We have been told by Christ that following Him is not going to be easy. The moment that we commit our lives to Him means that we are willing to take the cost of being His disciple. A disciple who is willing to take up his cross and deny himself for the sake of Christ. I was amazed on how early Christians proved this with their lives. This week I learned two things. These are being bold enough to defend our faith and to not conform to the ways of this world.
Early Christians had shown us the example on how they intellectually defended their faith to the educated people who tried to question their beliefs. Justin was one of the apologies who answered the accusation against Christianity. This issue is not new to us. Now a days, there are lots of "atheist" and other cultic groups who are against our belief and it is our opportunity, as Christians, to take our stand and be bold enough to defend our faith. However not all Christians are being educated on how to defend their faith. And we are so privileged that we are being taught of the basic doctrines here in BTC. Therefore, it must be a our duty to teach our fellow believers in Christ about the basic doctrines of our belief.
The world today is getting hostile and hostile. And this is a big challenge for us Christians, are we still willing to take the cost of following Christ even if it cost us our lives or our family? In the video that we have watched this week, I observed that Lactantuis was a somewhat conforming to the emperor just for the safety of all Christians. Though I would say that God had used him for the rapid growth of Christianity, still we could not deny the fact that he conformed to the emperor. This made me think of my own life. Wickedness is so rampant in our world today and as followers of Christ I should live my life different form the ways of this world. I should not conform to the pattern of this world just for my safety.
As a follower of Christ, now that I have been taught about how to defend my faith, the steps that I am going to take is to continue to study the scripture in order for me to be prepared to give an answer to those who will ask about my belief and to teach the people in our church about basic doctrines, after I graduate here in BTC.
Biyernes, Nobyembre 20, 2015
Biyernes, Nobyembre 13, 2015
God's amazing way
I have been curious about the history of Christianity. That even though, the Bible narrated to us about how and when it all began, I still wanted to know how the early Christians stood firm in their faith despite persecutions and how God had been faithfully sustaining them. True enough, from our lesson this week I learned two things. I learned how God used different circumstances just for the gospel to be spread to different places and to different people and I also learned how early Christian leaders stood up for Christ, even to the point of death.
At first we might look at the persecutions that early Christians had experienced as negative. For it caused them to be separated, I mean they went to different places, they where dispersed. Yet, if we looked at it differently we could see that it was part of God's plan. For it served as one of the factors for the advancement of the gospel to many people. That's how amazing our God is. Churches were formed in different places and many people have heard and believed the gospel. Likewise, as I looked back on the events that happened in my life, I could see how God arranged everything, how He had been faithful in sustaining me, and how he had been gracious to me. He never let go of my hand. In the past, he allowed me to experience things that are not good. I mean he permitted me to do "bad" things when I was in high school but he never allowed those things to put my life into destruction. Instead, He used it for me to grow and He lead me back to the track where he wanted me to be. God's grace is really amazing. Even in our church, he allowed us to experienced sad things, like misunderstanding and cold war. But later on I could see that God used it for the members to learn to reconcile with one another. He allowed those things to happen for the greater good.
Early Christian leader, like Polycarp's story of martyrdom, amazed me, especially on how he stood up for Christ. I really liked his answer when he was asked to deny Jesus. That for 86 years Jesus had not wronged him, so how can he blaspheme his King and savior. When I read his response I realized that I might not have the same question as Polycarp had, but I tried to make a question for myself differently, "what could I do for God?", "How could I glorify Him with my life". And I have this answer at the back of my mind that for 20 years God has been faithful to me, he is my King and my savior, how can I not serve and love him. How can I not obey Him? Jesus Christ is worth obeying and worth sacrificing.
From those things I mentioned earlier the specific steps that I am going to take are that I will evaluate myself for the past three years on how God uses different circumstances for my growth and list them in my journal. I will serve Him through faithfully leading the praise and worship team in Shekinah, I will pray for the team regularly.
At first we might look at the persecutions that early Christians had experienced as negative. For it caused them to be separated, I mean they went to different places, they where dispersed. Yet, if we looked at it differently we could see that it was part of God's plan. For it served as one of the factors for the advancement of the gospel to many people. That's how amazing our God is. Churches were formed in different places and many people have heard and believed the gospel. Likewise, as I looked back on the events that happened in my life, I could see how God arranged everything, how He had been faithful in sustaining me, and how he had been gracious to me. He never let go of my hand. In the past, he allowed me to experience things that are not good. I mean he permitted me to do "bad" things when I was in high school but he never allowed those things to put my life into destruction. Instead, He used it for me to grow and He lead me back to the track where he wanted me to be. God's grace is really amazing. Even in our church, he allowed us to experienced sad things, like misunderstanding and cold war. But later on I could see that God used it for the members to learn to reconcile with one another. He allowed those things to happen for the greater good.
Early Christian leader, like Polycarp's story of martyrdom, amazed me, especially on how he stood up for Christ. I really liked his answer when he was asked to deny Jesus. That for 86 years Jesus had not wronged him, so how can he blaspheme his King and savior. When I read his response I realized that I might not have the same question as Polycarp had, but I tried to make a question for myself differently, "what could I do for God?", "How could I glorify Him with my life". And I have this answer at the back of my mind that for 20 years God has been faithful to me, he is my King and my savior, how can I not serve and love him. How can I not obey Him? Jesus Christ is worth obeying and worth sacrificing.
From those things I mentioned earlier the specific steps that I am going to take are that I will evaluate myself for the past three years on how God uses different circumstances for my growth and list them in my journal. I will serve Him through faithfully leading the praise and worship team in Shekinah, I will pray for the team regularly.
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