Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Presentation
Happy Holidays! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas with your family! I just wanted to update you all that I will be speaking in the Fellowship Hall of Dublin Baptist Church on January 7 at 7 P.M. Bring a dessert to share and come hear what the Big Picture of tribal missions looks like!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Break
So far I have been on break for a little over a week now. It's been kind of a crazy break already, but thankfully I have been able to do some relaxing. The first few mornings I made oreo truffles....14.5 dozen of them....for people that I was selling them to. If you've ever made oreo truffles then you know that it is a very labor intensive process full of frustration at times...at least for me. BUT, all the ones that I had to make to sell are done and now I am currently putting off all the ones I have to make to give as gifts. :) But I will hopefully be starting and finishing that tomorrow.
I have been doing some study of Romans since I've been home. I will jump right into that book when I go back to school, as it is one of my first classes, and I wanted to study it a bit on my own beforehand. It's been really cool to look at it more closely and to see things I've never seen before. I'm excited as I learn on my own to look forward to what all I will be learning in class. :)
It's also been great to have time to spend with my family. I love them so much and it's funny how much more I enjoy their company the older that I get. There's a part of me that sometimes feels a bit confused being at home because the life I live here is so different than the life that I live at school; one is the one I've grown up with and know and the other is the path that I am pursuing for life. It's been an interesting process to work through...and I still am...but it's been good too. :) It's neat to see God working no matter what situation He has me in. And it's been so good to be able to have good conversations with my family where we share what we have all been learning. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them and their hearts to share with me.
I'm looking forward to the next few weeks and being able to see more of my family and celebrate Christmas. I'm also looking forward to seeing Andrew again...being 2,000 miles apart isn't exactly my favorite thing, even though I know that time apart is beneficial as well as time together....I'm looking forward to the time together part. :) I hope that you and your family have a wonderful time celebrating Christ's birth and remembering why we celebrate Christmas. :)
I have been doing some study of Romans since I've been home. I will jump right into that book when I go back to school, as it is one of my first classes, and I wanted to study it a bit on my own beforehand. It's been really cool to look at it more closely and to see things I've never seen before. I'm excited as I learn on my own to look forward to what all I will be learning in class. :)
It's also been great to have time to spend with my family. I love them so much and it's funny how much more I enjoy their company the older that I get. There's a part of me that sometimes feels a bit confused being at home because the life I live here is so different than the life that I live at school; one is the one I've grown up with and know and the other is the path that I am pursuing for life. It's been an interesting process to work through...and I still am...but it's been good too. :) It's neat to see God working no matter what situation He has me in. And it's been so good to be able to have good conversations with my family where we share what we have all been learning. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them and their hearts to share with me.
I'm looking forward to the next few weeks and being able to see more of my family and celebrate Christmas. I'm also looking forward to seeing Andrew again...being 2,000 miles apart isn't exactly my favorite thing, even though I know that time apart is beneficial as well as time together....I'm looking forward to the time together part. :) I hope that you and your family have a wonderful time celebrating Christ's birth and remembering why we celebrate Christmas. :)
Friday, December 4, 2009
More on 1 Corinthians
So pretty much I sat in class today and felt like I had been kicked in the face. I know that may sound dramatic...but it's honestly how I felt. I have never been so consistently convicted in my life in so many BIG ways. And it's one of those mixed emotions....it's great to see the Spirit working....and it's like, "Wow, I REALLY REALLY suck. Guess the only thing to do is depend on God cuz I got nothing good in me." (For lack of emphasis, I used poor grammar.) And that has just pretty much been my life lately. It's the end of the semester and life is full of tests and projects and 20 hour papers along with cleaning up the dorm and the regular school cleaning job and saying goodbye to my church family here and friends. It's such a busy time of the year and honestly, I will be completely grateful for the "break" that I hope to get at home. Yes, it will be busy, but it will be nice to have time to process what I've been learning more.
We've been talking about liberties and freedoms in Christ for the past few days and it's pretty much been a wake-up call....especially mixed with the talk about living in light of eternity. How many of my day to day decisions are lived that way? It's scary to think about all the rewards I've lost. But Christ set us FREE...we are FREE in Him. Many people see the freedom as it is...as a freedom. We are no longer under condemnation and are free to make choices as we please; they have no standing on our position before Christ. BUT, why did Christ set us free? Ah, and this is the question no one asks...the question I'm not sure I asked before a few days ago. Christ set us free so that we would be free to serve others. Think about Israel. They weren't free to serve others however they pleased. They were under the Law. But we are not! We are free from the Law and free from condemnation. FREE! How awesome is God's grace? So incredible. :) SOOOO, if we are free from the law and we have the freedom to serve others, we must be careful to not become a SLAVE to our freedoms. Here's the thing about the flesh: a) it never goes away or diminishes in the least AND B) it has the power to pervert things God intended for good. That means that my flesh and living with a carnal attitude can pervert the fact that I am free. WHOA! What a crazy thought. It's only by walking in the Spirit (and what does that mean? well...I'm learning...and I'll share it with you either as you ask or as I have more time to write later) that we can not fulfill the desires of the flesh. And that, my friends, has been a revolutionary thought to me. I have the freedom to LAY DOWN my freedoms for the sake of others. I count the cost of my decisions (or I'm supposed to) in order to evaluate which choice would save more souls, would give me an inroad in someone's life, would further the gospel in some ways. Paul laid down some of his BASIC rights...rights that here in America we FIGHT for people to have, we hold so strongly to our rights, we are so proud of them....yet Paul laid them aside. He laid aside the right to food...not just fancy food...but FOOD...WOW. This stuff just blows my mind and challenges my heart. God is good.
We've been talking about liberties and freedoms in Christ for the past few days and it's pretty much been a wake-up call....especially mixed with the talk about living in light of eternity. How many of my day to day decisions are lived that way? It's scary to think about all the rewards I've lost. But Christ set us FREE...we are FREE in Him. Many people see the freedom as it is...as a freedom. We are no longer under condemnation and are free to make choices as we please; they have no standing on our position before Christ. BUT, why did Christ set us free? Ah, and this is the question no one asks...the question I'm not sure I asked before a few days ago. Christ set us free so that we would be free to serve others. Think about Israel. They weren't free to serve others however they pleased. They were under the Law. But we are not! We are free from the Law and free from condemnation. FREE! How awesome is God's grace? So incredible. :) SOOOO, if we are free from the law and we have the freedom to serve others, we must be careful to not become a SLAVE to our freedoms. Here's the thing about the flesh: a) it never goes away or diminishes in the least AND B) it has the power to pervert things God intended for good. That means that my flesh and living with a carnal attitude can pervert the fact that I am free. WHOA! What a crazy thought. It's only by walking in the Spirit (and what does that mean? well...I'm learning...and I'll share it with you either as you ask or as I have more time to write later) that we can not fulfill the desires of the flesh. And that, my friends, has been a revolutionary thought to me. I have the freedom to LAY DOWN my freedoms for the sake of others. I count the cost of my decisions (or I'm supposed to) in order to evaluate which choice would save more souls, would give me an inroad in someone's life, would further the gospel in some ways. Paul laid down some of his BASIC rights...rights that here in America we FIGHT for people to have, we hold so strongly to our rights, we are so proud of them....yet Paul laid them aside. He laid aside the right to food...not just fancy food...but FOOD...WOW. This stuff just blows my mind and challenges my heart. God is good.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
1 Corinthians
So far my favorite class of the semester has to be 1 Corinthians. Every day I sit and am amazed at the power of God's Word. Every day I sit and am challenged that my beliefs and my thoughts and my attitudes do not all line up with the Bible. It's encouraging to see the Spirit working through the Word of God. I thought that I would share some of it with you all.
First off, just some background on Corinth. Corinth was a town kind of like our Las Vegas. It was the center of blowing money for the people at the time...mostly on prostitutes. It was a town of much importance; it is surrounded by seas and on the Isthmus that connects Greece to the Peloponnesian Peninsula. The Isthmus is so small that it was actually cheaper for ships to drag their boats across Corinth on a roadway called the Diolkos or for them to unload their cargo and transport it by wagon over to boats waiting on the other side. It was a major center of commerce! A nickname for prostitutes worldwide at the time was "corinthian women." You often hear people say that the Bible was written in a different time where the men didn't have to deal with all of the sexual temptation like the world we live in, but if you look at Corinth, you would have to think otherwise. Prostitution was on almost every corner and readily available, a huge part of the culture. And this is the world to which Paul wrote 1 Corinthians.
Now that we know a bit about the culture, I want to share with you some things that have been impacting me lately. First of all, the letter to the Corinthian church was necessary because a) Paul was informed of immorality and division within the church and b) the church had written to Paul asking him for advice and instruction in the Lord. The Corinthian church was a MESS! And yet Paul begins his letter to them by stating who they are in Christ and telling them that he is THANKFUL for them always. I don't know about you, but this is one of those worldview smackdowns. Oftentimes I see believers who are carnal and then (enter pride) think of them in my head as almost second-rate. They aren't living the way that they should be and that causes me to think less of them. But God doesn't see things that way. There is nothing that they can do or that I can do to make my standing with God any better. I truly believe that, yet sometimes my thoughts do not show this. Sometimes I am just thinking "This is the reason that the world thinks Christianity is full of a bunch of hypocrites." Yet instead of addressing believers in love and then addressing the hard subjects, I am content to judge them in my heart, look down upon them, and let it go. That is not the heart of Christ. That is not the example that we have in Paul. Paul constantly brings them back to their position being found in Christ, which is the reason they are erring in the first place. Paul first gave them an understanding of what things are true of them and then told them how to respond and what actions flow out of what is true of them. What a different way to think of things. It is very contrary to the way that I have seen things handled and the way I think to handle things myself, but then again, human wisdom often is contrary to God's way. It was really neat being able to see this though. God continues to show me examples of truth and love combined. :)
Well I have already written so much and I'm not even past the first 9 verses! So I'm going to take a break for now and go eat some dinner. Check back soon for some more of what I'm learning as I continue to update you!
First off, just some background on Corinth. Corinth was a town kind of like our Las Vegas. It was the center of blowing money for the people at the time...mostly on prostitutes. It was a town of much importance; it is surrounded by seas and on the Isthmus that connects Greece to the Peloponnesian Peninsula. The Isthmus is so small that it was actually cheaper for ships to drag their boats across Corinth on a roadway called the Diolkos or for them to unload their cargo and transport it by wagon over to boats waiting on the other side. It was a major center of commerce! A nickname for prostitutes worldwide at the time was "corinthian women." You often hear people say that the Bible was written in a different time where the men didn't have to deal with all of the sexual temptation like the world we live in, but if you look at Corinth, you would have to think otherwise. Prostitution was on almost every corner and readily available, a huge part of the culture. And this is the world to which Paul wrote 1 Corinthians.
Now that we know a bit about the culture, I want to share with you some things that have been impacting me lately. First of all, the letter to the Corinthian church was necessary because a) Paul was informed of immorality and division within the church and b) the church had written to Paul asking him for advice and instruction in the Lord. The Corinthian church was a MESS! And yet Paul begins his letter to them by stating who they are in Christ and telling them that he is THANKFUL for them always. I don't know about you, but this is one of those worldview smackdowns. Oftentimes I see believers who are carnal and then (enter pride) think of them in my head as almost second-rate. They aren't living the way that they should be and that causes me to think less of them. But God doesn't see things that way. There is nothing that they can do or that I can do to make my standing with God any better. I truly believe that, yet sometimes my thoughts do not show this. Sometimes I am just thinking "This is the reason that the world thinks Christianity is full of a bunch of hypocrites." Yet instead of addressing believers in love and then addressing the hard subjects, I am content to judge them in my heart, look down upon them, and let it go. That is not the heart of Christ. That is not the example that we have in Paul. Paul constantly brings them back to their position being found in Christ, which is the reason they are erring in the first place. Paul first gave them an understanding of what things are true of them and then told them how to respond and what actions flow out of what is true of them. What a different way to think of things. It is very contrary to the way that I have seen things handled and the way I think to handle things myself, but then again, human wisdom often is contrary to God's way. It was really neat being able to see this though. God continues to show me examples of truth and love combined. :)
Well I have already written so much and I'm not even past the first 9 verses! So I'm going to take a break for now and go eat some dinner. Check back soon for some more of what I'm learning as I continue to update you!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Encouragement
I am currently taking Bible Basis of Missions and 1 Corinthians. I cannot tell you how awesome these classes have been! I feel like I say that about all of my classes, and honestly, I really think it has been true. I have learned so much and my outlook on the Word and how I read it has changed so drastically since I arrived here. It has been so good. :) God has been breaking down wrong thinking in my life and continues to do so. These classes have definitely helped. They have got my mind thinking about things and how God views the things that I do. We have been challenged in 1 Corinthians over and over again to live in view of the Kingdom. This isn't something I really feel that I do. I know that it's coming. I know that I will have a place in it. I know that God gave me freedom so that He could reign in my life and so that I would be free to serve others and show His life in my own. Yet my own life has not reflected this very often. My own life has been centered on the here and now. God is revealing truth to me. I am seeing my need and realizing more and more how much I need Him. The more I learn, the more I realize my need for Him and for His indwelling. How wonderful that He DOES indwell me!
On another note, my mom is on her first overseas mission trip right now. She is such an encouragement to me. If you know my mom, then you would understand why. It's so neat to see how she is trusting God, how she is stepping out to be involved in God's Work around the world and knowing by faith that He is going to show up. All of this is just so encouraging. A lot of people take on the attitude of "well, you have to be in your twenties to do overseas mission work. Anything older than that is pointless." Mom doesn't have that attitude. She is taking the moments as they come and giving God what time she does have. Thank you Momma for your desire to follow God even when it scares you, even when it's unlike anything you've ever done before. He is a great and mighty God!
I have been so blessed here at school with so many encouraging friendships. I have been able to have several people speak truth into my life, encourage me to walk in the truth that I know, pray for me, and so many other things. I have watched people back home praying for me, encouraging me, giving to me, and so many more things. A few weeks ago I was feeling very discouraged, very disconnected from the church body. God has answered my prayer and encouraged my heart. Thank you for those of you that He used to do so, for letting Him encourage me through you. Thank you so much.
On another note, my mom is on her first overseas mission trip right now. She is such an encouragement to me. If you know my mom, then you would understand why. It's so neat to see how she is trusting God, how she is stepping out to be involved in God's Work around the world and knowing by faith that He is going to show up. All of this is just so encouraging. A lot of people take on the attitude of "well, you have to be in your twenties to do overseas mission work. Anything older than that is pointless." Mom doesn't have that attitude. She is taking the moments as they come and giving God what time she does have. Thank you Momma for your desire to follow God even when it scares you, even when it's unlike anything you've ever done before. He is a great and mighty God!
I have been so blessed here at school with so many encouraging friendships. I have been able to have several people speak truth into my life, encourage me to walk in the truth that I know, pray for me, and so many other things. I have watched people back home praying for me, encouraging me, giving to me, and so many more things. A few weeks ago I was feeling very discouraged, very disconnected from the church body. God has answered my prayer and encouraged my heart. Thank you for those of you that He used to do so, for letting Him encourage me through you. Thank you so much.
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