Hello Readers,
This is going to be a full blog post to read! I am very excited to tell you about my adventure that the Institute sent us on as a class! As always I hope that this post provides insight, challenges, and encourages you in your daily walk with Christ.
We were given the challenge to go and evangelize to the town of Branson. Wow, was I so scared when I sat in class and our president told us the heart of this assignment and gave us the layout of what we should ask while talking with people. I knew this time would come and I have learned a ton in being prepared for this specific day, but still very anxious. I had no idea where I was going to go. I HATE the smell of coffee so I knew I wouldn’t be able to go there and talking with people. I had the awesome opportunity to go with one of my classmates and after driving around for a little bit found our self in the parking lot of the hospital here in town!
We were given 5 questions to ask people to open up spiritual conversations.
1. Who is God?
2. Who is Jesus?
3. When do you become a woman?
4. Do you attend a church?
5. Would you mind telling us your story and include your biggest struggle or trial in life right now.
My friend and I headed into the hospital after praying in the parking lot for God to calm our spirits and to give us divine appointments in who we talk with today. We didn’t quite know the layout of the hospital and upon trying to find the out patient waiting room we came upon the cafeteria and decided to sit there for a little while and collect our thought and spend sometime in prayer and reading the Word and look to see if we could talk with anyone in this type of setting. It was earlier in the morning and the only people that came through were the busy nurses that didn’t have time to sit and chat. So we mustered up our courage and sent into the outpatient waiting room.
We saw an elderly lady by herself in a wheel chair and decided to talk with her. I will not being saying her name to give privacy and it was an okay conversation. We ran out of time to get to the first questions but got the chance to talk and listen to her story and then pray with her and give encouragement with the trial of failing physical health and loneliness.
After that we decided to go to a different waiting room because of the low amount of people in the one we were currently in. We wanted to find the chapel and there happened to be a waiting room right next to it. The chapel was a very small room and no one was in it but we did find someone to talk with in the waiting room and it was an awesome conversation! She was waiting on her husband who was in surgery. We had a good hour plus conversation with her. Even though we had a longer time with her it was still hard for myself and my friend to bring up and transition into the 5 questions to ask her. We again went from the bottom up and just asked her a ton of questions about her life and what trials she was currently going through. They happened to be loneliness and weariness and stress. She, however, said multiple times that she was so happy that we asked to speak with her. It was so sad to hear how when she moved to Branson that she and her husband really struggled in finding a church and even friends that excepted them and they just stopped attending any church and hadn’t in many years, even though both had grown up in the church. We asked if she had ever considered trying the churches here again and she said it is funny that we ask because her co-workers of late had really been pushing for her to go with them and she had a deeper conviction to start going again. With all of her husband’s health situations coming up and how her children are going to be moving away and she wanted a support group to walk through the toughest trial she is going through right now. Our time ended with us exchanging numbers and we more recently have heard that her husband is not doing so great and really needs our prayers. We hope to continue to pursue a relationship with her while here at the Institute and she seemed very interested in coming to church with us but couldn’t while her husband was in the hospital. We did however tell her of the live feed she and her husband could watch to see if they even liked the pastor before coming to check out the fellowship of people. Hopefully we will get to sit next to her while at a church service soon or that she goes with her friends.
The questions that we had set out to ask did not all get asked and even though they didn’t I was still blown away with how hurting people need to be loved. I am so blessed with where God has me right now in my life and I was truly struck by how lonely and stressed and tired people are with no support and the church has left them abandoned in some way. I know that the church has a huge responsibility and really it isn’t just the pastors or elders of the church to care for all the people but the people themselves to care for all the people. I have been challenged in my thoughts of how I service in the church I attend and how am I reaching out to other members to show them the love of God in my speech or action. This world leaves us battered and bruised and God’s people are to abide in Him and love like He loved us (1 John).
We are all broken in someway and getting the privilege to step out of my comfort zone and talk with people I didn’t know at all was just a blessing. My friend and I will be going back to the hospital next Thursday to talk with more people and show love to them through speech and possibly some action as well.
I challenge you to think upon these 5 questions and how you would answer them. Second, step out in someway and talk with friends and then people you don’t even know and ask them about them. Stir up conversation with a purpose - we know that Jesus is our escape from the penalty of our sins, He paid the price and we need to be telling others about that love and gift we can have. I hope you are encouraged and have a great day showing the Love of God in someway.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
Romans
Hello Fellow Readers of this blog,
I have had an impactful week of studying Romans! I went through all 16 Chapters in 3 days! Our teacher this week was Chad Hampsch and he did a great job making the book practical but also kept context and gave history throughout. He likes history and reading so he had some awesome insight from outside sources and time periods to help relate the material to our give an example to bring Paul’s writing more to life for us.
I have two things to share with you all about our study that I hope is encouraging and also challenges you to seek the Lord more because of this new knowledge.
1. Chapter 12 - Internal Attributes and External Actions
2. Chapter 11 - Gentiles were grafted in and the Israelite people will be grafted in again to the tree of God
Yes these points are from the end of the book and that doesn’t mean the first 10 chapters aren’t as good. They were great and I encourage you to read the full Book of Romans. It is an incredible letter written by Paul to the Roman Church which he longed to go and see. In this book he really doesn’t talk about questioning theology but rather hits the gospel hard and in an impactful way and he expresses his desire for the church in Rome as they continued to walk in the fullness of the gospel truths. If you do decide to read through the book here is the way that Chad walked through the book with us (not in chapter form but thought form) - this process was derived from the outline of MacArthur.
Book Breakdown:
Greetings and Introduction (1:1-15)
Book Theme (1:16-17)
Condemnation: The Need of God’s Righteousness (1:18-3:20)
Justification: The Provision of God’s Righteousness (3:21-5:21)
Sanctification: The Demonstration of God’s Righteousness (6:1-8:39)
Restoration: Israel’s Reception of God’s Righteousness (9:1-11:36)
Application: The Behavior of God’s Righteousness (12:1-15:13)
Conclusion, Greetings, and Benediction (15:14-16:27)
Okay now to the points I would like to highlight and share with you on how it has impacted me in my thought life just in the first few days and hours.
1. Chapter 12 is so so so good! I love getting instruction from the Bible that is powerful and achievable but challenging because we must die to flesh for it to be accomplished. I know the Lord is working in my life because these qualities are not our human/fleshly desires what so ever. This chapter can be divided up into two different types of Christian walking; internal and external. Verses 1-13 talk about the internal attributes of a Christ Follower and Verses 14-21 talk about the external actions of a Christ Follower. I had one internal attribute stick out a little further for me this time as I read it, Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. I was really convicted my this statement because I can so easily in my mind think that I am doing great and not concern myself with asking the Lord to reveal sin so I can conquer it with Him, but instead I walk in contentment. I also was convicted with how little I say or stand up against evil around me. Yes, I am in an incredible environment this year and not really surrounded at all by the world but I need to be ready to defend and battle against the world when I leave the gates of K-Institute in just 7 weeks. These evils I am talking about are different convictions that God has placed on my heart to speak truth into and shed light, examples for me specifically would be Sex Trafficking or Bullying in Schools. Your convictions maybe the same or different. I challenge you to think about the things of this world that are evil and how you can stand up and defend those evils to be good instead! I also had one external action stick out specifically for me and it was verse 15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” As I was sitting in class I had God lay on my heart that I am very selfish in my conversations with people and want people to rejoice when I rejoice and weep when I weep and I struggle with doing that in return to people around me. To rejoice is to be over joyed and excited and to weep is to be saddened or have sorrow for circumstances that are happening in your friend’s life around you. Chad gave this example, K-Life is about to announce who they have hired for positions in their ministry and we have quite a few people in our class that interviewed and there is no guarantee that we will all be placed in a position so with that, How will we rejoice with those that got the job but still weep with those that didn’t? or How do you rejoice with your friend that got it when you didn’t? or How do you weep with your friend that didn’t get it when you did? To rejoice and weep is to show action that is unselfish to reveal the love of God to our closest friends and the people we just pass in the street. I challenge you to ask God to reveal a friend that needs encouragement because of a trial or just affirmation in a joy in their life.
The second aspect of Romans that really impacted me was from Chapter 11:17-24. This section is Paul using an analogy of a Tree and its Branches to depict the Israelites (God’s People) and Gentiles (Anyone not of Israelite descent). Verse 19 and 23 were so cool to me and this is what they say 19 “You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” and 23 “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” WOW, I LOVE this! Verse 19 is about the Gentiles and verse 23 is about the Israelites. Verses 19, We are grafted into the family of God because of the Israelites unbelief! Wow, that is a hard pill to swallow but I Love How Incredible God’s Sovereignty is when it finishes up in verse 23 that They, His People, The Israelites will be grafted back in and not always have their disbelieve but will come to the full knowledge of Jesus as the Christ, their Messiah! And why are we and they able to be grafted into the family is because God is Able!!! Wow, we serve and believe in an incredible God! I am so thankful for His love for human kind and that He has a desire to have us Gentiles as apart of His family but how he continues to pursue His People and doesn’t loose heart that they will come to belief in His gift and only Son, Jesus, our sacrifice of all sin! I challenge you to reflect how much God loves you today and honestly you should end up in just complete aww and thanksgiving for all that He has done for us!
Thanks for reading and hope you are encouraged to walk closer with our God who desires so much to be in complete unity with us!
I have had an impactful week of studying Romans! I went through all 16 Chapters in 3 days! Our teacher this week was Chad Hampsch and he did a great job making the book practical but also kept context and gave history throughout. He likes history and reading so he had some awesome insight from outside sources and time periods to help relate the material to our give an example to bring Paul’s writing more to life for us.
I have two things to share with you all about our study that I hope is encouraging and also challenges you to seek the Lord more because of this new knowledge.
1. Chapter 12 - Internal Attributes and External Actions
2. Chapter 11 - Gentiles were grafted in and the Israelite people will be grafted in again to the tree of God
Yes these points are from the end of the book and that doesn’t mean the first 10 chapters aren’t as good. They were great and I encourage you to read the full Book of Romans. It is an incredible letter written by Paul to the Roman Church which he longed to go and see. In this book he really doesn’t talk about questioning theology but rather hits the gospel hard and in an impactful way and he expresses his desire for the church in Rome as they continued to walk in the fullness of the gospel truths. If you do decide to read through the book here is the way that Chad walked through the book with us (not in chapter form but thought form) - this process was derived from the outline of MacArthur.
Book Breakdown:
Greetings and Introduction (1:1-15)
Book Theme (1:16-17)
Condemnation: The Need of God’s Righteousness (1:18-3:20)
Justification: The Provision of God’s Righteousness (3:21-5:21)
Sanctification: The Demonstration of God’s Righteousness (6:1-8:39)
Restoration: Israel’s Reception of God’s Righteousness (9:1-11:36)
Application: The Behavior of God’s Righteousness (12:1-15:13)
Conclusion, Greetings, and Benediction (15:14-16:27)
Okay now to the points I would like to highlight and share with you on how it has impacted me in my thought life just in the first few days and hours.
1. Chapter 12 is so so so good! I love getting instruction from the Bible that is powerful and achievable but challenging because we must die to flesh for it to be accomplished. I know the Lord is working in my life because these qualities are not our human/fleshly desires what so ever. This chapter can be divided up into two different types of Christian walking; internal and external. Verses 1-13 talk about the internal attributes of a Christ Follower and Verses 14-21 talk about the external actions of a Christ Follower. I had one internal attribute stick out a little further for me this time as I read it, Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. I was really convicted my this statement because I can so easily in my mind think that I am doing great and not concern myself with asking the Lord to reveal sin so I can conquer it with Him, but instead I walk in contentment. I also was convicted with how little I say or stand up against evil around me. Yes, I am in an incredible environment this year and not really surrounded at all by the world but I need to be ready to defend and battle against the world when I leave the gates of K-Institute in just 7 weeks. These evils I am talking about are different convictions that God has placed on my heart to speak truth into and shed light, examples for me specifically would be Sex Trafficking or Bullying in Schools. Your convictions maybe the same or different. I challenge you to think about the things of this world that are evil and how you can stand up and defend those evils to be good instead! I also had one external action stick out specifically for me and it was verse 15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” As I was sitting in class I had God lay on my heart that I am very selfish in my conversations with people and want people to rejoice when I rejoice and weep when I weep and I struggle with doing that in return to people around me. To rejoice is to be over joyed and excited and to weep is to be saddened or have sorrow for circumstances that are happening in your friend’s life around you. Chad gave this example, K-Life is about to announce who they have hired for positions in their ministry and we have quite a few people in our class that interviewed and there is no guarantee that we will all be placed in a position so with that, How will we rejoice with those that got the job but still weep with those that didn’t? or How do you rejoice with your friend that got it when you didn’t? or How do you weep with your friend that didn’t get it when you did? To rejoice and weep is to show action that is unselfish to reveal the love of God to our closest friends and the people we just pass in the street. I challenge you to ask God to reveal a friend that needs encouragement because of a trial or just affirmation in a joy in their life.
The second aspect of Romans that really impacted me was from Chapter 11:17-24. This section is Paul using an analogy of a Tree and its Branches to depict the Israelites (God’s People) and Gentiles (Anyone not of Israelite descent). Verse 19 and 23 were so cool to me and this is what they say 19 “You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” and 23 “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” WOW, I LOVE this! Verse 19 is about the Gentiles and verse 23 is about the Israelites. Verses 19, We are grafted into the family of God because of the Israelites unbelief! Wow, that is a hard pill to swallow but I Love How Incredible God’s Sovereignty is when it finishes up in verse 23 that They, His People, The Israelites will be grafted back in and not always have their disbelieve but will come to the full knowledge of Jesus as the Christ, their Messiah! And why are we and they able to be grafted into the family is because God is Able!!! Wow, we serve and believe in an incredible God! I am so thankful for His love for human kind and that He has a desire to have us Gentiles as apart of His family but how he continues to pursue His People and doesn’t loose heart that they will come to belief in His gift and only Son, Jesus, our sacrifice of all sin! I challenge you to reflect how much God loves you today and honestly you should end up in just complete aww and thanksgiving for all that He has done for us!
Thanks for reading and hope you are encouraged to walk closer with our God who desires so much to be in complete unity with us!
Friday, February 14, 2014
1 Peter - Godly Women and LOVE
Hello,
This week we had the awesome opportunity to walk verse by verse through both 1 Peter and Philippians. (we didn't make it all the way through Philippians but what we did was amazing!)
I would love to share with you two quick simple things that stuck with me!
I love in 1 Peter when it talks about the role of a Godly women in Chapter 3. Peter writes in the perspective of this women being married. Well I am married and it was really encouraging to read and study what is called of me as a wife.
The four things that Peter tells us that are of Godly women are as follows
1. be submissive to your own husbands
2. observe your chaste and respectful behavior
3. your adornment must not be merely external
4. Gentle and Quiet Spirit that is the hidden person of the heart
I loved Chad Hampsch's take on submission, it is not what the world tells us. The world tells us to not be submissive but take control and be authoritative and a strong leader that doesn't answer to anyone. Chad took this approach, that to be submissive in a marriage is healthy and our make if we understand the word submissive. Submissive does not mean belittled or controlled. This passage is talking about husbands and wives and we are told the woman is to be submissive to the husband. Submissive means we are to allow the husband to lead. The husband has a role as the wife has a role and we are to strive to be within those roles as believers and promote a healthy and joyful marriage. When we as women submit to our husbands with the respect of their roles to lead then we understand what it means to follow and support our husbands well because we aren't to worried about control. It is awesome that a Godly marriage is reflective of Christ and the church and even the relationship of the Trinity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all one but still unique, still all God but the Son and the Holy Spirit show submission in their roles. Submission is not a bad thing - it actually allows us as women to be free to embrace our roles as caregiver and helpmate to our husbands as well as invest in other women's lives around us!
Another part of 1 Peter Chapter 2 when Chad Hampsch brought up list of things a Believer is exemplify in living on this earth.
This was great conversation in our class time and it was good for me to be reminded of my need to love and submit to authority and protect the words I use when talking.
This week I have really been challenged with how I love others around me. It says in 1 Peter 1:22 for us to have "a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart." 1 Peter 2:17 "Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." and 1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins."
Also this week we had our discussion of our week of precepts of 1 John and talked about love. Loving with out expectations and this has been an incredible week of growth for this area in my life. Love is hard to do because we as humans want to feel more loved than what we express - so selfish in our love for people and that is not we are called to do. We are called to "love because He first loved us" in 1 John and we do this because "God is love" and if we are to abide in God then we should love others. There is no way that we can say we love God and not love the people of this world. This has been a shedding of selfishness and expectations this week in how to receive love and show love for me and I just wanted to challenge you with a couple things!
It is Valentine's Day - the holiday to express love to people! How are you sharing about the Love of God to the people in your everyday life? How are loving without expecting anything in return? Have you let the Love of God effect your daily life to be something you show in action or just knowledge of His love that does effect you?
It is a subject that can be very touchy or convicting and you can respond with bitterness or acceptance that you have to work on loving people everyday!
Thanks for reading and 1 Peter is really an awesome book we are given from our Father to remind us of His gift - Jesus and to lay out what Christian living is about here on earth, in submission and love towards others. 1 John is jam packed with straight forward statements on what love is and how we are to love and abide in God! Both you should read and spend sometime today reflecting on who you are doing loving people around you!
This week we had the awesome opportunity to walk verse by verse through both 1 Peter and Philippians. (we didn't make it all the way through Philippians but what we did was amazing!)
I would love to share with you two quick simple things that stuck with me!
I love in 1 Peter when it talks about the role of a Godly women in Chapter 3. Peter writes in the perspective of this women being married. Well I am married and it was really encouraging to read and study what is called of me as a wife.
The four things that Peter tells us that are of Godly women are as follows
1. be submissive to your own husbands
2. observe your chaste and respectful behavior
3. your adornment must not be merely external
4. Gentle and Quiet Spirit that is the hidden person of the heart
I loved Chad Hampsch's take on submission, it is not what the world tells us. The world tells us to not be submissive but take control and be authoritative and a strong leader that doesn't answer to anyone. Chad took this approach, that to be submissive in a marriage is healthy and our make if we understand the word submissive. Submissive does not mean belittled or controlled. This passage is talking about husbands and wives and we are told the woman is to be submissive to the husband. Submissive means we are to allow the husband to lead. The husband has a role as the wife has a role and we are to strive to be within those roles as believers and promote a healthy and joyful marriage. When we as women submit to our husbands with the respect of their roles to lead then we understand what it means to follow and support our husbands well because we aren't to worried about control. It is awesome that a Godly marriage is reflective of Christ and the church and even the relationship of the Trinity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all one but still unique, still all God but the Son and the Holy Spirit show submission in their roles. Submission is not a bad thing - it actually allows us as women to be free to embrace our roles as caregiver and helpmate to our husbands as well as invest in other women's lives around us!
Another part of 1 Peter Chapter 2 when Chad Hampsch brought up list of things a Believer is exemplify in living on this earth.
This was great conversation in our class time and it was good for me to be reminded of my need to love and submit to authority and protect the words I use when talking.
This week I have really been challenged with how I love others around me. It says in 1 Peter 1:22 for us to have "a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart." 1 Peter 2:17 "Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." and 1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins."
Also this week we had our discussion of our week of precepts of 1 John and talked about love. Loving with out expectations and this has been an incredible week of growth for this area in my life. Love is hard to do because we as humans want to feel more loved than what we express - so selfish in our love for people and that is not we are called to do. We are called to "love because He first loved us" in 1 John and we do this because "God is love" and if we are to abide in God then we should love others. There is no way that we can say we love God and not love the people of this world. This has been a shedding of selfishness and expectations this week in how to receive love and show love for me and I just wanted to challenge you with a couple things!
It is Valentine's Day - the holiday to express love to people! How are you sharing about the Love of God to the people in your everyday life? How are loving without expecting anything in return? Have you let the Love of God effect your daily life to be something you show in action or just knowledge of His love that does effect you?
It is a subject that can be very touchy or convicting and you can respond with bitterness or acceptance that you have to work on loving people everyday!
Thanks for reading and 1 Peter is really an awesome book we are given from our Father to remind us of His gift - Jesus and to lay out what Christian living is about here on earth, in submission and love towards others. 1 John is jam packed with straight forward statements on what love is and how we are to love and abide in God! Both you should read and spend sometime today reflecting on who you are doing loving people around you!
Friday, January 24, 2014
Hebrews
Hello anyone that may read this blog,
I have again had an incredible week of class! I am so blessed to be able to do this program and give the Lord time in studying His Word and reflecting on all that He has done for me.
On Monday we had the privilege to have Joe White, president of Kanakuk Kamps, Promise Keepers Speaker, and just an incredible evangelist come and talk to us about Daniel Chapter 9 - the 70 week calendar.
He came to talk with us about the revelations he had taken from the published book of Sir Robert Anderson "The Coming Prince". The information of how scripture is so clear to express when the Messiah would come is so cool to study. We had done a lot of the study on the chapter before Christmas break with his wife Debbie Joe when she taught over the full book of Daniel. However, He came in and expressed what the book by Sir Robert Anderson states on the mathematics that continue to be correct in history with what is stated in scripture!!!
Then Tuesday - Friday we got the incredible opportunity to have Charles Stolfus from Denton Bible come and walk us through the book of Hebrews! It was beyond words enlightening and exciting to read through and search why it is apart of the Bible. I will however try to express to you about a couple things that hit home for me as we went through the book!
Mr. Stolfus gave the book theme of Hebrews to be "The Supremacy of Christ" and I loved that title because as he unpacked the book for us verse by verse we saw that theme scream from the pages! When we got to Chapter 2 verse 10 I was floored with what it means for Jesus to be our Author of salvation. I am going to type out the verse section for you to read...
Hebrews 2:9-11 "But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all thing, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren," NASB
I was just in awe as Charles Stolfus talked about how Jesus was the author of salvation meaning that He was the pioneer for us. The pioneer is the one that goes beforehand and paves the way to something. Jesus was that for us. As the pioneer for salvation He did it through walking through suffering here on earth. As I began to process all that Mr. Stolfus told of Jesus being the author of salvation I was just in a state of thanksgiving and overwhelmed that the book of Hebrews is so blunt but powerful in the words it uses to describe Jesus and what He did for us.
When we got to Chapter 3 verse 1 I was challenged with how I respond in my day to day life with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Here is what the verse says, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession." Mr. Stolfus talked about that the word consider as a very powerful word meaning to give special attention to what follows and it isn't a passing reference but a dedicated focus. The verse then describes Jesus as the Apostle and High Priest and this is what we are to consider or focus on. To not just skim over those characteristics of Jesus but to fully understand what they both mean. Charles Stolfus told us that apostle is one sent and that high priest is just that (the old testament functions of a levitical high priest) but also can be viewed as the final mediator between us and God (which was one of the functions of a levitical high priest). After Mr. Stolfus explained the two characteristics of Jesus and that we were to consider or focus; my thought process was yet again in awe of the elementary view I had of what it meant for Jesus to be sent to us and that He is our way to the Father. However, throughout the rest of the book we read verse after verse about how Jesus is qualified to be the High Priest and the different functions that a High Priest does and how Jesus did exactly that for us. As our time ended with Charles Stolfus I was in excitement and reference to the Lord that I was given the change to study Hebrews and grow in my understanding of Jesus as our High Priest. The word consider has stuck with me these last three days and I am reflecting in my own life what it means to focus my thoughts, heart, motives, actions, speech on Jesus and what He has done for me and how am I suppose to daily walk in that freedom and tell others about it.
I wish I had time to tell more about Jesus as our High Priest, however I do not at this very moment. I do hope to type my notes in a more condensed version to post by next week.
I hope you can be encouraged by knowing a little more about what it means for Jesus to be the author of salvation and our High Priest. He came and died for us so that we could live with Him eternally. He was the final sin sacrifice and now sits at the right hand of God as the mediator between us and God. We can have confidence in His death and resurrection to cover our punishment for our sins. He paid it all.
I have again had an incredible week of class! I am so blessed to be able to do this program and give the Lord time in studying His Word and reflecting on all that He has done for me.
On Monday we had the privilege to have Joe White, president of Kanakuk Kamps, Promise Keepers Speaker, and just an incredible evangelist come and talk to us about Daniel Chapter 9 - the 70 week calendar.
He came to talk with us about the revelations he had taken from the published book of Sir Robert Anderson "The Coming Prince". The information of how scripture is so clear to express when the Messiah would come is so cool to study. We had done a lot of the study on the chapter before Christmas break with his wife Debbie Joe when she taught over the full book of Daniel. However, He came in and expressed what the book by Sir Robert Anderson states on the mathematics that continue to be correct in history with what is stated in scripture!!!
Then Tuesday - Friday we got the incredible opportunity to have Charles Stolfus from Denton Bible come and walk us through the book of Hebrews! It was beyond words enlightening and exciting to read through and search why it is apart of the Bible. I will however try to express to you about a couple things that hit home for me as we went through the book!
Mr. Stolfus gave the book theme of Hebrews to be "The Supremacy of Christ" and I loved that title because as he unpacked the book for us verse by verse we saw that theme scream from the pages! When we got to Chapter 2 verse 10 I was floored with what it means for Jesus to be our Author of salvation. I am going to type out the verse section for you to read...
Hebrews 2:9-11 "But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all thing, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren," NASB
I was just in awe as Charles Stolfus talked about how Jesus was the author of salvation meaning that He was the pioneer for us. The pioneer is the one that goes beforehand and paves the way to something. Jesus was that for us. As the pioneer for salvation He did it through walking through suffering here on earth. As I began to process all that Mr. Stolfus told of Jesus being the author of salvation I was just in a state of thanksgiving and overwhelmed that the book of Hebrews is so blunt but powerful in the words it uses to describe Jesus and what He did for us.
When we got to Chapter 3 verse 1 I was challenged with how I respond in my day to day life with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Here is what the verse says, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession." Mr. Stolfus talked about that the word consider as a very powerful word meaning to give special attention to what follows and it isn't a passing reference but a dedicated focus. The verse then describes Jesus as the Apostle and High Priest and this is what we are to consider or focus on. To not just skim over those characteristics of Jesus but to fully understand what they both mean. Charles Stolfus told us that apostle is one sent and that high priest is just that (the old testament functions of a levitical high priest) but also can be viewed as the final mediator between us and God (which was one of the functions of a levitical high priest). After Mr. Stolfus explained the two characteristics of Jesus and that we were to consider or focus; my thought process was yet again in awe of the elementary view I had of what it meant for Jesus to be sent to us and that He is our way to the Father. However, throughout the rest of the book we read verse after verse about how Jesus is qualified to be the High Priest and the different functions that a High Priest does and how Jesus did exactly that for us. As our time ended with Charles Stolfus I was in excitement and reference to the Lord that I was given the change to study Hebrews and grow in my understanding of Jesus as our High Priest. The word consider has stuck with me these last three days and I am reflecting in my own life what it means to focus my thoughts, heart, motives, actions, speech on Jesus and what He has done for me and how am I suppose to daily walk in that freedom and tell others about it.
I wish I had time to tell more about Jesus as our High Priest, however I do not at this very moment. I do hope to type my notes in a more condensed version to post by next week.
I hope you can be encouraged by knowing a little more about what it means for Jesus to be the author of salvation and our High Priest. He came and died for us so that we could live with Him eternally. He was the final sin sacrifice and now sits at the right hand of God as the mediator between us and God. We can have confidence in His death and resurrection to cover our punishment for our sins. He paid it all.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Trinity
Hello fellow readers of this blog.
I am back from Christmas Break and have had a whirlwind of a first week back in class.
Our teacher this week was Dr. Glenn Kreider from Dallas Theologian School. He came to talk with us about the doctrine of the Trinity. It was an incredible time of new insights and my thought process is on overload as I struggle with reflecting on all that was talked about and the concept of the Trinity.
I for the first time am being challenged to know the scripture and be prepared to defend concepts of the Christian faith. Our big project for this semester is to write a personal belief statement on different doctrinal topics of our faith. This week we went straight to it and started with God the Father.
So, I have not only been overloaded with the material and questions about the doctrine of the Trinity I have also been in my own time trying to write a statement about who God the Father is. About His sovereignty, His love, His foreknowledge and so much more. It has been a great process but I need to become better at time management with all other aspects of life and requirements of the Institute.
I would love to now express some insights on the Trinity that I have been thinking through this week.
The basic (if you can say that about such a layered topic) statement that Dr. Kreider gave us was this “There is one God. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God. The Father is not the Son or the Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father or the Son.”
We believe in one true God and that one true God is three distinctive different persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.
The word Trinity wasn't developed into a word until after the writings of the New Testament therefore why can we expect for the word to show up in the New Testament writings of the Apostles. Even though the word is not explicitly stated it is implied with the language that the apostles uses in the New Testament.
Example
2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”
1 Peter 1:2 “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”
Philippians 2:5-11 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Luke 2:25-32 “And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 28 then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.””
Also the verses about the creation describe multiple persons being present during the process
Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””
John 17:5 "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
Colossians 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
We believe in a one true God and throughout the Old Testament the language points to that of one God for the most part. Then in the New Testament we are given the Son, Jesus Christ, and we now see the plurality of God. So we now have God the Father and God the Son is introduced and because of this we have to believe in a God that is three and one at the same time. The New Testament focuses on God the Son and God the Spirit. All that to say and show that we believe in a Triune God because we know that Jesus Christ came to this earth and we believe Him to be the Son of God.
Verses to give a small degree of the claims that Jesus had of Himself and God His Father.
John 1:1-4 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”
John 1:14-18 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
John 8:56-59 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” 59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.”
John 14:6-7 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.””
John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
Once we wrap our mind around the idea that God is plural then it is easier to except the Spirit as apart and completing the Trinity.
Verses to defend the deity of God the Spirit
Acts 5:3-4 “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.””
John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,”
I love that I have the privilege to take the time to search the scriptures and seek God in the answers to all questions and thoughts when trying to understand the Trinity.
Theses are just the aspects of the Trinity that I have been learning about and the scriptures that defend the aspects.
I hope you are encouraged to do some digging into the Word of God to know Him better and answer the questions you may have about the doctrine of the Trinity. It has been a incredible week and still learning and building my confidence in defending Who God is.
Thanks for reading!
I am back from Christmas Break and have had a whirlwind of a first week back in class.
Our teacher this week was Dr. Glenn Kreider from Dallas Theologian School. He came to talk with us about the doctrine of the Trinity. It was an incredible time of new insights and my thought process is on overload as I struggle with reflecting on all that was talked about and the concept of the Trinity.
I for the first time am being challenged to know the scripture and be prepared to defend concepts of the Christian faith. Our big project for this semester is to write a personal belief statement on different doctrinal topics of our faith. This week we went straight to it and started with God the Father.
So, I have not only been overloaded with the material and questions about the doctrine of the Trinity I have also been in my own time trying to write a statement about who God the Father is. About His sovereignty, His love, His foreknowledge and so much more. It has been a great process but I need to become better at time management with all other aspects of life and requirements of the Institute.
I would love to now express some insights on the Trinity that I have been thinking through this week.
The basic (if you can say that about such a layered topic) statement that Dr. Kreider gave us was this “There is one God. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God. The Father is not the Son or the Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father or the Son.”
We believe in one true God and that one true God is three distinctive different persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.
The word Trinity wasn't developed into a word until after the writings of the New Testament therefore why can we expect for the word to show up in the New Testament writings of the Apostles. Even though the word is not explicitly stated it is implied with the language that the apostles uses in the New Testament.
Example
2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”
1 Peter 1:2 “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”
Philippians 2:5-11 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Luke 2:25-32 “And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 28 then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.””
Also the verses about the creation describe multiple persons being present during the process
Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””
John 17:5 "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
Colossians 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
We believe in a one true God and throughout the Old Testament the language points to that of one God for the most part. Then in the New Testament we are given the Son, Jesus Christ, and we now see the plurality of God. So we now have God the Father and God the Son is introduced and because of this we have to believe in a God that is three and one at the same time. The New Testament focuses on God the Son and God the Spirit. All that to say and show that we believe in a Triune God because we know that Jesus Christ came to this earth and we believe Him to be the Son of God.
Verses to give a small degree of the claims that Jesus had of Himself and God His Father.
John 1:1-4 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”
John 1:14-18 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
John 8:56-59 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” 59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.”
John 14:6-7 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.””
John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
Once we wrap our mind around the idea that God is plural then it is easier to except the Spirit as apart and completing the Trinity.
Verses to defend the deity of God the Spirit
Acts 5:3-4 “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.””
John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,”
I love that I have the privilege to take the time to search the scriptures and seek God in the answers to all questions and thoughts when trying to understand the Trinity.
Theses are just the aspects of the Trinity that I have been learning about and the scriptures that defend the aspects.
I hope you are encouraged to do some digging into the Word of God to know Him better and answer the questions you may have about the doctrine of the Trinity. It has been a incredible week and still learning and building my confidence in defending Who God is.
Thanks for reading!
Friday, November 22, 2013
Apologetics with Kerby Anderson
Hello Readers of this Bog
I just wanted to start this blog with some scripture before getting into talking about my week.
Ephesians 2:4-8 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, make us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
Romans 8:1-3 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
This week in class we had the privilege of Kerby Anderson coming to teach us Tuesday - Friday. He is from Probe Ministries and does their radio broadcasting shows. He was an incredible speaker and so knowledgeable. He walked us through a ton of information on a variety of subjects.
On Tuesday our three subjects were Truth Decay, Reliability of the Bible, and the Millennial Generation.
On Wednesday our three subjects were Islam, Hinduism-Buddhism, and Mormonism.
On Thursday our three subjects were Media and Worldviews, Is Jesus the Savior, and The New Atheists.
On Friday our two subjects were Intelligent Design and Bioethics.
I enjoyed listening to him talk about each subject and bring to light so many new things about each that sparked everyone to think more about how they will effect us in ministry, or in our future jobs.
I would love to share with you all some highlights from some of the talks that I really enjoyed.
This information is from Kerby Anderson and His PowerPoints that he gave us
Kerby Anderson explained Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern in this way and it really made since to me
Three Umpires explaining Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern =
“There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call ‘em the way they are.”
Pre-modernism – God-centered universe, revelation, truth is absolute.
“There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call ‘em the way I see ‘em.”
Modernism – Enlightenment, science, truth is relative.
“There’s balls and there’s strikes, and they ain’t nothing until I call them.
Postmodernism – loss of hope for truth, truth is created.
We are living in a Post-Modern culture and by knowing more about what the culture believes about truth then you will be able to minister to the people around you better. He then continued to tell more of how our Post-Modern culture sees truth. He says they see truth as no absolute and that Christian Missionaries are destroying culture because of their push for all to believe in their truth. They believe in Religion Pluralism in that all religions have some truth to them. They are skeptical of people you claim to know the full truth. The biggest word for our culture today is Tolerance. Tolerant for all other believes and okay with others believing different things.
When Kerby Anderson talked about the different religions I particular was interested in the Islam religion. Here are some of the stats that Kerby Anderson gave us
Worldwide - 1.5 billion Muslims (~ 25%)
- Middle East: 380 million
- North Africa: 115 million
- Indonesia, Pakistan & Bangladesh: 550 million
That is a huge number of people.
The definition that Kerby Anderson gave us
Islam (“submission”) is the religion of all who believes that Muhammad was God’s prophet.
The 5 Pillars of Islam are these
• Shahada - repetition of the creed: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet.”
• Salat - prayers
• Zakat - almsgiving
• Sawm - fast of Ramadan
• Hajj - “pilgrimage” to Mecca
He talked more about their culture and the 5 Pillars then expressed ways for us to witness if we encounter people from this culture and belief
1. Show them Jesus in the Qur’an (Sura 3:42-55 and Sura 19:19)
2. Show them they can read the Bible (Sura 10:94, Sura 4:136, Sura 5:65-66)
3. One of the main methods at the first is called the Camel Method in which they ask the Muslim believer to read Sura 3:42-55 and ask them questions about the Jesus it is talking about. Then ask them about paradise and if they would like to live in paradise after death.
4. The key verse in Ephesians 4:8-9 because they believe in good works verses bad works to get you into paradise. So if your good works out weight your bad works then you will go to paradise
When Kerby Anderson talked about Millennial Generation it was very interesting. These will be the parents of the youth we would be ministering to, we need to understand their parenting styles so we can partner with them as we minister to their children. Here is some of the most interesting information about the Millennial Generation.
Born between the years of 1980-2000. (Yes that includes me!!) They are the largest population of 78 Million, yes more than the Baby Boomers who were 76 Million.
They have these Psychographics according to Kerby Anderson
Diverse, most Educated generation, Relational (social media), Hopeful, Pragmatic, Narcissistic (self-absorbed), Uninhabited, Safest generation, and a Secular generation.
They have the name of Helicopter Parents or Snowplow Parents because they want to be involved and make the path of protection and everything perfect for their children. They Hover to make sure everything will be great and okay for their children.
One word to describe this generation is Flexibility. They want a job with flex hours and working conditions. They want their world to revolve around a thought of flexibility in everything they do.
These are just a few of the nuggets of thought that Kerby Anderson shared with us this week. I really enjoyed all he had to talk about and I do feel more prepared to defend my faith with different cultures and religions. I also have an interest to know more about certain aspects of his talks.
I hope you had an amazing week and we are headed to Enid for Thanksgiving Break! Remember it is a time to be thankful for all that we have. God has given you something to be grateful for so thank Him for it. Pray for the people struggling to find that one thing and help them see God’s provision in some way!
I just wanted to start this blog with some scripture before getting into talking about my week.
Ephesians 2:4-8 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, make us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
Romans 8:1-3 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
This week in class we had the privilege of Kerby Anderson coming to teach us Tuesday - Friday. He is from Probe Ministries and does their radio broadcasting shows. He was an incredible speaker and so knowledgeable. He walked us through a ton of information on a variety of subjects.
On Tuesday our three subjects were Truth Decay, Reliability of the Bible, and the Millennial Generation.
On Wednesday our three subjects were Islam, Hinduism-Buddhism, and Mormonism.
On Thursday our three subjects were Media and Worldviews, Is Jesus the Savior, and The New Atheists.
On Friday our two subjects were Intelligent Design and Bioethics.
I enjoyed listening to him talk about each subject and bring to light so many new things about each that sparked everyone to think more about how they will effect us in ministry, or in our future jobs.
I would love to share with you all some highlights from some of the talks that I really enjoyed.
This information is from Kerby Anderson and His PowerPoints that he gave us
Kerby Anderson explained Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern in this way and it really made since to me
Three Umpires explaining Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern =
“There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call ‘em the way they are.”
Pre-modernism – God-centered universe, revelation, truth is absolute.
“There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call ‘em the way I see ‘em.”
Modernism – Enlightenment, science, truth is relative.
“There’s balls and there’s strikes, and they ain’t nothing until I call them.
Postmodernism – loss of hope for truth, truth is created.
We are living in a Post-Modern culture and by knowing more about what the culture believes about truth then you will be able to minister to the people around you better. He then continued to tell more of how our Post-Modern culture sees truth. He says they see truth as no absolute and that Christian Missionaries are destroying culture because of their push for all to believe in their truth. They believe in Religion Pluralism in that all religions have some truth to them. They are skeptical of people you claim to know the full truth. The biggest word for our culture today is Tolerance. Tolerant for all other believes and okay with others believing different things.
When Kerby Anderson talked about the different religions I particular was interested in the Islam religion. Here are some of the stats that Kerby Anderson gave us
Worldwide - 1.5 billion Muslims (~ 25%)
- Middle East: 380 million
- North Africa: 115 million
- Indonesia, Pakistan & Bangladesh: 550 million
That is a huge number of people.
The definition that Kerby Anderson gave us
Islam (“submission”) is the religion of all who believes that Muhammad was God’s prophet.
The 5 Pillars of Islam are these
• Shahada - repetition of the creed: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet.”
• Salat - prayers
• Zakat - almsgiving
• Sawm - fast of Ramadan
• Hajj - “pilgrimage” to Mecca
He talked more about their culture and the 5 Pillars then expressed ways for us to witness if we encounter people from this culture and belief
1. Show them Jesus in the Qur’an (Sura 3:42-55 and Sura 19:19)
2. Show them they can read the Bible (Sura 10:94, Sura 4:136, Sura 5:65-66)
3. One of the main methods at the first is called the Camel Method in which they ask the Muslim believer to read Sura 3:42-55 and ask them questions about the Jesus it is talking about. Then ask them about paradise and if they would like to live in paradise after death.
4. The key verse in Ephesians 4:8-9 because they believe in good works verses bad works to get you into paradise. So if your good works out weight your bad works then you will go to paradise
When Kerby Anderson talked about Millennial Generation it was very interesting. These will be the parents of the youth we would be ministering to, we need to understand their parenting styles so we can partner with them as we minister to their children. Here is some of the most interesting information about the Millennial Generation.
Born between the years of 1980-2000. (Yes that includes me!!) They are the largest population of 78 Million, yes more than the Baby Boomers who were 76 Million.
They have these Psychographics according to Kerby Anderson
Diverse, most Educated generation, Relational (social media), Hopeful, Pragmatic, Narcissistic (self-absorbed), Uninhabited, Safest generation, and a Secular generation.
They have the name of Helicopter Parents or Snowplow Parents because they want to be involved and make the path of protection and everything perfect for their children. They Hover to make sure everything will be great and okay for their children.
One word to describe this generation is Flexibility. They want a job with flex hours and working conditions. They want their world to revolve around a thought of flexibility in everything they do.
These are just a few of the nuggets of thought that Kerby Anderson shared with us this week. I really enjoyed all he had to talk about and I do feel more prepared to defend my faith with different cultures and religions. I also have an interest to know more about certain aspects of his talks.
I hope you had an amazing week and we are headed to Enid for Thanksgiving Break! Remember it is a time to be thankful for all that we have. God has given you something to be grateful for so thank Him for it. Pray for the people struggling to find that one thing and help them see God’s provision in some way!
Friday, November 15, 2013
The Gospel
Hello family, friends and anyone else that may read this blog!
I am beyond words excited for this post!! I am going to talk about THE GOSPEL.
If that scares anyone I pray that you consider continuing to read but don't by any means feel pushed to read, but I hope that you do. I am going to share my experience with the Gospel and also inform great truths from Matt Chandler about the Gospel. He came and spoke to us this week about the power of the Gospel and how it should still relate to us now as believers and then gave compelling truths of what the Gospel is and how to give the fullness of the Gospel to non-believers. This post may take some time to read because of the truth that is packed into it and the length as well. So with that said, I am going to get right to it.
We as an Institute Class got the awesome opportunity to have Matt Chandler be our teacher this week. His topic was The Gospel. He was with us for three days and it was jammed packed with preaching from the Bible about what the fullness of The Gospel is.
If anyone is reading this and they have absolutely no idea what I am talking about then read this paragraph. The Gospel is the good news, John 3:16-17 and Romans 6:23. The Bible is a book written by the one true God to tell of His creation (us), man’s sin(Fall), calling His people and their history (Israel/Jews), the redemption of mankind through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, through death on a cross then the resurrection of life after three days (Gospel), and then the spreading of the hope and salvation of sins we can receive from the faith of Jesus through the letters written to explain Christ following living (disciple). That is the very very short version of the Gospel and now you are ready to go more in detail with me rewriting what Matt Chandler taught us this week.
These are the small take a ways I have from the incredible truth revealing 9 hours of Matt speaking. This by no means is everything that he talked about but what I would like to share with you these things because they have affected me in some way.
Matt Chandler took two approaches/views to teaching us about the Gospel.
1. A view that was up close and he related it to like a walk in the park.
= God - Man - Christ - Response
2. A view that was further back and he related it to being in the air looking at a town
= Creation - Fall - Reconciliation - Consummation
So now I am going to go back to the first viewpoint of the Gospel. It was so much fun to listen to Matt share about the fullness of God. I didn’t realize how unaware I was of the fullness of who God is. He took us to the passage of Romans 11:33-36 and walked verse by verse about the character of God.
BUT before he did this I was blown away by this truth - God Likes Us. I understand that God Loves Me and that is why He sent His Son to be the Savior for my sins and I was taught the song - Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so…Yes Jesus Love me and so on But I thought I had to be good, I thought I was becoming that person God and Jesus would love one day. The sanctification process is us going through refinement to be more like Christ and we don’t understand that during that time we are still liked and loved by God because of who Christ is Ephesians 2:1-10. God likes us now and wants a relationship with who we are now. The Gospel is not us cleaning our self up and then telling God we are good enough, because of what we did, for Him to save us. NO, we are liked now.
Okay back to God and Romans 11:33-36. Matt walked us through and I loved it but don’t have enough time or space or length for your attention span to write about all the verses in detail. So, because of that I will rewrite the truth that hit home the most for me when Matt spoke about God. God is for God. Okay, I did know this but not the fullness of it what so ever. God is for God. Wow, even with me writing it right now I am amazed by those three words and four-word phrase. God is for God. Psalm 23:1-3 “…For His name’s sake.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 “…do all for the glory of God.” And once I start to wrap my small brain around this truth I begin to see how it affects me.
1. Glad obedience to the Lord - this is because He doesn’t take things away from me rather He is leading me to the fullness of pleasure. If I know my boundaries of pleasure that are ones that give fullness than I will enjoy them - the boundaries push me to seek God and His Glory. That is when I have true obedience and pleasure in life.
2. I get over myself. I am such a selfish being. All humans are it is the sin that is in us to get what we want, when we want it and through any means to get it by. This is a frustrating process because you automatically wake up expecting the day to be about you in some way. This hit me so hard as a type A personality who literally plans my full day out. When I understand that God is for God and the fullness of that I see how I am so selfish and insufficient outside of God’s will and it leads me to die to self. This is then when I start to understand that freedom in life is through God being for God. It isn’t about me it is about God.
From there we talked about man. Matt took us to Romans 1:21-32 and walked verse by verse through this passage to explain the sinfulness of man and the outcome for it and the response that God has for it. Matt explained how through these verses we understand 3 very important aspects of man’s character.
1. We prefer the creation over the Creator.
2. We believe we are smarter than God and in essence believe we are better than God.
3. We fail to acknowledge God as the giver of all things.
Also Matt explained how God response was letting men decide for themselves what is right even though He wanted them to seek Him. And our rejection of God lead to the men and women removing Him from their lives, and falling into some deep sin. Homosexuality, Murder, Malice, Arrogance, Disobedience to Parents, Untrustworthy and others. All together man is sinful and each of us have sins that display the three points up above and ultimately we are separated from God because of our choice to seek freedom and satisfaction else where from God. Our sin separates and fractures the relationship God desires with us.
Because of our sin God has two different responses that we can choose from for our personal lives and how we want to be punished for our sin. Remember God is for God so because we as sinners have defiled His name there is punishment for that act of defiance.
(This order is not significant and don’t look into it further than me just talking about one and then the other, both are important to understand God better)
1. Hell
2. Christ
Hell, is the total reject of God. Luke 16:19-31. Hell will not be a fun place Matthew 18:8-9 and there are two ways to view Hell as Matt taught us. Internal Torment and The Degree that God Sees Sin as Offensive to Him. Hell is the absence of God and we know this from the beginning of this post that God is everything Romans 11:33-36.
Christ Jesus
• Jesus is the Son of God = Matthew 1:21-23, Mark 1:1, Luke 1:34-35 & 3:22, John 1:1
• Jesus is the Son of man = Matthew 1:1, Luke 1:31-32, John 1:14
• Jesus is a gift of grace from God = Romans 6:23 & John 3:16-17 & Ephesians 2:4-8 & Romans 3:21-26
• Jesus is perfect = Hebrews 4:15 & 1 John 3:5
• Jesus is the sacrifice of our sin = Romans 8:1-3 & 1 John 4:9-10 & 1 John 2:2 & Ephesians 5:2 & Romans 3:21-26
• Jesus is our way of salvation through faith alone = Colossians 1:19-23 & Philippians 3:7-12 & Hebrew 5:9 & Romans 3:28
• Jesus is our righteousness = Romans 5:18-21 & Philippians 3:7-12
Okay, That is so awesome!!!! I love that we are given as a gift - salvation from the punishment of our sins. WOW!! I don’t do anything physical for it and I don’t have to act a certain way, all I am called to do is have Faith in who Christ Jesus is. That is it - Galatians 2:16.
This faith is the very thing we do to die to our sinful character. Remember we as sinners prefer creation over the Creator, think we are smarter than God hence better and hence don’t need Him in our lives, and we fail to acknowledge Him as the giver of all things. In short, SELFISH and PRIDEFULL and NEARSIGHTED and ARROGENT and ________ (Insert your sin that makes you rule and not God, for me it is CONTROLING.) So Faith is us contradicting our sinful character and allowing Christ to be the bridge to bring our relationship right again with God. With Jesus we experience true freedom.
This is so powerful and I hope you understand a little better the power or that an aspect of the Gospel has resonated in your heart to exam more in your own personal walk with the Lord or make this now apart of your life for the first time.
I want to tell of the great new of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, our Savior, our Righteousness, our Sacrifice, and our Gift from God. Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Telling the Gospel even to believers is needed. We so easily forget what it is we are doing with our lives. We start to fall into making it about us, so being reminded of the Gospel is an essential part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I now need to make sure my grader knows my answers for the assignment question for this week.
What are three things that I think someone needs to know about salvation?
1. God likes us
2. God is for God
3. Faith alone in Christ is the redemption of all sin
I talked about these three things throughout the blog post and it is bolded and under it is more information of why I think it is important to know.
Thank you for reading if you did and I hope and pray that God spoke to you, not any of my words written. Don’t be afraid to ask God to reveal areas in your life that you are not living in faith and rather in sin. It is a humbling experience.
I am beyond words excited for this post!! I am going to talk about THE GOSPEL.
If that scares anyone I pray that you consider continuing to read but don't by any means feel pushed to read, but I hope that you do. I am going to share my experience with the Gospel and also inform great truths from Matt Chandler about the Gospel. He came and spoke to us this week about the power of the Gospel and how it should still relate to us now as believers and then gave compelling truths of what the Gospel is and how to give the fullness of the Gospel to non-believers. This post may take some time to read because of the truth that is packed into it and the length as well. So with that said, I am going to get right to it.
We as an Institute Class got the awesome opportunity to have Matt Chandler be our teacher this week. His topic was The Gospel. He was with us for three days and it was jammed packed with preaching from the Bible about what the fullness of The Gospel is.
If anyone is reading this and they have absolutely no idea what I am talking about then read this paragraph. The Gospel is the good news, John 3:16-17 and Romans 6:23. The Bible is a book written by the one true God to tell of His creation (us), man’s sin(Fall), calling His people and their history (Israel/Jews), the redemption of mankind through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, through death on a cross then the resurrection of life after three days (Gospel), and then the spreading of the hope and salvation of sins we can receive from the faith of Jesus through the letters written to explain Christ following living (disciple). That is the very very short version of the Gospel and now you are ready to go more in detail with me rewriting what Matt Chandler taught us this week.
These are the small take a ways I have from the incredible truth revealing 9 hours of Matt speaking. This by no means is everything that he talked about but what I would like to share with you these things because they have affected me in some way.
Matt Chandler took two approaches/views to teaching us about the Gospel.
1. A view that was up close and he related it to like a walk in the park.
= God - Man - Christ - Response
2. A view that was further back and he related it to being in the air looking at a town
= Creation - Fall - Reconciliation - Consummation
So now I am going to go back to the first viewpoint of the Gospel. It was so much fun to listen to Matt share about the fullness of God. I didn’t realize how unaware I was of the fullness of who God is. He took us to the passage of Romans 11:33-36 and walked verse by verse about the character of God.
BUT before he did this I was blown away by this truth - God Likes Us. I understand that God Loves Me and that is why He sent His Son to be the Savior for my sins and I was taught the song - Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so…Yes Jesus Love me and so on But I thought I had to be good, I thought I was becoming that person God and Jesus would love one day. The sanctification process is us going through refinement to be more like Christ and we don’t understand that during that time we are still liked and loved by God because of who Christ is Ephesians 2:1-10. God likes us now and wants a relationship with who we are now. The Gospel is not us cleaning our self up and then telling God we are good enough, because of what we did, for Him to save us. NO, we are liked now.
Okay back to God and Romans 11:33-36. Matt walked us through and I loved it but don’t have enough time or space or length for your attention span to write about all the verses in detail. So, because of that I will rewrite the truth that hit home the most for me when Matt spoke about God. God is for God. Okay, I did know this but not the fullness of it what so ever. God is for God. Wow, even with me writing it right now I am amazed by those three words and four-word phrase. God is for God. Psalm 23:1-3 “…For His name’s sake.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 “…do all for the glory of God.” And once I start to wrap my small brain around this truth I begin to see how it affects me.
1. Glad obedience to the Lord - this is because He doesn’t take things away from me rather He is leading me to the fullness of pleasure. If I know my boundaries of pleasure that are ones that give fullness than I will enjoy them - the boundaries push me to seek God and His Glory. That is when I have true obedience and pleasure in life.
2. I get over myself. I am such a selfish being. All humans are it is the sin that is in us to get what we want, when we want it and through any means to get it by. This is a frustrating process because you automatically wake up expecting the day to be about you in some way. This hit me so hard as a type A personality who literally plans my full day out. When I understand that God is for God and the fullness of that I see how I am so selfish and insufficient outside of God’s will and it leads me to die to self. This is then when I start to understand that freedom in life is through God being for God. It isn’t about me it is about God.
From there we talked about man. Matt took us to Romans 1:21-32 and walked verse by verse through this passage to explain the sinfulness of man and the outcome for it and the response that God has for it. Matt explained how through these verses we understand 3 very important aspects of man’s character.
1. We prefer the creation over the Creator.
2. We believe we are smarter than God and in essence believe we are better than God.
3. We fail to acknowledge God as the giver of all things.
Also Matt explained how God response was letting men decide for themselves what is right even though He wanted them to seek Him. And our rejection of God lead to the men and women removing Him from their lives, and falling into some deep sin. Homosexuality, Murder, Malice, Arrogance, Disobedience to Parents, Untrustworthy and others. All together man is sinful and each of us have sins that display the three points up above and ultimately we are separated from God because of our choice to seek freedom and satisfaction else where from God. Our sin separates and fractures the relationship God desires with us.
Because of our sin God has two different responses that we can choose from for our personal lives and how we want to be punished for our sin. Remember God is for God so because we as sinners have defiled His name there is punishment for that act of defiance.
(This order is not significant and don’t look into it further than me just talking about one and then the other, both are important to understand God better)
1. Hell
2. Christ
Hell, is the total reject of God. Luke 16:19-31. Hell will not be a fun place Matthew 18:8-9 and there are two ways to view Hell as Matt taught us. Internal Torment and The Degree that God Sees Sin as Offensive to Him. Hell is the absence of God and we know this from the beginning of this post that God is everything Romans 11:33-36.
Christ Jesus
• Jesus is the Son of God = Matthew 1:21-23, Mark 1:1, Luke 1:34-35 & 3:22, John 1:1
• Jesus is the Son of man = Matthew 1:1, Luke 1:31-32, John 1:14
• Jesus is a gift of grace from God = Romans 6:23 & John 3:16-17 & Ephesians 2:4-8 & Romans 3:21-26
• Jesus is perfect = Hebrews 4:15 & 1 John 3:5
• Jesus is the sacrifice of our sin = Romans 8:1-3 & 1 John 4:9-10 & 1 John 2:2 & Ephesians 5:2 & Romans 3:21-26
• Jesus is our way of salvation through faith alone = Colossians 1:19-23 & Philippians 3:7-12 & Hebrew 5:9 & Romans 3:28
• Jesus is our righteousness = Romans 5:18-21 & Philippians 3:7-12
Okay, That is so awesome!!!! I love that we are given as a gift - salvation from the punishment of our sins. WOW!! I don’t do anything physical for it and I don’t have to act a certain way, all I am called to do is have Faith in who Christ Jesus is. That is it - Galatians 2:16.
This faith is the very thing we do to die to our sinful character. Remember we as sinners prefer creation over the Creator, think we are smarter than God hence better and hence don’t need Him in our lives, and we fail to acknowledge Him as the giver of all things. In short, SELFISH and PRIDEFULL and NEARSIGHTED and ARROGENT and ________ (Insert your sin that makes you rule and not God, for me it is CONTROLING.) So Faith is us contradicting our sinful character and allowing Christ to be the bridge to bring our relationship right again with God. With Jesus we experience true freedom.
This is so powerful and I hope you understand a little better the power or that an aspect of the Gospel has resonated in your heart to exam more in your own personal walk with the Lord or make this now apart of your life for the first time.
I want to tell of the great new of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, our Savior, our Righteousness, our Sacrifice, and our Gift from God. Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Telling the Gospel even to believers is needed. We so easily forget what it is we are doing with our lives. We start to fall into making it about us, so being reminded of the Gospel is an essential part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I now need to make sure my grader knows my answers for the assignment question for this week.
What are three things that I think someone needs to know about salvation?
1. God likes us
2. God is for God
3. Faith alone in Christ is the redemption of all sin
I talked about these three things throughout the blog post and it is bolded and under it is more information of why I think it is important to know.
Thank you for reading if you did and I hope and pray that God spoke to you, not any of my words written. Don’t be afraid to ask God to reveal areas in your life that you are not living in faith and rather in sin. It is a humbling experience.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Wow is the only way to describe it!
I am sorry I haven't posted in a long time! I don't have any other excuses other than = WOW have I learned a lot and been jam packed with preparing for my huge project - that is due to day by the way!! I am going to present an Overview of the Bible in 30 minutes. (that is not a lot of time at all) I am beyond excited to present what I have worked so hard on. I still have things I know I want to change and add to it but for today I will give what I have done and do it to the best of my ability. I am nervous but still excited. I am taking a break from practicing it to write this post. I actually have an assignment due in a blog reflection that is due by monday. I have time right now and wanted my mind off the project for a moment to relax.
Last Friday I had my student speech - every friday we have student speeches over a passage of scripture that we are going over in our precepts of Abraham. It was my friday to present and my scripture was Galatians 3:10-14. It was a lot of fun to research this passage more in-depth and prepare a 15 minute talk to an audience of our choice. I choose to talk to High School Aged Believers - so like at a K-Life. My main point to hit home in these verses was Jesus as our Redeemer. I gave the illustration of locking my keys in my car like I always do and said I needed a redeemer and went from there to talk more about the text, The Law, Faith, Jesus our Redeemer and tying them all together.
The weekend consisted of all hours working on Bible Overview Outline. I did take the evenings to spend with people. I went to Dana's BBQ for dinner on Friday, Saturday was with my host home, and Sunday lunch was with The Wades - newly married friends here at The Institute.
Monday was a regular scheduled day with precepts and a lifeline statement (Homosexuality) and then a teacher in the afternoon. This weeks subject was Marriage and Family.
Our teacher on Monday afternoon, talked about Emotional Intelligence and how that relates to the work place and marriage and family. He was really funny and we had a great time with all the information that he gave us.
Tuesday and Wednesday we had Keith Chancey and Chad Hampsch alternate back and forth and talk about different aspects of a relationship specifically marriage
My assignment is to reflect on what they talked about. Since I am already married I will not be reflecting on what I learned that was new, because I just went through what they talked about this past summer and I have been married for over a year. So I will be reflecting on three points that just hit home again while listening to them speak
1. In conflict be specific to the issue and attack the problem not the person
This is a communication skill and ultimately communication is key to having a health relationship. Communication allows for intimacy through hearing the heart and emotions of your spouse. Good communication takes away unmet expectations because you are communicated and for spoken expectations to be met. Communication allows for respect and love to be in harmony
2. In resolving conflict you ultimate goal is not to be right but to have a WIN-WIN. This is by both parties leaving the conflict and having a part of the outcome or being reconciled or others in which gives a WIN for the relationship as a whole (each spouse) and not just an individual win which is hurtful and breaks trust for the other individual.
3. For Dan and I to cultivate a family dynamic that we want to see we must have a plan to do so. If we don't then we will revert to be like our parents or do the extreme opposite. Along with this we need a purpose in why we want our family dynamic to exemplify that.
Now I have three goals to write out to implement in my marriage or future family.
1. Communication and venerability in that communication a greater focuses to bring us closer together emotional, spiritually, and mentally and this will lead to greater intimacy
2. Start talking about our family purpose and want to set that up for success. A goal to have a purpose in the near future and other goals of how to have that happen
3. Prayer for my husband more often and with greater purpose. I want to be a better wife in this area and I know that it will beyond beneficial for our marriage.
Today at 11:10 I will be giving my Bible Overview Project and I am still so excited but getting a little more nervous. I am more excited of how I will use what I have done in relating the Bible to teach music and I have a desire to do this in our home one day.
Be encouraged today to reflect on your marriage or family and are you still striving to make your purpose happen throughout the full of it. Is your communication true or are you letting that area slip through the cracks? Have a great day reflecting on how God is evident in your marriage and family.
Last Friday I had my student speech - every friday we have student speeches over a passage of scripture that we are going over in our precepts of Abraham. It was my friday to present and my scripture was Galatians 3:10-14. It was a lot of fun to research this passage more in-depth and prepare a 15 minute talk to an audience of our choice. I choose to talk to High School Aged Believers - so like at a K-Life. My main point to hit home in these verses was Jesus as our Redeemer. I gave the illustration of locking my keys in my car like I always do and said I needed a redeemer and went from there to talk more about the text, The Law, Faith, Jesus our Redeemer and tying them all together.
The weekend consisted of all hours working on Bible Overview Outline. I did take the evenings to spend with people. I went to Dana's BBQ for dinner on Friday, Saturday was with my host home, and Sunday lunch was with The Wades - newly married friends here at The Institute.
Monday was a regular scheduled day with precepts and a lifeline statement (Homosexuality) and then a teacher in the afternoon. This weeks subject was Marriage and Family.
Our teacher on Monday afternoon, talked about Emotional Intelligence and how that relates to the work place and marriage and family. He was really funny and we had a great time with all the information that he gave us.
Tuesday and Wednesday we had Keith Chancey and Chad Hampsch alternate back and forth and talk about different aspects of a relationship specifically marriage
My assignment is to reflect on what they talked about. Since I am already married I will not be reflecting on what I learned that was new, because I just went through what they talked about this past summer and I have been married for over a year. So I will be reflecting on three points that just hit home again while listening to them speak
1. In conflict be specific to the issue and attack the problem not the person
This is a communication skill and ultimately communication is key to having a health relationship. Communication allows for intimacy through hearing the heart and emotions of your spouse. Good communication takes away unmet expectations because you are communicated and for spoken expectations to be met. Communication allows for respect and love to be in harmony
2. In resolving conflict you ultimate goal is not to be right but to have a WIN-WIN. This is by both parties leaving the conflict and having a part of the outcome or being reconciled or others in which gives a WIN for the relationship as a whole (each spouse) and not just an individual win which is hurtful and breaks trust for the other individual.
3. For Dan and I to cultivate a family dynamic that we want to see we must have a plan to do so. If we don't then we will revert to be like our parents or do the extreme opposite. Along with this we need a purpose in why we want our family dynamic to exemplify that.
Now I have three goals to write out to implement in my marriage or future family.
1. Communication and venerability in that communication a greater focuses to bring us closer together emotional, spiritually, and mentally and this will lead to greater intimacy
2. Start talking about our family purpose and want to set that up for success. A goal to have a purpose in the near future and other goals of how to have that happen
3. Prayer for my husband more often and with greater purpose. I want to be a better wife in this area and I know that it will beyond beneficial for our marriage.
Today at 11:10 I will be giving my Bible Overview Project and I am still so excited but getting a little more nervous. I am more excited of how I will use what I have done in relating the Bible to teach music and I have a desire to do this in our home one day.
Be encouraged today to reflect on your marriage or family and are you still striving to make your purpose happen throughout the full of it. Is your communication true or are you letting that area slip through the cracks? Have a great day reflecting on how God is evident in your marriage and family.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Kingdom Era
Hi everyone,
The past couple days have been jammed packed! I got out of class today 2 hours early so I get to write this post earlier than I expected.
Last week was spirit week and each day we had a different theme to dress up as. Dan and I did terrible in this area because we didn't give the time or thought into it, However, on Friday we had a powder puff football game. My team was the Duck Divas and we dressed in camo as our team colors. I have not dressed up in camo in a really long time, unlike my sister who loves that color/print. I actually had to go and buy a fleece jacket to wear during the game because I didn't have anything camo to wear for the game. The fleece worked great and it didn't look to bad on me. Own team did not win the tournament but had some fun playing and watching the other games.
Saturday consisted of Dan and I getting away from the Branson and taking some time just for us. We went up to Ozark, MO and stayed till Sunday morning. It was a quick 24 hours but it was so great to get out of our regular routine and just relax. And I got much need laundry done! We got lunch at Chick-fil-A and watched movies all day. Home Alone 1 and 2, The Italian Job, and the first season of The Next Great Baker. Dan researched about his new project - making his own sequencer - which is a audio devise that allows you to flip one switch and that then proceeds to turn on all other audio devise in a certain order. I worked on our Bible Overview Project that is due next week. Altogether it was a great relaxing weekend and I felt refreshed as well as productive at the same time. On Sunday we went to church had a youth meeting with lunch after and then had the rest of the day to work on Bible Overview back on campus.
This week in class we got the privilege to study the Kingdom Era in more depth. Our teacher was James Skinner from Louisiana and he definitely had an accent. We walked chapter by chapter through 1st and 2nd Samuel then briefly looked into 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles.
I learned a lot with the slower teaching of this time period. I loved learning about the heart of each one of the kings during the United Kingdom - Saul, David, and Solomon. I gained a new insight of how much God really does desire to have our WHOLE HEART following, trusting, seeking and devoted to God.
Here are the notes I have on each of the King's hearts and how they were so different.
Saul - Had no heart for the Lord and this is seen through these aspects of Saul's life and others.
1. He was chosen to be King and his outward appearance was a big deal in this- height, looks and etc. - 1 Samuel 9:2, 10:1
2. He was scared to death to be King and hide instead of seek out the Lord for help - 1 Samuel 10:18-27, 13:8-14, 17:10-11
3. He did not do what the Lord asked, and was disobedient and therefore God rejected him - 1 Samuel 13:8-14, 15:22-26
David - Whole heart for the Lord and this is seen through these aspects of David's life and others.
1. God saw his heart and that is why he was anointed king - 1 Samuel 16:7, 13
2. He trusted the Lord to provide and sought out His will - 1 Samuel 17:45-47, 23:1-5,
3. He spared Saul's life even though Saul was trying to kill David - 1 Samuel 24:3-12, 26:6-25
4. Listened to council - 1 Samuel 25:32-33, 2 Samuel 12:1-13
5. Sought forgiveness of own sin - 2 Samuel 12:13, Psalms 51
Solomon - Had half a heart for the Lord and this is seen through these aspects of Saul's life and others
1. Followed what David, his dad, had taught him - 1 Chronicles 28, 2 Chronicles 1:1, 1 Kings 2:4,12
2. He got distracted by Wealth, Women, and Horses from Egypt. Our teacher said Wheels for the Horses because then the three things that Solomon did to lose his heart for the Lord all start with W. 1 Kings 10:22-23, 11:1-2, 10:26-29
3. He did not follow the ordinances of the Lord as king. Deuteronomy 17:14-20, 1 Kings 11:10-11
By learning about these kings and how God views their hearts, I now know what it means to have the kind of heart the Lord desires.
1. To seek forgiveness and forgive - Ephesians 4:32, Luke 11:4, Matthew 6:14
2. To Trust in the Lord with every aspect of my walk - Proverbs 3:5-6
3. To walk in His commandments
On Monday we did our lifeline and it was about Marriage, Divorce, and Blended Families. It was a hard statement to write because of the hurt that some people feel because of this situation. The Bible is very clear on these issues the hard part is speaking to people in these situations because of the relationship part of the difficulty. Truth is truth and it is best to live by it but when it is broken that is when heart ache happens and speaking truth is hard to communicate.
Be encouraged, God is for us and He wants our full devotion. So what in your life do you need give up and turn towards God and walk closer with Him?
Have an amazing day examining your walk with the Lord and making the decision to walk closer to Him by searching your heart of anything that is not of Him.
The past couple days have been jammed packed! I got out of class today 2 hours early so I get to write this post earlier than I expected.
Last week was spirit week and each day we had a different theme to dress up as. Dan and I did terrible in this area because we didn't give the time or thought into it, However, on Friday we had a powder puff football game. My team was the Duck Divas and we dressed in camo as our team colors. I have not dressed up in camo in a really long time, unlike my sister who loves that color/print. I actually had to go and buy a fleece jacket to wear during the game because I didn't have anything camo to wear for the game. The fleece worked great and it didn't look to bad on me. Own team did not win the tournament but had some fun playing and watching the other games.
Saturday consisted of Dan and I getting away from the Branson and taking some time just for us. We went up to Ozark, MO and stayed till Sunday morning. It was a quick 24 hours but it was so great to get out of our regular routine and just relax. And I got much need laundry done! We got lunch at Chick-fil-A and watched movies all day. Home Alone 1 and 2, The Italian Job, and the first season of The Next Great Baker. Dan researched about his new project - making his own sequencer - which is a audio devise that allows you to flip one switch and that then proceeds to turn on all other audio devise in a certain order. I worked on our Bible Overview Project that is due next week. Altogether it was a great relaxing weekend and I felt refreshed as well as productive at the same time. On Sunday we went to church had a youth meeting with lunch after and then had the rest of the day to work on Bible Overview back on campus.
This week in class we got the privilege to study the Kingdom Era in more depth. Our teacher was James Skinner from Louisiana and he definitely had an accent. We walked chapter by chapter through 1st and 2nd Samuel then briefly looked into 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles.
I learned a lot with the slower teaching of this time period. I loved learning about the heart of each one of the kings during the United Kingdom - Saul, David, and Solomon. I gained a new insight of how much God really does desire to have our WHOLE HEART following, trusting, seeking and devoted to God.
Here are the notes I have on each of the King's hearts and how they were so different.
Saul - Had no heart for the Lord and this is seen through these aspects of Saul's life and others.
1. He was chosen to be King and his outward appearance was a big deal in this- height, looks and etc. - 1 Samuel 9:2, 10:1
2. He was scared to death to be King and hide instead of seek out the Lord for help - 1 Samuel 10:18-27, 13:8-14, 17:10-11
3. He did not do what the Lord asked, and was disobedient and therefore God rejected him - 1 Samuel 13:8-14, 15:22-26
David - Whole heart for the Lord and this is seen through these aspects of David's life and others.
1. God saw his heart and that is why he was anointed king - 1 Samuel 16:7, 13
2. He trusted the Lord to provide and sought out His will - 1 Samuel 17:45-47, 23:1-5,
3. He spared Saul's life even though Saul was trying to kill David - 1 Samuel 24:3-12, 26:6-25
4. Listened to council - 1 Samuel 25:32-33, 2 Samuel 12:1-13
5. Sought forgiveness of own sin - 2 Samuel 12:13, Psalms 51
Solomon - Had half a heart for the Lord and this is seen through these aspects of Saul's life and others
1. Followed what David, his dad, had taught him - 1 Chronicles 28, 2 Chronicles 1:1, 1 Kings 2:4,12
2. He got distracted by Wealth, Women, and Horses from Egypt. Our teacher said Wheels for the Horses because then the three things that Solomon did to lose his heart for the Lord all start with W. 1 Kings 10:22-23, 11:1-2, 10:26-29
3. He did not follow the ordinances of the Lord as king. Deuteronomy 17:14-20, 1 Kings 11:10-11
By learning about these kings and how God views their hearts, I now know what it means to have the kind of heart the Lord desires.
1. To seek forgiveness and forgive - Ephesians 4:32, Luke 11:4, Matthew 6:14
2. To Trust in the Lord with every aspect of my walk - Proverbs 3:5-6
3. To walk in His commandments
On Monday we did our lifeline and it was about Marriage, Divorce, and Blended Families. It was a hard statement to write because of the hurt that some people feel because of this situation. The Bible is very clear on these issues the hard part is speaking to people in these situations because of the relationship part of the difficulty. Truth is truth and it is best to live by it but when it is broken that is when heart ache happens and speaking truth is hard to communicate.
Be encouraged, God is for us and He wants our full devotion. So what in your life do you need give up and turn towards God and walk closer with Him?
Have an amazing day examining your walk with the Lord and making the decision to walk closer to Him by searching your heart of anything that is not of Him.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Church History
Hello
I had an incredible weekend and week of class!
This weekend consisted of spending quality time with my husband!! It was so much fun! We did a date night on Friday night that consisted of us trying once again to eat at Vasken's Deli and it being closed. Who knew that they closed at 5 everyday! It was a great disappointment but it didn't ruin our night. We went to Panera and enjoyed getting bread bowls! We then headed to our local church home and was apart of "The Great Date Night" they church facilitated games, dessert, and entertainment - Skinny Improv. It was an amazing night of laughter and intentional conversation! I loved getting to finally hangout with my husband off The Institute campus and alone from our classmates. Saturday was homework day and then another little date night away from everyone. Branson was having a Hot Air Balloon Festival and we had been given free tickets for a tethered ride from Heather Holland (My friend from kamp and the cook for the Link Year this year). So we headed to the Branson Rex Plex and made it just in time to get a ride on one of the Balloons. Sunday was again another homework day working on our Bible Overview Projects and preparing for the party I was going to throw for the Wades on Monday night.
This week's subject in class was Church History, and man did I learn a ton!! I walked in knowing very little. I knew that there were different denominations but didn't know why. I knew the Church started with a Jewish background because those are God's chosen people and that is Jesus heritage. But that was about it. So my mind is again on overload with all the information I took in over the past week.
On Monday we did not talk about Church History till the afternoon, but did our regular schedule Monday. Precepts and then Lifeline Statement. Our statement for this week was Music and Movies. In the afternoon we got the privilege to have Hollis Jones come and speak to us. He taught us about leadership. How it is more about Who than What and How. That meaning is it is more about your character and who you are than how you perform or what your abilities are.
I am going to talk now about the party I threw for the Wades. This is a couple that came to The Institute engaged and just got married on October 21, 2013. Both of them went to OSU with Dan and I and we knew them while there through K-Life. I had planned before hand to throw her a couple shower for The Institute class and them. Then they moved the date up and I made it a party to welcome them back to The Institute as the newly married couple. It was a blast!!! I had so much fun planning it. I had some amazing help from other girls in my class and ladies in the town of Branson.
It was a country two-steppin party. We taught lessons and had an amazing time. I had a photo booth and dessert to eat. The main dessert was cupcakes. I had engagement pictures printed out, candles, and flowers to decorate with. The colors were navy and mustard yellow. It was gorgeous and Ali Pav. A wonderful friend of mine here at The Institute helped immensely with the decorations. I provided the supplies and she set it up beautifully with the help of other girls in my class as well. All together it was great desserts and fellowship in learning how to dance.
Tuesday - Thursday Church History
We had Chad Hampsch as our teacher for this week. He is so knowledgeable because he has given the time to study the Word and history. Two subjects he fully enjoys and is excited to share what he has learned.
I have an assignment due Friday night over what we learned about Church History and a blog reflection is apart of that. Therefore, this next section maybe a little different than how I would usually write because I will be answer specific questions for my assignment.
1. How has learning about Church History changed my view of the body of Christ?
I believe my view of the Church body has changed through actually knowing what happened and it pushes me to believe that a healthy Church body takes a lot of work. Therefore, less judgmental towards church bodies and more open to search why they are the way they are, and find one that I want to be apart of.
Before learning what I did this week I thought each Church body had a good road map to become healthy, but that is not the case. There are many different variances of what a Church body can look like. Now don't get me wrong, there are certain things that make up a Christian Church! Believing in Jesus and his humanity and deity and that he died and rose again, the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, and authoritative Word of God and some others. But when it comes to service, worship, time, place these are more of the lenient aspects of the Church body and can be different across the board.
Therefore, learning about the different time periods of the Church's history and how the Church body responded was exciting and also saddening. There were great moments and terrible moments. My view like I said has changed to understand more clearly that a healthy body takes a lot of work and it is not just something established as soon as a new Church starts.
Not one denomination is right, all have their flaws and all have their strengths.
2. What is my responsibility to the body look like?
I believe this is to SERVE. One way is to use your Spiritual Gifts for the service of the Church Body. Just last week we talked about Spiritual Gifts and I totally believe that using those in the body you attend is crucial. Therefore, my Spiritual Gifts are Service and Administration and I can use them for the Church body in many ways. Doing work in any area that is behind the scenes, like making the bulletin, helping prepare the potluck supper for the church, helping organize church events, help with cleaning days of the church and the list goes on. I could also help in the front lines like in one of the ministry, student, nursery, etc. Now I also believe that you can serve where the church needs it so asking is the first step and you hope that in some area you can use your gift to serve them there. However service is the ultimate goal and if they line up with your Spiritual Gifts that is a plus.
Our time with Chad Hampsch consisted of walking from the first church in Acts to Present day and including key people with each time period. Here is the very broad outline.
The Age of Catholic Christianity 70-312
The Age of Imperial Christianity 312-590
The Age of Christendom 590-1517
The Age of Reformation 1517-1648
The Age of Reason and Revival 1648-1789
The Age of Revival in America 1720-1857
The Age of Ideologies 1914-Present
Altogether this week was a great week of learning and reflecting on God's sovereignty and how He is still working in our world now.
Spend sometime today reflecting on what God has been doing in your life and your church today. Praise Him for the struggles and the triumphs. Maybe even pray for God to reveal how you can be of service for your church or the church body.
It was a country two-steppin party. We taught lessons and had an amazing time. I had a photo booth and dessert to eat. The main dessert was cupcakes. I had engagement pictures printed out, candles, and flowers to decorate with. The colors were navy and mustard yellow. It was gorgeous and Ali Pav. A wonderful friend of mine here at The Institute helped immensely with the decorations. I provided the supplies and she set it up beautifully with the help of other girls in my class as well. All together it was great desserts and fellowship in learning how to dance.
Tuesday - Thursday Church History
We had Chad Hampsch as our teacher for this week. He is so knowledgeable because he has given the time to study the Word and history. Two subjects he fully enjoys and is excited to share what he has learned.
I have an assignment due Friday night over what we learned about Church History and a blog reflection is apart of that. Therefore, this next section maybe a little different than how I would usually write because I will be answer specific questions for my assignment.
1. How has learning about Church History changed my view of the body of Christ?
I believe my view of the Church body has changed through actually knowing what happened and it pushes me to believe that a healthy Church body takes a lot of work. Therefore, less judgmental towards church bodies and more open to search why they are the way they are, and find one that I want to be apart of.
Before learning what I did this week I thought each Church body had a good road map to become healthy, but that is not the case. There are many different variances of what a Church body can look like. Now don't get me wrong, there are certain things that make up a Christian Church! Believing in Jesus and his humanity and deity and that he died and rose again, the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, and authoritative Word of God and some others. But when it comes to service, worship, time, place these are more of the lenient aspects of the Church body and can be different across the board.
Therefore, learning about the different time periods of the Church's history and how the Church body responded was exciting and also saddening. There were great moments and terrible moments. My view like I said has changed to understand more clearly that a healthy body takes a lot of work and it is not just something established as soon as a new Church starts.
Not one denomination is right, all have their flaws and all have their strengths.
2. What is my responsibility to the body look like?
I believe this is to SERVE. One way is to use your Spiritual Gifts for the service of the Church Body. Just last week we talked about Spiritual Gifts and I totally believe that using those in the body you attend is crucial. Therefore, my Spiritual Gifts are Service and Administration and I can use them for the Church body in many ways. Doing work in any area that is behind the scenes, like making the bulletin, helping prepare the potluck supper for the church, helping organize church events, help with cleaning days of the church and the list goes on. I could also help in the front lines like in one of the ministry, student, nursery, etc. Now I also believe that you can serve where the church needs it so asking is the first step and you hope that in some area you can use your gift to serve them there. However service is the ultimate goal and if they line up with your Spiritual Gifts that is a plus.
Our time with Chad Hampsch consisted of walking from the first church in Acts to Present day and including key people with each time period. Here is the very broad outline.
The Age of Catholic Christianity 70-312
The Age of Imperial Christianity 312-590
The Age of Christendom 590-1517
The Age of Reformation 1517-1648
The Age of Reason and Revival 1648-1789
The Age of Revival in America 1720-1857
The Age of Ideologies 1914-Present
Altogether this week was a great week of learning and reflecting on God's sovereignty and how He is still working in our world now.
Spend sometime today reflecting on what God has been doing in your life and your church today. Praise Him for the struggles and the triumphs. Maybe even pray for God to reveal how you can be of service for your church or the church body.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Learning about Yourself Personally
Monday was a packed day! We did many things and had class
in the morning and afternoon. This will be our regular Monday schedule from now
on. We all start off splitting up boys and girls to spend time talking over the
past weeks precepts that we did individually. We are studying the life of
Abraham. We then went into group worship and were presented our Lifeline Topic
for the day. Our topic this past week was Body a Temple. We had about 45
minutes to work on our statement to tell what we belief about The Temple Being
a Temple. The last part of the assignment is to be given a scenario and talk in
groups about how to approach the scenario and then talk in class about them.
After lunch we came back to the classroom and got the afternoon to examine
ourselves. We spent the afternoon talking about spiritual gifts and
personality. We took two tests to discover our top spiritual gifts and search
out what we thought of our personality and others as well. My top three
spiritual gifts are Administration, Service, and Mercy. We took the DISC test
on finding out our personality. I am a S and a closely followed C. I am People
Oriented Reserved person. Then I am a Task-Oriented Reserved person.
On Wednesday and Thursday we got the privilege to have Rod
Handley come and teach us about Character and Integrity. Here are some of the
highlights over the two days.
What does character
(integrity) produce? What are the benefits of leading a life of character?
1)
A clear _Conscious _ (Psalm 26:1-2, 11)
2)
It _Delights_ God (Psalm 15)
3)
The inheritance of a lingering _Legacy_
(Proverbs 20:7)
4)
The opportunity of being a _Mentor_
(Proverbs 11:3)
Paul (Training and
Equipping You), Timothy (You are Training and Equipping Others),
Barnabas (Encourager and Friend)
5)
True __Leaders__ develops (Job 8:20)
E.V. Hill, “If people
aren’t following you, you’re not leading; you’re just taking a walk.”
6)
A __Humble__ servant heart emerges (Psalm
78:70-72)
7)
A __Crown of Glory__ awaits the good
finisher (James 1:12, this does talk about salvation, however, Ron believes it
also talks further about our integrity)
He then gave us Illustrations of Humility from the Bible and
gave a principle to go along with it.
1. Matthew 18:1-5
Principle: Humility begins with a teachable spirit
2. Matthew 20:25-28
Principle: Christian humility is simply going down
3. John 13 & Luke 22:14-38 Principle: True humility is drawing close to
God
I loved this quote from Ted Engstrom that Ron shared with
us, “Accountability is the greatest prize of integrity. Accountability starts
with yours truly—with an honest appraisal of who we are, of what makes us tick.
It includes a long, hard look at our own ideals and motives. When we give an
accurate account of what we think and what we do, then those around us can come
to rely on us with confidence.” He gave us this quote after talking about how
to sustain character and integrity. Then we went into detail about accountability.
Some of the verses that impacted me about accountability
were
Hebrews 3:13 “But encourage one another day after day, as
long as it is still called ‘Today,’ lest anyone of you be hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin.”
Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but
he who hates reproof is stupid.”
Confess, Prayer, Healing = James 5:16 “Therefore, confess
your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
Hebrews 12:11 “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but
painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace
for those who have been trained by it.”
We have a huge test tomorrow morning over all that we learned last week from our Bible Overview Teachers. I studied really hard on Wednesday because I knew Thursday would be packed with other things! I am going to study some last little things I need to review one more time!
Be encouraged, Once we become filled with the Holy Spirit we are given a spiritual gift to uplift in the church and the church body. I would challenge you to seek out a test online and take it - they only take 15 minutes. By knowing what your gifts are then you can use them within the church and everyday life to share the gospel! So take a test even if it has been years since you have! It will be really fun to learn something about yourself.
Have an amazing time learning about yourself!!
Monday, October 14, 2013
Catch Up!
I am so sorry it has been a full week + some and I have not posted! It has been a crazy crazy awesome week!!! (Sorry Mimi it is so late.)
Anyways, I have finally gotten some down time to post for just a little bit.
This past week was Bible Overview week. I can describe it like this.
In 24 hours total in the classroom this past week we walked from Genesis to Revelations twice. We had two teachers walk us through the full Bible. We had 3 class periods with each, therefore in 12 hours we had walked through the Bible. Both of the teachers did a 1000 foot view and had very different teaching styles. Karen Chancey was the first teacher and she taught Monday - Wednesday Morning. She did a huge Visual Ad/Time Line that we filled in for the full Bible and 77 hand motions that explains the high points of the old testament. Mitch Maher was our second teacher and he taught Wednesday Afternoon - Friday. He taught us in person his dvd presentation called "Clarifying the Bible" He had written 20 Sentences that tell the story of the whole Bible.
Needless to say, we were overwhelmed with information this week. Each teacher brought up different parts of the Bible and I know for me and I can easily say for all the class that we learned something everyday.
Example: how to remember how many books are in each Testament = Old Testament is How many letters in OLD = 3 and how many letters in TESTAMENT = 9 and guess what there are 39 books in the Old Testament!! New Testament is How many letters are in NEW=3 and how many letters are in TESTAMENT=9 and this testament is about the TIMES of the Gentiles = 3x9=27 and guess what there are 27 books in the New Testament.
Example:I can show you on a map the route of for the People of God starting with Abram and going to Canaan then Israel then Captivity then back to Israel. Also I can show you the route of each one of Paul's Missionary Journeys and Imprisonments.
I loved this week's teaching and I am excited to dig into books more in-depth. Daniel/Revelations and 1 John I know for sure we will be doing at some point during the year.
With this weeks teaching we have successfully been taught the Bible from cover to cover with a 1000 foot view and we have our main project for the semester that goes this that.
We have a Bible Overview Presentation due on Nov. 8th or 9th. This project is us teaching in front of Karen Chancey and Mary Beth (our grader for the year) and in 30 short minutes walk through the Bible. We are able to choose an age group to focus on. Being creative and making it be useful to what you want to do after the Institute is key. Example if you want to teach high school youth after this tailor it to that, if you want to teach by just speaking to people at a coffee shop have it on laminated notecards that can fit in your purse, If you want to teach to kids have a puppet show or tell it in character.
I believe after just thinking about it for about a day I am going to do something with music and teaching piano notes at the same time. So elementary music lessons with Bible Overview involved. I will keep you posted the more I work on it! I am very excited about the project.
Other fun things that have happened the past week.
We had Jack Herschend come and speak to us for about an hour on Monday. We had the privilege to have him talk about politics and our founding fathers and to think about why our country is faltering from such ideals they had set for this country. It was interesting but not enough time to fully dissect the topic. If you don't know Jack Herschend is the Founder and Owner of Silver Dollar City here in Branson as well as other Amusement Parks in the United States.
On Monday we had our first Lifeline Statement Assigned to us. This assignment is very much so like the Belief Statement but it is over a hot topic in the world and not necessarily over doctrine. Both Belief Statements and Lifeline Statements are valuable. This last weeks topic was Pornography.
On Wednesday we went to Chapel for the month. Keith Chancey was the speaker and talked about the Key Matthew 16:13-24.
K-There is a Kost for the Kingdom - Verse 21
E-Eternal Perspective - Verse 22-23
Y-Yield Yourself to God - Verse 24
On Thursday we were introduced to a college ministry called Lightbearers. This ministry is really really really cool. They (staff of lightbearers) build and own a apartment complex near a college campus and have distinct tenants who are coming to live there to be in an intense discipleship program for their year stay. Lightbearers have found church members in the town to come and disciple the students as well as actual Lightbearers staff. After the first year of staying at the apartment complex you can stay again and you are asked to find three new people to live with you and you be the discipler to those three people. The cool thing is there is accountability and a community that uplifts and encourages you to pursue Christ. Another cool thing is that all rent money goes to support an Oversees Ministry, Orphanage or Well Project or others that Lightbearers are apart of. Now I know you are thinking why did we get told about this ministry because we are out of college. We got told because they are in the process of opening up other apartment complexes and need more staff to start it up - so us coming to work with them and disciple college students. The University of Arkansas is the only active college doing this and Oklahoma State University has built the apartment complex and will be starting very soon. I loved hearing about the program!
This weekend was very chill, Dan's Parents and Sister came up on Saturday to watch Joseph at Sight and Sound. Then stayed till Sunday and we went shopping.
This Saturday also a ton of our classmates got the chance to go to Dallas Texas and witness the Marriage Ceremony of two of our classmates! Connor and Shelby Wade!! We (Dan and I) are beyond excited to walk life with them their first year of marriage and years to come prayerfully.
That is what has happened here in my small little world. Studying God's Word, Learning more about it everyday, doing incredible assignments, hanging out with classmates and creating projects to teach the Bible to others! It has been an incredible first month here at The Institute.
Other fun things that have happened the past week.
We had Jack Herschend come and speak to us for about an hour on Monday. We had the privilege to have him talk about politics and our founding fathers and to think about why our country is faltering from such ideals they had set for this country. It was interesting but not enough time to fully dissect the topic. If you don't know Jack Herschend is the Founder and Owner of Silver Dollar City here in Branson as well as other Amusement Parks in the United States.
On Monday we had our first Lifeline Statement Assigned to us. This assignment is very much so like the Belief Statement but it is over a hot topic in the world and not necessarily over doctrine. Both Belief Statements and Lifeline Statements are valuable. This last weeks topic was Pornography.
On Wednesday we went to Chapel for the month. Keith Chancey was the speaker and talked about the Key Matthew 16:13-24.
K-There is a Kost for the Kingdom - Verse 21
E-Eternal Perspective - Verse 22-23
Y-Yield Yourself to God - Verse 24
On Thursday we were introduced to a college ministry called Lightbearers. This ministry is really really really cool. They (staff of lightbearers) build and own a apartment complex near a college campus and have distinct tenants who are coming to live there to be in an intense discipleship program for their year stay. Lightbearers have found church members in the town to come and disciple the students as well as actual Lightbearers staff. After the first year of staying at the apartment complex you can stay again and you are asked to find three new people to live with you and you be the discipler to those three people. The cool thing is there is accountability and a community that uplifts and encourages you to pursue Christ. Another cool thing is that all rent money goes to support an Oversees Ministry, Orphanage or Well Project or others that Lightbearers are apart of. Now I know you are thinking why did we get told about this ministry because we are out of college. We got told because they are in the process of opening up other apartment complexes and need more staff to start it up - so us coming to work with them and disciple college students. The University of Arkansas is the only active college doing this and Oklahoma State University has built the apartment complex and will be starting very soon. I loved hearing about the program!
This weekend was very chill, Dan's Parents and Sister came up on Saturday to watch Joseph at Sight and Sound. Then stayed till Sunday and we went shopping.
This Saturday also a ton of our classmates got the chance to go to Dallas Texas and witness the Marriage Ceremony of two of our classmates! Connor and Shelby Wade!! We (Dan and I) are beyond excited to walk life with them their first year of marriage and years to come prayerfully.
That is what has happened here in my small little world. Studying God's Word, Learning more about it everyday, doing incredible assignments, hanging out with classmates and creating projects to teach the Bible to others! It has been an incredible first month here at The Institute.
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