Biblical Formations: Theological Reflection Project

 Hey there and welcome back to my blog!

To begin, the invitations of Christ. The first invitation of Christ is repent- this invitation was for people who had rejected Christs invitations. These people had eager hearts to listen,  as a result, some turned from their ways while others still rejected Him. An example, Matthew 4:17- Jesus is warning those who have rejected Him that the end is near and that they still have time to turn from their ways. Then there are the believers- Jesus was speaking to everyone, they had all believed by the things they had seen Jesus do. They had peace knowing that Jesus would accept them. An example, John 1:50- Jesus goes around and people acknowledge He is not a normal man by the miracles He performs. Also the followers, they were ordinary people that Jesus spoke to. They were curious as they asked many questions and were obedient and brave when they left everything to follow Jesus.  An example, Matthew 19:28- Peter asks what he will get for following Jesus and Jesus tells him that when He comes to judge the world, His believers will inherit eternal life. Next was the love/deny invitation- Jesus spoke to all different types of people; believers, non believers and His disciples. All people had shown interest but needed to pick up their cross to follow Him. An example, Matthew 5: 46- Jesus tells the audience to love their enemies and Mark 8:3- Christ tells the crowd they must pick up their cross. Finally, go/teach, God spoke to the people who had been rejected- still somehow they found peace in hearing Him. They all had open hearts and minds and felt encouraged by Jesus to share with others what they had been taught. Jesus had also prepared their hearts for persecution. An example, Matthew 11:1- Jesus instructs His disciples to go and teach in Galilee and Matthew 10:16- Jesus prepares the hearts of His followers for persecution. 

Moving on, the stages of spiritual growth. We have looked at the invitations of Christ, now to analyzing and comparing the invitations to the parable of the sewer. The parable describes how the heart of men respond to the word of God. We know that ultimately Jesus is the word of God, and that the word of God is living and active and penetrates the hearts of the reader. In the first invitation- repent- the hearts of the people are hard and skeptical and they are not receptive to the word of God. This means that they are the "path" in the parable, they are hard-hearted and not receptive to the word of God, therefore they can not bear fruit. Then the believers, they are people in need of understanding as their hearts are seeking Jesus. They are quick to believe but their faith is like the "shallow soil"- short-lived, have no root and are later scorched by the sun. In the third invitation-followers- their hearts are new in their faith, they have many questions and need to know more about Jesus. Like the "shallow soil", they lack knowledge, need answers and lack foundation. Next the invitation of love/deny-these people have been followers of Christ but are facing the challenge of having to decide between following worldly pleasures of following Jesus.Who will they love and deny? In the parable they are the "weeds" they had once been growing but the weeds came along and chocked the life from the plants. Finally, the invitation of go/teach- these are people who are following their rabbi, they are growing and multiplying in number as they share with others what they have learned. In the parable they are "bearing fruit" as they understand why they are following, as they multiply in number and as they are ready to go out and share the good news with others.  

After completing the word study, I learned that Jesus is understanding. He had spoke with ordinary people, His disciples were fishermen and tax collectors (Matthew 8:23, Matthew 9:9).  He had preached to large crowds in which he understood their problems, He even healed a sick girl with a worried dad (Matthew 9:19). Later, Jesus answers Peters questions when he asks what his reward will be for following Him (Matthew 19:28). Then we see that Jesus had prepared His disciples for what it is like preaching in the big world. He tells them that they will face persecution. But he prepares them, because Jesus had been down that road before (Matthew 4:19, Matthew 10:16, Luke 10:3). These all revealed to me Jesus' understanding of human struggles and to me its refreshing to know I'm not alone. 

To conclude this essay with my thoughts I would say that I am the weeds in the love and deny category. I think this because I am a believer of Christ, however, there are times when I get distracted and lose sight of the bigger picture. The parable mentions that the worries of life side track a believer and choke the belief out of them. This is me, I am constantly worried about what people think of me as I hate letting people down. I'm a people pleaser, but I  quickly and sadly found out that really, you cant please everyone! I also am struggling to find the motivation to keep going in my faith. I want to stay strong but I am battling with my grades and schooling, my future career, and overall, with what I'm going to do with my life;  I'm worried that these worries are over-riding my relationship with Christ. I also am feeling discouraged as this unit has talked about where a person is in their faith, but not how a person can move forward in their faith. Does this mean  I will stay a "weed" forever, forever worrying about my future? I hope not because Matthew 6:34 tells me "[to] not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." And Luke 12:26 says "since you can not do this little thing, why do you worry?" I just need more clarification as well as encouragement to be able to move forward in my relationship with Christ. This way I will no longer be a "worrying weed."

Thank you for visiting and let me know what you think in the comments. Hope to see you back for my next blog!

Spiritual Formation- Repent (Response)

Hey and welcome back to my blog as throughout the reading of this chapter, I found several things refreshing, frustrating and illustrating.

I found it refreshing the way they clarified "repentance" -it is simply a change in thinking. When I first though about the word repentance, I had thought of it as a continuous recommitting my life to Christ. However, the book said that a true lifestyle of continuous transformative repentance is through changing our minds about Christ. This is so refreshing to know that all I need to do is ask for forgiveness and understand what I did was wrong and as a result, try to not repeat the same action again.

But on the other hand, they way the book describes repentance is a little frustrating. It almost makes it seem too easy when in reality it is not. It is hard to sit there and speak to God acknowledging your sin knowing that we are human and are prone to make the same mistakes. I almost feel like its a cycle of trying and failing. I ask for forgiveness and I am cleansed but then even through my efforts, I sin again. And I know that God forgives but does he grow tired of our apologies? And what happens if I forget to repent a few times? Is God understanding, does He forgive me? What is the result?

And finally, something that stood out to me from the reading was the illustrations. The short stories within the reading (bike story, quick shower illustration, the poor lawn and the game of life) really helped me focus in on what I'm reading. These illustrations are relatable and a short interlude from the lots of information. These illustrations pull me deeper into the reading as I continue to read with a fuller understanding.

Thank you for reading, let me know what you think in the comments and see you back for my next blog!

Big Teach #2

Hey there and welcome back to my blog as I will be reflecting on todays sermon.

Todays speaker talked about Paul's transformation and how humans often try to add to the Bible. The speaker first spoke about how Paul was a "terrifying man" when he had once took the name of Saul. He followed the laws not the written word as an act of trying to impress God. However, that all changed when he encountered Jesus. Right then and there he was aware of how off track he was, and I found that I sometimes have to examine myself and often I am like Paul, way off track.

Similarly, we often find ourselves following Jesus along with something else, and in Paul's case that was the law. Last year we studied that sometimes when we read the Bible, we are reading it with this "emotional baggage" and it keeps us from reading the Bible as it really is and we like to "add" to the word or to the way we follow Jesus. However, Jesus says He has paid it all and we no longer need to change the way we read the Bible or follow Him, there is only room to trust in Jesus. And to me this is refreshing as I think about todays discussion- that your belief in Jesus and trust in the word is what saves you- not your denomination, not your journey, but your faith in Jesus.

Alright, let me know what you think in the comments, thanks for visiting my blog, and hope to see you back for my next one!

Chapter 2 Reflection (Respond)

Hey there! Today, in reading this chapter, I began to think about Jesus's personality. I considered the story of Mary Magdalen, "a woman with a sketchy and painful history who would end up being the first at the tomb of the risen Christ. Between possession by 7 demons that had controlled her and her life selling herself to the abuse of men as a prostitute, she longed for change from shame, scorn and judgement. And here was a man, a rabbi, who thought of her as something different. He was someone who considered her worthy to be in his presence. Certainly no rabbi had treated her like that before." (page43) This quote really made my think about Jesus's personality. I mean, Mary had faced judgement her whole life and he just comes in and shows her she is of absolute value. Jesus really values everyone. Even the prostitutes. Psalm 139:13-16 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and all the days of our lives were written in God’s book before we were ever born, confirming God’s prior knowledge and plan for our lives. So in reality, we shouldn't have to believe the judgement of humans but understand that the each of us are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Thanks and see you back for my next blog!

Big Teach #1

Hey there!
In the sermon, Mr. Pete speaks about the two principles that govern our lives. One, boasting on outward impression and the other, boasting in the cross. Boasting in outward impression could be a persons appearance, pride, grades, school etc. But boasting in the cross is self denial. Its coming before God and asking for redemption. Boasting in the cross is actually quite relieving for Christ is in me, for I am redeemed from the law and I am free from proving myself. In reality, we have a tendency to care heavily on what other people think of us but really, we should be bringing ourselves before God. The cross, or Jesus should be our motivation, He should be the reason why we get up in the morning, because ultimately it is not about me but about Him.

Let me know what you think in the comments and see you back for my next blog!

10, 000 Hours Project

Hey there! Welcome back to my blog as I will be writing about how the disciples modeled the 10,000 hours project and what it will take for me to spend 10,000 hours with Christ. First, a little bit on how much time I currently spend with Christ. In a week I maybe spend five minutes with God on my own time. This means that I spend 20 minutes a month, two hours every six months and four hours in a year. At this rate when I graduate I would have spent 12 hours total, when I'm 30 I would have spent 60 hours total, when in 40 I would have spent 160 hours total, when I'm 50, 200 hours total, when I'm 60, 240 hours total and when I'm 75, 300 hours total. I would be 2,500 years old by the time I reach 10,000 hours of spending time with Jesus.  To me, this is truly depressing because the disciples spent 10,000 hours with Jesus, and I am not even close. This is just convicting me because you could tell that the disciples had their priorities straight. However, I am not so sure about myself. I often say that I'm "too busy" or "ill do it later" when in reality if it was something important to me-I wouldn't constantly put it off. I just feel like a lot needs to change, I need to re-prioritize everything and figure out whats really important.

Several verses that convict me of priorities are as follows:
Matthew 6:19  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

2 Timothy 2:22  So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Luke 22:27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

All these verses have made me think that in this world we currently live in, we place our treasures on what this worls has to offer-material.  But really, the Bible says to "Flee [those] youthful passions [and instead] pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."

When I look at the disciples, I see their commitment in Ephesians 4:13,“As we become more and more like our Master, we will increasingly reflect the Lord Jesus in all that we are and do.  Discipleship is a commitment of our entire lives toward the end of becoming entirely like Jesus.” I see their discipline in Jesus as they understood that to be a disciple you must "Pick up [your] cross could follow him" (Matthew 10:38, Luke 14:27).  I also saw how they trusted Jesus when "they pulled up their boats on the shore, left everything and followed him" (Luke 5:11) I am intrigued by how they very simply left everything and followed Jesus upon request, did they even know this guy? How could they leave everything and follow this man? They had some serious trust that Jesus was who he said he was.

I hope to be like the disciples, to be able to leave everything and follow Him and although I'm unsure of what this currently looks like, I am ready to fully trust in Jesus as he walks me through this process. I am also ready for a change, I'm ready to take ownership of my faith and I plan to do this by spending 10-15 minutes in Gods word Monday-Friday. I am starting small that way when I'm ready, I can grow from there. I can achieve this goal by spending time in Gods word as well as reflecting in the several moments I have before school starts each day. However, I will need someone to keep me accountable and to check up on me every once in a while.

Anyways, thanks for checking out my blog and see you next time!

About Me

Hey there! Welcome to my first ever blog! Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am in grade 10 this year, I have a family of five. I have two sisters, Lydia is 12 years old and is in grade 7 and my other sister Abbie, is 11 and is in grade 6. Both my sisters really enjoy sports and listening to music and my sister Lydia has shown an interest in French with hopes to speak it fluently one day. I (and along with my sisters) are staff kids, which means that both our parents work at this school. My dad, David Mosher is the maintenance supervisor as well as assistant coach for Mr. Husted in both middle school high school football. My Mom, Elise Mosher has taught 1st, 4th and 5th grade but now serves as the primary principal. She also lead the  East African Model United Nations (Eamun) team for our school last year. And a role model of mine would definitely be Simone Biles, a five Olympic-star medalist. Her specialty is in gymnastics-which happens to be one of my favorite sports. Now, she is considered the worlds best gymnast. Some passions of mine are writing and traveling. I hope one day to live in Australia and be a well-known journalist. So that's a bit about me...Thanks for reading and hope to see you back for my next blog! ;)