One More Salvation

"We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and 

know that this really is the Savior of the world."

John 4:42

Question: Why did Jesus come from Heaven to earth? 

 Answer: To fulfill God's plan of salvation

I assume that some of you reading this knew the answer to that question and are probably wondering where I'm going with this, but let's stop and think through this together. I am often reminded from reading the Bible that God has plans for me. He is going to use my whole life, everything in it. Everything has a purpose and he made me and the people in my life for a specific reason. Now if we believe God has things He wants to accomplish through us, we had better believe He had things He wanted to accomplish through His Son in his time on earth. 

If you aren't familiar with Jesus's ministry on earth, I'll try to give you a quick summary. Luke 3:23 tells us that Jesus started his ministry when he was about 30 years old. From that point until He was arrested and crucified and raised from the dead, He went around to different towns performing miracles and telling people about His Father. He would go to temples and talk to religious leaders to teach them the meaning of God's word. As you can imagine, Jesus knew he was pretty limited on time and the Lord had everything mapped out so that He could fulfill His plan. This is why I love the story in the beginning of John 4 and have been reading and re-reading it in preparation for my internship in San Francisco with a non-profit organization called Because Justice Matters.

Jesus is travelling between towns and ends up stopping at a well that was located in Samaria around noon and while he was there a woman came to get water. Now we can say, "Oh! What a coincidence this woman came to the well the same time Jesus did!" or we can (correctly) say, "Oh! Jesus knew this woman would be getting water at this well at this specific time." Jesus then proceeds to have a conversation with this woman and we find out that she has had 5 different husbands and was living with a man that was not her husband. The reason she is at the well alone is because she waits to come draw water during the hot part of the day in ordered to avoid being judged by the other women who draw their water much earlier. He offers her living water and explains how He is the only one that can truly fulfill her and satisfy her. (John 4: 1-26)

The first point I want to make is that Jesus meets her where she is. He goes to her town and has a conversation with her in order to get to know her and explain who He is. (So He is explaining the Gospel. He is the Gospel. He is explaining who He is, the Gospel. Just think about how cool that is for a minute.) He is patient with her and hears and answers her questions. This why I am so excited to intern with Because Justice Matters the rest of this summer. They meet girls where they are at and love them like Jesus does. I can not wait to start working on Monday!!

The next point I want to make is the disciples reaction in verse 27, "Just then His disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman." Jesus is just disrupting all kinds of social norms and unwritten rules!! During this time period the common Jewish teaching was that talking too much to women was a waste of time. So what does Jesus do? He takes time out of His crazy schedule of performing miracles and talking to the most important people of the time to have a conversation with one woman. A woman that is not even related to him. Jesus is showing His disciples, us, and this woman that she is important. Jesus is specifically concerned with her and her salvation. Just one. He stopped to share the Gospel with one person. This is another thing I love about Because Justice Matters. They believe each woman is unique and worth hearing the Gospel so that they may be saved.

The last thing I want to point out is is in verse 42, "And they told the woman, 'We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.'" You see this woman was so pumped about this guy who had just given her living water, she forgot all about her drinking water, as well as her shame, and ran into town to tell everyone she could find about Jesus. How I wish I had that passion for Jesus daily! At first, verse 39 says many believed because of what the woman said. But then later they believed because of what He said! Jesus used this one salvation to be able to tell the rest of the town about the Gospel. 

One of the things I am going to start praying for my time in San Francisco while working with Because Justice Matters is that people will see Jesus in me and that the Lord will use that to reveal Himself to them. If even just one woman experiences salvation when I am in San Francisco I will rejoice forever, because I know what one more salvation means. It means one more person will be spending eternity in heaven.

Jackie J 

Engaged!!! :)

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 

This is what the ancients were commended for."

Hebrews 11:1-2

I am engaged to Brandon Moore!!! YAY!!!!!!

First off, I would like to point out the two types of people that will be reading this blog. The first group of people are lumped together because they knew me before my Junior year of college. The second group of people are lumped together because they came into my life sometime between Junior year and today. The first group is thinking "I knew Jackie Jenkins would get married." The second group is thinking "I knew Jackie Jenkins would get married to Brandon Moore." So there is really no need for "I told you so" texts any longer. ;)

Now that we've got that out of the way, allow me to tell you what I'm experiencing right now. I have decided to call it having a "Red Sea" moment. After Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea to escape the Egyptians who were pursuing them to take them back into captivity, Exodus 14:31 says, "And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant." Can't you just picture them stopping and looking back and the Red Sea and thinking, "Like what just happened?! How good is our God?!"

That's what I am doing right now -- looking back on everything that has happened in my life in the past six days and thinking, "Like what just happened?! How good is my God?!" So many prayer requests have been answered in the past week that I am just overwhelmed with how faithful the Lord has been to me. Brandon is currently a professional baseball player and my fiance! I just don't think my heart could be any fuller than it is right now!

We have been praying for Brandon to get drafted where ever the Lord wants to use him to tell people about Jesus and his love and Brandon got drafted to the Milwaukee Brewers! We are SOOOOOOOOOO excited about that! What a great organization to be a part of!? We can not wait to see what God has planned as Brandon continues to work hard and improve and hopefully move up in the organization!

We have also been praying about  God's plan for our relationship. About a week after we started our relationship I asked Brandon, "So when are we going to get married?" I don't remember his response, but I'm sure it had something to do with prayer. So that's what we have done. We both knew we had really strong feelings for each other, but we also knew that God's plan for each of our lives was way more important than our plans for ourselves. So we kept praying, and praying, and praying.

Now, a year and a month later we are engaged!! I don't know if I can say enough how important Jesus being the center of our relationship is. If Jesus were not in this relationship, there is a good chance we wouldn't be engaged right now. But by the grace of God, Brandon asked me to marry  him at the airport this morning before he left to start his pro baseball career in Helena, Montana. 

The original ring he picked out is not here yet because it had to be special ordered since I have abnormally small fingers and wear a size 4. So, this early this morning Brandon drove to Wal Mart and bought a cute little ring to propose with so I would have something to wear until the real one got here. (Like how adorable/precious/sweet/cute/thoughtful/wonderful/etc. is that?!?!?!) Unfortunately Wal-Mart didn't have any size 4's on hand either so that ring is now in the process of  getting sized as well!! So my current status is two engagement rings and a bare ring finger. . . and I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER!!!

I love Brandon Moore so stinkin' much. But I love my precious Savior so much more. Looking back on the past six days all I have to say is Praise God and Go Brewers!

Jackie J......(for now ;] )