Author Archives: Jones

About Jones

Adam Jones is the Student Minister at the Georgetown Church of Christ in Georgetown, OH. If you're in the area, you should definitely check out Soma at 10:35 am on Sunday mornings in the Church of Christ gym. You'll join a worship experience unlike any other in Brown County! God is moving in the hearts of a generation and we would love to have you join our family!
May 26, 2012

5 Things To Know For Soma Tomorrow!

By Jones

I can’t wait for Soma in the morning!  I love the band and I love the environment but most of all, I love getting together with the body – YOU – to spend time in the presence of the Spirit together.  And I hope you’re looking forward to a great weekend too!  Here are 5 things you need to know about this weekend…

1. Worship will be awesome!

Over the past couple of months, I’ve loved seeing how we’re gelling as a family and every single weekend I’m blown away at hearing voices raised with more and more confidence.  Let’s blow the roof off the place tomorrow!

2. God’s gonna show up in an unexpected way!

I am absolutely convinced that growing churches all have one thing in common…  They show up expecting God to do the unexpected.  Our plans are great, but the Spirit has something even better in the works!

3. God’s gonna challenge your attitude about money!

Whether you’re a 15 year old with a summer job, a 35 year old with a young family or a 58 year old looking at retirement, tomorrow’s message is aimed at YOU!

4. It’s the PERFECT weekend to invite your neighbor!

Sure, it’s Memorial Day weekend, but not everyone’s traveling.  Invite your neighbor to Soma and then to a cookout at your house!

5. Out of rest comes revelation!

It IS a long weekend, so live it up and rest with your family.  When we withdraw from our worries and rest our souls, we’re much more likely to hear God’s voice revealing His Will in our lives, so come in the morning ready to rest with the body!

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May 25, 2012

Desires Overwhelm Logic… Protect Your Future!

By Jones

Genesis 25:29-34

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.  He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew!  I’m famished!”

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said.  “What good is the birthright to me?”

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”  So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.  Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.  He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

Esau’s birthright was infinitely more valuable than a bowl of stew.  No matter how “famished” he was.

But in the moment, Esau couldn’t see past his hunger.  He couldn’t look beyond his comfort, beyond what he wanted in that moment, and so he gave away the future he’d been promised.

He traded away his potential – his hope – because he couldn’t lock down his desires.

And forever after, the patriarchs of God’s people were listed as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  All because Esau gave up his place in the Kingdom.

If we’re not disciplined, desires overwhelm logic.  And futures are ruined by unchecked and untamed desires.

Hunger destroyed Esau.  But it just as easily could’ve been anger or revenge or jealousy or greed or lust or any number of things.  When we want something badly enough and dwell on it long enough, we give Satan the power – and the opportunity – to use it to completely destroy us.

That’s exactly why Paul wrote, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.  Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.  The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants.  And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.“  (Galatians 5:16-17)

What “bowls of stew” has Satan placed in your path and around your life?  Every one of them is a trap that makes his goal of stealing your future that much easier.  I’d suggest pouring those “bowls” out and walking away, forgetting they were ever there.

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Devotion

May 24, 2012

God Did It!

By Jones

While I was recovering from surgery, Jason Galley did a fantastic job leading Soma through a series called “More Than Words!”  Week after week, he brought great energy and incredible messages, finishing with some challenging thoughts on Faith.

Check out this clip from that last week of the series…  The big idea is “Faith moves forward knowing God can do it!”

And if you aren’t a part of a church already, we’d love to have you join us this Sunday at 10:35 in the Georgetown Church of Christ gym in Georgetown, OH.  We’ve got a place for you and we’re excited about what God is longing to do in your life!

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Devotion

May 23, 2012

“Weird” People Trust God’s Timing

By Jones

This is a clip from Soma’s message on May 20, 2012 in Week 3 of our “Weird” series, challenging us to be “weird” in a very, very “normal” world.

Week 3′s big idea is this…  ”Normal” people trade the potential God has for them LATER in order to get what they can earn NOW but ”Weird” people know that God’s timing is ALWAYS better than their own.

Check out the video clip and if you aren’t a part of a church already, we’d love to have you join us this Sunday at 10:35 in the Georgetown Church of Christ gym in Georgetown, OH.  We’ve got a place for you and we’re excited about what God is longing to do in your life!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Devotion

May 22, 2012

Bigger Than The Storm… (reflections on the tornado)

By Jones

One year ago today, I was at church with our teenagers when my wife got a call that our hometown, Joplin, MO,  had been hit by a massive tornado.  Over the next few hours, we were able to connect with family and learn that my brother-in-law’s family was safe, although his home had collapsed around them.  My grandmother’s house had suffered serious damage but they were safe.  The rest of my family was blessed to be outside the storm’s path but many of my friends were not.

That night, the feeling of helplessness was tremendous.  I learned that you might move away and you might put down roots somewhere else and you might build an entirely new network of friends and “family,” but home is always home.  And when your home hurts, you hurt.

Seven days after the storm, our church sent me with a team of guys and significant financial resources to spend a week in Joplin, helping wherever we could find someone to help.  I’ll never forget the first day I drove into the devastated area, nothing I had seen in the news had prepared me for what I was stepping into.  And after a week wading through the debris and doing what we could, it was time for my team to head back home, worn out and trusting that we’d made a difference.

Looking back, God has stretched me in incredible ways over the past year and, in so many ways, it began that week in Joplin.  The tornado was a terrible disaster and many people lost their homes and lives.  But out of all the pain and brokenness, God has brought beauty and healing.  He’s taken the broken clay of a town and molded new hearts and lives in the aftermath.

I am so blessed to serve a God who is in the business of restoration.  He’s constantly at work, burning away the old, and ushering in the new.

If Joplin taught me anything it was this:  Jesus is bigger than any storm that will ever come your way.  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Rom 8:37-39)

***

To re-read some previous posts (by myself and others) about Joplin, follow these links…

“Power”

“God Loves Missouri”

“One Broken Brick At A Time”

“What I Gained From Losing (almost) Everything”

“Today…”

“Put My Tornado To Rest”

“Crisis Moments…”

“Clean Sweep”

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Devotion

May 15, 2012

Shut The Door

By Jones

Sin kills.

It’s simple enough.  Hope comes through repentance and relief comes through forgiveness.

But if you don’t replace the sin with something equally consuming, you’re leaving the door wide open for the enemy.

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.  Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’  When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.  Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.  And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”                                      -Luke 11:24-26

Hope and relief – and repentance and forgiveness – are essential steps but NOT the finish line.

LIFE is the goal.  Life is the win.  And life only comes through transformation.

But you only experience transformation when you refill the emptiness that was sin with the new reality of God’s Spirit.

What’s filling the spot in your heart and life that used to be consumed with your sin?

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Devotion

May 14, 2012

Poorly Solved Problems Multiply…

By Jones

2 Samuel 6:6-7

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled.  The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

In verse 6, Uzzah is in perfect health, serving the Lord.  By the end of verse 7, he’s stone-cold dead as an example to Israel.  And why?

Because he…  Did his job?  Kept the Ark out of the mud?  Did the obvious and logical thing?

Why did Uzzah have to die?  

The answer is, at once, incredibly simple and equally condemning.  He had to die because he did something that I – and probably you – do everyday.

Uzzah saw a situation and he immediately reacted.  And in that one moment of rash action, Uzzah sealed his fate.

I often brag about my ability to “see a problem and fix a problem.”  But in seeing and fixing a “problem,” I often create an even bigger problem.  I might quickly solve the present situation but by not taking God’s eternal perspective into consideration, I inadvertently remove myself from His Will.

When Uzzah saw the Ark teetering, the most pressing problem from his perspective was the symbol of God’s glory falling into the mud.  He saw the problem and fixed the problem by reaching out a hand and lifting it up.  But when Uzzah failed to consider God’s law against touching the Ark, the problem multiplied a hundredfold.  He saw a problem and fixed a problem but he fixed it with a human solution.  And he was punished for it.

By the way, Uzzah’s “situation” was caused because an earlier problem of how to transport the ark was solved with a human solution.  Putting the Ark on a cart seemed like a great idea but it wasn’t God’s idea.  If the men moving the Ark had first considered God, the Ark would have been mounted on poles on the shoulders of Levites and Uzzah would have never had a problem to solve.

Poorly solved problems multiply.  And eventually men die.  Maybe physically.  Probably spiritually.

What problems have you solved poorly?  What “solutions” have grown into bigger problems than the original?

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Devotion, Ministry

May 13, 2012

Her Beauty Is Worth Protecting

By Jones

I originally posted this last January but wanted to re-share it today in celebration of Mother’s Day.  Make sure your mother and wife KNOW they’re worth protecting today!

***

A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband is the fence around it.                -African proverb

I enjoy mowing the yard but in the thick of summer, I often get busy and find easy ways to avoid the task.  I like planting flowers but get wrapped up in what I want to do and never remember to water them.  I love starting new projects in the yard but often get bored and leave them unfinished.

My yard isn’t overgrown, ugly or embarrassing but I’m not really proud of it either.  My yard isn’t the worst on the block but it’s certainly not the best.  If you asked me about my yard in the middle of July, I’d tell you it’s “good enough.”

When it comes to marriage, GOOD ENOUGH is NOT good enough.

Be a fence around your wife’s heart.  Protect her name.  Cultivate her heart.  Listen to her desires.

Stand between your wife and the crushing weight of the world.  Remind her that she’s the reason for the fence…  That her beauty is worth protecting.

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Devotion, Uncategorized

May 10, 2012

I Just Type And Talk…

By Jones

I was right in the middle of a conversation about job responsibilities the other day, when all of a sudden my friend had a light-bulb moment and blurted out, “You just get paid to type and talk, how simple is that?!?”

His words made me pause for a second…  I wanted to respond in some way, to “defend” my job.  But in that moment, it dawned on me that he’s absolutely correct.

I get paid to type and talk.  Granted, I’m talking to share vision and God’s Word with people and I’m typing to prepare messages and blogs and set plans for the future, but when you boil it down to its simplest form, it’s just typing and talking.

If I’m not careful, I can get so stressed and so absorbed in my own importance, but honestly, I’m just typing and talking.  I’m not the Savior, I’m just the servant.  I’m not the Creator, I’m just the created instrument.

And I bet, if we boil down your job, you just do a lot of typing and talking.  Or maybe a lot of lifting and carrying.  Or perhaps a lot of driving and delivering.  Whatever it is you do, you’re not the Savior either.  You’re just a small (but important and loved) piece of the body of Christ.  You’re not the head any more than I am.  You’re a hand or a foot or an ear or a nose, just like I am.  And you know what the best part about NOT being the head is?

You DON’T have to stress and worry.

Just listen to God and then talk.  Listen to God and then type.  Listen to God and then work.  Listen to God and then drive.

How simple is that???

3 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Devotion

May 8, 2012

Sneak Peek Of Soma

By Jones

Here’s a sneak peek at Soma’s worship service…  This video is from May 6, 2012 and the songs are “Rise,” “Forever Reign,” “White Flag,” and “Arms Open Wide.”

I LOVE what’s happening with this community as we learn to worship together!  If you’re in the Brown County, OH area and don’t have a church, we would love to meet you this coming weekend…  God longs to adopt YOU into His family so you can worship right alongside us!

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