Highlights of the week:
-Missions Tools is AWESOME! This week we learnt how to lay tile. This was really cool for me because I have always wanted to do that, watching people do it on This Old House. Now, I can finally say I have done it and I liked it! We laid tile in the kitchen of one of the houses on base. It was a very small space and we were almost walking on top of each other. Also on Friday for track time, we went into Kalispell to Samartian House.
Samaratian House is a shelter which helps homeless people get back up on their feet. Our team went last Friday too, but I stayed back at the base because I wasn't feeling well. We met with the founder of the place, Chris and he just shared some stories of the people he has met and studies he has done on the homeless people in Kalispell. After a long lunch break, we got to work painting a suite. We painted the whole suite an off-white in about 2 hours. There is 8 of us in total, Matt, Jeff, Stephanie (the leaders), then Jacob, Scott, Tae, Matt and myself. The suite was small with one bedroom, a small kitchen/living area and a bathroom. We also cleaned the hallways and laundry room. Oh and the whole time we were painting, we listened to country (mostly Garth Brooks! Most people here are huge country fans!)
-intercession time Each week we have 3 intercession times. Intercession is praying on behalf of others, 'standing in the gap'. We have intercession as a whole base on Monday's and we pray for situations in particular countries. Then we have intercession as a class and we pray about different issues. I have never done this before and this week it started to make sense as I heard things to pray for from God. TOTALLY AWESOME!!
Lectures: Father Heart of God
Speaker: Matt Atkins
This topic is a very important one that is foundational to Christian growth. 1 John 2:12-14 tells us that our sins are forgiven and that we need to know that God is our father. An important quote I got from this lecture:
“I receive from my parents what they can and have given me and I won't hold against them what they can't and haven't given me.”
To understand the love of God, there are two different types of love we talked about.
“Agape” -fathers loves as a theological reality (unconditional love for you)
“Phileo” -fathers love is meant to be an experimental reality (demonstrated affection for us)
There are 5 Aspects of a Father's Blessing (things which every child needs)
Meaningful Touch
Spoken Message
Attaching High Value
Picturing a Specific Future
Commitment to Fulfill the Blessing
What hinders us from receiving?
-
the kingdom of Satan resisting God's love
-Satan has been questioning God's goodness since the beginning (Genesis 3)
-”Did God really say....?”, “You surely will not...” loveless teaching
our lostness hinders us (Luke 15:1-32)
unforgiveness hinders us from receiving the father's love (Matthew 6:14-15)
Forgiveness
...is NOT forgetting (Genesis 45:4)
...is NOT denial (Genesis 45:24)
...is NOT trust (Genesis 42-45)
...is NOT absence of anger (Genesis 42-45)
...IS entrusting the outcome to God, the righteous judge (Genesis 50:19,20)
-unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die
Look at others as a window, rather than a snapshot. I love this! We are all windows of opportunity.
This is just a few words that really stuck out for me from the week. I got a lot of information and it is very hard to summarize it into something that makes sense for those of you who are not here! Hope it makes a bit of sense though or that you get something out of it.
Until next week!
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