My SBS family

The Impact Of Being Chosen

I've been dwelling a lot on the attitudes and actions of the disciples as I've studied Mark and am now exploring the book of Luke. What I love about Jesus is that he is a dreamer, he is constantly releasing potential in others that they would have never seen in themselves. The disciples go on this incredible journey that will change their lives forever, they witness miracles and learn what it is to be a true follower of Christ. This wasn't always easy for them though! Along the journey Jesus begins to expose the pride and self-righteous attitudes in the disciples and make them realize they are very much like the Pharisees who they dispise. Their heart is in the right place but they are blinded to their own sin. They think that following Jesus automatically makes them better than everyone else. Jesus is putting them through a training ground into their own souls because he wants them to confront the sin and become conscious of it. What really strikes me was, as he was "grooming" and exposing the disciples he, all of the sudden tells them to go on a journey by themselves. Without him!? Jesus made it clear that these men were filthy, filled with pride and self-righteousness and not worthy of sharing the gospel. They would misinterpret the message, wouldn't they? But Jesus sends them out regardless, showing them that he doesn't expect perfection but is more concerned with the quality of their hearts. This truth rocked me to the core... God has been putting me through some major changes in my life and is exposing the pride, selfish, and judgemental attitudes that is in my own heart, but like the disciples, he still uses me to show his love to the world. My actions often speak contrary to what I'm really about but my heart maintains the same position; I want to be changed by Jesus like the disciples, they couldn't go back to their old lives fishing for trout, they knew that their journey with Jesus would make an impact in the world. After the death of Jesus, the disciples continued on in the ministry, flipped the world upside down and later died as martyrs for Christ. All because of that one day when Jesus showed them a dream.

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it" Mark 8:34

Please continue to pray for energy, diligence, and fresh insight

I thank God for Lakeside and pray that Gods dream would reach its full potential through the church, the hope of the world...

In the service of Jesus Christ
-Jer

Titus and Ephesians

The past week we've covered the books of Titus and Ephesians. Its very interesting to understand the historical background of the churches at that time. The Ephesians were dominated by the worshipping of multiple different idol gods who they had to constantly do things in order to appease them. Their gods were not for them, they were against them which made the gospel of Jesus seem very foreign and unfamiliar to them when it was preached. The repeated theme in the book of Ephesians was grace but what stood out to me the most was Paul's prayers to the church where is asks God to "flood their hearts with light so that you can know and understand the hope to which he has called you". (Ephesians 1:17-23) I can really sense the passion in Paul when he speaks to these churches. Sometimes I feel so excited about what God has done and is doing in my life that I cant express it, Paul's expression of love for God is reflected by his lifestyle. This is what he was trying to communicate to the church in Ephesus. If you've allowed the grace of God to impact your life the fruit will come through your lifestyle.

...Yes i shaved my head. It was spontaneous but really nice on those sweaty hot days of humidity.

So i passed by this shop after school one day and bought this white shirt with a Chinese symbol on it hoping that it didn't mean anything bad. Later I ask my Chinese friend who speaks English what the symbol means and it turns out it means "evil"...excellent! wont be wearing that shirt anymore...

Tomorrow we start the book of Mark so please pray for new revelation.

In the service of Jesus Christ

-Jer

Galatians!

Overall this past week has been mostly devoted to the book of Galatians, learning the historical context of the scripture, observing the text verse by verse, interpreting what it meant to the original readers, and how I can personally apply the principles to my present day life. The main idea of the book is how the Galatians were so caught up in legalism that it took their eyes of God and distanced themselves from him. They were defining their relationship with God as something they had to achieve in order to be declared righteous in his sight when they had already been declared righteous when they first embraced the gospel. I have learnt so much from this book alone and have already noticed the fruit of it being realized in my own life. Sometimes i think i need to 'do' more in order to be accepted by God. I have to read my bible for a certain amount of time and pray for a certain amount of time every day or else God wont bless me. This is legalism and it will only distance me from God. I think about this school and how i could so easily get wrapped up in knowing the bible that i never let it into my heart. One of the things our school leader said to us on the first day was if we were here only to get head knowledge of the bible we we're here for the wrong reason. The bible is a great if it used for the right purpose. The next 9 months is an opportunity to expand my capacity for loving God and loving other people. If I don't do this, my time here will be a waste. 97% of people in Taiwan don't know Jesus so i want to be intentional about being a light here. "To whom much is given, much is received".

The workload has been overwhelming at times, I've never had to think this hard in my life but am looking forward to the challenge. Also, I've had the opportunity to lead worship for our school so I'm excited to get involved with that. It was awesome, there was a Fijian guy who played the piano, a guy from New York who played his acoustic and a guy from Taiwan who sung with us all representing 4 different countries worshiping God in harmony, it was a beautiful thing.

Tomorrow we're starting the book of Titus, so we'll see what that brings.

Thank you for prayers.

In the service of Jesus Christ

-Jer