Christian
musicians to join our Creative Worship Format!
We
are looking for additional musicians/singers/dancers for our Creative
Worship
during Sunday morning services. We play contemporary music and
frequently move into Spirit-led “improv” music. Our praise and worship
time is regularly one hour long.
This is a volunteer opportunity for Christian
musicians in the Twin
Cities area to share their unique musical giftings in a
creative worship format.
Reflecting on worship-
Abundant Grace
is a
place of opportunity for those who desire to
worship our Lord over all
other things that this world has to offer.
In order to
implement this vision, the Spirit has inspired us to reach out to
musicians from all over the Twin Cities and offer them the opportunity
to worship musically in the freedom of the Spirit through the exercise
of their musical talents and giftings in order to create an environment
within this church that is pleasing and honoring to the Lord and
welcoming to His very presence.
An environment where we, as a
congregation might worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
snuggle
time
Our first
grandchild with his daddy- born 2/12/2010
Jericho
Spiritual Counseling
Ministry
Jericho Ministry was founded in 1995 with Pastor R.
Thomas Brass serving as a
spiritual counselor at
Minnesota
Teen Challenge, Love Lines Crisis Center and ministering to clients
seen at the church office throughout the week.
What
are some of the common issues that Christians are
experiencing today?
Because of a striving to seek security and identity
from this
world, many Christians are mistakenly basing much of their personal
identity in their
material possessions, individual accomplishments, and the opinions of
others rather than who they are in Christ Jesus. Christians who strive
for security and positve personal identity in this way
often struggle unsuccessfully to overcome fleshly strongholds such as:
depression, anger, anxiety, perfectionism, pride, shame, lust, fear and
many others. These strongholds take root when we have not truly
understood the extent, the complexity, and the utter futility of our
performance-oriented, self-reliant mentality.
What
do you mean by "self reliant mentality?"
We, as created beings, quite naturally have needs and wants. But, it is
crucial to understand that in almost everything we do, we have an inner
motivation which fuels our actions and that this motivation frequently
does not reflect God’s purposes. Our motivation is usually to fulfill
our own self-directed desires. From moment to moment, we do what we do
primarily because we believe, on some level, that our behavior will
result in personal benefit. We follow our individual motives for
behavior very early in life, almost from the moment of birth, because
we are born as dependent creatures with sin-damaged souls.
God’s
original plan, as initiated with Adam and Eve, is that we
discover the fulfillment of every need and want through Him. God’s plan
hasn’t changed! But man has changed in his relationship to God and his
attitude toward God’s plan for his life. Sin has induced a misguided,
self-centered striving to fulfill our own immediate wants and desires.
What
was the original design?
Man and woman were originally designed to discover personal value and
purpose through the unhindered realization of God's unconditional love
for them. They would not feel that they needed to perform in order to
feel acceptable. There would be no competition with one another, no
problems with feelings of low self-esteem, low self-worth, jealousy,
insecurity etc. But, tragically, the effect of sin on our thoughts, our
feelings and our choices has hindered us from experiencing a close
personal realization of God’s unconditional love for us.
What dynamics
have arisen as a result of our separation from the "close personal
realization
of God's unconditional love for us?"
This separation from the security of experiencing God's unconditional
love has encouraged a shifting away from reliance upon God and a
deterioration of trust in His purpose for our lives.
Instead
of trusting God, we find ourselves repeatedly enticed by sin to
depend upon self-centered behavior as we attempt to reduce our personal
insecurity and compensate for the loss of the realization of God’s
unconditional love. We find ourselves feeling compelled again and again
to rely on ourselves in an attempt to find compensatory fulfillment
through the gratification of self. This has become our life-habit. We
are, habitually, to borrow a phrase, "trying to find love in all the
wrong places." We have become essentially self-determining,
self-reliant creatures. We are unable to find spiritual rest, because
we are almost continually striving to bolster our self-esteem by
gaining affirmation from man by seeking his personal approval in the
form of love, recognition, admiration, respect, etc.
God's power has been made
available
to us to
sanctify our souls, to bring us into the dynamic of real spiritual rest
by transforming our character into the likeness of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Yet, the unfortunate truth is, because of these deeply
rooted dynamics of self-sufficiency in our lives, we are virtually
unable to consistently believe and depend on God's plan to use His
power to
free us from the repetitive strongholds of sin.
How
do we find freedom from this behavior?
The solution to
this dilemma can be accessed through our commitment to a deliberate
process of Spirit-led discovery and prayer regarding the roots of our
self-reliance. That process is what this ministry is about.
When
we are truly willing to closely examine how and why we have come to
trust self-effort more than we trust God, we begin to be able to access
the necessary power of the Holy Spirit which can steadily bring us
freedom from the strongholds of sin in our lives. Until we are willing
to do this, we will continue to suffer from a lack of faith caused by
unbelief.
Unbelief
is trusting in ourselves and our own ways more than we trust God from
moment to moment in our lives. This lack of faith in God's power and
purpose for our daily lives keeps us from the peace, joy, and spiritual
rest, which are meant to accompany our sonship in God's holy family.
Where can I get
more specific information on this?
Our hope and our prayer is that these topics, derived from a
combination of pastoral discipleship experience and, more importantly,
illumination from the Holy Spirit, will help Christians to understand
how
hidden lies, beliefs from your past, and the deceptions of this world,
may be hindering you from experiencing the fullness of the blessings of
peace, joy, and spiritual rest in your daily Christian walk.Our
hope is that, in reading these articles you will discover the
power
of God's grace and the magnitude of His love for you!
Please
feel free to visit our "Contact Us" page. We would like to hear how you
have been blessed by these writings!
The
following biblically-based writings are freely available to you from
Jericho
Ministry, a Spirit-led Pastoral counseling ministry, that served
Minnesota
Teen Challenge from 1995-2002 and is currently ministering to private
clients in the Minneapolis / St. Paul
metropolitan area.
If you
feel that God has blessed you through His
ministry to you on
these pages, please prayerfully consider becoming a Jericho Ministry
supporter. Your contributions will help support our home based pastoral
counseling
ministry
in Blaine, MN. ALL
CONTRIBUTIONS ARE 100% TAX
DEDUCTIBLE!
Your support is more than just appreciated by us. It will transform
lives. Learn more about us on the "About Jericho Ministry" page.
You
may send contributions to: Jericho Ministry / 1055 109th Ave NE /
Blaine, MN. 55434
Choose a title above to
your left on the navigation bar OR read the
descriptions below to help you make your choice of subject
material!
Here are some brief
descriptions which illustrate
the themes of these writings:
DYNAMICS OF
FORGIVENESS: FORGIVENESS AND REPENTANCE THROUGH THE AGENCY OF
GRACE
