Jon Goodwin

Fruit>Power – Jesus said it.

Jesus did not desire to overturn Roman rule.  He desired to overthrow the throne of your heart.  The overthrow of the throne of your heart would then lead to a radical transformation of your life.  His Kingship, though internal, would manifest itself outwardly.  The fruit of this would then be seen, heard, and felt.  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control would all be present.  At the same time outbursts of anger and an argumentative spirit would be among things that would no longer be present because the fruit that was produced would eventually choke out these poisons.  

In world where it still appears as though Rome is ruling, does it appear to those who are watching you that Jesus is ruling you?  

There were attempts made to take Jesus and make Him king.  Whenever His followers pursued influence over holiness Jesus always countered with correction.  Domination and power over are never the goals of the kingdom of God.  It is power under.  As we live a life under the influence of our King and we allow His influence to permeate every facet of life and flow forth in such a way that the aforementioned fruit becomes available and accessible to all who come in contact with us.  

If you spend all your time guarding your garden, your vegetables will eventually get choked out by weeds. True, birds, rabbits and rodents might never eat your fruit but guess what?  If you spend all your time tending your garden, weeding it, watering it, pruning it, you will also not have the birds, rabbits, and rodents eating your crop?  Why?  Because you are also present.  Yet at the same time, you will produce way more fruit.  Simply put, if your whole life is spent watching for evils to fight versus cultivating the good around you that you can control, your fruit production will always suffer.  At the same time those around you will suffer because God in His providence has called you to produce His fruit and give it away to those He has put in your path.  

Jon Goodwin

Servant of ALL

“If you want to be great in My kingdom, be a servant of ALL.” -Jesus

This idea of being a servant of all is not designated for times when it is convenient, not just when those in need of service look like you, vote like you, speak the same language as you, and dress like you. ALL is a pretty wide net. All includes “every tribe, every tongue, every nation.”

When considering this concept, if we include a “but, what if they…” then we aren’t getting it. God’s commands do not include asterisks, exceptions, and exemptions just expectations. The expectation is not that we can say it, the expectation is that we would live it.  

Jesus spoke the following words, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  He did not ask His followers how much you know rather He said, do what you do know.  At some point we have flipped the script.  We place a large amount of weight on knowledge and have seemed to relax a bit on the doing or have simply relegated the doing to being nice.  

Please do not think that I am diminishing the importance of knowledge.  I am not.  I live in pursuit of it every day of my life.  But at the end of the day, you and I will be remembered not by what we knew but by what we did with what we knew.  

I have a relative that at one point told me the entire plan of salvation.  Is that enough?  Nope. She flat out rejects it as truth.

I know people who believe the Scriptures when they say “all people are image bearers of God and therefore have value” but at the same time live very privileged lives and never consider that Jesus heart was positioned towards “the least of these.”  This is not a gap in knowledge.  This is a gap in obedience.  

The problem is that our faith is often big enough to embrace a truth while we attend Bible Studies but is not big enough to embrace while we are interacting with the marginalized.  In this Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep My commands.”  Jesus does not just want your amen to be something that comes out of your mouth.  He desires that your amen would be something that flows from your life.  Our hearts should be bursting with the idea that I am convinced therefore, I do. 

In Romans 12.1 we read, “Therefore I urge you, brethren by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  How does one present their bodies as a living holy sacrifice?  It is much more than putting on the mind of Christ.  It also includes the hands and feet.

Jon Goodwin

Billionaires, World Hunger, and Coffee Thoughts

I recently read an article about the 15 richest people in the world.  My first thought? They could end world hunger.  Did a little research, as I am not the first to have that thought and found that a 2% annual donation from the world’s 3,000 billionaires could eliminate global hunger and malnutrition, according to various studies.

While I know that forced donations (taxes and tariffs or whatever you want to call them) aren’t a popular method it does show that we don’t live in a world that is lacking resources.  We live in a world where there is excessive hoarding of wealth.  All that is needed for humanity to flourish (at least on the physical side) already exists.  We don’t need more programs.  We need people who see their neighbors and who value of their neighbors.  This world does not have a shortage in resources, it has a shortage in compassion.

Furthermore, there are some very generous deep pockets out there, but generosity is often tied to what the giver wants rather than what those who are vulnerable need. The question ought not be what do I want but rather what are the real needs in my community.  We need to ask these questions as humans, as organizations, as churches, as governments, etc…

I guess what I am trying to say is this.  Love your neighbor.  See the vulnerable, not as people or situations to be fixed but as fellow people to be served.  Offer hope with the help.  Jesus did this all the time.  Not only did He pass out real bread, but He also said, I am the bread of life.  Not only did He heal the sick, but He is also I am the great physician.  

Whenever I share thoughts like this, I get lectured that it would never work because donations given would be taken by the powerful before they ever reached the vulnerable.  Those who claim this are correct, but this shouldn’t stop us from trying to eliminate hunger and alleviate hardship.  Our doing good should not be dependent on how those who do evil might respond.  We are responsible for us, not them.  And hypothetical wrongdoing does not release us from very real needs.

“So, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” -James 4.17

These are my morning coffee thoughts… 

Jon Goodwin

Love God, Love Others…Love Other Stuff

Discernment is a word that has created some confusion in my life.  Not because I don’t know what it means but rather because of its absence.  I have known many who I would view as wise discerning people that lose all semblance of that definition when it comes to politics.  If I might be frank, I would also add that I have lost a ton of respect for people that I once viewed as discerning in the last few years.  

What is the reason for this?  My belief won’t sit well with many but as a pastor and someone who has spent my entire life in and around Christian organizations and Christian people it is my belief that a large portion of Christendom does not have a biblical world view.  Before you get mad at me, please understand that I am not alone in that perspective.  In fact, the Barna Group conducted research and concluded that only 17% of practicing Christians have a biblical worldview.  Many have a world view that is by in large shaped by opinions that they have sprinkled a little Bible on top.  It is my belief that for many their discipleship and formation has been crafted not by the Word of God but by partisan party politics and by their cable news channel of choice. It is my belief that many do not find their identity in Christ as much as they find their identity in a man-made system.  

The idea that we are aliens and strangers and that this world is not our home seems have gotten lost in 2025 American Christianity and the reason for this is because many would define themselves as American Christians rather than simply Christian or Christ follower.  Many of these folks loudly speak of loving God and country when the Word of God clearly speaks not of loving God and country but rather of loving God and neighbor.  These are two wildly different things.  And wildly different because my neighbors and I have a much different view of what our country is supposed to look like.  

If Jesus was serious of what He spoke of in Matthew 22 then loving God is to be our primary objective, loving our neighbor is a close second, and everything else is pretty far down the list.  As a person who claims to be a Christ follower, when my politics grant me permission to mistreat those I disagree with, this is a red flag that my allegiance to country has surpassed my allegiance to my Savior.  When this happens, I have violated the commandment, “You shall have no other God’s before me.”

When loving country outweighs loving neighbor, this is where you find republicans sitting in the diner verbally trashing the democrats or the democrats in the coffee shop verbally trashing the republicans.  When loving country outweighs loving neighbor, talking points become signs placed in front yards and neighbors with different perspectives become enemies.  Why is that?  Because when idols are attacked, idolators must defend them.  

On the flip side, when love of neighbor takes precedence over love of country, and a country abuses its citizens, this is when we are to rise up.  The Bible is littered with references about caring for those who are most vulnerable amongst us. 

I 100% recognize that what I am writing here is controversial in many circles and none more so than the circle I live in.  Over the past few years, I have had people that I thought were in my circle turn on me because they disagreed with something I said about politics or simply had a different perspective than they.  They allowed views of country to ruin a friendship.  In several of those cases, I was stunned.  

I have long been concerned that those who claim Christian as their banner have been way more vocal about what they were against than what they were for.  This should never be.  Our hearts must be positioned towards people.  When this idea holds a proper place in our hearts it is here that we find common ground.  It is here that people feel loved, valued, and safe.  You and I should not have to agree on much for us to be able to treat one another with dignity and kindness.  After all, it is at the core of our belief system…or is it?

That being said, I love America.  I am thankful to be an American.  Despite her flaws, I still believe she is a great nation, and I am blessed to be here.  My goal, make America a little better everyday by serving and loving my fellow man in the name of Jesus.  My God didn’t call me to change the world, but I do believe when I live out His Word, He can change someone’s else world.  So, I will keep living, loving, and serving.