Evangelistic Encounter

My last post was about an assignment for my Spiritual Disciplines class. This post will be no different. Seventy five percent of my grade for this class is to keep a journal this semester. There are a number of requirements for the journal, it’s not just a “journal everyday” or “journal whatever you feel like” thing. It’s journaling….for the purpose of Godliness and the professor requires certain journal entries that he feels will help us in the process of journaling for the purpose of Godliness. As hinted in the titled we have to journal about an evangelistic encounter from that occurred during this semester. Here is my entry…

It’s Thursday 11:59 pm, about forty five seconds from Friday. Last night, Wednesday night, I had an evangelistic encounter with a guy at work. Devon is one of the store managers at my work place, which is Snappy Tomato Pizza. I started working there when I moved up here last August. I think it was September by the time I actually found a job. Anyways Devon started working there shortly after, in November I think. Upon meeting him I could tell he was not a Christian, or at the very least not at all concerned about being one. The first conversation I had with his wife, Jenny, she told me how she despised the Church because of its big buildings and wrong use of funds. Needless to say neither where interested in God, although they said they believed in “God”, I think they meant more like “a god”, because it is definitely not the living God of the Bible. Through talking with Devon over the last couple of months I gathered some information about his life. He went to Church until he was seventeen. He married at nineteen, but already had a kid by someone other than his wife. He stopped going to church because he thought it was bogus and he loves all things about wrestling, hard rock, and using foul language. But I have been praying for Devon, praying that God would allow me to talk to Devon and share the gospel with him. Wednesday night I got that opportunity. I was praying, it was a slow night and we were making dough for the next day, which normally would be a one-man job, but because it was slow and the other driver had left I was helping Devon because, as a driver, I had no other responsibilities. He said something about his sixth anniversary coming up soon and mentioned the church he and Jenny got married in. I saw my door, “what kind of church did you go to back home”. “A Quaker church,” he said. Seeing the door opening further I asked, “do Quakers have any unique beliefs?” It was quite amazing, what followed was genuine interest in my schooling and beliefs about God, the Bible, Jesus, and other God-related stuff. I was able to tell Devon that the Bible was true and the it accounts for people suppressing the truth that God is real and that he made the world and that sin is real and that God must punish sin, and Jesus was sent to save us from our sin. I was able to present the full gospel, and the highlight of the evening was when towards the end of the night he said, “well I’m sure I’ll sit down one of these days and think about all that stuff.” My response was surprisingly bold, but I think given to me by the Holy Spirit. “Well Devon I think when you finally do you’ll know in your heart and mind that what I’ve told you is true.” At the end of the night he was still holding his ground and resisting the Holy Spirit, but I’m praying that God will be gracious to him and allow him to see the gloriousness of His Truth, and the Light of the Gospel.

I’m sharing this with you now, so that you can be in prayer for Devon and his wife Jenny, that they may be saved and turn to Christ. Next I want to invite them to church so you could be praying for that too.

Floating Exam

In my Spiritual Disciplines class we have a floating exam that can be taken any time during the semester. We have to write out the books of the bible in order and spelled correctly, the ten commandments (short hand version), and quote 1 Tim. 4:7 and 1 Tim. 4:16.

Pretty easy right?

Well the reason the professor has this exam is because of a story he heard about a Ph.D student study for his oral exams. It takes a good six months to study for the exams and this student spent months and months cramming for this exam. When the time came for him to stand in front of the exam committee they said, “okay we’ll start you off with a warm up question, a “gi’me”, so just state the books of the bible in order please”. He couldn’t do it. After all of the study and knowledge he had learned about an abundance of different subjects he couldn’t give the books of the one book he was devoting his life to.

So in the spirit of not wanting to be like that fellow, here goes my studying, this is with out looking, completely from memory. Check me for order and spelling and let me know if i get any wrong.

*Note: Read as if the books were arranged in columns. Apparently wordpress doesn’t want to recognize the spaces that I inserted.

Genesis Ecclesiastes
Exodus Song of Songs
Leviticus Isaiah
Numbers Jeremiah
Deuteronomy Lamentations
Joshua Ezekiel
Judges Daniel
Ruth Hosea
1 Samuel Joel
2 Samuel Amos
1 Kings Obadiah
2 Kings Jonah
1 Chronicles Micah
2 Chronicles Nahum
Ezra Habakkuk
Nehemiah Zephaniah
Esther Haggai
Job Zechariah
Psalms Malachi
Proverbs

Matthew 1 Timothy
Mark 2 Timothy
Luke Titus
John Philemon
Acts Hebrews
Romans James
1 Corinthians 1 Peter
2 Corinthians 2 Peter
Galatians 1 John
Ephesians 2 John
Philippians 3 John
Colossians Jude
1 Thessalonians Revelation
2 Thessalonians

I cheated on the spelling of Philippians and Zephaniah.

Ten Commandments
1. No other gods before me (The Lord speaking)
2. No idols
3. No Lord’s name in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. No murder
7. No adultery
8. No stealing
9. No false witness against your neighbor
10. No coveting

1 Timothy 4:7 “Discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness”. (NASB)

1 Timothy 4:16 I don’t know yet, I haven’t looked at it intently for a while.

Just a little more studying and that’s the easiest 100 I’ve ever made.

Of course I say that, but I probably spell something wrong on the test.

Spiritual Disciplines

“The Spiritual Disciplines are the God-given means we are to use in the Spirit-filled pursuit of Godliness.”

1 Timothy 4:7 says, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”

As Christians we are called to pursue godliness. It is not an option or a track that super-Christians can choose. It is a God-given decree that we become more like our Savior, Jesus.

I’m in a class this semester that is devoted to teaching us the Spiritual Disciplines. We will cover the Spiritual Disciplines of Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning.

I’m really looking forward to the class because God knows how bad I need discipline.

My professor, Donald Whitney, is where I got that first quote from, the second one was from his book too, but first from the Bible of course. He’s written several books on the issue of the Spiritual Disciplines, and is very serious about the pursuit of godliness (AKA: Christ-likeness, spiritual maturity, and self-control).

I am fully expecting this course to crush me and convict me and teach me and guide me in the Spiritual Disciplines, which is awesome because that is exactly what I need.

Snow Day

It was supposed to be my second day of classes today.

Not so much though, freezing rain and 3 inches of snow last night leaves me here blogging five minutes after my first class was supposed to start today.

I don’t like getting behind especially this early, but we (me, Rayford, Becca [maybe], Matt and Ashley) are going to hit up Chick-fil-a at 1pm and then Cherokee to see how good the sledding is.

Its supposed to keep up with the freezing rain all day and by tomorrow night have accumulated another 3 inches of snow, that’s six inches total, that’s a lot of snow.

Please be praying for me because I have to deliver pizza tonight, and Paula (my manager) said we keep on delivering until all the drivers can’t deliver anymore. In other words, have a wreck or get stuck. And she said she was joking but I have a feeling it was partly true.

Virgil’s

Special Edition Bavarian Nutmeg

I’ve been wanting to get a-hold of this stuff for a pretty long time. Now I finally have. And I’ve got to be honest it was worth having. As if the bottle’s not cool enough it actually tastes pretty good, hence the almost-thumbs-up. I didn’t have high hopes because the non-special-edition Virgil’s was not that great.

All natural ingredients include: anise, honey, licorice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg (of course, and Bavarian I presume), clove, wintergreen, cassia oil, sweet birch and molasses.

It’s also brewed with well water that comes from the Bohemian Forest region of Bavaria, which is one of the purest sources for water in the world! Woah, now that’s special.

p.s. I’m done with my first semester of seminary! Hopefully I passed all my classes but that remains to be seen at this point in time. Thanks for the prayers.

Back In The Saddle

Two finals down, two to go. I’m pretty sure I aced the first one, and very close to the same of the second. That was not without a ton of worry. I stressed out over the final I took today, and I ended up being okay. Tomorrow really is a different story though. I have a ten page paper due at 7 am that I’m about half way on, a final for the same class, and another final that I have to literally remember 20 pages of notes, it may not seem like a lot, but believe me 20 pages of single-spaced Word document is a lot of stuff, good stuff, but a lot. Don’t hesitate to pray for my brain, and my heart I guess.

Key Ideas

1-2 Samuel: 1) The institution of kingship 2) The process towards establishing a covenant with David’s line 3) The importance of divine kingship.

1-2 Kings: 1) Kingship: Good and Evil 2) The prophetic voice as royal conscience 3) Worship: Yahwism vs. Baalism 4) Covenant blessings (repentance and restoration) and curses (judgment and exile).

1-2 Chronicles: 1) The retelling of the past to inspire hope in the present 2) The reign of David and Solomon idealized 3) The centrality of temple worship 4) The validation of priests and Levites as community leaders.

Ezra-Nehemiah: 1) The physical restoration of the city of Jerusalem 2) Yahweh as covenant keeping God 3) Religious and social reform as the aftermath of repentance.

Esther: 1) God is at work even when he is behind the scenes 2) The schemes of the wicked are doomed 3) God’s plan for his people cannot be thwarted.

I thought I’d combine blogging and studying. These are the key ideas I have to write out on my final exam. I’m also responsible for the key ideas of Genesis through Ruth (eight more books), but in a matching section.

It snowed again while I was studying for my finals.

The End is in Sight

Well I’m not sure yet, but I think I have survived my first semester of Seminary, or at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have turned in the bulk of my papers and read most of the books. Finals are the week after Thanksgiving and they are going to be challenging.

I finished some book reviews yesterday, the morning really, at 2:00am. After that I had a chapter to read for my 7am class. After that I was just getting into bed when Rayford said from the bathroom, “you won’t go rent a movie”. Feeling pretty awake, it was now 2:50am, I said, “I’m game”. We left ten minutes later and drove a couple minutes down to the Redbox outside McDonalds only to be disappointed that they didn’t have the movie we desired, Get Smart. So we turned around headed five minutes south to the McDonlads equally distant from our apartment in the opposite direction, which was the one Rayford suggested we go to first. Got home at 3:20am, popped in Get Smart, laughed, cause it was funny, and then went to sleep at 5:20am. Did I mention I, Rayford and John Micael too, have a 7am class that we get up at 6:05am normally. Me and the Rayford held-up pretty good today considering 50min. of sleep.

The only reason we were able to do that last night/this morning is because the end is in sight. Thank you Lord!