gather a huge and easy to gather harvest of seafood. The atmosphere becomes a celebration, a community beach party, and folks start fires and cook right there on the beach and share food and fellowship with their neighbors. It’s known as a “Jubilee…”

When Jesus said in Luke chapter 4 that He’d been sent to "proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" – everyone who heard that knew He was talking about the Year of Jubilee.

Jubilee was established in the Law in Leviticus 25 – it said that every 50th year from the time of the release of Israel from slavery in Egypt: Any property that had been sold reverted to the original owners or their heirs; Slaves were released from captivity; All debts and obligations to another were cancelled.

And the process through which all this took place was called “redemption”.

What Jesus was really saying was, “I am Jubilee! Through Me, your debt of sin is forgiven, you are set free from bondage and captivity, and the enemy has to return all your stuff!”

Everything in the Old Testament points to and foreshadows the coming of Jesus. Jubilee was a "type," a physical symbol of the spiritual reality of the grace, mercy, forgiveness, and goodness of God made available to us through Christ. Jubilee foreshadowed the day when Jesus would provide for our redemption!

Jesus calls us to share that outrageous message with others! It’s the good news that in Christ there is hope, and not despair… forgiveness, and not condemnation… life, and not death! No matter the amount of the debt or obligation, no matter how deep in a hole we find ourselves in, redemption is ALWAYS available!

On Mobile Bay, failing to share the news about the seafood Jubilee is considered very bad form, a severe breach of etiquette! It’s bad manners and means you’re a bad neighbor if you don’t let everybody know that Jubilee has come!

Being like Jesus, doing what He did, means we share the message of Jubilee with everyone we know…