Week 9

I have many lesson learned in the life of Martin Luther. I learned to be strong and is brave to encounter persecutions in life. It was because he did not compromise his faith just to save himself and career. He preferred to fight on what is right than to agree on the ideas that he was not convinced and did not agree and also contradicts to what he believe was right.

When I was in high school I tend to compromise my Christianity to be in with the group. I even do what they were doing because I did not want to be out of place and really long for a group of friends that will accept me. But it really needs to give up the things that they did not want me to show to them. It was the great mistake that I had done because instead of ministering to them, I let them influenced me. I obeyed them rather on my parents. It was that if they would do stupid action to our classmates or bully that person, I also joined them and also laugh with them. It seemed that I just did it even I know it was wrong. It is because it hurt the person and I knew it myself that I must not do it to other people because I am a Christian and must love the people surrounding me.

Because of this lessons. First thing that I will do is to say sorry on the people that i bullied when I was in high school and grab the opportunity to minister to them. Then, I will go to my friends in high school and share to them the realization that I have and also talk to them about the Word of God in friendly way. It is to help them to go or walk in the right path and they will know the truth about life.

Week 12

This week, I learned a lot from our lessons about the latest people in church history. In Charles Haddon Spurgeon, I learned to be strong in facing challenges in life. Especially when he lost his support from Southern Baptist. Also when he was threatened and his letters were insulted. Another thing that I learned is in the life of David Livingstone. When he became a missionary. I learned to be really passionate on the things that are entrusted by God to you. It was when he went to Africa and minister the people there.

I was guilty of being coward believer of Christ. It was when I was second year college. I was so discouraged that the support from a pastor to me stopped because he had sick and died. I was about to give up because I was afraid that my tuition would not be paid. I did not know what to do because of the fear that I felt before. It was also because I know my parents cannot afford to pay for my whole tuition and really need back up in terms of financial matters. It was also when I was assigned in our adult ministry. I kept on complaining about the task that they gave to me. I did not have the joy to do it because I cannot relate on the agenda that the adults had. I did not want to minister to them because I saw myself lower that them. It was because they were to old for me and they did have more experience than me. Then, I thought I would be intimidated if I would be the one that would minister to them.

Because of these learnings, I have some steps to do to apply these in my life. First is that I will not depend on others support financially instead I will work on for God will sustain me. I will depend on Him fully and will always think and expect that there is no forever support in man but only in God. Then, I will take every task that will be entrusted to be and will have the joy to do it myself because God will not give me tasks that I am not capable to do. Lastly, I will learn from the lessons that I will be imparting to others.

Week 11

In our lessons for this week, I learned from the beliefs of the Puritans. I learned the value of having a simple life. It is that it will really help every individual or a person like me to be content of what I have. And also to not see things that are only temporal. Another lesson that I learned is having strong conviction or firmness of what you believe. It was like the priest who did not allow Henry VIII to divorce with his wife. It was that he stand firm of what he believed which was the prevention of divorce issue because of the true essence of marriage is not to get divorce, instead they will be together.

I remember when I was first year high school. I was so insecure to my classmates. Especially those who had what they wanted. Also to our other church mate who are in the middle class. I tend to ask question to myself, why I could not have the things that I also wanted. It was that I also wanted to have what they have so that I would not be jealous. I would be easily got jealous especially in terms of materials. I would really liked to store things. I just did not want to live an ordinary or simple life for I wanted to experience what my rich classmates or church mates also experienced. It was also in church that my conviction was tested. It was just past year. In our church, we had a new member in church. He was baptized lately. Today he is one of the youth leaders on the church. It was not that I do not like him but I think its not good that he is a leader right away because he does not know a lot about the Word of God. What would he will tell to other members? It was my conviction that he must take steps before being promoted. He must undergo bible studies. He had many principles that he applied in the ministries in the church which are not biblical either. But I failed to did it because everybody in church convinced that he can be one of the leaders already. It was only because of His charisma and guts.

There are steps that I will do to apply these lessons that I learned. I will donate some of the things that I have which I will never use anymore. Then, I will start to be content of what I have and thank God for His provision for our needs. i will also develop my conviction through defending it and also to stand firm of what I believe which is right. I will make sure to have proofs from the bible so that they will not argue about it.  

Week 10

This week, in the life of George Whitefield, I learned how he worked hard for himself to study. He was a hardworking person to support himself in his studies and humbled himself for being in the lowest rank of a student in his school. Another thing I learned is from the life of William Carey. I learned that in spite of all the challenges in life, it is not an excuse to quit on God's calling to you. I learned on how to be firm on the decisions that had made and also accept consequences.

In my college life, this is the first time that I worked while studying. I was guilty because when I was first year, I really did not want to work because of the laziness that I would always feel. I did not want to wake up early and clean but I did not have any choice. I had to do it because my parents needed my help for the payment of my tuition. Sometimes I will not study hard because of my emotions that did not like to do something and just lay down and sleep. It was that I was not that hardworking person that will really work for myself because I tend to depend on my parent's financial support to me. When I was also in fist year in college, I was not firm of what I had decided. I tend to always change my mind and it was not a good attitude because I have to be firm sometimes. It is to help me not to have a weak decision in my life. I also tend to give up on something that I think I cannot do it or make it. I tend to quit and just wait again for the nest opportunity where in I am confident to do it. It was also my tendency to give up on challenges that I faced because I could not take it anymore. I was guilty of being so weak Christian.

There were some actions that I can do to apply these learnings that I learned from this. First is that I have that to work hard but this work that I'm going to do must have joy in doing it. I will also take it as an opportunity to help myself and also my parents in financial matter. I will also practice of having strong conviction on my faith. Especially if it will be tested someday with some of my friends who have different beliefs from me. I will take challenges in my life as an opportunity to grow and to do better performance next time instead of quitting form those challenges.  

Week 8

Erasmus was the first editor of the New Testament. He was known as a humanist. I learned that humanist meaning before was not the same as the meaning of the term today. The meaning before was going back to the source. I learned that in the life of Erasmus, he applied to himself to remember and go back to the source of everything. Another lesson that I learned was in the life of Huldreich Zwingli. It was that I must not be like him in terms of compromising of what I believe just to protect myself. I learned that what he had experienced was not easy because he must do the things that was assigned to him to do. But I think it was not a reason to compromise.

I was also guilty of going back to the source when I was in elementary. I sometimes forgot to recognize the source of everything. It was that when I was involved in singing contest, I forgot to recognize where my talent came from and who gave this to me. Also in our church, I sometimes forgot to recognize God for the skills that He gave me. I was proud of having those skills and enjoy accepting praises form other people which was not good. I was also guilty in terms of compromising. It was when I was high school. I rejected to act as a Christian just to be accepted in the atmosphere of my classmates. I was because most of my classmates were Catholic and have the worldly characters and attitudes. I was influenced by them and just accept their environment just to be in with the group which was the wrong decision that I had made. Until now, I am still working on about compromising and going back to the source. I have to be firm of what I believe and I have to always remember the source of everything and recognize that everything comes from Him alone and I do have nothing without Him.

The steps that I will take to continue to avoid compromising, first is that I will be careful of the words that I will say and the action that I will perform. It is that the action that I will perform will not deny the fact that I am a follower of Christ. It is to show the unique character that shows the difference of a person having Christ in his or her life and the person who does not have. Then, in recognizing the source, first is that, I will continue to put in my mind that I have nothing without Him and that everything that I have is not really mine but of Him. If anyone appreciate the talent or skill that I have, I will tell them that all praises is for Him alone.  

Week 7

Francis was a man who had mercy to the poor. There were many things that I learned from him. First was his compassion to the poor. He sacrificed many things to minister to them. Another thing was his total obedience to the will of God. It is to deny himself to follow Jesus Christ and to do the vision that he had seen. I learned that following Him is not easy, and sacrificing, even you family, is not easy in practical sense of life today.

I remember when I was turning to college. There were many opportunities that I had for my studies. There was an offer to study music outside the country, taking a course of psychology at university, taking education course with free tuition and fees. Those privileges were beneficial to me, but if I did grab those, I am not here at bible school and studying more about the Bible and God. It was one of my experience that could relate to the decision making of Francis. He sacrificed comforting status of His life and embrace the life of poverty.

I will continue to seek His will first before I will make every decision in my life. It is to be careful to follow His will and not my will. Then, I will also ask some advices from my mentors about the decision that I will be thinking to help me decide the right thing to do. Of course before of these I will pray for wisdom that I can choose the right thing to do and it can glorify and honor God. I believe that this steps could be hard sometime because of the desire that I may have but I will really ask guidance from Him because I know that He knows what is best for me. ss

Week 6

There are many people surrounds us that may influence us or it could be the cause why we have this character and why we deal with different situation in a way that we use to deal it. I learned in the life of Ambrose of Milan is that, there are people that really influenced him of who he is. The good thing is that, they were part of his family member. Another thing that I learned is from our topic in Crusades. I learned that in every event happened in this world has positive and negative effects to the people and surroundings.

I remember when I was about to decide for my college, it was my mother and my uncles who influenced me to study at bible school. It was because I want to be like my mother. I wanted to study at the school where she graduated. She was the one who influenced me a lot to have intimate relationship with God and to study more about Him. She taught me to have a good personality that could help me to encourage other people to attend church and other activities in our church. She was the one who influenced me to be friendly and to always entertain the visitors in our church, so that they would come again and be encouraged to know more about the truth. It was also that in our church had many conflicts that had happened. That conflicts resulted splitting of the church members. The positive effect was that many churches had been made and been an instrument for the growth of the infant believers in Christ. The negative effect was the gap made, the trust had been fade, and the relationship that had broken because of it.

The actions that I may apply on these learnings, first I will continue follow what my mother told me to do because she influenced many positive characters in my life that I could really use for the ministries not only in the church but also to the places where God wants me to be. I will also influence other for the good attitude that I possessed so that they could also use it for the ministries of God through encouraging others. I will also look on the positive effect of the events that will happen in my life, especially in our church. I will not just focus on the bad effects instead consider the goodness of the bad event. It is because everything that will happen has its purpose.