Last week the Institute welcomed Kerby Anderson. He shared on apologetics and covered the issues of the world and how the Bible addresses these topics. I took away several big things from this past week, but one of the biggest takeaways I had was the confidence I have in knowing Jesus as my Lord. We took a look at all these other religions and all these others issues, and nothing stood up to Jesus. I know I was raised in a Christian home and I have always wondered what it would be like If I wouldn’t have been raised the way I was. What if I would have been raised in a different religion and in a different culture? Well I am so thankful that I was raised in a Christian home because the Bible and the message of Jesus are things that make the most sense and the things that I hold to be true. Many other religions force you to rely on yourself and I am so thankful that God lets me rely on Him. I am saved by Faith in Him and it is so freeing and good to know that I do not have to work my way to heaven and that I do not have to rely on the sinful man that I am. I get to put my trust in Jesus!

            So this week, if you  know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior then rest in the fact that He has done the work for you and loves you. Continue to put your trust in Him and study His word. If you do not now the Lord I would encourage you to read a couple verses out of the Bible. (Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, and Romans 10:9-10, 13)

Hey Everyone!

            This past week we at the Institute had the opportunity of getting to hear from Matt Chandler. Matt spoke on the Gospel, and he broke the Gospel down into 4 Categories: GodàManàChristàResponse. The first thing that we notice about these 4 categories is the order in which they are laid out. The Gospel begins with God, the creator of all things. It does not begin with man. We as men, being the sinful creatures that we are, tend to put ourselves at the forefront of the Gospel. We get so wrapped up in what we need and we want that we mess up the intended order of things. Everything begins and ends with the creator, not us!

The second thing that I want to point out about the Gospel is that it is powerful. Romans 1:16-17 says:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

This is so encouraging. When sharing the Gospel we do not have to stand on our own power, but we trust in the POWER of GOD. This gives confidence to all who believe in the Good news of Jesus Christ. We as believers have been given this good news, and it is our duty to share it. We should never be scared or nervous when telling of the story of Christ because the one who is ultimately doing the work in others hearts is the Lord, and that is such a comforting idea. The Gospel will do the work, not us. We are merely vessels by which it is transmitted.

The last thing that I would like to leave you with today is another encouragement pertaining to the Gospel, and that is that God likes you right now. I’ll say that again, God delights in you, right now! We get wrapped up in this idea that If I do this or If could just stop this, then God will love me. God does not love some future version of you! He loves you at this very minute, and the reason He loves you is because of Christ. Because Christ came and died for our sins we are now acceptable to God, and only His death are we accepted. Ephesians 2: 4-10 says:

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

It is so good to know this. God accepts us the minute we put our Faith in Him. He does not Love the future version of you. He DELIGHTS in you right now. So, go live in this Power, the power of Christ, and proclaim the good news you know!

Marriage was the topic of the Institute this past week. We had the opportunity to talk about the importance of marriage and how marriage can glorify God. The overarching point that stood out to me this week was the fact that marriage is something that you really have to work at. When you get married there are many responsibilities that come along that are not always thought about. People tend to think that marriage is one big happy party, which it is fun, but they do forget about the difficulties and strife that you have to work through in order to have a successful marriage. Marriage ultimately should be God centered and the husband and wife should love the Lord first and their spouse second.

This past week James Skinner came to the institute to speak on the Kingdom Era of the Bible. The Kingdom era details the formation of Israel into a monarchy and the events that take place during this period of time. My biggest takeaway from this week was from King David. David has always been one of my favorite figures in the Bible. Him being called a man after God's own heart is something that I have always strived to emulate. However, I learned more this week about his shortcomings than anything else. David was involved deeply with some serious sins. Yet God still calls him a man after His own heart. I was just encouraged by this thought. Even though I have messed up over and over and humans have messed up over and over we still have a loving God who sent His son for us.

Church History

This past week we had the privilege of getting to hear from Chad Hampsch who discussed the topic of History of the Church. He started off in 70 A.D. and lead us through the entire history of the Christian Church until present day. The discussion was very interesting to me. To see where all the different religions and denominations got their origins from was very helpful and eye opening. The point that stuck out to me on all of this was the fact that the Church in the beginning was so very unified in the face that Jesus Christ was the son of God and came to earth, lived a perfect life, died the death we could not die and rose again defeating the grave. The church today, in my opinion, does not have that same passion and vision as the early Church did on this topic. Our responsibility today is to restore this passion and vision to the Church. First, in order to help the church, we must utilize our gifts that God has given us to help serve the church body and local church. God has specifically designed each one of us and we must be proactive to help use these gifts within the body of Belivers. Many people to go to Church and sit every sunday morning, listen to a sermon and then go home and this is the extent of their involvement in the Church. This is not going to restore passion and unification for the Believers. We must use our spiritual gifts, we must serve the Church body and community and we must be proactive about helping others. These are a few things that I believe will help renew a passion and unification for the Church.  The most important thing I garnered from this week though, was to be passionate about Jesus. We truly have been given good news and the good news comes through Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. This statement is used all the time so I believe we have become somewhat numb to it, but the greatest men and women who have made a difference for the Church were the ones who fully understood the good news of the Gospel and the fact the Jesus Christ is our savior! If there is one take away for our responsibility to help the Church today, it is this point. If you are truly loving Jesus and living in an intimate relationship with Him, you will want to serve the Church and make a difference for Christ.

First Post!

Hey everyone!

        So excited for my first of many posts to come! I am attending the Kanakuk Institute in Branson Missouri this year and will be blogging about the many things that I am learning while I am here. This past week we had a man by the name of David Lawson come in and speak on how to Inductively study your Bible. The first question that is raised in this topic is why even study your Bible at all? In Scripture it says "all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16) If scripture is all these things then it is a must to study. It also is God's letter to us and therefore gives us a guidebook on how to live life the way it was meant to be lived. Mr. Lawson taught us a very simple way to study and get the most out of what the text says in the Bible. There are 3 keys to studying the word of God. 1.) Observation- Look to see what the text says, ask your self who? what? when? where? why? how? 2.) Interpretation-What does the text mean. Look at the context, use cross references and utilize word studies. 3.) Application-How do you apply the text to your life? These 3 steps are very simple but are so extremely important. They will truly help the Bible to come to life and make a difference in the way you read Scripture. Here is a teaching outline, as well, that will hopefully help make things easier to understand:

Teaching Outline

I.               What is Inductive Bible Study?

a.     Reading and Studying the Word of God using 3 main techniques

                                               i.     Observation

                                              ii.     Interpretation

                                            iii.     Application

II.             Why do we study the Bible?

a.     2 Timothy 3:16

b.     Joshua 1:8

III.           Keys to Studying the Bible

a.     Observation

                                               i.     What does the text say?

1.     Who, What When, Where, Why, How?

b.     Interpretation

                                               i.     What does the text mean?

1.     Context

2.     Cross reference

3.     Word Studies

c.      Application

                                               i.     How do you apply the text?

1.     Belief and behavior

IV.            Teaching Others to Study

a.     People

b.     Places

c.      Events

d.     Key Words

e.     Contrasts

f.      Comparisons

V.              Never or add or take away from the Word of God

a.     Deuteronomy 4:2