Romans

Hey y’all!  I pray you have had a great week.  Every week on the island is exciting and full of learning, however this week was particularly full of real life application for me.  We studied the book of Romans and had an insightful teacher who clearly communicated truth.   I am completely in awe of the opportunity I have to study God’s word here.  Romans is where we are.  I pray this is applicable for you as much or more than it is for me.  The book of Romans is more applicable today than I EVER realized!

To understand the basis of Romans, we need to know about why we have Romans and how it came about.  The apostle Paul wrote Romans before even visiting Rome, but he desperately wanted to get there.  The central theme to Romans is the distinction between Jew and Gentile.  Paul deeply wanted the Jews to understand we are all, including the Gentiles, under the law of grace through Christ Jesus. 

Paul begins Romans in chapter one by showing how the Gentiles (any people group outside of the Jews) are all unrighteous.  By unrighteous I mean a sinner and who is unworthy of anything good.  The Jews who receive Romans, like this part.  They completely agree that the Gentiles are unrighteous.  Gentiles are not the chosen people of God!

Paul quickly corrects the Jews thinking in chapter two.  He goes on to say that being a Jew does not make you righteous.  No one escapes sin in this world – including the Jews.  This was a smack in the face to the Jews because they had always believed that they were the chosen people of God.  And they were (and still are).  However the Jews did not understand the New Covenant.  The New Covenant under Christ freed us all from the Old Testament Law.  No longer do we need to follow a set of rules for atonement. 

Because of their heritage, the Jews saw themselves above everybody else.  So many times I have put myself above someone else based on how I live my life compared to theirs.  This is unbiblical thinking!  Jews are in no way above another race.  And I am NOT above anyone based on the way I live my life.  No matter who we are, where we come from, or what we do, we all deserve death for our sin.

God is just and gives punishment for sin.  However, God did not create us to be creatures of death. His ultimate justification was carried out through Jesus Christ’s life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the grave.  We cannot ever justify ourselves.  Jesus is the only way. 

Paul digs deeper and hits the issue of faith.  Tradition and the Law is not faith.  Paul recalls two great Old Testament figures: Abraham and David.  Abraham and David abided in faith.  Their faith did not rest in the Law, because both of these great men knew that they could not carry out the Law to perfection.  Their faith was in God alone - not in their works. 

Justification through Christ is not the end!  Next, we begin a life long process of being sanctified through Christ.  What is sanctification?  Sanctification, as Paul describes in chapter six, is anything that is of Christ.  Our identity is in Christ, not in man.  We are no longer slaves to sin, instead slaves to righteousness.  Through sanctification, we are more than conquerors!  In my own life I see sanctification in many areas.  Everyday I search for my identity in Christ, because the days I operate outside of this are the days that are the most miserable.  I am not the same person, spiritually, as I was when I first surrendered my life to Christ because I continue choosing to walk the path of sanctification.  

Back to the Jewish audience Paul wrote to.  In the midst of condemnation, justification, and sanctification, Paul takes chapter nine and ten to speak directly to the Jews of their restoration back to God.  The Jews were God’s chosen people whom He chose in advance to bring the Messiah through and the group of people to shine His name to the rest of the world.  But the Jews turned away from God.  Did this take God by surprise?  No.  God planned this rejection, so that the Gentiles could be grafted into this grand story.  However, God keeps all His promises.  The Jews will be restored back to Him.  Do I know how that looks in detail?  Nope.  It is not in my understanding to fully comprehend the mind of God. 

What does any of this mean for you and me?  Great question!  I asked myself the same thing.  This past week, God showed me things I need to improve in my life so that God’s righteousness can be better portrayed.  Want to know how I applied this new knowledge?  Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”  Simple?  I carry out the first part of this verse, but I struggle with the second half.  I am not someone who commonly expresses tears publically.  This past week, God began breaking me of this pride.  No worries, I am not going to fall apart at the site of a tear.  However, I am learning how to be more empathic.  This past week, I had two opportunities to “weep with those who weep”.  And it was life giving!  There is something special about the body of Christ coming around a struggling member and shedding tears with them and crying out to God through prayer together.  I now feel more connected with these people in return.  I know I can be just as vulnerable with them.  Another shout out to the God’s wisdom in creating us to live in community!  

Holy Spirit

Hey friends!  I pray your week has been good!  This week at the Kanakuk Institute, we studied about the Holy Spirit.  This topic on the Holy Spirit pushed me past my traditional thoughts.  Honestly, I thought much too little of the Holy Spirit, who is also known as the third part of the Trinity.  Who is the Holy Spirit?  When is the Holy Spirit first seen?

When I started asking, “What does Scripture say about the Holy Spirit?”  I was pleasantly surprised that Scripture clearly shows the Holy Spirit in the beginning.  The Holy Spirit is stated by name in Psalm by King David.  This is found in Psalm 51:11 when David pleads with God about his recent affair with Bathsheba.  “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”  King David cries out to God during this chapter and humbly request that God not remove the Holy Spirit from him.  David knew what had happened to his predecessor, Saul.  Saul did not obey the laws of the Lord, so God gave the kingdom to a more suitable person named David.  Isaiah also spoke of the Holy Spirit by name throughout the book of Isaiah. 

The Holy Spirit is seen most prominently throughout the New Testament.  Many times Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit in speech or in teachings.  Obviously, Jesus wanted us to grab hold of the fact that the Holy Spirit exists and is another aspect of the Trinity.  As the Gospels unfold and we read into Acts, we begin to learn more about the Spirit’s present day value.  Yes, Jesus is not walking alongside us like He did 2,000 years ago, however Jesus has not left us abandoned.  John 14:26 Jesus tells His disciples that He will send them a Helper.  Jesus continues to tell them that the Helper is to guide them and be a “replacement” during His absence. 

The Holy Spirit is important to our lives today because that is the part of the Trinity we are blessed with experiencing if you are a Believer.  In Acts we see the birth of the church and watch how it takes shape.  The Holy Spirit drove the church to happen.  The Holy Spirit is the one who prompts us to know Christ.  The Spirit is the one who reveals truth from Scripture to me.  The Holy Spirit is an integral piece of our beliefs.  God sent His one Son, Jesus, to live a sinless life and die the most horrific death ever created, and rise again from the dead three days later.  All of this happened so we, the fallen creation, can spend eternity in Heaven and also so the Holy Spirit could reside in us.  Important also to note that now the Holy Spirit permanently resides in believers, therefore the Holy Spirit is divine, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit only “came upon” and did not indwell someone for a long period of time.  However under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit now resides within every Believer.  The Spirit guides us and reveals truth about Scripture we never knew beforehand.  One of the qualities of the Spirit that I enjoyed discovering is the Spirit speaks on our behalf before God the Father in groans we cannot understand.  The Spirit knows our deepest desires because He lives within us! 

A big misconception people have about the Holy Spirit is the thought that He is a lifeless spirit floating around.  By no means is my God floating around aimlessly!  No, the Spirit is God!  Do you believe that?  Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is more than a lifeless void?  The Spirit is GOD IN YOU!  If that does not blow your mind about the story of grace, I do not know what will.  I am not worthy enough.  Now, I have a better understanding of how my body is a temple.  I house part of the TRINITY!  Every believer is.  So why do we act like God does not know what is going on in our lives or that He is distant?  God is never distant or unknowledgeable about our past, present, future situations.  God is fully invested in every believer’s life because He works from within those believers.  I am comforted by the fact that God knows everything about me already and that the Spirit continues to intercede for me.  I serve a GREAT God who knows EVERYTHING there is to ever know about me. 

I pray you all have a wonderful week!

Acting on Acts

Hey friends!  Hope you have had a wonderful week!  This week my classmates and I studied the book of Acts in depth.  Have you every really read the book of Acts intentionally?  A year ago, I would have said, “Oh yes, I have read Acts.”  What I was really saying, “Oh yes, my pastor and other speakers I have heard have pulled from the book of Acts, and I read along with them.”  What I did not know about the book of Acts was…EVERYTHING!  Sure, I have read about Pentecost and the birth of the Church.  However, I had not studied Peter’s mission work, which then led into Paul’s world mission. 

The Church is born.  Miracles happen.  World missions are established.  We learn about our role as the Church today!  All of this wrapped into one book thanks to Luke.  The man who wrote the book of Luke, who gives us a detailed account of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, continues his writings in Acts.  Luke wrote Acts with a purpose to be distinct from the book of Luke.  Luke was written to be an account of who Jesus was and is to a Greek and Gentile audience.  Acts is the only historical sequel to the Gospels.  Acts proclaims the anticipation and manifestation of Christ the Messiah has happened.  Jesus is here!  And Acts is written to tell us He is coming again! 

Luke, having a doctor’s background, is painstakingly detailed in both the book of Luke and Acts.  Thank goodness God chose someone like Luke to draw attention to the details!  Within his details, Luke divided Acts into sections and main events.  The divided sections are commonly referred to as “progress reports”, like you had in elementary school!

For the Church’s progress reports, Luke gives a report each time the Church spreads to a new region.  Jesus’ specific instructions are recorded in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”  Here is the Church’s progress report according to Luke and main events according to Mitch Maher (our professor this past week):

o              Acts 1:1-2:47

o   Birth of the Church in Jerusalem

o  All who were apart of the Church love another and share resources.

o              Acts 3:1-6:7

o   Expansion of the Church in Jerusalem

o  The Church faces their first opposition.

o  Their movement is growing because of the persecution.

o  Heavier opposition comes.

o               Acts 6:8-9:31

o   Extension of the Church to Judea and Samaria

o  Stephen is preaching the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ and persecuted to death.

o  Jerusalem tried to run out the Christians, so the Christians took the Gospel to Judea and Samaria like Jesus had commanded them.

·      Philip becomes the first Samaritan missionary.

o   The Samaritans believe in the Gospel!

o               Acts 9:1-12:24

o   Expansion in Antioch

o  Saul converts to Christianity after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus to kill more Christians.

o  Saul turned Paul plants a church in Antioch.

·      Antioch becomes Paul’s launching church when he went out on missionary journeys. 

o              Acts 12:25-16:5

o   Extension of the Church into Asia Minor

o  Paul picks up Timothy in Lystra to join him on his church planting endeavors.

o              Acts 16:6-19:20

o   Extension of the Church to the Aegean Area

o  Paul receives a dream about a man in Macedonia asking him to come.

o  Paul plants a church in Philippi.

o  Paul plants a church in Thessalonica.

o  Paul plants a church in Athens.

o  Paul plants a church in Corinth.

o Paul goes to Ephesus on his third missionary journey.

o              Acts 19:20-28:31

o   Paul is imprisoned in Rome, but the church in Rome still grows!

o   After two imprisonments in Rome, Paul becomes a missionary martyr for Christ. 

Now take a look over the book of Acts.  Acts is FILLED with valuable information and encouragement!  I hope you have learned something, and maybe you are inspired to look into Acts more or for the first time.  I guarantee you will not regret it!  Paul’s letters are more understandable now that I know where he is coming from in Acts.  I am constantly astounded by how the Bible is so perfectly woven together.  Be encouraged friends!  The Old Testament is all about anticipating the Messiah.  He’s coming!  The Gospels write about the manifestation of the Messiah.  He’s here!  Acts proclaims Jesus’ arrival locally and globally.  He’s here!  And He’s coming again! 

The Trinity

Hey friends!  I hope and pray each of your new year has started well.  I am back at the Institute for semester numero dos!  We do not joke around here.  Ok, we actually do joke around quite a bit!  Right out of the gate, my classmates and I spent three days learning about, discussing, and studying Trinitarinism. 

Trinitarinism is the study of the Trinity.   One God, three persons, all divine, equal, separate roles.  Each day after class, I sat and tried to soak in what I thought about the Trinity.  Round and round I went trying to wrap my mind around this.  I thought I had a decent grasp of understanding the Trinity prior to Monday.  However the Lord humbled me (one of the many times this year) by showing me there is still so much I have to learn.  It is humbling to know I will never fully comprehend Him, nor will you. 

Only God knows God as He is.  The Trinity is one God in three persons.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are God.  The father is not God.  The son is not God.  The spirit is not God.  To say that would mean that God is limited to one role, therefore making Him three separate gods.  Scripture supports there is only one God and that He exists in three different roles yet they are One.  John 1:1-2 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.”  The three are equal but not the same.  John 8:58 says, “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.’ ”  It is important to understand that one person in the Trinity is not more important than the other.  The Father, Son and Spirit have certain roles while still remaining God at the same time.  The Father is the pursuer.  The Son is our Savior.  The Spirit is the means by which we receive salvation. 

They are all one God.  Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel!  The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!”  God reveals Himself in the beginning as One in Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”  We also see evidence of the Trinity present at Jesus’ baptism.  Mark 1:9-11 recounts, “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.’ ”  The Son is baptized.  The Father speaks.  The Spirit descends.  All present.  All three God.  One God.  Three unique roles.  Uniqueness means one of a kind.  God is eternal and before time.  We cannot comprehend His uniqueness. 

The conclusion I came to this week is that I will never fully understand God.  Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”  Thank you Lord!  I do not want to fully understand.  If we fully understood God, would He be God?  Are you having a hard time comprehending this?  Me too!  I like that I wrestle with this truth.  My God is so unique that He cannot be whittled down into a simple analogy. 

Tis the Season...to know Truth

Hey friends!  This semester has come to an end.  One word to simply explain it – indescribable.  I am beyond blessed to have this incredible opportunity of studying God’s true and inherent Word for a year!  Thank you so much for your support and prayers!  Please continue to pray as the year progresses. 

Since September I, along with my 70 classmates, have studied the Old Testament.  Each week has been filled with incredible truths revealed and many challenges along the way.  This past week we specifically studied Messianic prophecies.  How appropriate for the Christmas season!

Christmas is one of my favorite family times of the year!  But I have never looked back in the Old Testament and seen how incredible, supernatural, miraculous, and foretold Jesus’ birth is for myself.  Matthew 1:23 quotes Isaiah 7:14, “ ‘Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.’ ”  Isaiah prophesied that four hundred years before Jesus’ birth.  The fact that a prophecy was made so far in advance and was fulfilled with such precision and accuracy could only have been from the Lord.

Honestly, I had never read Isaiah until this past week.  I was literally blown away by Isaiah and the words God gave him to say.  With the background knowledge I have gained this year, I know Isaiah was speaking to Judah about repenting and how God was sending the Savior.  Not only is God sending the Savior, He wants Judah to recognize the Savior when He comes. 

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke give us a detailed account of Jesus’ conception and birth.  We read the Christmas story passively and forget how each prophecy about Jesus’ conception and birth was fulfilled with extreme attention to detail.  How could a prophecy made 400 years in advance be fulfilled with such precision?  It is not a coincidence.  Refer back to Isaiah 7:14.  There are a few keys things to note in this verse.  “A virgin will be with child…”  Isaiah is literally professing virgin birth.  There has only been one virgin birth - EVER.  Jesus came into this world unlike any child could.  “She will call His name Immanuel.”  Immanuel literally means “God with us”.  God with us presented Himself through virgin birth.  These signs were given so that people would know without a doubt how to recognize the Messiah. 

These prophecies were for the Jews at the time and are for us today.  We have the privilege of seeing how these prophecies unfolded.  The fact that every prophecy made about Jesus’ life came to fruition is evidence to believe we serve a might God who knows and cares about the details. 

Without the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, my Savior would not be who He is.  There is no other religion that has prophesied their god’s coming to earth.  My God foretold of His coming four centuries beforehand.  I encourage you to take a look at Isaiah and Micah.  If you are like me and had never read about these prophecies, take a few minutes to marvel the Immanuel, “God with us”. 

I pray you have such a blessed Christmas and a happy new year!

Church History

Welcome back friends!  Hope you all have had a great week.  This past week we had the opportunity to learn our church roots.  Let me tell you, this has been one of my favorite weeks so far.  Chad Hampsch brought the Word and brought history into the picture too.  About four years ago, I sat in a Christian Scriptures class for a semester.  That second semester freshman year, my mind was overwhelmed with all the background church information I had never heard previously.  So how did we get here, as the Church?  How did we get so far away from the original Church in Acts?  These are all questions I asked too even after taking a semester of Church history. 

To start with all of these questions, we have to have a good base for understanding the beginning so that we correctly understand where things went haywire.  So hard to choose only one church history era to focus on, however going back to the beginning is a great place to start.  In Acts 8, we read that Jerusalem is essentially abandoned.  This is when we start to see the spread of the Gospel from West to East.  

There are six reasons for the explosive growth for the Gospel.  First, Christians could not stop telling people about what happened with God and to them.  Can you imagine if we were to do this!  Why do we keep the best thing to ever happen to this world locked inside of us?  Second, the transforming effect of the Gospel changed people’s lives.  The Gospel still does that TODAY!  Do we really talk about it?  No, not in the way the early Church did.  The Gospel was not a great story put together.  The Early Church was fully and completely aware of how real Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were.  Third, the Gospel brought equality to mankind.  The Gospel of Luke is clear to state that Jesus came for EVERYONE by showing Christ's lineage all the way back to Adam.  All mankind is created equal is the theme for Luke.  Fourth, Christians offered answers to a crumbling Roman Empire.  Christ’s kingdom is going to last for eternity, unlike the Roman Empire that was quickly falling apart.  Fifth, Christians died well.  Christians like Stephen and Polycarp willingly died for their faith.  Their deaths were not acts of terrorism.  No, their deaths were deaths of martyrdom, which encouraged the message of the Gospel to spread.  Finally, Christians loved everyone!  Can you imagine if the church would be the Church and love everyone?  We would see lives changed right and left. 

What If We Were the Early Church?

This is exactly how the Church flourishes throughout the New Testament.  People were ignited by the Word and exploded to tell others about it too.  Over this last week, I felt so convicted from early Church brothers and sisters to go share the Word no matter what the cost.  We have the Word.  I have at least 4 personal different translations of the Bible.  What good does that do for the advancement of the Kingdom though if I am not pouring into others and showing them a Christ follower's life.  We have fallen so far away from the early Church, and the passion Believers had to share their faith.  Today we struggle with inspiring any age group of the church to openly proclaim their faith in fear of embarrassment.  The early Church faced persecution!  However we have found that under persecution the Gospel explodes!  So how much are we really persecuted for our faith, especially in the Bible belt of the country?  We have found ourselves in a post-Christian society and complacently okay with how things are running.  It is time to wake up from our slumber and learn a lesson from the early Church.  

All Hail the Kings!

Hey friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful week.  This week at the Institute was filled with many challenges, rich learning and deep thinking.  Specifically, this week focused on the Kingdom Era.  What’s the Kingdom Era you ask?  The Kingdom Era is a specific time in history that marks Israel’s switch from an independent nation to a monarchy.  How much do you know about the Kingdom Era? 

            
The Kingdom Era is split into two main categories: the United Kingdom and the Divided Kingdom.  These two categories look completely different.  We tend to focus on the United Kingdom much more than the Divided Kingdom, because the Divided Kingdom is sometimes hard to follow.  The United Kingdom consists of only three kings: Saul, David, and Solomon.  Conveniently these three kings are the ones you here the most about.  Small summary of these three kings: they each reigned 40 years.  Saul was the people’s choice; he was tall, handsome, and appeared to be kingly.  Unfortunately, Saul had no heart or desire for God.  He did not even pray to God himself; he always asked others to pray on his behalf.  On the other side, David ran after God in full pursuit.  David was patient and trusted God’s provision.  Solomon came to power after his father’s, David, death.  Unfortunately Solomon had a divided heart for God.  However, Solomon built the most grandeur Temple for God.  There has not been, to this day, a more elaborate and extravagant Temple than the one Solomon built.  How crazy that with all of our resources, there has never been a building that outdoes Solomon’s Temple! 

           
 Then there is the Divided Kingdom.  Within the Divided Kingdom Era, Israel split into two nations after Solomon’s death:  The Northern (Israel) and the Southern (Judah) Kingdom.  The Northern Kingdom consisted of 10 tribes of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom made up only two, Judah and Benjamin.  Nineteen kings in the span of 400 years ruled the Northern Kingdom (Israel).  These kings were not from the same dynasty.  In all, the North did not have a single good king.  However the Southern Kingdom looked a little different.  Over the 400-year period, twenty different kings ruled the South (Judah), out the 20 kings who ruled, eight of them were righteous and good kings.  However they were from one dynasty line.  Again, keep in mind that the Southern Kingdom came from the line of David and stayed that way.  It is important to know because the line of Christ comes from the Southern Kingdom, just as the prophets had prophesied during David’s reign.  

            
Here’s my nugget of truth God revealed about Himself this week: unending mercy.  The God I serve never ceases to blow my mind.  The last few days, I studied and learned about some despicable kings that ruled Israel and Judah.  However, God continued to have mercy upon them!  This does not mean He let them go unpunished.  We know that in Exodus 34:7 God “will by no means leave the guilty unpunished”.  When a terrible king, like Ahab or Manasseh for instance, turned to God for help, God had mercy upon them.  How crazy…redemption is available for anyone and everyone, no matter what life you led or lead, up till your dying breath!  That is the God I serve, a God who loves and deeply desires for His children to seek and find Him.  God saves even the worst of people, people who persecuted God’s prophets, and turns them towards Him.  Lastly, there may have been evil kings in Israel and Judah yet God continued to use them for His good whether they realized it or not.  Praise Jehovah that He truly never leaves us or forsakes us despite of who holds leadership!