My official progress for reading the bible in 3 months:
Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1Kings 1-11, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Unpardonable Sin.
Today in class we had a heated discussion about what Jesus meant when he spoke of the unpardonable sin. Unfortunately a lot of people when away discouraged and upset; I myself didn't leave as either of these.
This was something I hadn't really thought about before... and so today during break I read, prayed and asked God for understanding. And as I was sitting with my laptop I got this crazy revelation... this is how I am understanding this piece of scripture:
So, Jesus says you can blaspheme against him and the Father and be forgiven -- yet if you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit then your sin is unpardonable! As I meditated upon this kept thinking: "why is it unpardonable to blaspheme the Holy Spirit yet not so with the father and son."
This is what came to me. You cannot be forgiven because the Spirit's job is to convict us of our sin so that we may be forgiven. Therefore if we do not listen to the Holy Spirit we cannot be convicted of sin. Without conviction there is no confession (or even the idea that we might need Jesus to die for our sins); and without confession (or seeing our need) there is no asking and no forgiveness.
When we have hard hearts and reject the Spirit's testimony then we are blaspheming and sinning. And because only the Spirit can convict us, how could we know our own need?
This was something I hadn't really thought about before... and so today during break I read, prayed and asked God for understanding. And as I was sitting with my laptop I got this crazy revelation... this is how I am understanding this piece of scripture:
So, Jesus says you can blaspheme against him and the Father and be forgiven -- yet if you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit then your sin is unpardonable! As I meditated upon this kept thinking: "why is it unpardonable to blaspheme the Holy Spirit yet not so with the father and son."
This is what came to me. You cannot be forgiven because the Spirit's job is to convict us of our sin so that we may be forgiven. Therefore if we do not listen to the Holy Spirit we cannot be convicted of sin. Without conviction there is no confession (or even the idea that we might need Jesus to die for our sins); and without confession (or seeing our need) there is no asking and no forgiveness.
When we have hard hearts and reject the Spirit's testimony then we are blaspheming and sinning. And because only the Spirit can convict us, how could we know our own need?
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Update: reading the bible in three months.
My official progress for reading the bible in 3 months:
Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,Deuteronomy,
Psalm 91, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1Samuel 1-23,
Psalms 23,59,34,56,57,142,52
Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,Deuteronomy,
Psalm 91, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1Samuel 1-23,
Psalms 23,59,34,56,57,142,52
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
This week's guest speaker is a lot like Jeff Pascoe: loud, passionate, and moves around. The topic today was "Hearing God's Voice" -- a topic that is so essential and important.
Basically David (the speaker) shared that hearing God's voice isn’t a gift that we are born with but instead is something that has to be built up. He went on to explain that hearing His voice is like a muscle. You cant just start lifting 200 pounds -- you start small and work your way up. The idea is that the more we use muscles, the more they can lift. In the same way, the more we listen to what God has to say, the easier it becomes to distinguish His voice.
Too much of the time (or all of it) we talk to God. We never actually allow room for a two way conversation. The thing I loved about today was that David didn’t just say how important it is to hear Gods voice, but he actually taught us HOW to hear his voice.
I’ve heard so many times that hearing God speak is important -- but I have rarely been told how it can be done. The rest of this week's topics are on the Holy Spirit but David wisely thought he should cover this before we got into that. To put learning into practice, I am going to begin really listening to God. Step one: give God the opportunity to speak.
How many times do I pray and finish without even listening to see if God has something to say. This week I will listen as much as a speak. Every minute of talk I'll listen for one minute.
This past weekend I picked up my glasses from Zitau. I'm not sure if I like them
Basically David (the speaker) shared that hearing God's voice isn’t a gift that we are born with but instead is something that has to be built up. He went on to explain that hearing His voice is like a muscle. You cant just start lifting 200 pounds -- you start small and work your way up. The idea is that the more we use muscles, the more they can lift. In the same way, the more we listen to what God has to say, the easier it becomes to distinguish His voice.
Too much of the time (or all of it) we talk to God. We never actually allow room for a two way conversation. The thing I loved about today was that David didn’t just say how important it is to hear Gods voice, but he actually taught us HOW to hear his voice.
I’ve heard so many times that hearing God speak is important -- but I have rarely been told how it can be done. The rest of this week's topics are on the Holy Spirit but David wisely thought he should cover this before we got into that. To put learning into practice, I am going to begin really listening to God. Step one: give God the opportunity to speak.
How many times do I pray and finish without even listening to see if God has something to say. This week I will listen as much as a speak. Every minute of talk I'll listen for one minute.
This past weekend I picked up my glasses from Zitau. I'm not sure if I like them
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Update: reading the bible in three months:
The last few days has been a struggle to stay focused. Levitus and Numbers were particularly hard to get through. They seemed long and with a lot of instructions! It can seem so meaningless. I know that these books are important for specific reasons... But I almost felt like they were there to make me suffer! Instructions...instructions... instructions...
Help me stay focused and pray for me as I have difficulty wrestling through these tougher books.
My official progress for reading the bible in 3 months:
Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers 1-26
Help me stay focused and pray for me as I have difficulty wrestling through these tougher books.
My official progress for reading the bible in 3 months:
Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers 1-26
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Just great.
Tonight Amy- the australian (left) and Tianna- the american (right) made me dinner; one of the best since I arrived. A great tasting lasagne, a green mixed salad, ice cream, lemon cake, and of coarse my favorite; fanta. It was delicious, and unexpected. Last week Amy said to me "Chance,Tianna and I are going to cook for you on monday". I wasn't going to argue. Tianna is Amys One On One, and they decided to make me dinner during their time together... just awesome.(If youre not sure what one on ones are,take a look at my earlier posts)
Portraits.
Yesterday I had the opportuinity to work with my very own model. Thanks Katie
(I know what some of you are thinking; so quit thinking it)
Saturday, February 6, 2010
This week has been super exciting, yet super exhausting. I am glad the weekend is here. This week's learning was about "The Character and Nature of God".It has been very challenging and a super blessing. I am learning a ton and am excited to see what God is doing. This week we also chose our "mini" outreach locations. With the option of Turkey, Romania or Hungary. I prayed about it and feel called to Turkey so in March I will be flying there with a small group of other students. Im not sure what God has for us yet, but im sure its something awesome.
At 8:30 this morning I got onto a bus with nine other students and went into Zittau (a small city about twenty minutes from our base). It is a beautiful, old city much like the rest of Europe; small streets, old churches, roads made out of different kinds of rock.
The reason I went to Zittau was to get a pair of glasses. I've always had bad eyes but never wanted to wear glasses. Because I've been reading a ton every day, and looking up a the front during lectures, I've realized how much I really do need glasses. So, in Zittau today, I had my eyes checked and a prescription filled. Surprisingly, a pair of glasses and prescription is only going to cost 17 euros -- which is crazy cheap compared to Peterborough. I pick them up next weekend.
After we returned home, we were all pretty exhuasted and everyone went their own way. I read my bible from Genesis 26-40.
Every weekend the students are in charge of cooking the meals and tonight was my night to cook. So at 4pm, Amy, an awesome australian, and I began to cook curry and rice for 40 people. The food turned out fantastic(!) but now i smell like curry.
Tomorrow I will sleep in and do some more reading through Genesis(40-50) and maybe listen to a sermon by Mark Driscoll... we'll see.
I hope you are doing awesome. I've been thinking and praying about everyone back home.
My official progress for reading the bible in 3 months:
Gen 1-22, Job, Gen 22-40... so far so good, I'm on track.
At 8:30 this morning I got onto a bus with nine other students and went into Zittau (a small city about twenty minutes from our base). It is a beautiful, old city much like the rest of Europe; small streets, old churches, roads made out of different kinds of rock.
The reason I went to Zittau was to get a pair of glasses. I've always had bad eyes but never wanted to wear glasses. Because I've been reading a ton every day, and looking up a the front during lectures, I've realized how much I really do need glasses. So, in Zittau today, I had my eyes checked and a prescription filled. Surprisingly, a pair of glasses and prescription is only going to cost 17 euros -- which is crazy cheap compared to Peterborough. I pick them up next weekend.
After we returned home, we were all pretty exhuasted and everyone went their own way. I read my bible from Genesis 26-40.
Every weekend the students are in charge of cooking the meals and tonight was my night to cook. So at 4pm, Amy, an awesome australian, and I began to cook curry and rice for 40 people. The food turned out fantastic(!) but now i smell like curry.
Tomorrow I will sleep in and do some more reading through Genesis(40-50) and maybe listen to a sermon by Mark Driscoll... we'll see.
I hope you are doing awesome. I've been thinking and praying about everyone back home.
My official progress for reading the bible in 3 months:
Gen 1-22, Job, Gen 22-40... so far so good, I'm on track.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
S.O.S
Seven things i'm really missing about back home:
1. Beef jerkey
2. REESE'S
3. Beef jerkey
4. Eat More chocoalte bar
5. Beef jerkey
6. Mike and ikes
7. Montreal steak spice
1. Beef jerkey
2. REESE'S
3. Beef jerkey
4. Eat More chocoalte bar
5. Beef jerkey
6. Mike and ikes
7. Montreal steak spice
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Time to get serious.
Yesterday we started a new lecture on “the Character and Nature of God”.
The guest speaker, Rob Westwood, challenged us to read the entire bible within 12, 6, or 3 months. He emphasized that in order to get a glimpse of Gods true nature and character, we must search the scriptures. Much of the time, a person's ideas about God are opinion rather than biblical truth! We in the western world seem to often think of God from how we’d want him to be rather than who he really is; and then when we are faced with a tough question which challenges our understanding of God's nature or character, we have no idea where to begin: because our view of Him isn’t accurate.
I’ve decided that I am going to commit to reading all 1189 chapters of the Bible. Instead of reading them as they are presented I'll actually read the bible as a story, in chronological order. It should take me 3 months to complete (that's 13 chapters a day). About 80 hours. Yesterday I started and read to the end of Genesis 13. Today I read Genesis 13-22 and furthered on to job 1-4. The plan is to finish before my birthday in May. There is a lot of free time here at the castle, and I need to begin to fill my time with more of God's word. Pray for me as a embark on this commitment; that I keep my eyes on the prize, avoid excuses, distractions and procrastination. Its time to get serious.
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