my poor blog feels so neglected...sorry bloggy.
Week 6: 11.4.13 - 11.8.13
Jake Hamilton was our speaker that week and he changed my life!!!!!!! Jake Hamilton is an amazing preacher and worship leader (he has songs with Jesus Culture no big deal) and spoke about love, the importance of knowing the Bible, divorce, and church reformation. This dude has Revival and Reformation tattooed on his forearms...enough said. I've never heard better preaching in my life! He was so open and honest about every single thing he preached about. He started out with this...
"I really genuinely don't know what I'm doing. Anyone who comes up to you and says they know something about anything is a liar. My proof is simply this: the pharisees and sadducees had more information than anyone else about the coming Messiah and they crucified Him. This is not about having right information, the moment you think you're right God is going to change it. Not because His personality is changing, but because His goal is for you to trust Him, not you."
"Jesus Christ did not die on the cross so that you could go to church, He did not die on the cross so that you could get to heaven, Jesus Christ did not die on the cross so that you could go into the mission field. Yes I said that Jesus Christ did not die so that you could get into heaven, that's actually biblical.'For God so loved the world that He gave His only son so whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have WHAT? Eternal life.' And we've taught everyone eternal life is heaven and that would be a lie because that's not what Jesus says. In John 17 Jesus says 'Now this is eternal life: WHAT? to KNOW God and Christ Jesus whom He has sent.' You get access to God again. Jesus Christ died on the cross so that God could get all up in your business again."So humbling!!! He broke down 1 Corinthians 13 (love is patient, love is kind, etc.) I think almost everyone knows this scripture, but he broke down each word and what that love truly looks like.
LOVE ....
is patient:
it's just going to take a lot of time to learn how to love and once we accept this, we can get the rest of them.
is kind:
just be nice! what do you want someone else to do to you? go do that for people.
does not envy:
learn how to grow where you're planted and accept what is given to you. Don't tear people down because they have something different from you.
does not boast:
learn how to SHUT UP! we don't know how to listen because we're too busy worrying about what we're going to say next. someone who has really found love doesn't boast about it because they know they did nothing to deserve it.
is not proud:
learn to call out the greatness in others. humans were formed out of dirt according to Genesis, Jesus was born in a manger, and he had no place to rest His head during His ministry. when we are so firm in our identity that we can get down in the dirt just to lift others up like Jesus did then there's freedom.
not rude:
it doesn't mean we are weak if we are gentle and sensitive (MEN and women)
not self-seeking:
it is not dependent on what we get back. it says "i love you" regardless. Jesus isn't saying I love you to get an I love you in return. we will have to say i love you to people who will never say it back.
not easily angered/irritable:
failure is not fatal. keep going!
keeps no record of wrongs:
we keep trying to convince God of our sin when He doesn't remember it, He divinely edits His memory when it comes to our sin. so who are we to remember everyone else's sin? the best news we can share with the world is that God keeps no records of our wrongs, He wants to tell you who you really are.
does not delight in evil:
NO MORE GOSSIP! God wants to share His secrets with us, but He can't if we're telling everyone else's secrets. stop tearing people down and feeding on that.
rejoices with the truth:
if people don't feel loved after you talked to them, you're doing something very wrong. you just have information NOT truth. if our heart is not grieved over someone or somethings brokenness then we do not need to approach that situation with correction.
bears all things:
God didn't and won't quit on us , so we don't need to quit on _______ (fill in the blank)
there are no differences that are irreconcilable. NONE! God redeems E V E R Y T H I N G. God doesn't abandon adulterers, addicts, etc. so we shouldn't either.
always trusts:
wisdom and love have to walk hand in hand. this doesn't mean everyone should receive our full trust, we have to guard our hearts. just have wisdom about situations
always hopes:
there are NO hopeless cases in the Kingdom of God. NO person is too far gone no matter what you've done. look at the apostle Paul.
always endures:
endures is an aggressive verb in it's original greek. conquers fear and demands change. KEEP FIGHTING!! things probably won't happen overnight, it's like a muscle you have to exercise it.
never fails:
love will never allow you to fail. our love should not be dependent on the other person, it should be dependent on our relationship with Jesus which will NEVER FAIL!!!!!!
Once we understand that this is the way God loves us then we don't want to do anything else other than love Him this way in return and love others this way! If we actually LOVED this way then the world would be radically changed!!!! They would truly know the love of Jesus! Jesus commissioned us to preach the Gospel - well Gospel means "the good news" and what is this good news? THAT EVERYONE IS RADICALLY LOVED BY THEIR FATHER IN HEAVEN AND IS WORTHY AND LOVED ENOUGH TO DIE FOR!! Christianity isn't supposed to be a religion! It truly is relationship. Jesus didn't die so that we would have to live a boring, good life full of dos and donts, constantly striving to be a "good" person, but so that we could be in His unceasing awesome presence living a life of love, surrender, and adventure for Him and for other people! I believe people disagree with or ignore Christianity because they have a distorted view of it due to the church failing and their own preconceptions. No one can deny that this kind of love is bad! Everyone wants to be loved and to know that they were put on this earth for a reason - this is what God is desperately trying to show people through His son Jesus! WE have a purpose, WE were designed the way we were for a reason, WE are created in the image of the perfectly diverse God, WE are supposed to be extremely different and unique because that is what God is like, WE are loved more than we could ever imagine by our Father in heaven whether we believe in Him or not, WE were born to live in freedom and adventure, WE were born to live a life of loving others way more than we love ourselves,
WE were born for love!!!!!
IT IS ALL ABOUT LOVE!
That is the true message of Jesus Christ.
Week 7: 11.11.13. - 11.15.13
On Thursday we came into class at 8:00 am and were told we had 15 minutes to go pack one change of clothes, a toothbrush, deodorant, and a bible then had to leave campus until 1:00 pm on Friday. I was put with three of my Philippines team members and we were sent out with NO food, NO money, and NO shelter for that night. Our true goal was to walk by faith, trust God, and love on as many people as possible! My team and I felt called to go to a city on the opposite side of the island called Hilo so we tried to hitch hike there and after nine hours we got there! Throughout the 28 hour journey we prayed for over a dozen people, saw a healing, acquired $120, gave $118 away, got enough food to give away to a number of people, found shelter, and made it back to campus on time! We met some of the coolest people who taught us so much about life! This was the journey of a lifetime - God is so faithful y'all. There's no way any of it was coincidence. The Bible says we will overcome by "the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony" ( Revelation 12:11) and this is my testimony! People can argue about doctrine, historical accuracy, and all that stuff but they can't argue with personal encounters and experiences.
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| got to volunteer with the Salvation Army for a few hours! |
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| one of our signs...maybe we were a little too desperate |
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| hitch hiking again |
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| the Big Island is so pretty :) |
Team Philippines update (aka team Philo)
As most of you know the Philippines got hit by the worst storm in recorded history a few weeks ago and the damage was absolutely devastating. My team and I we're originally supposed to be going to Lombok, Indonesia as well, but after hearing about the typhoon we will spending all 3 months in the Philippines. We will be primarily in Manilla and the island of Mindanao. We really want to work in the slums, prisons, children's homes, the sex trafficking industry, and of course do disaster relief so hopefully we can get to some of the other islands. I believe we fly out the 16th of December, but I will keep y'all updated on that. I still need about $2300 by Friday the 22nd of November in order to make this happen so if you're interested in partnering with me and The Lord to get me there, please contact me! emilyelisemontes@yahoo.com 1 (828) 545 - 8672 I'm available whenever!
Most importantly though please keep the Philippines in your prayers and my awesome team as well!
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