Lia and Sally
Week 9
Their key teaching was on the Holy Spirit
The Person of the Holy Spirit
Qualities of personhood:
A will (1 Cor. 12:11)
Emotions (Eph. 4:30)
Knowledge (John 16:13)
Self Awareness (Acts 3:12)
Ability to Speak (Acts 3:12)
His Divinity. The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is divine (Acts 5:3,4) and therefore has all of the attributes of God.
Psalm 139:7-10
1 Cor. 2:11
Luke 1:34,35
Hebrews 9:14
Romans 1:4
John 16:13
Romans 8:2
Hebrews 10:29
2 Tim. 1:7
The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament
Creation
Gen. 1:1-5
Gen. 1:26; 2:7 & Job 33:4 *Psalm 33:6 (breath = Spirit)
Empowering for Leadership
Othniel (Judges 3:10), Gideon (Judges 6:34), Jephthah (Judges 11:29), Samson (Judges 14:6, 19; 15:14), Saul (1 Sam. 10:6), David ( 1 Sam 16:13).
Equipping for service
Exodus 35:30-36:1
Inspiring Prophesy
David (2 Sam.23:2), Azariah (2 Chronicles 15:1-8), Jahaziel (2nd Chronicles 20:14, 15), Balaam (Numbers 24:1-4)
The Holy Spirit in Jesus' Life
Luke 1:35 (Birth)
Luke 3:22; John 1:32-34; 3:34; Luke 4:1 (Baptism)
Luke 4:14; 6:19 (Ministry)
Hebrews 9:14 (Death)
Romans 8:11; 1 Peter 3:18 (Resurrection)
Acts 1:2,3
The Teachings of Jesus about the Holy Spirit
Agent of New Birth (John 3:1-8, 2-:21,22)
Comforter (John 14:16, 15:26, 16:7)
Spirit of Truth (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13)
Teacher (John 14:16)
Testifier of Jesus (John 15:16)
Convicter (John 16: 8--11)
Revealer (John 16:13, 15)
Glorifier of Jesus (John 16:14)
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Jesus the Baptiser
Matt. 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33
Acts 1:4,5
John 20: 21,22, John 3:5
The purpose
John 7:37-39
Acts 2:1-4
Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8
Initial evidence
Acts 1:4
Acts 10:44-48; 11:15-17
Acts 19:1-7
Acts 8:14-19
Acts 9:17-19; 1 Cor. 14:18
1 Cor. 14:1-19
1 Cor. 12:7, 10
Acts 2:38
John 7:37-39
Thirst
Come
Believe
The Spirit-filled Life
Acts 4:8, 31; 6:3,5,8; 7:55,60; 11:24; 13:9-11, 52; 19:6
Eph. 5:18
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Nine separate gifts that can be divided into three natural groupings
1 Cor. 12:8-10
Gifts of Revelation, Demonstration, and Inspiration.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Galations 5
Many of these notes confirmed ideas I had about the Holy Spirit, but I learned a ton about the Spirit as a part of the Trinity. I learned that we need to Love and Honor the Spirit as our Lord deserves. The Spirit makes the Father and Son known to us, but Jesus spoke many times about honoring the Spirit individually as our Lord.
I plan on applying this to my life by worshiping the Spirit and surrendering to His will. I know that He will work good in me and when we honor the Spirit I know that my spirit will experience: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
This week I am focusing on the word freedom as my focus for God's character. I know that when we learn to submit to the Holy Spirit we learn more about our Father and about His Son in heaven. When we do that we will experience FREEDOM in our thoughts, emotions, and in everything else in life. Life to the Full.
The revelation I received this week is that I need to submit to the Spirit and surrender my will to the Holy Spirit. I also learned a lot about Him in context of the Trinity.
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
John 7:37-39 “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow within him.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
Ihave received that Spirit.
I want to be filled with the Spirit everyday and I am so thankful that Jesus made it possible for my baptism in the Holy Spirit.
I plan to apply this to my life by continuing to honor and remember the blessing that I have been given. That I can know the thoughts that God has for me ones that I know will promote love and abundant life.
Spirit,
I want to honor you. Please take this prayer as a declaration of surrender to you and your will. Please be glorified in my life. Thank you so much for making the God's thoughts known to me. Amen.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Book Report 3
Travis Piepho
Love Will Find A Way by Charles Marsh
The general theme of this book is missions and complete faith in the Lord and His work for us.
The three principles that spoke to me were faith, love, and trust.
Charles Marsh had complete faith in Jesus' resurrection. He devoted his entire life to sharing that message with Muslim people. “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) His belief in this message was seen in his passionate actions that showed a reckless abandon of life as most would want.
The second theme of Love was seen in how Marsh considered it his life purpose to bring people to salvation. He wanted everyone to experience the love that he had found in Christ. The message he gave was based upon love. 1 Peter 1:22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
The trust was shown in Marsh's abandonment of safety for God's message. He was not worried about himself because he delighted in the Lord and trusted in his goodness. Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
I can apply these principles to my life by embracing the relationship that God wants to have with me by His Spirit through His Son Jesus. I praise him and devote my life to realizing more about the Lord and in that delighting in Him the way Charles Marsh had to before he could do what he did!
The particularly meaningful story in this book to me was the story about Marsh trusting enough in the Lord to brave the weather and travel miles to preach the Gospel to people who might have killed him.
Love Will Find A Way by Charles Marsh
The general theme of this book is missions and complete faith in the Lord and His work for us.
The three principles that spoke to me were faith, love, and trust.
Charles Marsh had complete faith in Jesus' resurrection. He devoted his entire life to sharing that message with Muslim people. “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) His belief in this message was seen in his passionate actions that showed a reckless abandon of life as most would want.
The second theme of Love was seen in how Marsh considered it his life purpose to bring people to salvation. He wanted everyone to experience the love that he had found in Christ. The message he gave was based upon love. 1 Peter 1:22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
The trust was shown in Marsh's abandonment of safety for God's message. He was not worried about himself because he delighted in the Lord and trusted in his goodness. Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
I can apply these principles to my life by embracing the relationship that God wants to have with me by His Spirit through His Son Jesus. I praise him and devote my life to realizing more about the Lord and in that delighting in Him the way Charles Marsh had to before he could do what he did!
The particularly meaningful story in this book to me was the story about Marsh trusting enough in the Lord to brave the weather and travel miles to preach the Gospel to people who might have killed him.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Journal 8
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Eric, Matt and Emmy
Week 8
Their key theme was the importance of giving the Gospel to the nations.
KEY IDEAS:
Culture and worldview need to be understood in our different pursuits of bringing the Gospel to the world.
Three principle things
· A reflection on God's promises and nature
§ building our understanding of what it means to know God
· A commitment to intentionally overflow God's blessing, and influence other peoples.
§ Intention to overflow one foot in front of other
· From evangelism to world evangelism
§ effective communication depends on shared meaning. That is: agreement over interpretation.
We also received a workbook called my neighbors are weird and I have learned some practical tips to overcoming cultural differences and being sensitive to differences.
PERSONAL RESPONSE:
I found Monday's teaching really interesting and I immediately compared it to the different people I have meant over here in NZ. My friends from New Zealand do not like to stand out and lead a group and I realize that is because of their different beliefs and enculturation. I also noticed differences in my friends from Switzerland, Indonesia, India, Holland and Japan. My friend from India has different ways of respecting our leadership than my friends from the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand. He has a really hard time speaking up in lecture because his culture deems that as disrespectful to the leader.
KEY IDEAS:
Tuesday we learned more about culture and missions more from a Biblical standpoint.
Biblical Principles
· 1 John 4:8
· Romans 5:8
· John 3:16
· Genesis 12:1-3
· Psalm 72:19
· Habakkuk 2:14
· Matthew 6:10
· We prayed for our team that is heading to Africa and then we learned about culture and spent time learning about the respective places that our teams are heading too.
PERSONAL RESPONSE:
I started to study the T-urkish language and spent time studying different beliefs that most T-urkish people hold. My team watched a video about missionaries who had worked in T-urkey previously. The man from W-E-C, had lived in T-urkey for 7 ½ years. He told us many things about being respectful and polite in T-urkish Culture.
The above reflections upon the first two days showed concrete application, personal response and the ideas that I felt were confirmed, new and important to me as a missionary.
This week for my character study I focused upon God as a Father. I had revelation of my dad picking me up when I was little and “making everything better” and then I realized that God wants to hold me in His arms as well, as my dad. It blew my mind and the love that I feel poured into my heart has created a new desire to love others and grasp my inheritance as a son of God through Jesus. I am much more aware of Scripture now and I feel like the Trinity has truly come alive for me.
I think that this revelation into God’s character is the most important thing I have learned during my D-T-S and I am excited to use this to inspire a life of devotion to my Lord.
Theme Scripture Verse:
Matthew 24:14 “And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
· This Scripture verse opened my eyes to the urgency of spreading the Gospel to the “nations” or people who are different than myself. I feel a new calling on my life, as I want God to come back and want the end to come.
· I will try and understand culture and put myself in positions to learn and be open to different peoples and nations.
· Lord,
o Please help me to become a wholly devoted vessel for you. Jesus please keep in your grace. Father teach me. And Spirit please make the Son and Father known to me. That I would follow their wishes. Amen
Monday, August 17, 2009
Book Report 2
Travis Piepho
“Rees Howells: Intercessor” by Norman Grubb
The general theme of this book focused upon Mr. Howells and how he lived his life as a living sacrifice for Christ and the influence he had as he sacrificed. Howells was an intercessor so the book was explaining his experiences of stepping between God and the people as a bridge for God’s work. The theme of the book was one of trust in God and His goodness. It was a theme that led Mr. Howells to an extreme life and onto a road that no one could follow without divine help.
The three principles that spoke to me were: Trust, faith, and relationship.
The principle of trust was seen in Rees Howells undying belief in God’s goodness (Rom 12:2), in his trust in God’s ability to provide (John 3:16) and in his belief that God was always going to show up (John 17:26). He trusted in God’s ability to give him Spirit of willingness in the hard times, and there were many hard times (Rom. 8:26).
The principle of faith is seen in Howells constant communication with the Lord. Rom. 8:26, he believed that the Spirit would help him to intercede as he prayed to God. He believed in “fasting for the bridegroom” and praying that he would be able to intercede and help people (Matt. 9:14-17). Howells whole-heartedly believed that as he petitioned God in Jesus’ name that he would be able to do all things through faith (Hebrews 11).
The last principle of relationship can be seen when Rees Howells didn’t wear a cap when culture said that people who didn’t wear a cap were not honorable. Relationship is seen when Rees Howells gave up his newborn son so that he could do missions. Relationship is seen in how Rees Howells lived, ate and sometimes looked like those he knew God wanted Him to pray for. Relationship was seen in Rees risky business dealings with buying property. The sign that this relationship was real is that God did work all of them for the good. Hebrews 11 was lived out and Howells was in constant union with our Lord.
To apply these principles to my life I will try to live somewhat like Rees Howells in being righteous so that God can give me my own unique calling. I will try to keep God’s greatest commandments of loving the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself so that I can be in constant relationship with my Lord. I can pray and trust in Him at all times and live a life according to that. Intercessor helped to inspire me to become all that I can as a man of God.
I am excited to continue to learn to live that way I have been called to live. I think the testimony that most inspired me to be a man after God’s heart. Was when Rees Howells gave his one and only son away to his brother, at birth, so that he could fulfill his calling to go to Africa. In giving his son to a trustworthy and good family he was still having to give up everything that he wanted in life so that he could always do God’s unique work in His life.
It is crazy how this man lived. I would strongly suggest reading it.
“Rees Howells: Intercessor” by Norman Grubb
The general theme of this book focused upon Mr. Howells and how he lived his life as a living sacrifice for Christ and the influence he had as he sacrificed. Howells was an intercessor so the book was explaining his experiences of stepping between God and the people as a bridge for God’s work. The theme of the book was one of trust in God and His goodness. It was a theme that led Mr. Howells to an extreme life and onto a road that no one could follow without divine help.
The three principles that spoke to me were: Trust, faith, and relationship.
The principle of trust was seen in Rees Howells undying belief in God’s goodness (Rom 12:2), in his trust in God’s ability to provide (John 3:16) and in his belief that God was always going to show up (John 17:26). He trusted in God’s ability to give him Spirit of willingness in the hard times, and there were many hard times (Rom. 8:26).
The principle of faith is seen in Howells constant communication with the Lord. Rom. 8:26, he believed that the Spirit would help him to intercede as he prayed to God. He believed in “fasting for the bridegroom” and praying that he would be able to intercede and help people (Matt. 9:14-17). Howells whole-heartedly believed that as he petitioned God in Jesus’ name that he would be able to do all things through faith (Hebrews 11).
The last principle of relationship can be seen when Rees Howells didn’t wear a cap when culture said that people who didn’t wear a cap were not honorable. Relationship is seen when Rees Howells gave up his newborn son so that he could do missions. Relationship is seen in how Rees Howells lived, ate and sometimes looked like those he knew God wanted Him to pray for. Relationship was seen in Rees risky business dealings with buying property. The sign that this relationship was real is that God did work all of them for the good. Hebrews 11 was lived out and Howells was in constant union with our Lord.
To apply these principles to my life I will try to live somewhat like Rees Howells in being righteous so that God can give me my own unique calling. I will try to keep God’s greatest commandments of loving the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself so that I can be in constant relationship with my Lord. I can pray and trust in Him at all times and live a life according to that. Intercessor helped to inspire me to become all that I can as a man of God.
I am excited to continue to learn to live that way I have been called to live. I think the testimony that most inspired me to be a man after God’s heart. Was when Rees Howells gave his one and only son away to his brother, at birth, so that he could fulfill his calling to go to Africa. In giving his son to a trustworthy and good family he was still having to give up everything that he wanted in life so that he could always do God’s unique work in His life.
It is crazy how this man lived. I would strongly suggest reading it.
Journal 7
Kawika and Natalie
Week 7
Kawika talked about our role in bringing God’s Kingdom to our world.
Theme Verses: Rom. 1:16, Eph. 3:19
Key ideas, confirmed ideas, new ideas and concrete application
As I listened to Kawika’s Lectures on Monday I was reminded of my short and long term life vision that is to bring God’s kingdom to earth.
Monday Lecture:
• Sozo (Greek word for Salvation)
o Salvation (Romans 10:9, Luke 19:10)
o Healing (Matthew 9:22)
o Deliverance (Luke 8:36)
Four Key Things (kingdom keys):
• God is good; Devil is bad
• Nothing is impossible
• Jesus has one complete victory
• I am significant
o Cost determines value
Foundational Teaching
• Seek his Kingdom and righteousness first
• Gospel of Kingdom
o Gospel = Good news
o Kingdom = Domain of King
• Good news for God’s people
Purpose
• Have Dominion
o Gen. 1:26-28
• Be Blessed
o Gal. 3:8
• Be Fruitful
• Multiply
Christianity is the art of receiving God’s love.
You becoming great, wise, powerful and blessed is a good thing, but you need character (example: Solomon, David etc…)
Tuesday morning we prayed for the Chile and Argentina Outreach team. I know that this team will be a very productive and energetic team, I am excited about the work they are doing for God’s kingdom.
Tuesday Lecture
• Kingdom principles have been given to everyone or Kingdom Keys.
o God does not have favorites
o Life and life abundant
o Forceful men lay hold of it
o Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and strength/mind.
o Love your neighbor as yourself
• We are disciples of Jesus. Study His life so that we can live that way through Him.
o It’s a journey
o Build a relationship
o Sought God’s Kingdom
• We were created to Worship
o What or who will you worship?
o Focus on worship
• Romans 12
• Listen well
• Focus
o On what God has done
o What He is doing
o What He said He was going to do
The rest of Tuesday we spent in Queenstown doing a form of evangelism called a treasure hunt. The treasure hunt starts with prayer and then we write down different locations, appearances, sounds, and names … We went into Queenstown with the goal of finding the details that we wrote down and then telling strangers what we were doing and asking if we could pray for them. I found that it was easy to relate to people because many people want to be involved in a game. I was able to pray for some people and bought fudge for a person.
I went to Queenstown later and found out that I had made the person’s day when I bought fudge for them. I also found out that I man we had prayed for was healing quickly and I think that it was unexpected healing.
After the treasure hunt we returned to our base and spent the night in lecture and in preparation for the coming day.
Wednesday morning I woke up to snow!! We drove to the Remarkable Mountains (MORDOR) and skied all day. It was really fun and I meant up with my Japanese friend. He had accepted my invitation and drove the 7 hours to Queenstown so that we could spend time together. I was really excited that he came down to be with us. After skiing on Wednesday. We invited him for dinner at our base and then went to Queenstown with him and spent time with him looking at the city, finding a place for him to stay and eating nachos.
Thursday morning we had a quick prayer time followed by lecture.
Thursday Lecture
• Encourage One Another
• Expect Greatness
o Psalm 139:17
• Prophecy
o 2nd Cor. 3:5
o Principles
• Love
• Honor
• Receiving Prophetic Words
o Put value to it
• Write it down
• Accept it through prayer
• Study it
• 5 fold ministry
o Apostles
o Pastors
o Evangelists
o Teachers
o Prophets
• Need all five to be fully equipped
• Example of how 5 fold works
• Pastor – sees the people
• Teacher – truth, studies the situation so to understand why, how and when it happened so it doesn’t again. The word is most important.
• Evangelist – starts to preach, uses the situation to bring people the Gospel.
• Prophet – gives a proclamation of truth. Appoints leaders
• Apostle – Brings the kingdom of God, supernatural healing, revival. (Paul)
• Recognizing Jesus and Revival
o Trust
o Discern between religion and revival
o Persecution
• Sonship
After our morning lecture my friend came to our afternoon meal. I had spoken with the camp manager and asked if he could stay at the camp so Kaz and I went to the camp offices to get him a cabin for three days. After that he went with me to Queenstown again and we walked around and spent time talking about our homes and lives for about 3 hours. We headed back to the base and I helped him to move into his cabin. I spent Thursday night in another lecture, but Kelly Clark gave this one. She gave her testimony and spoke about the following.
• Identity in Christ
• Goal setting
• Minister and live in a place driven by love
After Kelly Clark gave her testimony we were given prophetic words and we worshipped.
God’s character word this week was giver. I was able to experience His joy and was able to give my friend His truth throughout the week. He was a giver and answered my prayers all week. He gave me wisdom in how I witnessed. He gave us snow. He gave healing. He gave truth. He gave rest. He took care of me in His gifts.
I responded to these gifts by overflowing with gratitude and a spirit of worship for my Lord.
The theme Scripture verses:
• Rom. 1:16
o I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
• Eph. 3:19
o And to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Personal Application
• I will say the Gospel in it’s entirety and not be scared of the consequences. I have been given a gift of Christ’s blood and will seek the Kingdom of God that I would learn about the fullness of God.
Lord,
Please help me to persevere and not except any lies about your kingdom. Jesus by your blood please protect me from the evil one and help me to interpret your Dad’s words in a true way that will bring me and others closer to You. I love you Lord.
Amen.
Week 7
Kawika talked about our role in bringing God’s Kingdom to our world.
Theme Verses: Rom. 1:16, Eph. 3:19
Key ideas, confirmed ideas, new ideas and concrete application
As I listened to Kawika’s Lectures on Monday I was reminded of my short and long term life vision that is to bring God’s kingdom to earth.
Monday Lecture:
• Sozo (Greek word for Salvation)
o Salvation (Romans 10:9, Luke 19:10)
o Healing (Matthew 9:22)
o Deliverance (Luke 8:36)
Four Key Things (kingdom keys):
• God is good; Devil is bad
• Nothing is impossible
• Jesus has one complete victory
• I am significant
o Cost determines value
Foundational Teaching
• Seek his Kingdom and righteousness first
• Gospel of Kingdom
o Gospel = Good news
o Kingdom = Domain of King
• Good news for God’s people
Purpose
• Have Dominion
o Gen. 1:26-28
• Be Blessed
o Gal. 3:8
• Be Fruitful
• Multiply
Christianity is the art of receiving God’s love.
You becoming great, wise, powerful and blessed is a good thing, but you need character (example: Solomon, David etc…)
Tuesday morning we prayed for the Chile and Argentina Outreach team. I know that this team will be a very productive and energetic team, I am excited about the work they are doing for God’s kingdom.
Tuesday Lecture
• Kingdom principles have been given to everyone or Kingdom Keys.
o God does not have favorites
o Life and life abundant
o Forceful men lay hold of it
o Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and strength/mind.
o Love your neighbor as yourself
• We are disciples of Jesus. Study His life so that we can live that way through Him.
o It’s a journey
o Build a relationship
o Sought God’s Kingdom
• We were created to Worship
o What or who will you worship?
o Focus on worship
• Romans 12
• Listen well
• Focus
o On what God has done
o What He is doing
o What He said He was going to do
The rest of Tuesday we spent in Queenstown doing a form of evangelism called a treasure hunt. The treasure hunt starts with prayer and then we write down different locations, appearances, sounds, and names … We went into Queenstown with the goal of finding the details that we wrote down and then telling strangers what we were doing and asking if we could pray for them. I found that it was easy to relate to people because many people want to be involved in a game. I was able to pray for some people and bought fudge for a person.
I went to Queenstown later and found out that I had made the person’s day when I bought fudge for them. I also found out that I man we had prayed for was healing quickly and I think that it was unexpected healing.
After the treasure hunt we returned to our base and spent the night in lecture and in preparation for the coming day.
Wednesday morning I woke up to snow!! We drove to the Remarkable Mountains (MORDOR) and skied all day. It was really fun and I meant up with my Japanese friend. He had accepted my invitation and drove the 7 hours to Queenstown so that we could spend time together. I was really excited that he came down to be with us. After skiing on Wednesday. We invited him for dinner at our base and then went to Queenstown with him and spent time with him looking at the city, finding a place for him to stay and eating nachos.
Thursday morning we had a quick prayer time followed by lecture.
Thursday Lecture
• Encourage One Another
• Expect Greatness
o Psalm 139:17
• Prophecy
o 2nd Cor. 3:5
o Principles
• Love
• Honor
• Receiving Prophetic Words
o Put value to it
• Write it down
• Accept it through prayer
• Study it
• 5 fold ministry
o Apostles
o Pastors
o Evangelists
o Teachers
o Prophets
• Need all five to be fully equipped
• Example of how 5 fold works
• Pastor – sees the people
• Teacher – truth, studies the situation so to understand why, how and when it happened so it doesn’t again. The word is most important.
• Evangelist – starts to preach, uses the situation to bring people the Gospel.
• Prophet – gives a proclamation of truth. Appoints leaders
• Apostle – Brings the kingdom of God, supernatural healing, revival. (Paul)
• Recognizing Jesus and Revival
o Trust
o Discern between religion and revival
o Persecution
• Sonship
After our morning lecture my friend came to our afternoon meal. I had spoken with the camp manager and asked if he could stay at the camp so Kaz and I went to the camp offices to get him a cabin for three days. After that he went with me to Queenstown again and we walked around and spent time talking about our homes and lives for about 3 hours. We headed back to the base and I helped him to move into his cabin. I spent Thursday night in another lecture, but Kelly Clark gave this one. She gave her testimony and spoke about the following.
• Identity in Christ
• Goal setting
• Minister and live in a place driven by love
After Kelly Clark gave her testimony we were given prophetic words and we worshipped.
God’s character word this week was giver. I was able to experience His joy and was able to give my friend His truth throughout the week. He was a giver and answered my prayers all week. He gave me wisdom in how I witnessed. He gave us snow. He gave healing. He gave truth. He gave rest. He took care of me in His gifts.
I responded to these gifts by overflowing with gratitude and a spirit of worship for my Lord.
The theme Scripture verses:
• Rom. 1:16
o I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
• Eph. 3:19
o And to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Personal Application
• I will say the Gospel in it’s entirety and not be scared of the consequences. I have been given a gift of Christ’s blood and will seek the Kingdom of God that I would learn about the fullness of God.
Lord,
Please help me to persevere and not except any lies about your kingdom. Jesus by your blood please protect me from the evil one and help me to interpret your Dad’s words in a true way that will bring me and others closer to You. I love you Lord.
Amen.
Journal 6
Joel Parker
Week 6
Ezekial 37:4-6
Joel’s key theme was evangelism. He spoke about reaching set subcultures in our world, like the snowboard culture.
Joel gave us quite a bit to think about this week. He gave us thoughts on evangelism to specific groups like snowboarding culture. I am excited to explore more of his teachings and apply them as I go home to my culture of athletics and university life.
I learned new things about reaching different cultures and was very interested in how
Joel uses his marketing background to really spread his movies.
I will be able to apply these teachings to my life by taking his example and using it to inspire my own unique ministries.
Key ideas:
• Christ chose 12 disciples to poor His life into, He didn’t try to reach everyone alone.
• We are son’s of God through Christ
• Evangelism is explained by Jesus: follow His life and what He did in the Bible and do that
• Stats about normal Christian gatherings, Stats about subculture gatherings (Like for the movie one year)
o %80 Christian, 20% non Christian, and in snowboard culture 20% Christian, 80% non-christian show up ( he is reaching the people who are ussually totally opposed to Christians)
• explains how to get these statistics
• Post modern mindset facts
o Do you care about me?
o What is my purpose?
o What is my ultimate meaning?
o How can I experience God?
o How do I become God or get right with Him?
o Which God and why?
o What can God do for me?
o Which religion?
• Questions to ask
o Do you think much about spiritual things?
o What is your understanding of God?
o What is your religious background?
o Why are we here?
o What happens when we die?
o Is the pain in your life greater that the joy?
o What is your favorite part of your Holy Book?
o What do you think is wrong with the world?
o Is there an absolute truth?
• Are your absolutely sure?
He gave us some scripture to dwell upon on.
• Warnings
o John 8:24
o Matt. 7:13-14
o John 10:10
o Luke 20:18
o Matt. 10:39
o Luke 9:25
o Luke 12:2-3
o Matt. 5:48
o Matt 22:32-39
o Matt. 5: 21-22
o Matt. 5:27-28
• Offers
o John 10:9-10
o Matt. 11:28-30
o John 8:36
o John 11: 25-26
o Luke 9:10
• Repent and See Him
o John 1:11-13
o Rev. 3:20
o Luke 5:31-32
o Luke 13:3
• The Cross
o 1 Peter 3:18
o 2nd Cor. 5:21
o Acts 4:12
• Specific Verses for the Post Modern Mind Set
o Jer. 29:11-13
o Gen 1:1-2:3
o Luke 19:10
o 2nd Cor. 5:16-20
The point of this story is to show that the word for God this week is that He is the Truth. I believe he is trustworthy and because I can have a personal relationship with him I am trying to share it.
My personal response.
Friday afternoon we went to Christchurch and my friend, Jordan, and I took a 19 yr old guy out to dinner at a bar called Fat Eddy’s, great food. This guy seems very old for his age. He has been to prison and didn’t always have a place to sleep at night. I meant him the week before at the rail jam. After dinner we went back to the center square in Christchurch and I meant my Japanese friend with his friend, the man I have been asking you to pray for. We took these three to the movie “One Year” where they heard the Gospel message.
We have been praying for these three consistently and I am so excited to share that they all know the Truth and have been talking with us about it quite frequently now. the guy was really influenced by the dinner we took him to. The Japanese friends have been really happy to be invited to all of our events. It is hard to speak with them because they both are still learning English, but they are very fun to spend time with.
On Saturday I went to Mt. Hutt and meant them there and snowboarded with them all day. We took pictures together, talked about home, and talked about my upcoming trip to Queenstown (he might meet out group there and spend some time with us) we just spent time bondingJ. I really wish that they would accept Christ.
I am typing this early because I am going to Queenstown this coming week. Queenstown is about 7 hours South from Oxford and is supposed to be a very beautiful place with great skiing. I am going there for lectures and to do outreach in the snowboard community. Please pray for our group as we will have more events this coming week and have ministry opportunities every day. We also are having many injuries and I feel like Satan is trying to hinder our influence for God's Kingdom. Please Pray.
I am learning more about the Maori Culture because we had a person do the traditional Maori war dance this week. I also have had an opportunity to learn about the Japanese culture, they both are very polite. I can tell that they respect people in a different way than westerners would, but am still putting my finger on exactly what it is. I know that they walk behind me and always try to submit to me in a way that makes me as an American uncomfortable. They are my friends and I enjoy getting to know them. And will continue to try and show them the truth that I know.
The theme scripture verse for this week.
• Ezekial 37:4-6, “then He said to me, “prophecy to these bones and say to them, ‘dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the soveriegn Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”’
o The Lord revealed that I am to prophecy and that I can do these wonders through my Lord Jesus.
• I will listen to the words that the Lord gives me and give him my heart in a continued process of dieing to myself.
• Lord,
o Please use me to bring your Kingdom to earth, as I am your vessel. I need your grace and Spirit as you continue to make me willing to be a living sacrifice for you.
• Amen
Week 6
Ezekial 37:4-6
Joel’s key theme was evangelism. He spoke about reaching set subcultures in our world, like the snowboard culture.
Joel gave us quite a bit to think about this week. He gave us thoughts on evangelism to specific groups like snowboarding culture. I am excited to explore more of his teachings and apply them as I go home to my culture of athletics and university life.
I learned new things about reaching different cultures and was very interested in how
Joel uses his marketing background to really spread his movies.
I will be able to apply these teachings to my life by taking his example and using it to inspire my own unique ministries.
Key ideas:
• Christ chose 12 disciples to poor His life into, He didn’t try to reach everyone alone.
• We are son’s of God through Christ
• Evangelism is explained by Jesus: follow His life and what He did in the Bible and do that
• Stats about normal Christian gatherings, Stats about subculture gatherings (Like for the movie one year)
o %80 Christian, 20% non Christian, and in snowboard culture 20% Christian, 80% non-christian show up ( he is reaching the people who are ussually totally opposed to Christians)
• explains how to get these statistics
• Post modern mindset facts
o Do you care about me?
o What is my purpose?
o What is my ultimate meaning?
o How can I experience God?
o How do I become God or get right with Him?
o Which God and why?
o What can God do for me?
o Which religion?
• Questions to ask
o Do you think much about spiritual things?
o What is your understanding of God?
o What is your religious background?
o Why are we here?
o What happens when we die?
o Is the pain in your life greater that the joy?
o What is your favorite part of your Holy Book?
o What do you think is wrong with the world?
o Is there an absolute truth?
• Are your absolutely sure?
He gave us some scripture to dwell upon on.
• Warnings
o John 8:24
o Matt. 7:13-14
o John 10:10
o Luke 20:18
o Matt. 10:39
o Luke 9:25
o Luke 12:2-3
o Matt. 5:48
o Matt 22:32-39
o Matt. 5: 21-22
o Matt. 5:27-28
• Offers
o John 10:9-10
o Matt. 11:28-30
o John 8:36
o John 11: 25-26
o Luke 9:10
• Repent and See Him
o John 1:11-13
o Rev. 3:20
o Luke 5:31-32
o Luke 13:3
• The Cross
o 1 Peter 3:18
o 2nd Cor. 5:21
o Acts 4:12
• Specific Verses for the Post Modern Mind Set
o Jer. 29:11-13
o Gen 1:1-2:3
o Luke 19:10
o 2nd Cor. 5:16-20
The point of this story is to show that the word for God this week is that He is the Truth. I believe he is trustworthy and because I can have a personal relationship with him I am trying to share it.
My personal response.
Friday afternoon we went to Christchurch and my friend, Jordan, and I took a 19 yr old guy out to dinner at a bar called Fat Eddy’s, great food. This guy seems very old for his age. He has been to prison and didn’t always have a place to sleep at night. I meant him the week before at the rail jam. After dinner we went back to the center square in Christchurch and I meant my Japanese friend with his friend, the man I have been asking you to pray for. We took these three to the movie “One Year” where they heard the Gospel message.
We have been praying for these three consistently and I am so excited to share that they all know the Truth and have been talking with us about it quite frequently now. the guy was really influenced by the dinner we took him to. The Japanese friends have been really happy to be invited to all of our events. It is hard to speak with them because they both are still learning English, but they are very fun to spend time with.
On Saturday I went to Mt. Hutt and meant them there and snowboarded with them all day. We took pictures together, talked about home, and talked about my upcoming trip to Queenstown (he might meet out group there and spend some time with us) we just spent time bondingJ. I really wish that they would accept Christ.
I am typing this early because I am going to Queenstown this coming week. Queenstown is about 7 hours South from Oxford and is supposed to be a very beautiful place with great skiing. I am going there for lectures and to do outreach in the snowboard community. Please pray for our group as we will have more events this coming week and have ministry opportunities every day. We also are having many injuries and I feel like Satan is trying to hinder our influence for God's Kingdom. Please Pray.
I am learning more about the Maori Culture because we had a person do the traditional Maori war dance this week. I also have had an opportunity to learn about the Japanese culture, they both are very polite. I can tell that they respect people in a different way than westerners would, but am still putting my finger on exactly what it is. I know that they walk behind me and always try to submit to me in a way that makes me as an American uncomfortable. They are my friends and I enjoy getting to know them. And will continue to try and show them the truth that I know.
The theme scripture verse for this week.
• Ezekial 37:4-6, “then He said to me, “prophecy to these bones and say to them, ‘dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the soveriegn Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”’
o The Lord revealed that I am to prophecy and that I can do these wonders through my Lord Jesus.
• I will listen to the words that the Lord gives me and give him my heart in a continued process of dieing to myself.
• Lord,
o Please use me to bring your Kingdom to earth, as I am your vessel. I need your grace and Spirit as you continue to make me willing to be a living sacrifice for you.
• Amen
Monday, August 3, 2009
Journal 5
Barry, Judy and Carolyn
July 26-31
They spoke on the Father heart of God. We should identify as children of God.
• Key ideas from the lectures.
o Be childlike – become like little children
• Kids laugh about 400 times a day. Adults about 9 times a day
• Matthew 11:25
• I only do things I see the Father doing
o God is powerful in weakness
• Fasting
• Preparing our hearts
• 2nd Corinthians 12:9-11
o Word of God is a place where His presence is.
o He wants a relationship with us.
o We have been redeemed by His Son
• We are the way we are meant to be
o Self-denial
o Trust
o Mark 6:30
o 1 Corinthians 15:45-47
o John 1:1-4
o Hebrews 1:1-5
o John 5:16-20
• New ideas
o No need to worry
• 2nd Corinthians 3:2-3
o He has a name for us
o God is both male and female
• Gen. 2
o John 14:18
o Genesis 17:4
o Deuteronomy 1:31
o Deuteronomy 32:6
o He created us to love us
o 1 John 3:2
• There is nothing he wouldn’t do for us
o Hosea 11:3-4 ( put your name in the verse)
• Confirmed ideas
o God wants to transform our hearts and minds by His love
o We are in line for an inheritance. There has got to be a death in order that the will may become activated and that we may become joint heirs with Jesus.
o Isaiah 49:14-16
• Concrete Application
o “In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.” Deuteronomy 32:10-11
I am going to use this teaching to inspire me to continue to obey and strive to discover more about my heavenly Father. I am excited to continue to learn and understand who He is.
The word I have chosen for God this week was Father. I believe that He is my dad in heaven and that he has promised to adopt me and has. I believe that I am His child and am powerful because of it. The Lord can work through me as I continue to have revelation of His love for me. I am His son. I can have a relationship with the Lord of the universe and he wants to meet me and be with me.
I thank my dad for giving me an understanding of a good fathers love because now it is not hard for me to associate God as a Father.
My personal response to all of these teachings is that the theme of God’s love. I am experiencing His desire for relationship with us. I am learning to prepare my heart and mind to except that relationship and grow in it. I thank God that He loves me and wants a personal relationship with me. I am determined and excited to walk with Him.
o “In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.” Deuteronomy 32:10-11
God will always protect me and seek after my love and relationship as His son.
I will dwell upon this and with joy I will live in a way that fits such a promise.
Lord please help me to except your promises daily. To abide with you and learn of your love for me that I would continually show your love to those around me
Amen
July 26-31
They spoke on the Father heart of God. We should identify as children of God.
• Key ideas from the lectures.
o Be childlike – become like little children
• Kids laugh about 400 times a day. Adults about 9 times a day
• Matthew 11:25
• I only do things I see the Father doing
o God is powerful in weakness
• Fasting
• Preparing our hearts
• 2nd Corinthians 12:9-11
o Word of God is a place where His presence is.
o He wants a relationship with us.
o We have been redeemed by His Son
• We are the way we are meant to be
o Self-denial
o Trust
o Mark 6:30
o 1 Corinthians 15:45-47
o John 1:1-4
o Hebrews 1:1-5
o John 5:16-20
• New ideas
o No need to worry
• 2nd Corinthians 3:2-3
o He has a name for us
o God is both male and female
• Gen. 2
o John 14:18
o Genesis 17:4
o Deuteronomy 1:31
o Deuteronomy 32:6
o He created us to love us
o 1 John 3:2
• There is nothing he wouldn’t do for us
o Hosea 11:3-4 ( put your name in the verse)
• Confirmed ideas
o God wants to transform our hearts and minds by His love
o We are in line for an inheritance. There has got to be a death in order that the will may become activated and that we may become joint heirs with Jesus.
o Isaiah 49:14-16
• Concrete Application
o “In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.” Deuteronomy 32:10-11
I am going to use this teaching to inspire me to continue to obey and strive to discover more about my heavenly Father. I am excited to continue to learn and understand who He is.
The word I have chosen for God this week was Father. I believe that He is my dad in heaven and that he has promised to adopt me and has. I believe that I am His child and am powerful because of it. The Lord can work through me as I continue to have revelation of His love for me. I am His son. I can have a relationship with the Lord of the universe and he wants to meet me and be with me.
I thank my dad for giving me an understanding of a good fathers love because now it is not hard for me to associate God as a Father.
My personal response to all of these teachings is that the theme of God’s love. I am experiencing His desire for relationship with us. I am learning to prepare my heart and mind to except that relationship and grow in it. I thank God that He loves me and wants a personal relationship with me. I am determined and excited to walk with Him.
o “In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.” Deuteronomy 32:10-11
God will always protect me and seek after my love and relationship as His son.
I will dwell upon this and with joy I will live in a way that fits such a promise.
Lord please help me to except your promises daily. To abide with you and learn of your love for me that I would continually show your love to those around me
Amen
Is That Really You, God (Loren Cunningham)
Travis Piepho
Book Report
Is That Really You, God
Loren Cunningham gave us a background of his life and taught about the foundations of his beliefs, while explaining his life mission and work. He gave an inspirational story of trust in God’s providence and guidance over the course of our life journeys. Cunningham focused on the value of life and the work that God can do though any believer. He made many practical connections to life with the guidance of God’s Spirit, which made Christianity much more real. We can all live the way Cunningham did and still have our own unique story, while in fellowship with Christ.
The three principles from “Is That Really You, God” that spoke directly to me were: hearing the voice of God, peace, and joy. I found that all of these principles were encompassed inside the theme of trust in our God. If we are willing to daily die to ourselves and stand upon, or trust in, the “Rock” that Christ freely gave us when he died for us, then we can live lives that are filled with God’s voice, peace and joy that comes from the soul.
The theme of trust was so significant in this book that I am continually reminding myself of the imperative nature of believing that I can “stand” and forever follow Christ. This brings us to the first principle of trusting that we can hear God speaking to us. He speaks to us in impressions, in dreams, visions, words, conversation, Scripture and in thousands of other ways, who am I to put the creator of the universe in a box. I found that after reading about this principle being so prevalent in how Cunningham lived. I found that I have found many verses popping out to me about hearing Gods voice as I read his Scripture. Verses like Luke 10: 5-6 when Jesus commissions missionaries he tells them to say, “peace to this house. And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, your peace will return to you.” This scripture captivated me. In my interpretation it shows that an impression will occur to these missionaries about whether or not the man of the house either received their peace or will give them peace as they stay in that place. This supports Cunningham’s story about listening to the impression that his first purchase of the ship for YWAM was going to rob Jesus of his glory. To show in how many ways God’s voice pops out to me in Scripture I already found another instance in Luke 11: 13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” I learned that God speaks through his Holy Spirit. Loren Cunningham always asked the Holy Spirit to do something for him and I interpreted that he heard the Lord by the Holy Spirit living inside of Him. The last supporting scripture I found for hearing God’s voice was in Luke 5: 5-11. Jesus showed the disciples that he was to be trusted and was their lord by performing a miracle for them. Cunningham had a miracle performed for him, when, without directions he found the woman whom he was looking for, in the middle of L.A!
Even during the hard times in his life Loren Cunningham experienced the peace of Christ. John 5 demonstrates the freedom in Christ that Cunningham found, he was able to do anything that God called him to do because he was at peace with the fact that God’s work is true and will not return empty. Cunningham was made alive in Christ and lived his entire life in peace because of the gift that God gave to all when he gave his son in our place (John 3:16). Lastly, Cunningham found peace that passes all understanding because in all that he did he trusted and had faith in his Lord’s love for him.
The last principle that I took from this book was joy. Loren Cunningham has lived his life with joy because he identifies in Christ (Ephesians 2: 21-22). He always allowed the living Spirit of his Lord to dwell inside of his Spirit and create inner joy. He also found joy because he always followed God’s rules for Holy Living and when he made mistakes he repented and continued to be a vessel for Christ (Colossians 3). Lastly, Cunningham never gave his mind to the evil one and always dwelled upon his Father in heaven (Philippians 4:8).
I am encouraged by Cunningham’s example and will apply these truths to my life by standing upon Christ and always trusting in Him. I will die to myself everyday and always seek Him.
The most meaningful event in this book was when Loren and his wife found that woman in L.A. because they blindly trusted in God as their guide. I find that to be very encouraging to me personally because as long as I trust in Him I will not live a fruitless life.
Book Report
Is That Really You, God
Loren Cunningham gave us a background of his life and taught about the foundations of his beliefs, while explaining his life mission and work. He gave an inspirational story of trust in God’s providence and guidance over the course of our life journeys. Cunningham focused on the value of life and the work that God can do though any believer. He made many practical connections to life with the guidance of God’s Spirit, which made Christianity much more real. We can all live the way Cunningham did and still have our own unique story, while in fellowship with Christ.
The three principles from “Is That Really You, God” that spoke directly to me were: hearing the voice of God, peace, and joy. I found that all of these principles were encompassed inside the theme of trust in our God. If we are willing to daily die to ourselves and stand upon, or trust in, the “Rock” that Christ freely gave us when he died for us, then we can live lives that are filled with God’s voice, peace and joy that comes from the soul.
The theme of trust was so significant in this book that I am continually reminding myself of the imperative nature of believing that I can “stand” and forever follow Christ. This brings us to the first principle of trusting that we can hear God speaking to us. He speaks to us in impressions, in dreams, visions, words, conversation, Scripture and in thousands of other ways, who am I to put the creator of the universe in a box. I found that after reading about this principle being so prevalent in how Cunningham lived. I found that I have found many verses popping out to me about hearing Gods voice as I read his Scripture. Verses like Luke 10: 5-6 when Jesus commissions missionaries he tells them to say, “peace to this house. And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, your peace will return to you.” This scripture captivated me. In my interpretation it shows that an impression will occur to these missionaries about whether or not the man of the house either received their peace or will give them peace as they stay in that place. This supports Cunningham’s story about listening to the impression that his first purchase of the ship for YWAM was going to rob Jesus of his glory. To show in how many ways God’s voice pops out to me in Scripture I already found another instance in Luke 11: 13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” I learned that God speaks through his Holy Spirit. Loren Cunningham always asked the Holy Spirit to do something for him and I interpreted that he heard the Lord by the Holy Spirit living inside of Him. The last supporting scripture I found for hearing God’s voice was in Luke 5: 5-11. Jesus showed the disciples that he was to be trusted and was their lord by performing a miracle for them. Cunningham had a miracle performed for him, when, without directions he found the woman whom he was looking for, in the middle of L.A!
Even during the hard times in his life Loren Cunningham experienced the peace of Christ. John 5 demonstrates the freedom in Christ that Cunningham found, he was able to do anything that God called him to do because he was at peace with the fact that God’s work is true and will not return empty. Cunningham was made alive in Christ and lived his entire life in peace because of the gift that God gave to all when he gave his son in our place (John 3:16). Lastly, Cunningham found peace that passes all understanding because in all that he did he trusted and had faith in his Lord’s love for him.
The last principle that I took from this book was joy. Loren Cunningham has lived his life with joy because he identifies in Christ (Ephesians 2: 21-22). He always allowed the living Spirit of his Lord to dwell inside of his Spirit and create inner joy. He also found joy because he always followed God’s rules for Holy Living and when he made mistakes he repented and continued to be a vessel for Christ (Colossians 3). Lastly, Cunningham never gave his mind to the evil one and always dwelled upon his Father in heaven (Philippians 4:8).
I am encouraged by Cunningham’s example and will apply these truths to my life by standing upon Christ and always trusting in Him. I will die to myself everyday and always seek Him.
The most meaningful event in this book was when Loren and his wife found that woman in L.A. because they blindly trusted in God as their guide. I find that to be very encouraging to me personally because as long as I trust in Him I will not live a fruitless life.
Journal 1
Jon & Mari Slack (June 29-July 3rd)
Know God. We can hear God and are supposed to have a relationship with Him.
Theme Verse: Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “ now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
The key ideas from Jon and Mari Slack’s lectures were: knowing God, Feel God, Power of Prayer and Hearing God. . They explained that it is important to know that God wants to talk to us and does in our own individual ways. I learned a lot about different ways to hear our Lord, such as in our feelings both physical and emotional, our dreams, in visions/pictures, and so on. We learned about discerning the spirits. I felt that God was showing me that it is extremely important to understand the feelings that I have and that I might actually be getting some direction from him in those feelings. It was a great thought and I will be praying about it over the next weeks.
I was reminded that we do hear God because the veil was torn when Jesus died and we are able to speak to Him and approach him. I learned that I probably have a gift of discernment and am excited to continue using it. I was also reminded of the principles for intercession. I liked being reminded of the great commission and I was reminded that we are already in the end times. The point about our sovereignty and God’s really opened my eyes to our role in prayer and in intercession. I will definitely pray more because of the realization I had about the importance of prayer.
The new ideas I had mostly centered on the fact that I am a “feeler” or have been gifted with discernment. I’m sure I am sensitive, but am still praying about exactly what role that will have in prophecy. I will think about how my sensitive nature might best fit in with our modern world and I definitely feel that I have more direction for the exact major I will pursue at the University.
I was so happy to hear about prophecy and how God speaks. I will definitely listen to my own impressions, thoughts, etc… and try and witness in a new and better way to the world around me. I am excited to grow and continue to become more in tune with God’s direction. The second way I was changed was in my prayer life. I now realize how important prayer is and feel like it is actually worth while to do for extended periods of time, it helps so much to know that we are helping others and not just ourselves in prayer.
In the character study I was reminded again and again of the word father. I was so happy to realize that relationship is natural, and that we can hear God through our own personalities. It made it so much more real to me. I realize that when I only hear silence its not because I’m not good enough or something else I am simply trying too hard to hear God. This word applies to God because He made us and it makes so much sense to think that it is natural for our heavenly Father to talk with us in our own ways. After all, He does know us inside and out. This word implies that God loves us and cares for us so deeply like a Father. He knows us so well and always knows what is best for us and is willing to speak to us anytime we need to direction or want to have a conversation with Him. I find it supremely comforting to think about God in this way, He still is very powerful, but he loves us and relates to us in an intimate way. This just touches on the truth about God’s character and as I study His need for us to pray to him and his desire for us to learn and follow Him I realize more about how full life can be with Him as the guide. The previous sentences all imply a very personal and intimate relationship with the Lord of the universe it is so cool to think that God cares about me so deeply that he’d do anything for me to learn of His love.
My personal response to all of the above has been evident in my writing. I am empowered to be a lover of our God and feel like I am ready to continue pouring my life into Him. I have engaged in more prayer and have been acting upon my desire to really know the character of God and experience a very intimate relationship with Him. I have been praying with people and following God’s direction because I am now realizing that I have been hearing His voice all along, it is extremely encouraging. However, I also realize more of the responsibility I have for loving others and for showing them the Truth that I have found. It is excited and humbling to realize how much I need our Lord. I will definitely use the tests to tell if God is the one speaking or if my own selfish ambition is the center of my thoughts. I want to spread God’s love and subdue the world. I think about this stuff a ton and it is so exciting to hear truth spoken into my life.
Theme Verse: Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “ now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
I hear this verse and since we are in the last times I realize that this verse directly applies to me. I am so excited to experience the relationship that this verse alludes to. I plan to apply this revelation to my life by always opening myself to the knowledge that God walks through life with me and wants to have a constant type of interaction with me as I live every day.
Lord please let me hear you direct me please bless me with wisdom and sincere love, also please show me exactly what love is by the joy of your Spirit. Thank you so much for everything that you give and are to me. You are the essence of life please help me to fully live so I can bless those around me. In Jesus I pray Amen.
Know God. We can hear God and are supposed to have a relationship with Him.
Theme Verse: Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “ now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
The key ideas from Jon and Mari Slack’s lectures were: knowing God, Feel God, Power of Prayer and Hearing God. . They explained that it is important to know that God wants to talk to us and does in our own individual ways. I learned a lot about different ways to hear our Lord, such as in our feelings both physical and emotional, our dreams, in visions/pictures, and so on. We learned about discerning the spirits. I felt that God was showing me that it is extremely important to understand the feelings that I have and that I might actually be getting some direction from him in those feelings. It was a great thought and I will be praying about it over the next weeks.
I was reminded that we do hear God because the veil was torn when Jesus died and we are able to speak to Him and approach him. I learned that I probably have a gift of discernment and am excited to continue using it. I was also reminded of the principles for intercession. I liked being reminded of the great commission and I was reminded that we are already in the end times. The point about our sovereignty and God’s really opened my eyes to our role in prayer and in intercession. I will definitely pray more because of the realization I had about the importance of prayer.
The new ideas I had mostly centered on the fact that I am a “feeler” or have been gifted with discernment. I’m sure I am sensitive, but am still praying about exactly what role that will have in prophecy. I will think about how my sensitive nature might best fit in with our modern world and I definitely feel that I have more direction for the exact major I will pursue at the University.
I was so happy to hear about prophecy and how God speaks. I will definitely listen to my own impressions, thoughts, etc… and try and witness in a new and better way to the world around me. I am excited to grow and continue to become more in tune with God’s direction. The second way I was changed was in my prayer life. I now realize how important prayer is and feel like it is actually worth while to do for extended periods of time, it helps so much to know that we are helping others and not just ourselves in prayer.
In the character study I was reminded again and again of the word father. I was so happy to realize that relationship is natural, and that we can hear God through our own personalities. It made it so much more real to me. I realize that when I only hear silence its not because I’m not good enough or something else I am simply trying too hard to hear God. This word applies to God because He made us and it makes so much sense to think that it is natural for our heavenly Father to talk with us in our own ways. After all, He does know us inside and out. This word implies that God loves us and cares for us so deeply like a Father. He knows us so well and always knows what is best for us and is willing to speak to us anytime we need to direction or want to have a conversation with Him. I find it supremely comforting to think about God in this way, He still is very powerful, but he loves us and relates to us in an intimate way. This just touches on the truth about God’s character and as I study His need for us to pray to him and his desire for us to learn and follow Him I realize more about how full life can be with Him as the guide. The previous sentences all imply a very personal and intimate relationship with the Lord of the universe it is so cool to think that God cares about me so deeply that he’d do anything for me to learn of His love.
My personal response to all of the above has been evident in my writing. I am empowered to be a lover of our God and feel like I am ready to continue pouring my life into Him. I have engaged in more prayer and have been acting upon my desire to really know the character of God and experience a very intimate relationship with Him. I have been praying with people and following God’s direction because I am now realizing that I have been hearing His voice all along, it is extremely encouraging. However, I also realize more of the responsibility I have for loving others and for showing them the Truth that I have found. It is excited and humbling to realize how much I need our Lord. I will definitely use the tests to tell if God is the one speaking or if my own selfish ambition is the center of my thoughts. I want to spread God’s love and subdue the world. I think about this stuff a ton and it is so exciting to hear truth spoken into my life.
Theme Verse: Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “ now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
I hear this verse and since we are in the last times I realize that this verse directly applies to me. I am so excited to experience the relationship that this verse alludes to. I plan to apply this revelation to my life by always opening myself to the knowledge that God walks through life with me and wants to have a constant type of interaction with me as I live every day.
Lord please let me hear you direct me please bless me with wisdom and sincere love, also please show me exactly what love is by the joy of your Spirit. Thank you so much for everything that you give and are to me. You are the essence of life please help me to fully live so I can bless those around me. In Jesus I pray Amen.
Journal 2
MARK PARKER
July 5-10
The Lordship of Christ
The key ideas from Mark Parker’s Lectures were all focused on the human heart and making us consecrated to our Lord.
• Lordship of Christ.
o Fixing our eyes on Jesus
o Knowing the Spirit, getting understanding our soul
o Seeing the effects in our body
• Six Principles of the Fall
• Anointing, or moving by the Spirit
• Lots about Love
o Identity in Christ
o God’s Love
o Empowering
o Becoming
• Not held guilty for sin, but we must make it right
• Surrender is a state
• Not all about feelings
• We have been given fullness in Christ
• Move
• Yearn
• Be the RIGHT person to meet
• Our picture of God, is it right?
• Where is my treasure?
• He meets all of our needs for love.
• True Salvation
o Regeneration
o Justification
o Reconciliation
o Sanctification
• Denial of Self, Self smaller=Jesus Bigger
• Accepting Christ
o New heart
o New spirit
o Holy Spirit
o Conviction
o Repentance
• AUTHORITIES
o To grow you in wisdom and Character, to protect, to guide
• Cross
o Surrender
o Humility
o Repent
o Believe
o Submission
o Forgiveness
• To you has been the Kingdom of God
• The Temple
o Gates with thanksgiving
o Courts with Praise
o Cross means surrender
o Altar wash in his blood
• Why people stay in the wilderness
o Don’t Understand
o Fear of losing control
o God in a box
o Fear of extreme things happening
The ideas that I learned this week had a lot to do with my own relationship with the Lord. I learned that it is very important that I learn to believe in God without any doubt. I also took many of the above ideas and really focused on applying them to my own life.
The vision I have of Christ and the idols I place before Him were made apparent this week as I sought answers in prayer.
I will apply this to my life by putting everything on the altar and making sure that daily I remind myself to stand upon the Rock without doubting whether or not He can hold me.
I was reminded of my need to praise the Lord and give Him thanks. I was also reminded of the importance of surrendering to Jesus and denying the self, reminded of the awesome power of God and the need to fear Him. I am very excited to continue to learn and apply my whole heart to Christ.
Rock is the word that I have chosen to focus on this week because God’s character is solid and he should not be doubted. I can stand upon him because he is a rock. He will not break and will always love and show me his will for my life. I find it extremely important that I fear Him and always show him the respect he deserves. To fear Him I must first believe that He can do anything and that He is absolutely in control and powerful. This means that I can always trust Him and should never build my life upon anything less than Him. He is overwhelmingly powerful.
Luke 9:23-24 “Then He said to them all, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”
Wow, Daily I need to take up my cross and follow Him. I am reminded again that I want God to call me and I will do what He asks no matter how hard. Christ’s calling for our lives will be a burden, but can bring life. I am excited to learn to gain life in “taking up my cross”. My cross is to put all of my loved ones on the altar and to put myself there everyday upon his rock. That I’d live every minute in harmony with him and in constant respect to His Spirit and the guidance that I need t o take for my life. I will pray that daily Christ would take me and use me for His purposes and I will surrender to His cross and yield myself to Him. And during that day I will constantly rid myself of fleshly desires and try to live entirely for him according to His words for me.
Jesus,
Please take me and use me for your purpose. I put myself upon your altar and ask that you take all that I hold dear and use it for your glory and I trust you, specifically my family, girlfriend, my friends, my future, my ambitions, and my life. Please continue to show me how to sincerely love those around me and help me to surrender to you in everything that I do today. Lord I ask for sensitivity, as I want to do everything your Spirit shows me to do. I do not doubt you and ask that all the powers of Satan that hold your work in my life and in those around me be bound in Jesus name.
Amen.
Journal 3
Chris Donaldson
Week 3
Practical Principles from the Bible. That we would learn how to make our life a ministry and have correct worldview, or lens with which to view God’s Kingdom.
We focused on learning about Animism/New Age, Secular Humanism in comparison to Biblical Christianity. We spent time learning about the history of each and we learned about the different parts of the world where each one of these worldviews is found. In learning about these different worldviews I was reminded again that worldview is foundational to cultural values. I was exposed to different cultural tendencies and found that nations founded upon biblical worldview were generally more successful. This is due to the values that Christianity invokes in culture such as the “Protestant work ethic”, which was revived during the reformation. God told Adam and Eve to work His world and to care for it (Genesis 2), and He gave us His desire for growth (Genesis 9). This helped me to get rid of some of my own enculturation and misconceptions about God’s will.
Secular Humanism values that our world is going to be overpopulated and that everything is going downhill, when in reality God wanted us to fill our earth and subdue it, and there is still plenty of land to use. ☺
While working on understanding worldview and cultural value I learned from students from Indonesia and India. They both spoke about an unhealthy fear of God being prevalent throughout their cultures. Where as in western culture we have a tendency to not fear God enough. In learning about Biblical Christianity we learned about the importance of understanding God’s ability to work in any vocation and found practical scripture to study for our different lifelong vocations (Proverbs 16:3). I studied some verses that had to do with business (Proverbs 11: 24-25, 16: 3, 21: 20, 22: 16 and 22; Exodus 22: 22-27).
My word for the week was roots, or foundation. I was reminded that Christ is what we must base our foundation upon. As Chris educated us I realized more about what I was still lacking in my foundational beliefs about the Lord. To build and become a man of God I must face the fact that I am materialistic, self-reliant, and not always grounded in Scripture. Roots are the foundational beliefs, the trunk includes the values, branches show the behavior and the fruit is consequence. Can use this for understanding Scripture for example, how we looked at the verses in Romans and connected the different things with the appropriate part of the “tree”. This word applies to the nature and character of God because He is our foundation and the more we believe in Him the farther our “trunk” can go up in the air, so to speak, our actions can be filled with truth, or can be effective. I must always stand upon Christ.
Phillipians 4:8, “Finally brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.”
This is how we make our roots.
I will always try to test and approve my thoughts with the will of God.
• What are my roots Lord? Please help me to find them and make them appropriate for your glory.
• Lord help me not to align your truths with my own worldview, please grant me FREEDOM from my own lens, or constricting view of you.
Week 3
Practical Principles from the Bible. That we would learn how to make our life a ministry and have correct worldview, or lens with which to view God’s Kingdom.
We focused on learning about Animism/New Age, Secular Humanism in comparison to Biblical Christianity. We spent time learning about the history of each and we learned about the different parts of the world where each one of these worldviews is found. In learning about these different worldviews I was reminded again that worldview is foundational to cultural values. I was exposed to different cultural tendencies and found that nations founded upon biblical worldview were generally more successful. This is due to the values that Christianity invokes in culture such as the “Protestant work ethic”, which was revived during the reformation. God told Adam and Eve to work His world and to care for it (Genesis 2), and He gave us His desire for growth (Genesis 9). This helped me to get rid of some of my own enculturation and misconceptions about God’s will.
Secular Humanism values that our world is going to be overpopulated and that everything is going downhill, when in reality God wanted us to fill our earth and subdue it, and there is still plenty of land to use. ☺
While working on understanding worldview and cultural value I learned from students from Indonesia and India. They both spoke about an unhealthy fear of God being prevalent throughout their cultures. Where as in western culture we have a tendency to not fear God enough. In learning about Biblical Christianity we learned about the importance of understanding God’s ability to work in any vocation and found practical scripture to study for our different lifelong vocations (Proverbs 16:3). I studied some verses that had to do with business (Proverbs 11: 24-25, 16: 3, 21: 20, 22: 16 and 22; Exodus 22: 22-27).
My word for the week was roots, or foundation. I was reminded that Christ is what we must base our foundation upon. As Chris educated us I realized more about what I was still lacking in my foundational beliefs about the Lord. To build and become a man of God I must face the fact that I am materialistic, self-reliant, and not always grounded in Scripture. Roots are the foundational beliefs, the trunk includes the values, branches show the behavior and the fruit is consequence. Can use this for understanding Scripture for example, how we looked at the verses in Romans and connected the different things with the appropriate part of the “tree”. This word applies to the nature and character of God because He is our foundation and the more we believe in Him the farther our “trunk” can go up in the air, so to speak, our actions can be filled with truth, or can be effective. I must always stand upon Christ.
Phillipians 4:8, “Finally brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.”
This is how we make our roots.
I will always try to test and approve my thoughts with the will of God.
• What are my roots Lord? Please help me to find them and make them appropriate for your glory.
• Lord help me not to align your truths with my own worldview, please grant me FREEDOM from my own lens, or constricting view of you.
Journal 4
David Ridell
July 19-24
David Ridell focused on helping us connect our heart and soul to the mind.
This week we learned about relationships and the importance of healthy relationship with ourselves. We learned a lot about the human mind and it’s connection to the soul (spirit) from a man who studies the secular field of psychiatry. I was wary of Mr. Ridell’s teaching at first, it seemed like he was teaching from a religious position, but with incorrect doctrine. He proved me wrong. Over the course of the week he ended up giving great support from Scripture. Some of the practical advice he gave included: how to think in a healthy way, correct relationship, the importance of attitude, and ways to self-examine our minds and relationships.
The key ideas were, “the health of the relationship is never better than the mental/emotional health of the person in it, if you can’t set a boundary you’ll wind up building walls, and without negotiation skills there are only two options domination/subjugation.
Some confirmed ideas that I have had said to me many times in my life were: correct attitude is essential, optimistic thinking, respect yourself and others, and befriend you mind, truth coaches, trust being queen of the life skills.
New ideas included: the separation between soul and mind and the connection that has to mental health, inspecting your thoughts and beliefs puts you in charge of your mind (Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy), king lies, welds, soul ties.
In being told these things or being reminded of past principles I found a new clarity and direction. I feel that life with the Lord is logical and when David Ridell said, “the shortcut to mental health is agreement with God” I was relieved to know that God does give personal revelation to those who walk with Him. I had gotten caught up in Mr. Ridell’s wisdom and was spinning, but when he said that line about being in agreement with God I found rest in the fact that I can use Mr. Ridell’s notes, and will, but the real power is in daily dying and giving your life to the Lord. So daily I will study His Scriptures and search for that daily word that will prepare my heart to abide in Christ during the course of that day.
The character of God this week is accepting. He wants to be ONE with me and is. I am living with Christ inside of me and will continue to experience His direction and wisdom over the course of my walk with Him. (John 17:26)
To personally respond to David Ridell’s teaching I am going to focus upon his gifts of wisdom and guiding words. What he did best was drive me into trusting that the Spirit will protect my heart, mind, and soul as I continue to live. My response this week is going to focus upon the word, abide. I think that through belief in our Lord and in thanking Him daily for answered prayer, no matter, how it might seem insignificant I will be able to learn His will for me. I will grow into a mature believer in this way and learn to trust in His words for me. Right now I am personally responding to this message by seeking holiness and reliance upon Him who lives inside of me!
I am not perfect Lord, but with your help I can continue to learn to live in faith and be a vessel of your Son. Please continue to give me truth and the gift of love as I seek your Kingdom.
2nd Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.”
His Spirit reveals his knowledge to us in His word.
I will continue to seek God’s word every morning and use it to affirm truth and discard lies throughout my day.
Thank you Lord for abiding in me. Please help me to continue to learn what it means to abide with you in the Kingdom.
Amen.
July 19-24
David Ridell focused on helping us connect our heart and soul to the mind.
This week we learned about relationships and the importance of healthy relationship with ourselves. We learned a lot about the human mind and it’s connection to the soul (spirit) from a man who studies the secular field of psychiatry. I was wary of Mr. Ridell’s teaching at first, it seemed like he was teaching from a religious position, but with incorrect doctrine. He proved me wrong. Over the course of the week he ended up giving great support from Scripture. Some of the practical advice he gave included: how to think in a healthy way, correct relationship, the importance of attitude, and ways to self-examine our minds and relationships.
The key ideas were, “the health of the relationship is never better than the mental/emotional health of the person in it, if you can’t set a boundary you’ll wind up building walls, and without negotiation skills there are only two options domination/subjugation.
Some confirmed ideas that I have had said to me many times in my life were: correct attitude is essential, optimistic thinking, respect yourself and others, and befriend you mind, truth coaches, trust being queen of the life skills.
New ideas included: the separation between soul and mind and the connection that has to mental health, inspecting your thoughts and beliefs puts you in charge of your mind (Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy), king lies, welds, soul ties.
In being told these things or being reminded of past principles I found a new clarity and direction. I feel that life with the Lord is logical and when David Ridell said, “the shortcut to mental health is agreement with God” I was relieved to know that God does give personal revelation to those who walk with Him. I had gotten caught up in Mr. Ridell’s wisdom and was spinning, but when he said that line about being in agreement with God I found rest in the fact that I can use Mr. Ridell’s notes, and will, but the real power is in daily dying and giving your life to the Lord. So daily I will study His Scriptures and search for that daily word that will prepare my heart to abide in Christ during the course of that day.
The character of God this week is accepting. He wants to be ONE with me and is. I am living with Christ inside of me and will continue to experience His direction and wisdom over the course of my walk with Him. (John 17:26)
To personally respond to David Ridell’s teaching I am going to focus upon his gifts of wisdom and guiding words. What he did best was drive me into trusting that the Spirit will protect my heart, mind, and soul as I continue to live. My response this week is going to focus upon the word, abide. I think that through belief in our Lord and in thanking Him daily for answered prayer, no matter, how it might seem insignificant I will be able to learn His will for me. I will grow into a mature believer in this way and learn to trust in His words for me. Right now I am personally responding to this message by seeking holiness and reliance upon Him who lives inside of me!
I am not perfect Lord, but with your help I can continue to learn to live in faith and be a vessel of your Son. Please continue to give me truth and the gift of love as I seek your Kingdom.
2nd Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.”
His Spirit reveals his knowledge to us in His word.
I will continue to seek God’s word every morning and use it to affirm truth and discard lies throughout my day.
Thank you Lord for abiding in me. Please help me to continue to learn what it means to abide with you in the Kingdom.
Amen.
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