One more day and I move back to school. Wow time has flown by the last couple of days. Today I went to the adult Sunday School at church for the first time and I really enjoyed it. Here's all the notes that I got out of today's class and service:
When we get to heaven we will get answers and gain a new perspective on life and things from the past. In heaven we will be in constant praise of God, and we will enjoy it. Some misconceptions are that everybody will be there, God didn't actually create a Hell because He's so loving, you will get your own planet to reign over, and it will be boring/Hell is a party. Everybody won't be there because some people will go to Hell. God is the judge of where we end up. Jesus is not ethnically white or has blue eyes etc. Misconceptions about faith are that there is more than one way to get to heaven, that all religions are aspects of the same God, meaning they are all right, and reincarnation. Christ said specifically that there is no other way to the Father than through Him.
Jesus is the Christ. He is the Savior. He had a 5-fold mission including: preaching the good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming freedom for the captives, releasing the prisoners from the darkness, and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor.
What's it to you what God's plan is for someone else? It's their path, not yours, so stop comparing yourself to other people. Those who are the most humble are the greatest. Like children we need to be more focused on ourselves and our relationship with God rather than comparing ourselves to other Christians and their walks.
Service: Guest speaker- David Wheeler
Famous Last Words of Christ
Acts 1:6-11
What was Jesus all about? Or on the other hand what was not important to Jesus?
The disciples were often self-centered and focused on a "What's in it for me?" mentality. When a man learns to die to himself, he will then learn to live. We are supposed to be on God's mission but we are too worked up about what other people think. The disciples were more worried about what other people thought about what they were doing than the actual work they did.
In order for Him to increase, I must decrease. It's not for us to know the plan or what will happen, but for us to trust that He knows what He's doing.
Our purpose as Christians is to Glorify God, and our function is to join God's mission.
The thought that you will not learn to love God until you love yourself is false. If you love God, you will love yourself because He made you and is inside of you.
So How can we spread Christianity?
4 questions that you may think about when contemplating witnessing to someone or not:
Where is my boldness?- verse 8a
- Introverts have the ability to relate to other introverts, so you don't even need to be bold to reach someone.
Why should I share my spiritual story?- verse 8b
- We will be held accountable for the people we had the opportunity to share with but chose not to.
-We are not defined by what we do or have done, but what we are. Sharing faults and failures will help people to relate.
Where?- verse 8c
- Everywhere; Don't go on a mission trip if you aren't willing to do the same thing in your own neighborhood.
-The gospel is individual and inclusive. Everybody who comes to faith, comes individually.
What's the point?- verse 9-11
- Jesus is coming back! Don't worry about when He is coming back but what the state of the world will be in when He does come back.
- "If we'd have known you were coming, we'd have gone and got more people" mentality. We already know that He's coming, So where are the people?
Forgotten God: Intro and Chapter 1
Introduction-
Chan states here that by "Forgotten God" he is actually referencing the Holy Spirit. That we, as Christians, tend to focus on God and Jesus Christ, but lose focus on the Spirit. Many Christians feel when attending a church that they are "missing something", and Chan believes that this "something" is actually the Spirit. When we lose sight of the Spirit, we are limited to only accomplishing tasks that can use our human strength. A whole realm of things that we can do is gone, because we forget that with the Spirit we can even do them.
"I also believe that the Spirit is more obviously active in places where people are desperate for Him, humbled before Him, and not distracted by their pursuit of wealth or comforts." This goes along with what I was saying earlier about the greatest people being those who are the most humble. When we humble ourselves and forget about our own desires, we become more open to the Spirit to take control. Anything that we accomplish without the Spirit is of no consequence. We cannot live up to our full potential and even the church becomes irrelevant.
Chan describes the truths that he will lay out for us in the book as "Obvious, Neglected, and Crucial". He also hopes that these truths will help us look to the future and not stay stuck in the past. I'm hoping the same for myself and that I can do what he says next and "lay aside your baggage and stereotypes so you can be open to what God wants to teach you". I hope the same for you too, reader.
I love what Chan says about a "healthy balance". We truly cannot say that everyone needs a healthy balance of the Spirit or of God in their life, because that would imply that some people have too much. I don't know about you, but I can never have enough of God. You cannot be "overfilled" with the Holy Spirit. You can take and take and take as much as you want and there will always be room for more. The issue is not necessarily that we don't have enough, but that we are holding back too much. That when someone only has a "little bit of God" they are really unwilling to give up parts of themselves to Him. There is always more of God that we can experience, but we have to be willing to ask for it.
Chapter 1: I've Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit?
I agree with Chan that there is a problem with churches nowadays. More and more people are saying that they believe in God, but not in organized religion. The key to fixing that problem may very well be the Holy Spirit. The reason why people find organized religion to be faulty is that it's more like organized spoon-feeding. We sit, listen, and believe what we are told, but we don't challenge or look to see for ourselves why it is true. We know that what we believe is right, but we don't look to see how or why. We just accept that "that's the way it is".
After Jesus had died and was resurrected, He told the disciples to stay and wait for the Spirit to come. Chan says that the disciples obeyed because that's what people do when someone rises from the dead and gives you instructions LOL. If I saw that happened, I know for sure I would have obeyed as well. But as a people we don't "expect" the Holy Spirit to do anything for us. We don't "need" Him. Just because things are stirring and things seem to be working out, doesn't mean the Spirit is at work at all. We CAN do things on our own, but we can do so much MORE with the Spirit. You should be so caught up in the Spirit that if someone saw you for the first time they would know from your actions and lifestyle that you are a believer. The sad thing is when a nonbeliever has a lifestyle more "Christian-ly" than you. So what needs to happen is that when we encounter the Spirit, a change needs to take place and our lifestyles need to be affected. Truthfully, if we are so taken by Jesus and we are completely affected by Jesus's work in our lives, shouldn't we also be taken by the Spirit and completely affected by the Spirit's work in our lives? In the trinity there is no piece that is more beneficial or stronger or more necessary than the others. They are all powerful, all knowing, and all equal. So why do we not consider the Spirit as important as Jesus? Even Jesus said it was a good thing that He would die because then the Holy Spirit would come and take His place. Also, knowing of the Spirit, and experiencing the Spirit are two different things. I know in my life I have more head knowledge of the Spirit then I do experiences. So the goal for this book is to not just learn more about the Spirit, but to learn to be more aware of the Spirit.
Now to go pack more :)
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
One More Week
So we are now on the last week before school starts. Yesterday and today I got to spend time with Beth for her birthday along with a few of her friends and some girls from school. I enjoyed the break and such before getting down to business and actually packing and getting everything done before I leave. This year is going to be a blast.
I forgot to mention in my last post that I finished one of my goals of finishing a book before getting back, by reading Ridley Pearson's Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark (found here). Although this book was a really easy read and a little bit childish I really enjoyed it. The premise of the book is similar to Night at the Museum 2. In this book five middle schoolers are chosen to be Disney Host Interactive guides. They are hologram tour guides that run during the daytime hours in the parks. The main character, Finn, quickly finds out that a tour guide was not the only reason why the DHI's were created. I liked the book because it was not only adventurous but the author didn't go into lengthy details describing everything. I'm glad I finally read it after buying it several years ago.
I've also come up with a plan that I would like to stick to and I hope you all will help me keep it up by yelling at me if I forget. My plan is this: I have obtained all of the Francis Chan books, which are Forgotten God, Crazy Love, and Erasing Hell. Sundays are going to be my Sabbath day and I plan on reading one chapter, starting with the first book, and writing a blogpost about it as a reflection. I also plan on not doing homework on these days, so it may take some time management on my part to get my homework done on all the other days. The only exception to this rule will be if I have a test on Monday and need to study. If that happens I will make sure that I spend equal the amount of time reading my Bible or something like that. In addition with working on Remedy on Wednesday nights, I'm going to be making that a prayer time so I can pray for the chatters and such. I already started a prayer journal keeping track of some of the requests that I've been getting. So in other words I should have a post up every Sunday and if I don't feel free to remind me :) I also plan on going to Friday Night Fire every week and Wednesday night Vespers when I can. I appreciate your input and if you would like to join me you can find the books here, here, and here. I will be starting the first chapter of Forgotten God this Sunday. I recommend getting the kindle editions because they are cheaper and don't require shipping and such.
I hope I can keep this up along with everything else I have to do, but I'm remaining optimistic about it :)
Today I:
Saw- Beth Love her :)
Heard- Britt Nichole Love her music.
Smelled- Nothing spectacular
Tasted- Tacos
Touched- a weird rash that broke out randomly on my hand.
Hoodies designed: 19
Poems: 14.25 (one in the works but it's going really slow)
I forgot to mention in my last post that I finished one of my goals of finishing a book before getting back, by reading Ridley Pearson's Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark (found here). Although this book was a really easy read and a little bit childish I really enjoyed it. The premise of the book is similar to Night at the Museum 2. In this book five middle schoolers are chosen to be Disney Host Interactive guides. They are hologram tour guides that run during the daytime hours in the parks. The main character, Finn, quickly finds out that a tour guide was not the only reason why the DHI's were created. I liked the book because it was not only adventurous but the author didn't go into lengthy details describing everything. I'm glad I finally read it after buying it several years ago.
I've also come up with a plan that I would like to stick to and I hope you all will help me keep it up by yelling at me if I forget. My plan is this: I have obtained all of the Francis Chan books, which are Forgotten God, Crazy Love, and Erasing Hell. Sundays are going to be my Sabbath day and I plan on reading one chapter, starting with the first book, and writing a blogpost about it as a reflection. I also plan on not doing homework on these days, so it may take some time management on my part to get my homework done on all the other days. The only exception to this rule will be if I have a test on Monday and need to study. If that happens I will make sure that I spend equal the amount of time reading my Bible or something like that. In addition with working on Remedy on Wednesday nights, I'm going to be making that a prayer time so I can pray for the chatters and such. I already started a prayer journal keeping track of some of the requests that I've been getting. So in other words I should have a post up every Sunday and if I don't feel free to remind me :) I also plan on going to Friday Night Fire every week and Wednesday night Vespers when I can. I appreciate your input and if you would like to join me you can find the books here, here, and here. I will be starting the first chapter of Forgotten God this Sunday. I recommend getting the kindle editions because they are cheaper and don't require shipping and such.
I hope I can keep this up along with everything else I have to do, but I'm remaining optimistic about it :)
Today I:
Saw- Beth Love her :)
Heard- Britt Nichole Love her music.
Smelled- Nothing spectacular
Tasted- Tacos
Touched- a weird rash that broke out randomly on my hand.
Hoodies designed: 19
Poems: 14.25 (one in the works but it's going really slow)
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Pulse, Souls, and Hoodies
It's been a while my friends, but I was waiting until I had enough to write about.
Today has consisted of sleeping, driving, and painting, so I thought I would take a break and write to you all :)
This week my parents have been gone and I've been chauffeur. I've also had a stiff neck for two days, so Yesterday I didn't get much accomplished.
Last Saturday I went to my first Pulse Fest, which was awesome :) I will most likely go next year again. Britt Nichole is one of my new favorite Christian Artists.
I had the pleasure of helping out on Remedy recently during a text blast which is awesome. Clint has been advertising text prayer requests from 8-11 each night. So if you have a prayer request that you would like one of our lovely SoulMedics to pray about for you, Text 313131 with the word Remedy and your prayer request or whatever you'd like to talk about. I'll be on from probably 10-12 tonight so stop by sometime :) Link to RemedyLive here.
2 weeks from today I will be all moved into school and all of my roommates should be there :) I can't wait.
Next week will consist of packing and a birthday party and possibly a concert.
I also have taken to designing Disney Hoodies again. Some of you may have seen the last ones I did in my sketch book and soon...maybe tonight :) ... I will be putting pictures of these up on facebook. So check them out! So far I've done all of the official Disney princesses including Rapunzel who will be official next year and Merida, from Brave, which will hopefully be official in another year or so. I have also done 5 of the Princes as well. After the princes are complete I hope to move onto the Heroes and Heroines plus other major characters.
Also I found a poem that you all might enjoy. It's a Christian poem about waiting for the right man to come along called "I will wait" by "Janette...ikz" link to the youtube is here.
Today I:
Saw- Gas prices wow
Heard- My awful stereo in my car.
Smelled- Paint smell
Tasted- Pizza Hut Pizza mmm
Touched- Paint. It's all over my hands
Hoodies designed: 15.5 (will be 16 by the end of the night)
Poems: 14.25 (one in the works but it's going really slow)
Today has consisted of sleeping, driving, and painting, so I thought I would take a break and write to you all :)
This week my parents have been gone and I've been chauffeur. I've also had a stiff neck for two days, so Yesterday I didn't get much accomplished.
Last Saturday I went to my first Pulse Fest, which was awesome :) I will most likely go next year again. Britt Nichole is one of my new favorite Christian Artists.
I had the pleasure of helping out on Remedy recently during a text blast which is awesome. Clint has been advertising text prayer requests from 8-11 each night. So if you have a prayer request that you would like one of our lovely SoulMedics to pray about for you, Text 313131 with the word Remedy and your prayer request or whatever you'd like to talk about. I'll be on from probably 10-12 tonight so stop by sometime :) Link to RemedyLive here.
2 weeks from today I will be all moved into school and all of my roommates should be there :) I can't wait.
Next week will consist of packing and a birthday party and possibly a concert.
I also have taken to designing Disney Hoodies again. Some of you may have seen the last ones I did in my sketch book and soon...maybe tonight :) ... I will be putting pictures of these up on facebook. So check them out! So far I've done all of the official Disney princesses including Rapunzel who will be official next year and Merida, from Brave, which will hopefully be official in another year or so. I have also done 5 of the Princes as well. After the princes are complete I hope to move onto the Heroes and Heroines plus other major characters.
Also I found a poem that you all might enjoy. It's a Christian poem about waiting for the right man to come along called "I will wait" by "Janette...ikz" link to the youtube is here.
Today I:
Saw- Gas prices wow
Heard- My awful stereo in my car.
Smelled- Paint smell
Tasted- Pizza Hut Pizza mmm
Touched- Paint. It's all over my hands
Hoodies designed: 15.5 (will be 16 by the end of the night)
Poems: 14.25 (one in the works but it's going really slow)
Monday, August 6, 2012
German, Gilmores, and Bugles
Hello August!!!
I'm glad to see that August is here and school is around the corner.
Been trying to clean and get organized so I know what I need to buy and such for this year.
Last week I wanted to do a blogpost, but I spent all week at my dad's office doing some computer work. I learned that I'm not good at working on a computer all day long. Yeah I can sit on my computer doing stuff for quite a while, but doing repetitive things for hours is tiring. Half of the time the site I was working on was in German so I guess I learned a bit while working. It's nice to make money though. I also cleaned the church this week...in the middle of a storm. My thoughts were at the time "If I die in a church, does that mean I get an automatic In for heaven?" lol. Luckily I did not die and didn't even get that wet.
Today for the first time I hooked up my tv and started watching Gilmore Girls again :) I love that show so much. Then tonight we all headed over to Elkhart Memorial to see the California Blue Devils Bugle and Drum Corps practice. They were great. It was cool to see a lot more guys doing color guard too. They had an all male rifle line and an all female saber line. It was awesome :)
Also you should check out the new RemedyLive website: here. It's looking fantastic and I can't wait to see all of God's plan for the impact of the site on the teens around the country. It's a blessing to be a SoulMedic and a mentor when I can be. I get to meet cool people and help people who are struggling get through their pain.
Things I want to do before going back to school:
Draw, Write, and Paint more- I know I won't really have time to do much when I get back into the swing of classes
Read a Book- Man I miss reading and I forgot how much I enjoyed it. I was to finish at least one. I think it may be Kingdom Keepers because it's not terribly long and I've been wanting to read it forever.
Get everything packed and ready ahead of time
Get my room cleaned out so I can have a bed when I come home for break.
Practice my flute more so I can actually be ready to be in a band again lol. Maybe I can try to be able to play fully open holed by the end of the month.
Spend more time with Daniel when I can. He's gone a lot, but maybe we can work in a movie or something.
Well that's what I've got for the night.
Today I:
Saw- Gilmore Girls season 1 again. lol
Heard- The Bugle Corps was amazingly together well. wow.
Smelled- My car. It's got an interesting smell.
Tasted- Fazoli's breadsticks. Top 2 of breadsticks in my book.
Touched- Polly Pockets I forgot I had. Back when they looked like this.
Drawings to date: 11
Poems: 14
Haikus: 13
I'm glad to see that August is here and school is around the corner.
Been trying to clean and get organized so I know what I need to buy and such for this year.
Last week I wanted to do a blogpost, but I spent all week at my dad's office doing some computer work. I learned that I'm not good at working on a computer all day long. Yeah I can sit on my computer doing stuff for quite a while, but doing repetitive things for hours is tiring. Half of the time the site I was working on was in German so I guess I learned a bit while working. It's nice to make money though. I also cleaned the church this week...in the middle of a storm. My thoughts were at the time "If I die in a church, does that mean I get an automatic In for heaven?" lol. Luckily I did not die and didn't even get that wet.
Today for the first time I hooked up my tv and started watching Gilmore Girls again :) I love that show so much. Then tonight we all headed over to Elkhart Memorial to see the California Blue Devils Bugle and Drum Corps practice. They were great. It was cool to see a lot more guys doing color guard too. They had an all male rifle line and an all female saber line. It was awesome :)
Also you should check out the new RemedyLive website: here. It's looking fantastic and I can't wait to see all of God's plan for the impact of the site on the teens around the country. It's a blessing to be a SoulMedic and a mentor when I can be. I get to meet cool people and help people who are struggling get through their pain.
Things I want to do before going back to school:
Draw, Write, and Paint more- I know I won't really have time to do much when I get back into the swing of classes
Read a Book- Man I miss reading and I forgot how much I enjoyed it. I was to finish at least one. I think it may be Kingdom Keepers because it's not terribly long and I've been wanting to read it forever.
Get everything packed and ready ahead of time
Get my room cleaned out so I can have a bed when I come home for break.
Practice my flute more so I can actually be ready to be in a band again lol. Maybe I can try to be able to play fully open holed by the end of the month.
Spend more time with Daniel when I can. He's gone a lot, but maybe we can work in a movie or something.
Well that's what I've got for the night.
Today I:
Saw- Gilmore Girls season 1 again. lol
Heard- The Bugle Corps was amazingly together well. wow.
Smelled- My car. It's got an interesting smell.
Tasted- Fazoli's breadsticks. Top 2 of breadsticks in my book.
Touched- Polly Pockets I forgot I had. Back when they looked like this.
Drawings to date: 11
Poems: 14
Haikus: 13
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