Big Teach 5

Hey guys and welcome to my blog as I will be working out what  it means to be a spiritual follower vs. a shallow follower.

In this final sermon, Pete raised the question of what people will say at your funeral. Will they say you were a genuine believer, an example to others, a light to the world, or a fake, a phony, a shallow believer? I thought wow what a tough way to open a sermon. This is because that question has actually on my mind recently. I mentioned in a previous blog that if others cant see what I claim to believe, am I a fake Christian?

 But upon the opening of the sermon, I began to understand what it means to be "spiritual." Its not a peaceful thinking you enter on top of a mountain, or a meditation but an acting or living out what you claim to believe (Galatians 6:1). Pete makes three points to back this up:
1) Spiritual people live for others- but cant do that in isolation (Galatians 6: 1-5)
2)  Spiritual people love the Word of God
3) Spiritual people look to the future

So overall, I should "should not think less of myself but think of myself less" (C.S Lewis) and serve others with an open heart-even in little ways. I should also have a passion for the Bible- and have a constant (daily) time with Christ. Finally, I should look to the future- encourage others and keep my eyes on Jesus- the ultimate redeemer. These will help me see what a spiritual Christian looks like vs a shallow and fake Christain.

Thanks for visiting, until next time!

Believe- Reflection

Hey and welcome back to my blog! 
In the unit of believe, the key concept was answering the question of what would it take to experience a bold and confident faith? I am going to answer this question based on what we have learned  in class.  

We had said that to have a bold and confident faith we must have an active faith and this begins with the humility to repent. Belief is the step following repentance, and we are invited to experience that confidence. However, to achieve this boldness we have to grow in our understanding. We have to change our thoughts to Christ's thoughts, we actually just need "new thoughts" according to Romans 12:1-2. To add to our confidence, we need to have reasoned belief. Belief in itself is not enough. Even Satan believes in God, so what does that say? It means that we need something more-we need reasoned belief. This looks like knowing the scriptures that we claim to base our lives upon as well as actively living out what we claim to believe.  According to the parable of the sewer, unreasoned faith is like a plants without root-completely meaningless. 

Our faith is meaningless if we are not growing and if we can not differentiate the right from wrong. Our hearts and actions should add up to what we believe, and currently I am wondering if others can see Christ living in me by the way I live my life. Otherwise, my faith is meaningless. Also, I am trying to work out whether or not I am growing, this is a stressed issue for me. I am worried because if I am not growing is it a fair question to see that I am not a true believer? I don't want this to be so, but honestly I don't know if I have seen a change. This is probably something I will talk about with my mentor-so that I may know for sure if I am growing, and if I am not, how can I grow? I do have interest in growing I really do, but I first need to work out where I am in my faith.  

Ultimately, for me to experience the boldness and confidence of faith, I need to be growing, changing and developing. Also, I need to know if others can see me changing, developing, and changing otherwise- is what I claim to believe meaningless?  Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you back for my next blog! 

Big Teach 5

Hey and welcome back!
Todays big teach was about freedom-freedom from sin. In this talk, Pete used 4 dogs to make an illustration -Spike, a dog who was always struggling and strangling, Buster, a dog who was totally out of control, Max, a dog that stands by the side of the owner, and Benji, a lazy dog with no desire. In this illustration, Pete said that Max was the way a Christian should live their life- a person who grows and desires to be with their master, in our case, with God. However, the journey isn't easy being with God, in fact, its much more of a conflict or war zone between ourselves. We are battling with our old selves, "we are saved from sin but we battle with sin within us." But Pete described this as normal for christains we will mess up, but we know that God will keep calling our names to keep us aligned.
Thanks for coming and hope to see you back for my next blog!

Big teach 4

Happy Sunday and welcome back!

Todays sermon was about identity-where do Christians find their identity?

Pete spoke about how new Christians are vulnerable to being swept away by Satan. This reminded me of last months unit-understand. As a class, we had looked at the different types of soil-and how the vulnerable Christians resignate with the rocky places. A quick review- the rocky place resembles christains with not much soil . "It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root." This is similar to vulnerable christains- they spring up quickly with intrest but are later swept away because they have no foundation.

So where are you? Where do you find your identity? Do you have a strong foundation or are you vulnerable too?

Thanks for joining me and see you back for next weeks blog!

Reflect- What version of Christ am I persuing?

Hey there and welcome back! 

Today I am reflecting on the version of Christ I am following. However, to start things off, the biblical definition of repentance, the act of which a person changes their mind and thinking about Christ. A verse that not only backs this up but hits me personally is Romans 5:15 "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" We had discussed in class that Gods grace is a free gift but also an unlimited gift, his grace comes in abundance-it overflows! I don’t know why, but I feel sometimes it is hard to believe in His abundant grace. This is because I find myself often feeling hopeless when I cannot meet all of His expectations, I want to please Him, I really do, I want to earn Hs favor. However, I know that this is impossible to do for I will mess up and I am not trusting in Gods grace. Is it because I'm full of pride? Is there part of me that feels despair because I cant keep up with all these rules? And finally, am I following a gracious Jesus or a Jesus full of rules? 

In the beginning of this unit we began to discuss what the fullness of God looked like. We had said that "we want to follow Jesus but different teachings are leading us astray- and it all starts with our minds." I quickly discovered how true this was when as a class, we began looking at the glory, grace and truth of God. When looking at His glory, I saw how powerful and majestic God was, no one is like Him. But at the same time, I began thinking about Luke 2:9 "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. Sometimes, I forget that God doesn’t only stand for His abundance in grace and His power of truth, but He also stands with judgement. Luke 2:9 says the people had seen the glory of God and were terrified. I too am scared of judgement and prefer to focus on His grace and truth more.  Maybe because I want to escape His judgment? I cant think this forever though because I know that when God comes a second time to judge, no one will be able to escape His judgement.  

Overall, I may be following the wrong Jesus by fooling myself into thinking He is just a God of rules and that He is a God of only grace and truth. I know that God is a combination  of glory, grace, and truth and that none of Him can be avoided or in other words its all or nothing. 2 Timothy 3:7 says that there will those who wont understand the truth and to ensure I wont be one of those people, I am on a journey to understanding the fullness of God or more specifically – what it means for me to understand that God rules with a power, saves by grace, and gives the light or the wisdom to those who wish to have freedom in knowing who He is.

Understand- Romans 9

Hey there!
Today for class, we looked at Romans 9- a confusing passage if we are being honest. In this passage we are told that before anyone was born or had done anything good or bad—God had already elected those who would be saved. And then continuing the passage, "[he] will have mercy on who [He has] mercy, and [He] will have compassion on whom [he has]  compassion.

I agree to an extent- I do believe that God is all powerful and knowing, but I also think that in a way He limits himself. I think He may know the final destination of our lives, but He may also change His mind. Meaning that He has granted us free will, correct? Free will to chose whether or not we follow Him. I think that He is aware of our hearts and attitudes as well as intentions. However, in my opinion, I believe that God cant see the details of our journey- he leaves that part up to us (because then would be the point of free will?!?) We decide how we get to our destination. Plus John 3.16 tells us that ALL who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. So...if this verse was made for all of us, we all have the opputuinity to chose, therefore, I don't think there are only specific people chosen. What would be the point of living if we knew that we didn't mean anything to Him and if our faith wasn't based on on human desire  to follow him or on our effort, what would it be based on? Again, in my opinion, God is just- we have been taught that our whole lives. So if God is just, He wouldn't just choose SOME  to show mercy to but ALL should receive mercy. Here is why I am thinking this, Jesus came to die on the cross for sinners- everyone. That right there is already showing mercy- we don't deserve second chances, but still He came to save us.   The verse doesn't say He came for "some, no it says "whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Therefore, Heaven does not have a boundary of how many people can enter and I don't think certain people are chosen, I think all who believe receive His glory and a spot in Heaven.

So thanks for visiting and please don't be offended if you disagree, this is just me trying to work out the meaning of this verse. Leave a comment about what you think below and see you for my next blog!

Big Teach 3

Hey there again! Welcome back today as I reflect on Big Teach 3. In this sermon I learned several things as Pete outlined 6 points. The first being that the law was given to us to show us that we are law-breakers and that we are rebellious. The second point explaining that the law was temporary until the coming of Jesus. The 3rd, the law is conditional-meaning everyone just plays their role. The 4th law being that the law is not opposing to Gods promises. The 5th law, the law imprisons us- we fail and try again. the 6th and final law that the law is a guardian- temporary. Overall, the main point was that we shouldn't have to follow the law just for following it but so that we may be set free- and we can find a delight in that.

Thanks for visiting, leave a comment and see you next time!