Why go to Israel?

Israel is a place every Christian should visit once in their lifetime. Why?-I broke the reasons into past, present and future-

Past-
-to walk in the steps of Jesus is incredible. It will bring the stories of the Bible alive.
-you can go to Capernaum (where Jesus lived), the Sea of Galilee (try walking on water there if you want!), Mt Carmel (where Elijah battled the false prophets), Jerusalem, the city of David- these are real places that still exist.
-there is an unusual sense of God's presence in Israel. I am not into holy places, but you can feel God's presence at the Western Wall so heavily.

Present-
-this will be one of the great spiritual experiences of your life. Believe me, it will be.
-Israel is the center of 3 continents, and a fascinating mix of cultures.
-it is small, the size and population of NJ, and thus easy to get around.
-it will give you a great understanding of the Jewish people and culture.
-God says His eye is always on it. To Him, it is the center of the world.
-you will understand the perpetual political struggles over this land when you visit it, and see how small and pivotal it is.
-it is safe, we will not go to any dangerous places, like Gaza.

Future-
-Israel is where world history ends. You can visit Armageddon, the site of the last battle, and the Mount of Olives, where Jesus will return to earth. This will so enrich your understanding of prophecy.
-you will walk where the Jewish temple was, and will be rebuilt in the future. People there are planning this now.

If there is any way you can get in on this trip, do it. It will be the spiritual experience of a lifetime. We have our interest meeting on November 20 after church.

Interesting facts about the Reformation

In the course of studying about the Reformation for Sunday's message, I learned many interesting facts. Here are a few.

1. The Reformation was promoted by a new technology, the printing press. Luther's supporters published countless flyers and pamphlets with his writings.
2. Luther's salary was paid in part by income derived from tourists who came to see his employer's extensive collection of relics. Frederick " the Wise" had over 16,000 relics, most of which were fake and incredibly superstitious.
3. Frederick was raised up by God to protect him, without him Luther would have been destroyed by the church and pope early on. Frederick the Wise was just far enough from Rome, strong enough, and smart enough to keep Luther alive.
4. Luther may have been motivated to post his theses by Halloween. The church replaced pagan Halloween with All Saints' Day, which was a huge time for people to come and venerate the saints and the collection of relics. Anticipation of this huge crowd may be why Luther posted when he did.
5. Columbus discovered America only 9 years after Luther's birth. Maybe God prepared America at this time for refugees of the religious persecution coming from the backlash against the Reformation.
6. Jan Hus, often called the Morningstar of the Reformation, gave basically the same message as Luther 100 years earlier in Prague. He was burnt at the stake by the church for heresy, but prepared the way for the Reformation. He is considered the national hero of the Czech Republic. His huge statue in the center of Prague (I was there about 4 years ago) brought tears to my eyes.
7. The Reformation only succeeded in countries which were never controlled by the Roman empire. Ex-Roman countries stayed with Catholicism, which was also tied in with a political commitment to Rome.
8. A century after the Reformation and continuing to today, the new Protestant Reformation countries became more prosperous and prominent than the Catholic countries, due to the teachings of the Reformation.

Dream

Friday night I had an odd dream. I saw a very short ugly lady standing in front of me, who was a demon and blocking my way. I tried to rebuke her so I could move on, but could not. After several tries I was able to say the name Jesus, and she moved aside and I was able to move ahead.

Moneyball

This is a really good movie, regardless of whether or not you like baseball (if you like baseball, it is a fantastic movie). It is a true story, my favorite type of movie.

Word to me

The last few weeks God has been speaking to me, as He said to Joshua, "I have given you this city."
I believe this means an unusual turning to God in Marlboro, as well as much of the surrounding area.

Exciting times are ahead!

Visit to Joe McCain's church in North Carolina

A few weeks ago I was honored to be the guest speaker at Pastor
Joe McCain's church in Raleigh, NC, for their new building dedication. The rented space is in a strip mall off a main road. The area is booming with lots of building (a shock, there is very little construction in NJ right now). I spoke on "The Power of Dreams" from the life of Joseph (the origin of Joe's name). Several people in the church used to be in MWC (see the Fredericks on the left). Afterward we had a celebratory dinner at a local Chinese buffet, and then watched some football at Joey's apartment. It was a good time of being together, and hopefully giving the church a fresh vision for the future. Pray for God's blessing and growth on the church.

Our grandchild Lydia

Lydia Xin-Mei Jasko was born in Lancaster, PA, on October 6. Her middle name means "beautiful heart." We are excited about being grandparents. I plan to do an extensive Bible study on their
role, and the influence of older adults on their grandchildren, to get me ready for this new role.

My son Timothy and daughter-in-law Jennifer are doing well as new parents.

Prophetic dream

The other day I dreamed that we had bought a new house. It much much larger and newer than our current one. I walked around and almost got lost. Christina was asleep in a bedroom, and I was surprised to see her. We still had the old house.

I read a book on Christian dream interpretation a year ago. This is a common dream, and speaks of moving into new gifts, potential, and opportunities. It speaks of growth and blessing.
I look forward to the fulfillment!

Princeton vision

For you fans of Princeton, last Sunday I had an unusual vision of Princeton. I was getting ready for our early service at my church on 9-11, which was a difficult day, as everyone in our area knows someone who died in the Twin Towers (14 people from Marlboro alone died there, and one from our church). My mind was totally on the service, but on way up to our church platform I had a vision of Princeton.

I saw a cloud, which was clearly God's glory, hovering over the Henry courtyard. Later it occurred to me that day was the introductory day for freshmen at Princeton, when they are cheered on through the gates.

I am believing God for great things at Princeton this year!

Snakes

For two nights I have had bad dreams of snakes biting me . The first night they were trying to wrap around my lower body, and the second night one was following me and trying to bite my feet. Both were clearly satanic, and I rebuked them in my sleep.

Such is the spiritual warfare cost of being a pastor.

We've got Jesus!

I love this story! Two nationally ranked high school football teams played each other. One school started taunting the other (all-male Catholic school) with "we've got girls". The other chanted back "we've got Jesus!". This set off a firestorm, with the "girls' school" coach screaming at the chanting fans.

The team that had Jesus won 17-14.

9-11

I am sobered that I was on top of the World Trade Center a few months before 9-11 with guests from France. Only God protects us.

Last week I was checking through some Psalms speaking of God's protection of us. Check out Psalm 9-11 (91:1)- it is most relevant! Is this a coincidence?

Rain

It's funny how you never appreciate having something until you lose it.

We have had heavy rains the past 10 days. But when we were in Arizona the prior 10 days, I was stunned at how dry the desert is. Tucson has had a total of 2.7 inches of rain this whole year, and 5 plus inches the year before. All life in the desert is dependent on rain, which we take for granted in NJ. We had more rain this past week than Tucson probably had for the past year and a half.

I will complain about rain less!

General Council in Phoenix

For those who don't know, I am in Phoenix since Monday. The Assemblies of God holds a general meeting every 2 years for inspiration and business. There are over 20,000 people here from all over the country and world. Youth are involved in the Fine Arts Festival. We have had services at night, and business metings and elections during the day. It has been a chance to see old friends (lots of missionaries and others here), and to catch up on what is going on in the larger body of Christ. Plus, there is a trade show area with many companies that sell products to Christians. Pastor Joe and I are having a contest to see who can get the coolest free thing and the most costly free thing (most of the venders are giving away promotional items ranging from candy to Ipads- the best stuff like Ipads are won via drawings, not given away)).

It is incredibly hot here, up to 111 degrees yesterday, with little greenery to absorb the heat (this is a hot spell even for them). They say that it is a dry heat, but so is the inside of my oven!

This is always a good spiritual experience.

Meijer sculpture garden

This great photo is from the big Meijer garden. This is a replica of a 24' foot horse, the model of which was made by DaVinci, but never cast as he planned (his original model was used by the French for target practice when they captured his city).

As you can see, this horse can get pretty aggressive and tries to stomp people. Only by luck and speed was I able to escape being stomped.

Gerald Ford museum

Last weekend we went to see Christina in Grand Rapids. It is a beautiful city, nothing like the Detroit and Michigan I imagined (it is 150 miles away from Detroit, and residents always say they live in "western Michigan").

The top attraction was the Gerald Ford Museum. He was from Grand Rapids. It was outstanding, a real time capsule of his few years as President. A few facts about Ford:
1. He is the only President who was never elected as President or Vice-President.
2. His original name was not Ford, as his mother was divorced when he was very young, and her husband adopted him, and gave him his name Ford.
3. The big issue of his day was whether to pardon Nixon and draft dodgers from Vietnam (he pardoned both).
4. The Bible verse of Proverbs 3:5-6 was a key comfort to him.
5. His ultimate goal in life was to become minority leader of the House, which he became. But to everyone's surprise, he went from there to Vice-President and President.

Finding the family cat

Yesterday we rescued our family cat. Before dinner she was outside on a leash, and got free. When I got home, Louise was frantically looking for her all over our property and nearby, but she was nowhere to be found. After searching for half an hour, a severe rainstorm began, and we went inside to eat dinner, planning to go back hunting when it slowed down.

After dinner we began the hunt again. Finally Louise found her under a huge thicket in woods on our property. But it is almost impossible to get in there, and then the storm restarted, this time with torrential rain and lightning nearby. We went in the house for cover.

After more time, we went out to the thicket. The cat was terrified and wet, and would not come.
We circled around it, and after many mosquito bites, were able to grab the cat.

I hope she appreciates this!

My garden

Most people don't know that I am a hard-core gardener. My dad taught me this when I was young. I have always loved nature and outdoors, along with animals and of course minerals and fossils. In high school I even took care of the family garden, weeding and all. If I had a thousand lives, one of them would be spent as a gentleman gardener (to do it all the time would be hot and hard work, others would do the weeding!)

Tuesday was a great day, I spent half of it planting my garden. It was cool and overcast, perfect planting weather. I put in green beans, pole beans, okra, lettuce, 2 kinds of tomatillo, 4 types of pumpkins (regular, dill giant, white and jack-be-little), gourds, squash (zucchini, yellow, butternut, others), cucumbers, shallots, kohlrabi, and many tomatoes (better boy, brandywine-an Amish heirloom-the best tasting tomato, roma, polish linguisa, sweet million and a few others), which I grew from seed.

The coolest thing, which has never happened to me before, is that a box turtle was in our garden a week ago, and buried a nest of her eggs there, right in the middle! So we may have baby turtles along with our tomatoes from our garden.

If you are by our house, stop by and I will show you the garden.

Building dedication

We had a glorious celebration last Saturday. We have been in the building about 5 months now, and have it in pretty good shape. It was nearly a full house, with lots of music, speeches, prayer, food and rejoicing! The mayor of Marlboro (Jon Hornik) and the superintendent of the NJ Assemblies of God Carl Colletti addressed us. It was a memorable day.

The Board of Chosen Freeholders celebrated "this auspicious occasion and proclaims this day, Saturday, June 18, 2011 as 'Monmouth Worship Center Day'." This is kind of cool. You can see the declaration on the plaque on the welcome center.

Church location facts

Here are some interesting facts about our new location-
1. The original marl pits after which Marlboro was named are in the back of the church property. People say all sorts of fossils, including dinosaur bones, have been found there.
2. We are across from a very new development, and right down the street from the original Marlboro Village, built around the Civil War.
3. The bike path intersecting Vanderburg will be 26 miles when finished, and go from Freehold Borough all the way to Sandy Hook when completed. It is beautiful.
4. Witherspoon Street across the way is named after a famous American (not Reese!) John Witherspoon was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and President of the College of New Jersey (today Princeton). He was a major influence in the colonies, and a great Christian.

Question- who was Vanderburg?

What a way to wake up

Wednesday I awoke to the loud sound of a car crash right in front of my house. There was a loud thud of metal hitting metal. We live on a main road, and people often go faster than they should. When I looked out the window, an SUV had hit a mini-van. I hope everyone was OK. The minivan's rear was pretty crunched up, and the vehicle had to be towed away on a flatbed. The other car drove away. Broken glass and car parts were all over the street.

Kind of a jarring way to wake up.

Will Graham celebration

Last night was the training for supervisors in the celebration this weekend. This is shaping up to be a big event, with the Ocean Grove auditorium expected to be full every night. I pray that we as a church step up to this and bring and invite many people. Our goal is 20 new people to be added to the church through this.

Stay tuned for more details.

A Fox day

Yesterday I finally met Herod the fox. Several people around church have seen him, but only yesterday did he appear to me. He was trotting at a good pace around the water detention pond, where many upset geese and goslings were watching him. He looked like a small red-brown dog, but pretty thin. I have named him Herod, as Jesus called him a fox. He has a bird in his mouth.

The irony is that I was photographed on fox (news) the same night (was Herod prophetic?). They were doing a story on the ACLU threatening Neptune on the use of the Ocean Grove auditorium for graduation. I was there for the Will Graham celebration supervisor training, and ended up clearly seen in the news the next morning (sorry, no words of mine). I guess this was my 2 seconds of fame!

Let me know if you meet our church pet.

A movie not to be missed

We went to see "Soul surfer" the other day. This is a great movie, the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a 13 year old Christian surfer girl in Hawaii who had her arm bitten off by a shark. It is currently at most movie theaters.

Why is this so good?
1. Great message, of how a person coped with personal tragedy.
2. PG
3. Great surfing footage
4. Beautiful pictures of Hawaii, a number of which I recognized.
5. The youth pastor is a hero.
6. Her breakthrough happened on a missions trip, great depiction of what God can do on them.
7. Good movie for a teen.

This really is too good to miss.

Jersey Boys story

For my birthday we went to see the Broadway show "Jersey Boys", which I have wanted to do for a long time. I am an oldies junkie, and also grew up in the area where some of them were from. The show was a lot of fun, I would recommend it.

I got a great sermon illustration from it too, illustrating how God blesses us when we give. The songwriter was at an intersection in New York when a grubby street girl starting squeegeeing his car. He thought she looked like a rag doll. When he reached into his pocket to give her something, all he had was $10, a lot for the occasion. But he gave it, and as soon as he gave it, the words and idea for the song came together instantly. You might say that it was a good investment, as they made a fortune on the song "Rag Doll."

As we give, God gives to us.

Pumpkins

I love to grow and have pumpkins! When I was young, I once grew 36 in one year on our back yard, with vines running all over our hedge. Our neighbor was pretty tolerant.

It is also a mini-interest to see how long we can keep our pumpkins. This year probably set the record, as the pumpkin I bought (not much action growing them last year) lasted almost to May, from a mid-October purchase (see the winner at the left). Alas, by then it was rotten, and I had to toss it in our garden.

But if we are lucky, its seeds will give us a pumpkin this year, and it will last even longer. We will see.

David Wilkinson's death

Certainly a great Christian passed away yesterday. David Wilkinson impacted incredible numbers through Teen Challenge and the church he began in New York, Times Square. He also was a true prophet, with a strong word to speak to America and the church.

It is interesting for me to reflect that our church here in Marlboro in some ways owes its existence to him. Wilkinson came to the Princeton college campus in 1975 and presented an evangelistic meeting (which had minimal results) . But out of that, the person who hosted the event got burdened for Princeton, and helped restart a church there. Wilkinson had a burden for the town, and supported him financially in the very beginning. It was through that church that I got going spiritually. Eventually I went on staff there as a pastor, and then came to Marlboro to start Monmouth. So if Wilkinson did not exist, our church probably would not be here.

A godly man's life has unexpected influences for good in many places.

Necessary for salvation

Romans 10:9 says that a belief in the resurrection of Jesus is necessary for salvation. I memorized this verse when I was a new Christian, but never thought of it this way.

Where do you get all those books?

Guests in my office often ask me where I got all my books, and if I have read them all! I have not read them all, but can give you a summary of pretty much all of them (most I have at least skimmed).

But the best place to get books are used book sales, of which I go to 3 in the spring. The Bryn Mawr book sale in Princeton is enormous (Louise is an alum and works at it). Like all the others, you can take all the books you can carry in a box on the last day for $5, which can mean a lot of books. The Freehold Association of University Women is pretty good too, and I got a lot of Christian books there last year. (It is still coming in June, if you are interested).

But for Christian books, nothing comes close to the Princeton Seminary sale last week. Imagine a gym with thousands of books, and whole tables devoted to old testament, counseling, preaching, practical issues, or commentaries, etc. You can pretty much find any Christian book older than 2 years there. I got a lot for myself, as gifts for others, and for our church library. The cost was $1 for a paperback, and $3 for hard covers. The cost steadily declines as the sale progresses.

Our first grandchild

Here are the pictures of our first grandchild, due in October. If you look carefully, you can see a head and... well, they assure me that it is all there, if you know how to read these photos.

For those who don't know, Tim and Jennifer live in Lancaster,PA, and have been married for 5 and a half years. Tim is a computer software engineer, and Jennifer is a chemical engineer (she oversees the making of listerine, keep using it).

This is the best gift I could have gotten for my upcoming 55th birthday this month.

Any ideas for great names? There are only 2 words which rhyme with Jasko.

700

Yesterday was the first regular service (ie, not Christmas, Easter, special event, etc.) that we had over 700 people present (714 to be exact- last week was 699). It seems like each week more and more people are coming. God is blessing us! And we have some big outreaches in the next few months, drama, Graham celebration, marriage seminar and building dedication.

Keep praying, working, and being faithful, God is honoring it.

Graham celebrations

The life and witness classes went well this week. The Graham people said that a combined attendance of 2000 per week would be outstanding. But there were over 3000 who came! On youth night, so many came that they ran out of books (and pizza) to give out.

You can still get in on the classes this week, and make up the first class.

Aslan is on the move in central Jersey! Keep praying and believing.

Borders' loss...

... is our gain. As you know, many Borders book stores are closing due to financial problems. The Freehold store is selling beautiful furniture and fixtures at fire-sale prices. I have been there 3 times this week to buy various items for a song. If you see nice new furniture around the church (about 20 different items), it probably came from there.

We need to keep an eye out for more of these bankruptcies, these are great chances for the church (and you) to buy good things inexpensively.

Breakfast with Will Graham

Pastor Joe and I attended a very inspiring breakfast with Will Graham yesterday with about 30 other pastors. As you can see from the photo, he looks just like his famous grandfather Bill Graham. And he talks like him too!

Some points to take home-
1. There is unusual momentum in our area for the celebration. There has been a much greater response than normal to the classes and seminars. The Graham staff think that an unusually large number of people will come to Christ based on the interest, and that God is doing something special in our area. We want to be part of this.

2. Will said that at this time we need to make prayer for the lost a priority, with only 2 months to go.

3. Will exhorted us NOT to invite people, but to bring them with us (like in our car). He said upwards of 80% of those who come who need Christ are brought by others, not invited, and certainly don't come via media or ads. He also said he did not want us to bring Christians, as believers so often do. Bring someone who needs Jesus!

It was all quite inspiring. Hope you can attend the life and witness classes this week.

Listen to the Spirit

An unusual thing happened recently. I was walking and praying the whole week at Battleground State Park in Manalapan. There are many walkers and joggers there on any given morning, but one caught my attention for no reason. I almost stopped to talk to her Thursday, but did not.

The next day as I drove in, there was Julie Verdi walking with her! It turns out that Julie has been extensively witnessing to her at the park, and walking with her too. I guess I should have doing this also. She is very open.

How many times do we miss hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit?

News

Several people have asked how Christina is doing. The answer is "great"! Her job was just upgraded to full-time from part-time and she is handling it well physically. Thanks to your prayers and God's help, she is getting stronger every day.

Check out my comments (and Lamarr Rivers') on rap music in 3-20-2011 issue of the Asbury Park Press. But the best things I said never made the article.

Sailor's valentine

We saw these at the Shell museum on Sanibel Island, a great place to visit. Sailors used to make incredibly complex pictures out of shells for their wives and girlfriends. They were popular to give them for special occasions. Each spot is a shell, some small and some larger. These must have taken days to make, but are beautiful. The picture does not do them justice, enlarge it to see the detail.

Where is this?- answered

Welcome to what may be the largest home in Manalapan. You are looking at One Precedent Place, in the south below Rt. 33, on the left. It is basically 2 large homes with a connector which is a small home. On the right is a lake at Thompson Grove Park, a beautiful and solitary place to visit, also in Manalapan. This lake backs up to Millhurst Mills. Susan Hassan ultimately figured out the home photo, but no one got the park photo.

Henry Ford needed encouragement

Here is a statue of Edison at his summer home in Fort Myers. Surrounding it is the largest banyan tree in the continental US. Edison and Ford both had adjacent summer homes here, which today are the area's biggest tourist attraction. You must see them if you are here, it is amazing all that Edison invented- the electric light bulb, motion pictures, much improved batteries, phonographs, stock tickers, and countless other things we take for granted today.

Edison was about 20 years older than Henry Ford, who looked up to him. History tells us that the unknown Ford met the famous Edison when Ford was working on producing his first car. Edison was intrigued with Ford's ideas for his car (especially his fossil fuel internal combustion engine), and encouraged him to keep at it. Ford said that this encouragement from his idol kept him going through dark and difficult days until he created the model A.
Ford ultimately became famous and much richer than Edison, and they became great friends. But Ford never forgot Edison's encouragement when he was unknown and needed it.

If Ford needed this, how much more do we? Let's encourage each other to keep going.