A story of two brothers

I've taken some extra time to analyze and decide what I want to write in this post. This was a week of more emotion than prior weeks which makes it hard to write so we shall see how it goes.
So this past week was another great week of teaching. We took an in depth look at Luke 15, and the parable of the Prodigal Son in particular. The first thing that our speaker, Pierre, said is that the title is wrong and that it makes it so that you miss a key fact of the story. There is not one prodigal son but two, along with a father. So the proper title should be two lost sons and their father, or something like that.
The title of the week was the father heart of God, and what it looks like. We looked at the three individuals in this story; the younger son, the father's reaction to the younger, the older son, and the father's reaction to the elder.
Starting with the younger, the beginning of the parable shows that he is bitter and angry with his father, and asks for his inheritance (essentially removing himself as his father's son). After he receives his portion, he leaves and spends it and is soon living in poverty. One of the questions asked, "was the portion when it says 'he came to his senses' a revelation of the Holy Spirit?" The was a partial yes, because it started off well. "Father I have sinned against heaven and you..." This is what was given by Holy Spirit as it shows repentance, but the younger doesn't stop there, and repeats what happened at the beginning of the parable, "I am unworthy to be called your son..." Since when does the loser (the younger) demand the terms? Just like in the beginning, he makes demands. "Give me my inheritance...", "Make me like one of your servants...". He thinks that he can redeem himself on his own, instead of waiting for the father's reaction.
I could spend the entire post on just the father, so I'll make it brief. This is the clearest portion of the parable, and the love that the father shows is tangible. Seeing how the father runs, embraces, kisses, and clothes his returned son shows how the father is willing and wanting to forgive and accept. We only need to turn to him, and confess.
Now onto the often overlooked person of this parable. The elder brother. He is commonly seen as the symbol of the scribes and pharisees that Jesus so often encountered during his ministry. We see that he stays home and works for his father, and he becomes angry when he comes and hears about the party that is being thrown for his brother that returned home.
The elder then begins to list all the ways that he is more worthy than his brother and why he deserves the party.
"But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!" (vs. 28-30) He says that he has never disobeyed his father and yet he refuses to enter the home even when the father asks, making him a liar. Then he says that he was never given a goat, but again looking at the text shows that the father, "divided his property between them." (vs. 12) In reference to what's written in Deut. 21:17 shows that the elder would receive double of what the younger receives so when the elder asks for a goat, he is greedy. All he needs to do is go and take a goat for himself. He is being ungrateful and selfish.
To finish with, Pierre then drew some parallels between this parable and our own lives. It is quite easy to go from the where the younger is, living in very visible sin and rejecting the father, to where the elder is, rejecting the father and living in hidden sin. In the same way we as Christians must be aware of how we are living; that we don't live as the younger did, with outright rebellion, nor as the elder, with his harsh and cold religiosity. We need to be careful, coming from a church background, that we don't become jealous of new believers that seem to experience God more.
The way Jesus closes the parable is a blessing for us today. "... you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." (vs. 31) This is a promise that we should repeat to ourselves daily. That all that is God's, is ours. An amazing promise.
I hope this makes sense. I wrote it as I understood it, so please feel free to ask questions and post comments.
Many thanks and blessings.

Leadership

Hi there everyone,

So this past week was probably one of my favorites, aside from the week on evangelism.
The title for this series was Leadership and Calling, and it was taught by the man that is the leader of YWAM for the entire country of France!
He is the epitome of what it means to be a servant-leader. Nearly every morning, he is here at the base doing maintenance, watering the plants, getting groceries, and so much more.
It was great to be able to hear from him how God develops the calls for certain people, but that there is one call that every Christian has. To be a disciple of Christ.
This topic has been one that has been near to my heart for the past several years, and I had an idea of where I saw God leading, but since I've been here, I've come to realize that some of those goals were my ideas and not of God. So I will trust in the plans that God has for me like he says in Jeremiah 29.
The recurring theme of this week was the five-fold ministry as seen in Ephesians 4:11, with the offices of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. (See 1 Corinthians 12:28, Romans 12:6-8) These are callings within the church, but what about in the outside world? We are called to be in the world but not of it (John 17:14-18) so that means that we are likely to be called to work out side of the church as well.
There are seven fields that each society must have in order to operate. I've already mentioned one, Religion. Economy, Politics, Education, Family, Arts/Media, Science/Technology all make up different aspects that makes a society function, and can be fields that one could be called to. For example, some of the people here feel called to bio-chemistry, teaching, acting, etc. Three different fields that they want to use for the glory of God. I'm not saying that you do one or the other, work in the church or outside the church, but use the gifts and talents that you have been given for the furtherance of the Kingdom.
The final day of teaching of the final day was devoted to leadership, and what makes a good leader. Matthew 20 was the basis for this as we can see Jesus taking on the role of servant, and washing the feet of his disciples.
We took time this week to look at what qualities we see in others and what others see in us, and while some of the stuff I saw I had been aware of, some other character traits and abilities I wasn't aware of and it really made me smile. Not because it made me feel good, but because I had a realization that those traits wouldn't be there without God.
That's it for now, and I apologize for the posting this update a bit late, but more to follow shortly.

Thank you and....

10 November, 2012

Chères amies et famille,

            Let me begin with a few words of thanks. First off, I would not be here if not for you. I am very blessed to have you supporting me in this mission. Thank you to my family, King of Grace family and friends. Covering nearly all of my tuition was completely unexpected and I thank God for you. To those reading my blog, and leaving comments, thank you for the encouragement. It means a lot to me.

            I’ve been here for close to two months, and so much has happened. As part of Discipleship Training School (DTS) I have had daily Bible classes and lectures on a variety of topics ranging from who God is and His characteristics to spiritual warfare. Just about every week I have either learned something completely new, or had something I thought I knew and have been challenged on it. Sometimes I realize I was mistaken in my point of view and other times I come away with stronger convictions.

            When I first arrived, my greatest concern was the language barrier. Thankfully, God provided. Our translator for the first two weeks decided to stay for the remainder of the school as a student. This, combined with my progress in speaking French, is making the language barrier a very slight bump in the road.

            Those of you that have been reading my blog are already aware of some of this, but I thought it would be a good idea to send out a hard copy letter so that those who don’t have easy access to a computer can receive updates.

            I have reached the halfway point for the lecture phase of DTS, and time has flown by. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for more than a month already! Being able to communicate via email, Skype and phone have truly shortened the distance, and nearly eliminated any homesickness. For the outreach phase, it is confirmed that we will be in Senegal, near Ziguinchor (southern Senegal), working with local missionaries, and with orphans, and will be heading there in early January 2013.

            This is actually confirmation from God, because when I first received a vision to go to France, it was to work with orphans. And here I am, going to a French speaking country, to work with orphans! Every time I see this fulfillment, I get so excited. It just goes to show that what we have in mind might not be exactly what God has planned.

While my tuition expense has been covered, I do have additional living and travel expenses that are upcoming.  If you are so led, contributions would be greatly appreciated.

And if you get a chance, an old fashioned hard copy letter would be nice as well. Here’s my address again:

Jeunesse en Mission,

ATTN: Taylor Jacoby,

550 chemin des belles Jeannes,

26130 St. Paul Trois Chateaux, France

So again, thank you so much, and I relish your prayers and letters.

           

Sincèrement,

Taylor

A week of practicality ... and experimentation.

Bonjour!

This week was one devoted to what evangelism is and how easy it is to actually do it. We had several speakers this week sharing different facets of what makes up evangelism. The list is just about endless, because everything we do can be an example of (and should be). Here are just a few of the most common examples of evangelism that you may be familiar with. Baptism (Matt. 28:19), healing (Matt.10:1), preaching (Mark 16:15), praying (Ephesians 6:18), serving (John 13:5), casting out demons (10:7-9), and so many more.
The area that was the newest for me was the concept of healing (we already had gone over the casting out of demons during the week on spiritual warfare) I really didn't know what to make of the concept of healing at first, but then after taking a closer look at the times Jesus sent out disciples (not just the the Twelve, but the 70, and the others that went out in Jesus' name) they were called to heal.
I had always just glanced over this as something that just happened during biblical times, but the passages above, along with what Paul says in his letters about spiritual gifts, one of which is healing.
The other aspects serving, preaching, baptism, etc. are fairly familiar to me so I won't go into much detail with these.
The amazing thing is that I was present when one of my friends here was healed. One of her legs was shorter than the other causing her to have severe back pain that she's had for years. We prayed for healing. Her leg grew, and the pain in her back is gone.
In other news, yesterday (Sunday), we were invited by the pastor of the local church to come over for lunch. It was a really fun time and it was nice to get away from the base. He and his family live in the middle of vineyards, and it makes for a very beautiful countryside.
Here are just a few pictures (the rest are on Facebook)
Enjoy!

The last two weeks.....

Happy November! The month of football, leaves falling, unseasonably cold weather, and American Thanksgiving (I need to clarify this for the Canadians reading this.)
This has to be one of the hardest blog updates I've had to write. I really hate not having the writing spirit, and inspiration (I've been trying to get this up since Friday, whoops!)
 These past two weeks delved into very new territory for me; last week was on Spiritual Warfare, and this week was on the Holy Spirit.
The week on Spiritual Warfare took a look at the different aspects that are involved in fighting.There is a war going on and we need to decide whether or not we will exercise the authority that has been delegated to us. (Matt. 28:18-20) This was the point that really spoke to me, as I don't often act on the authority that I have been given. (Luke 10:17-19)
Last Saturday was a great day. We trekked to the Ardeche region (and by trekked, I mean that we drove), and explored some caves and then visited a Troglodyte village (cave houses). I got some really good pictures, which I've posted to Facebook (some of them are below as well)
This past week was on the Holy Spirit, and was really hard to comprehend at points. I thought it would explore more of who the Holy Spirit was, but it was more along the lines of how the teacher experienced the Spirit which was really confusing. So at this point this has to be my least favorite week , and yet I came out of it feeling refreshed, and feeling like I know God just a little bit better.
It was really fun on Friday because we spent time in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to give us a person that we should talk to. (We actually met the person, but didn't know what to say)
The last couple of days, Saturday and today, have been really relaxing and enjoyable. I was able to participate in playing for morning worship for church this morning, and even though I could only understand about half of what was being said, I still enjoyed church today.

That's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff for next time




I took this shot while driving.










And this is from the village we visited.

And this is Frimousse. He was a stray that hung around until we just gave up trying to get rid of him!He's about 5-6 months old, and more like a dog that a cat!