God Gave His Only Son -- Good News

One Through One - Saturday Night!

This event is this Saturday on Mizzou's campus! Come join me hear about racial reconciliation!

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Joy Is Free, But Not Cheap

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

I Am Thankful For...

During this holiday season most people are seeing family, eating way too much food, and catching up some sleep. I doubt that many people will even read this due to the busyness of the season, but I thought I would reflect on ten things that I have been thankful for in 2014. Obviously, this is the most cliche thing to do, but cliche is sometimes good for the heart.

10. Legacy Conference

Ali and I attended a conference in late July that focused on Christians living and ministering to diverse people groups in diverse neighborhoods. I was mostly encouraged to see God’s people come together and worship Him.

9. Free Prayer

My friend, Scott, and I have been walking around the neighborhood on Friday afternoons and praying with our neighbors. Asking to pray for people reveals what they value and what God wants to speak into. There have been many amazing stories of God working in the hearts of others, but God has been working on my heart just as much as anyone else.

8. Saturday Morning Prayer

A group of people gather each morning to pray for the needs of the people present, their spheres of influence, Karis Church, churches in Columbia, and the city of Columbia. Ali and I have been meeting on Saturday morning and God has been revealing our need to depend on His strength in all areas of our lives.

7. Douglass Park

The Douglass Park neighborhood has been a warm and welcoming place for my wife and I. I have met so many people that it would take months to write down the names and stories we have heard. Not only have we gotten to know the history of the neighborhood itself, but we have gotten to know the people of the neighborhood as well - which we value very highly. Such a grace from God to know and love so many people.

6. Douglass Park Missional Community

Going along with the last one, I am very thankful for the community of people that have committed to be on mission in the Douglass Park neighborhood. We call ourselves Douglass Park Missional Community (#DPMC), but we believe that God has called us together to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ as a community of believers who love each other and go out on mission in all areas of our lives.

5. New Friendships

This year God has led so many men and women into my life. He has called people like… Scott, Angela, Vincent, Jessica, Chris, Triston, Christina, John, Angie, Ron, Mark, Mike, Brian, and Nate. This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives a picture of all the people God has placed in my life. Thank you to each of you for being great friends this year!

4. Internship

The Karis Church internship has been very challenging this year, but I have grown to see a clearer picture of the gospel. Growing in this has not always come in some miraculously beautiful way - most of it was difficult and challenging. I am thankful that they have not given up on me and that they are being to faithful to discipling me.

3. IMSD

The Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity is the grant program that I work at in the Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Missouri. My boss, Brian, has been amazingly gracious and encouraging during my first couple of months. I have made genuine friends there and I am thankful that God has blessed me with a job that is flexible and expects a lot out of me.

2. My Wife

Ali is my best friend, my wife, and my sister in Christ. She is making me a better man of God, and she pushes me to seek after Jesus more and more each day of my life. God has been good to me by giving me a woman of God who is also pursuing a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior. I am going to grow in my thankfulness for her over the course of our marriage, which I am looking forward to each and every day.

1. God

God has given me the best thing in the entire universe: Himself. I have been made alive in Jesus Christ due to His works, not mine. Over the course of my walk as a Christian I have found that I am much more sinful than I originally thought, but He is much more loving, gracious, and forgiving than I could ever imagine. I am thankful for the life that He has given me, but I am most thankful for Him.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Photo Update 5.20.14

On Friday of this week Ali and I officially moved in our house! It has been a tiring weekend, but we have already met some neighbors and God is good and faithful to us!

The Imago Art and Cultural Center opened this past Saturday night, and there was a great turnout from the Columbia community. We are blessed by such amazing artists and members of the community that support art.

I wear this bracelet each day to remind me of how God changes hearts in the midst of hard to reach people groups. The gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful and this is a small reminder in my life.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Religion vs. Gospel

A couple of weeks ago I posted a review of a book called Jesus > Religion. Jefferson Bethke wrote a very good book that I still recommend, but for those who are confused by the terminology of "religion," look at this document by Pastor Tim Keller.

If you find yourself leaning towards viewing Christianity through the Religion perspective, that is not what the Bible is all about. The Bible is all about the gospel of Jesus and the gospel. The Bible speaks of the good news of God coming down from heaven to save His children by dying for their sins.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Karis Membership Class - November 17th

This Sunday is the next Karis Membership Class! This time around we will be focusing on Gospel.

Karis is passionate about church membership. We believe God had called us to live in biblical community. The best way you can experience that is by living as a committed member of a church family.

The membership process starts with attendance at Karis Intro. After attending that, you’ll continue the process of becoming a member by signing up for and attending the three-part Karis Membership Class (Gospel, Community, and Mission). Classes are held once a month, and the second class is this Sunday, October 27, from 5–7 p.m. in the the Calvary Fellowship Hall. (The three classes can be taken in any order.)

If you are at all interested, let me know!

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

The Gospel in 2 Minutes

#PraiseHim - God's Name Matters (Psalm 113:1-3)

God's Name Matters

Psalm 113: 1-3

Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

praise the name of the Lord!

Blessed be the name of The Lord

from this time forth and forevermore!

From the rising of the sun to its setting

the name of the Lord is to be praise!

Names are important. We are always asking others what their name means, why their parents chose their name, and how it is spelled. This is no different with God. God's name should be known and praised. Moses asked God for His name so he could tell his people who sent him to rescue them. God told Moses to tell them that "I am" (Exodus 3:13-14) sent him, which does not make too much sense to us, but I am sure that we have all heard of the Hebrew translation of that: Yahweh (YHWH).

We later see in the Ten Commandments,

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."

God takes His name so seriously that if someone uses His name incorrectly He promises to judge them for doing so. That is a serious thing, right? Yes. Yes it is.

The ESV Study Bible says that this commandment "refers primarily to someone taking a deceptive oath in God’s name or invoking God’s name to sanction an act in which the person is being dishonest." We usually think that is whenever someone uses His name when cussing or swearing, which still is using His name in vain, but its origins are a little different than we tend to think.

The point: God's name matters. He desires us to use His name to bless each other and to remind each other of God's grace, goodness, and greatness. His name was supposed to remind them of how He saved them from the Egyptians and from slavery. His name mattered to them and matters to us.

Why does it matter today to Christians today?

Eventually we learn from Jesus that He identifies as God when he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). The Jews in that day knew what He was saying. Jesus is confidently, directly, and clearly stating that He is God in the flesh. Jesus stated that He is God.

Jesus shows Himself to be God in His character, the miracles He displayed, His sacrificial and loving death, and His triumphant rise from the grave.

God is so infinitely mysterious, yet He makes Himself clearly known. Jesus showed us, along with the entirety of the Old Testament, that God wants a deeply personal and unconditional relationship with His people. He wants us to know His name. Jesus wants us to know Him as our savior, our everything, our friend, our brother, our God.

God's name matters. If we get the name of God wrong then we will spend eternity realizing our tragic mistake. I do not say this without understanding that it takes a lot to acknowledge that God exists and that He cares for us personally, but I urge us all to reflect on God's identity and trust in the God that makes Himself known in the Bible. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He gives life through Jesus, and He gives grace abundantly to those who love and trust Him. He gave us His name so that we could identify who He is, know what His character is like, and grasp how much He loves us.

God's name: Jesus.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

What is a Fight Club?

The Karis Men's Breakfast is going to be focused on Fight Clubs this time around.

Fight Clubs? What is a Fight Club? Is it like the movie? What in the heck do you fight?

Those are totally understandable and reasonable questions. Here is quick and very brief explanation of what a Fight Club is at Karis Church:

"Fight Clubs are small, simple groups of two to three men or women who meet regularly to help one another beat up the flesh and believe the gospel of grace." 

- Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

A small group of men or women get together and live life together. They are open and honest with one another about their sin, their struggles, and their beliefs. They encourage, rebuke, and exhort one another. They fight for each other to help the group believe more in the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. They fight against sin and for faith.

Whenever I try to explain what a Fight Club is I usually say this:

"A Fight Club is a group that fights for faith in Jesus."

Are you interested? Do you want to know more about how to fight for faith? Are you interested in hanging out with other men who deeply want to know God more fully and know each other more clearly?

Register for the Men's Breakfast: Fight Clubs event on The City. Or you can contact me for more information!

Let's fight for faith together.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Captive in Iran

Watching an interview with two women from Iran who were imprisoned because of their faith in Jesus. #goodstuff #encouraging

Jacob Luis Gonzales