From the Heart of Pastor Jacqueline A. Thompson
Dear Allen Temple Family and Friends,
We are in week two of our "I Believe" Faith Journeys. Special thanks to Rev. Phil B-D who reminded us so powerfully through his testimony that God causes all things, even the most devastating things, to work for our good. What a great midweek reminder!
This week's faith journey comes from one of our newer members. Meet Tiye Scott. She is active with the LYFE Choir and serves as Assistant Teacher for Sunday School Class Number 5. Tiye also works professionally in the field of graphic design and marketing communications.
In 2003 I was working at a really challenging job. But while there, I was developing skills that would help me in my career journey. In the fall of that year, I sensed the Lord was telling me to leave my job and start my own business. Up to that point, I had never worked for myself and never considered it.
At that time in my walk with God, I hadn't had a lot of experience making big "faith leaps." So when leaving my job to start my business came up, I ignored the idea at first. Even after the Lord used people to give me the money to purchase my business equipment and started to send me clients, I hesitated.
But one of the things I learned during this time was that God will continue to speak, until you hear it. It got to the point that everywhere I went, God was speaking. I even went to a concert where the artist said, "Some of you out there are supposed to start businesses...just do it!" I couldn't do anything but laugh.
The following year, I finally made the decision to quit. I was terrified and excited at the same time. I felt a sense of exhilaration and adventure - I was going on this exciting journey, I was stepping out on faith!
Then it happened. My first big client wrote me a bad check for a project I did for them. I was devastated and panicked. Had I misheard God? What was I doing? How was I going to take care of myself?
But God sustained me (the client eventually paid) and during the first six or seven months that I was in business, I had very few regular clients, and yet my rent was never late, and all my bills were paid.
I'd like to say that I never wavered during those early days. But there were a lot of moments of anxiety! Still, the Lord was faithful and I can look back on that time as benchmark in my walk with God, when what I learned about God in study, I began to experience with God in real life.
If I could share anything from my experience it would be recognizing that God is our source -- not a job, not people, not money - and we can trust Him to supply our needs. In my case, it was only when I didn't have a steady paycheck that I could see it was Him doing it all along. The other thing I would share is keep reminding yourself of what God has done for you. Because life can sometimes make you forget (even if temporarily) your experiences with God.
"Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you." Isaiah 46:4 (NASB)
It's good to know that God will sustains us! God will keep you going, not just materially, but in every way we need. I pray this reminder strengthens and encourages you to just believe.
Blessings to you,
Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor
Dear Allen Temple Family and Friends,
Hope this midweek note finds you well. As you know by now, our I Believe Campaign officially kicked off Sunday, August 24. You were invited to believe with us the words as recorded in Mark 9:23, "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for one who believes."
I also wanted to share with you during this campaign some of the faith journeys that continue to encourage me as I endeavor to believe and stand on God's promises in so many areas. I hope during this campaign you will be strengthened and encouraged as well as get to know some of the faces of Allen Temple Baptist Church..
Meet Reverend Phil Bowling Dyer, affectionately known as Rev. Phil B-D, as he shares his I Believe experience with all of us.
I grew up attending Beebe Memorial CME Church: I still have deep roots there. When I chose to leave that congregation in 1998 and to join Allen Temple because of my new wife, my father and mother were both understanding and supportive. Philip and Hermanee Dyer were always the strongest and most faithful pillars in my life; I discovered the Christian faith through them, and grew in love with Jesus and His Church from their guidance, direction, and their examples of faithfulness and perseverance.
I was on the fourth floor of Kaiser Hospital in Oakland in the Spring of 2012 when the doctor relayed the news - the spot on Mama's lung was malignant. Mama began to weep, and my world began to get jammed. During her radiation therapy and hospice care, I was the faithful son who visited them and served them almost daily. My outsides continued to move forward, and the situation made sense to my brain--but my faith was stuck: Where was the God who healed her so many times before? Why did this need to happen in her life (and in my life) now? And things became even more jammed when a few months later (on the afternoon of Daddy's birthday), the doctor told me that my father had kidney failure. Again, my outsides continued to move forward and all of this made sense to my brain (he was 86), but my faith remained stuck - Why him now? Why both of them together? He only lasted for a bit more than a week. Because of God's sovereign timing, in the 59 years they were married, my parents were only truly separated for the 42 hours that Daddy preceded Mama to glory.
It was at their joint Homegoing Celebration a week later that my faith in Jesus began to move, from being stuck to unstuck. I was still sad and mourning their passing, but it was through the testimonies of my friends and family, the sincerity of the singing, and the fervency of the prayers that the Spirit of God began to remind me:
That precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (Psalm 116:15): God loves my Daddy and Mama, and has done so for a very long time.
That God works all things for good (Romans 8:28): Even things that truly are sad and tragic, God can work them for good, and has promised to do so for folks like me.
That God was still working in me, my family, my generation (Philippians 1:6): God started God's work way before, and then had passed that good work on to my parents, and then on to me and my family; we were to pass it on to others.
I still miss them a lot (especially around holidays). But as I think of them, every month I feel a bit less pain and a bit more joy, and I seek to pass on the good work God has given me thru them.
Blessings to you,
Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor
April 14, 2014
Good Monday Morning To You!
We're here. We are at the last week of our Lenten Journey to the Cross: Remembering Jesus. For 5 weeks, we have been abstaining, adopting and reflecting all in an effort to grow deeper and closer to God. You have made it this far; I know you can make it to the end.
Thank you for the concern, prayers and support you offered to me and my Mother. She was released from the hospital and they were able to discover what caused her issue. She is back to her sassy 84 year old self and for that I am eternally grateful to God for God's goodness and mercy toward us. That experience reaffirmed for me once again that our faith journey is greatly enhanced by sharing in community. There is great comfort in knowing that, "if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." (1 Cor. 12:26). I appreciate you!
This last week, we cannot conclude without exploring the one discipline that seems to characterize the entire life and ministry of Jesus. We know he lived a life of solitude, surrender, service, submission and simplicity. But I suggest to you that the theme of his time on earth could be encapsulated in the discipline of Sacrifice. The notion of 'sacrifice' is a familiar Christian concept. In the Old Testament sacrifices were central to sustaining, renewing and restoring covenantal relationship with God. In the New Testament, we are taught that we now have relationship with God through the belief in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In response, the apostle Paul challenges us to be "living sacrifices" (Romans 12:1).
Sacrifice in each of these three instances clearly involves giving up something. However if we remain at this level of understanding sacrifice, it remains a notion associated solely with pain, suffering and loss. But I offer you an alternative view. Earl Creps, author of "In Off Road Disciples: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders", suggests sacrifice is about the ability to mold our life into a missional shape to fit a purpose larger than oneself. Isn't that exactly what Jesus did? Isn't that what are called to do? Sacrifice is about doing what we need to do to mold our lives into a missional shape to fit God's purpose for our life in every area of our life.
As we reflect upon this final week of scriptures, let's look specifically at the ways Jesus molded his earthly life and ministry to fit God's purpose praying for illumination on how we can more fully do the same.
Monday - Luke 4:16-21
Tuesday - John 10:11-15
Wednesday - Matthew 16:21
Thursday - John 10:17-18
Friday - John 15:13-17 .
Saturday - Hebrews 10:1-10
Sunday - (Worship)
I am so humbled that you would join me in this Journey and I pray that you are stronger, wiser and better for having made the trip. I would love to hear how you have encountered God in a new way over the 6 weeks. As we enter this Holy Week, I encourage you to be intentionally reflective upon what the sacrifice of Jesus means for you, our community and our world. I invite you to celebrate the Resurrection in community because we are so much better together. Finally, I challenge you to stay the course. The Lenten season is ending but the journey is a lifetime.
So, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Let's Grow!
Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor
April 7, 2014
Good Monday Morning To You!
We're almost there! This is week five and I pray this day finds you blessed and better having taken this Lenten Journey to the Cross: Remembering Jesus. I also hope you were enriched personally and spiritually by finding some way to just help somebody. It's through service to others that we can find our greatest fulfillment.
As I write, I am learning my own personal lesson in this week's discipline. I am at Eden Hospital in Castro Valley with my mother who was brought to emergency room for a sudden loss of consciousness. When I got the call, I dropped everything to meet the ambulance at the emergency room. As I waited to be allowed to see her, I came face to face with my own humanity and powerlessness. There are moments in life when we become painfully aware of our humanity, our frailty, the vapor that we call life. In that same moment, I was grateful for the Journey. I recalled our scriptures on Surrender and simply rested on the reality of God. Be encouraged no matter what you face because there is a God!
This week our focus is on the dreaded "S" word: Submission. Yes, I said it...Submission. I am not sure there is another discipline so misunderstood and abused as Submission. It is a concept that has been used as a weapon of power, control and domination. As a result, many have missed out on the freedom that comes with willingly practicing this discipline in their daily lives.
In the New Testament, the word submission is a compound of two Greek words. Hupó means under or beneath and Tàssō means to arrange in order. Together, hupotasso means to place oneself in order, to defer or as we commonly understand it, to yield. We willingly yield ourselves.
Richard Foster suggests there is a freedom that comes with submission. "I said that every Discipline has its corresponding freedom. What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. The obsession to demand that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today. People will spend weeks, months, even years in a perpetual stew because some little thing did not go as they wished. They will fuss and fume. They will get mad about it. They will act as if their life hangs on the issue. They may even get an ulcer over it. In the Discipline of submission we are released to drop the matter, to forget it. Frankly, most things in life are not nearly as important as we think they are. Our lives will not come to an end if this or that does not happen."1
For me, perhaps the best biblical picture of submission is found in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed with a freedom I wish many of us prayed. He was honest and transparent telling God, His Father that the way of the cross was not what He desired. In Matthew 26:39, it says, "And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt".
How often do we feel this way? What areas or situations are we being called to yield our will to? As we read, reflect and respond to this week's daily scripture, let's pray that the Holy Spirit shows us ourselves and those areas where we need to yield.
Monday - John 2:1-11
Tuesday - John 8:31-36
Wednesday - Matthew 26:36-46
Thursday - John 12:24-26
Friday - Matthew 5:38-48 .
Saturday - Philippians 2:1-11
Sunday - (Worship)
There are many areas where we can practice this discipline: Submission to God, Submission to Scripture, Submission to our Family, Submission to our Neighbors, Submission to God's Church, Submission to the Least and the Lost. This week, let's ask God to heal us, restore us and help us yield in the areas where the Holy Spirit is leading. Blessings to you this week! We are bound for the Cross.
I'm still at the hospital. Deaconess Green is sleeping. My sister and niece are talking and I am grateful for a God who allows us to cast all our cares upon Him knowing that He cares about everything concerning us. Keep us in prayer!
Let's Grow!
Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor
March 31, 2014
Good Monday Morning To You!
We have reached our halfway mark in our Journey To The Cross: Remembering Jesus. I pray this week's devotional finds you better for having embarked with us and still abstaining, adopting, and studying daily. Every journey has its' challenges. So if you have fallen away, take this week and recommit. It's not about being perfect. No matter what you are facing, the Good News translation of 1 Corinthians 12:9 makes it plain: "My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak". Knowing that God is strongest when we are weakest is certainly good news.
I also hope you were able to find freedom and blessing through the discipline of Simplicity as well. I had so many reminders this week of the joy and contentment that can be found outside of "things". Witnessing the return of my Pastor Emeritus to the pulpit to preach after suffering a stroke; singing with my father during that same service 11 years after he suffered a stroke; the hand drawn picture of me that a five year old gave me after preaching in Vallejo, stating "God loves you and so do I" were all simple pleasures that meant more than the pursuit of any worldly possession.
As we move closer to the cross this week, we reflect upon the Discipline of Service in the life of Jesus. For many, just hearing the word service produces anxiety, fear and fatigue. We already have so many things we must do, the idea of adding to that list, no matter how noble and beneficial, is overwhelming. But the greatest leaders, philosophers and theologians suggest that the key to peace, fulfillment and joy is found in serving others. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said "Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?" Mahatma Gandhi, whose life and work greatly influenced Dr. King said, "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service." 15th century theologian and founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola suggested that service is not about great deeds and accomplishments and cannot be restricted to a certain list of actions. Rather service is looking for opportunities in our daily life to be helpful.
All of these world changers have spoken publicly about how the life and ministry of Jesus informed their worldview and their work. So let's go straight to the source and read, reflect and respond ourselves to the discipline of service as found in the life and teachings of Jesus.
Monday - John 13:12-17
Tuesday - Matthew 25:31-40
Wednesday - Matthew 6:1-4 .
Thursday - Mark 10:35-45
Friday - Mark 9:33-37 .
Saturday - Philippians 2:3-7
Sunday - (Worship)
Service will look different for each of us. Pray and ask God to show you how this discipline can become consistently active in our lives. Let's look for opportunities to help someone everyday this week. Mahalia Jackson sums it up best, "If I can help somebody as I pass along, then my living shall not be in vain." Let me know how the journey is going for you. We are almost to the cross and I want us to get there together.
Let's Grow!
Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor
- Lent 2014 - Lenten Journey To The Cross: Remembering Jesus - Week Three Devotion
- Lent 2014 - Lenten Journey To The Cross: Remembering Jesus - Week Two Devotion
- Lent 2014 - Lenten Journey To The Cross: Remembering Jesus - Week One
- Lent 2014 - Lenten Journey To The Cross: Remembering Jesus
- Lent 2015 - Be Intentional