Relaunching 1208

Join us for a communal service where we discuss relaunching 1208.

1208 Week of Prayer: Day 7

Christianity is a story about resurrection which is good news when things around you feel like they're falling apart. Continue to pray with us as we get ready to gather tonight for church and re-envision what 1208 might look like in a post-pandemic world.

1208 Week of Prayer: Day 6

The foundation of 1208 is a multicultural one. How do we continue to grow in this way and continue to reach people of different cultures? Pray with us as we continue to imagine what a relaunched 1208 might look like.

1208 Week of Prayer: Day 5

In one Jesus' most overlooked parables, we're told about a farmer who sows seed and then harvests the crops when they're ready. Where should we be looking to sew seeds in Jackson? Where might we harvest? Let's pray about that as we continue to think about what a relaunched 1208 might look like.

1208 Week of Prayer: Day 4

There are many different things we can focus on in the faith, but if Jesus isn't at the center of it, everything else will get out of place. How do we create a church centered on Jesus? Pray with us on this as we get ready to relaunch 1208.

1208 Week of Prayer: Day 3

"In Jackson as it is in Heaven"—that's our mission at 1208. We hold this statement because it was central to Jesus' gospel. Let's think and pray into what this means as we get ready to meet on Sunday to discuss the relaunch of 1208 in the post-pandemic world.

1208 Week of Prayer: Day 2

The only glimpse we get of a church service in the Bible looks very little like the church services we hold today. As we pray and think about what a relaunch of 1208 might look like, how can we incorporate the Bible's church service values into 1208? And how can we use these values to free us from thinking of church in a traditional stage form? Pray with us as we get ready to meet on Sunday and discuss this further.

1208 Week of Prayer: Day 1

Last night we found ourselves in Romans 12 where Paul talks about the church being a body in which everyone participates. This is not exactly the most accurate description of the post-pandemic church across the United States, and we at 1208 want to start re-envisioning what a relaunch of 1208 might look like based on who we are, where we’ve been, and where we feel called to go next—recognizing that God desires our church to be successful in ministry.

So this week we’ll be emailing and posting daily devotionals so that we can all get our hearts ready for Sunday, where we’ll meet during our normal service, but spend the majority of time holding a vision meeting. We’re excited to hear what the Spirit lays on your heart on a personal level and on a congregational level.

The Church Won't Work Right Without You

In Romans 12 we come across a famous passage reminding us that the church is a body, not a building, a Sunday service, or a pastor. Therefore, if a church is going to work correctly, all who are a part of the church need to recognize that God has gifted them to be able to serve in the body in a unique way, and then plug in to serve. We talk about that and more in tonight’s service!

A Multicultural Olive Tree

Paul gives us the beautiful illustration of an olive tree in Romans 11 in attempts to help the church see how they are all one, but also different. And being different is okay—in fact, it’s the point! Apples aren’t meant to become oranges, but rather, they are meant to remain themselves while being grafted into the same trunk and foundation.

And this is why Paul gets so frustrated with his Jewish brothers and sisters for trying to circumcise the Gentiles that were being grafted into the tree of God’s family: The nations are not to become Jewish—they are to remain their own nationality and be brought into the family of God nonetheless. If all the nations become Jewish, then multi-national Bride of Christ wouldn’t happen at all. We talk about this, it’s implications, and more in today’s message on Romans.

The Kingdom of Alexandria

What does evangelism look like from a supernatural perspective? That's what we look like in today's Roman's passage.

The Simple Proclaimed Gospel

In today's service we take a look at the themes of Romans 10, including the simplicity of the gospel, salvation by faith, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and how the gospel has somehow been declared to all people.

When God Hardens Pharaoh's Heart

Romans 9 is a difficult passage to process. Is there free will or is everything predestined? How does judgment work? Jamin starts with the story of Pharoah in Exodus and then moves into Romans 9 to continue the conversation.

The Elect, Foreknown, Predestined, Called, Glorified Ones

As Paul gets excited about our identity in Christ, he begins throwing out important adjectives that define our identity as Christians before exploding into an epic poem about Jesus' love for us.

Everybody's Groaning

In one of Paul's most beautiful passages on resurrection, he paints the whole of creation groaning alongside Christians as the Holy Spirit groans within us.

The Two Aslan's

In this message Jamin breaks from preaching on Romans to talk about making sure we hear the tone of Jesus correctly. Then we spend the rest of service in a time of worship.

Flesh and Spirit

In this message we take a look at the four main characters of Romans 7: The Law, Sin, Humans, and Jesus. How the four interact have a lot to say about salvation and resurrection.

What if Adam and Eve Never Sinned?

In Romans 5, Paul contrasts the old sinful humanity of Adam with the new resurrected humanity of Jesus. In this message we imagine other worlds where humanity never sinned and then face our actual reality, which ends up being both stranger than fiction and immensely beautiful.

What Suffering Produces

We in the West tend to look at suffering and persecution as a negative thing, but people like Paul see it as a positive. For in our suffering is the cross, which is the crux of Jesus, who is the crux of everything.

Abraham: The Original Gentile

When Paul tries to convince the Romans that the Gentiles can be brought into the covenant family of God without first being circumcised or being subjected to the law, he uses Abraham as his example why. By Paul's reasoning, Abraham was the original Gentile that God brought into the covenant and God considered him righteous not for his works or his circumcision or his following of the law (Abraham didn't yet know about such things), but for his faith. Therefore, faith is the definition of salvation for Paul and Abraham is the earliest example of proof. Though the law is good and upheld by the Christian (for it has not been abolished), obedience of the law is now found in the obedience of the law's ultimate interpreter, Jesus Christ, who has become the fulfillment of the law.

Therefore, we are saved by the same formula that God's people have always been saved by throughout history: God's grace given to sinners on behalf of their faith/faithfulness/belief/commitment/believing loyalty/allegiance to God. What has changed in this formula in the New Testament, however, is the crux upon which all of our faith now hangs: King Jesus Himself, who is the fulfillment of the original covenant made to Abraham, the forgiveness of sins, and the one who has paved the way for us to enter into the resurrection life of the new heavens and new earth, where we will live with new resurrected immortal bodies. We have been given evidence of all of this through the downpayment of the Holy Spirit, through which full resurrection will one day come, and has also already begun now inside of us. We can only receive these promises by our faithful allegiance to Jesus, for to be faithful to Jesus, is to be faithful to God—for Jesus is God-in-flesh.