20 Sept. Tuesday 5 PM
Today has been a long and good day. Pastor Ferry picked me up at 7:30 AM this morning and class began at 8 sharp. There are a few more pastors present today and some of the staff from the administration building are also in attendance. We begin each class session with a song and a prayer. The students that are taking the course for credit have assignments each day. One of the assignments from Monday was to memorize Hebrews 5:14 and a verse from Psalm 119. We studied the Hebrew word Bayin which means “understanding, insight, perception.” Psalm 119:27, 34, 73, 104, and 130 all have the word Bayin in it. They were to choose one of those verses and memorize it along with Hebrews 5:14. After our opening song and prayer this morning it was time for the test; reciting two verses of Scripture by heart. One by one they stood and quoted these verses.
I taught them on Monday to write down the verse on a card or piece of paper, which they did. Just before they would get up for their turn, they would check one more time. The rest of the students would give them such a hard time with this. They all had more fun and laughed so much during this testing time and they helped each other. They also graded each other. After each one was finished the rest of the class would yell out a grade; “85…76…60…0…98…” laughing each time. I had not planned on this being something that ended up being so much fun.
They also had the assignment of identifying all of the parables of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the baptism of Jesus to the feeding of the 5,000. These are all parables of the Kingdom, the origin, the nature, the outcome of the Kingdom. This was also the most popular time of the ministry of Jesus. The crowds grew and grew during this period of His ministry. They found all ten parables and we discussed each one and identified the truth of what each parable teaches about the Kingdom of God.
We followed the same schedule as yesterday, teaching for an hour, ten minutes of questions, a 5-10 break, then teaching, questions, break. At noon we stopped for lunch, and began again at 1 PM sharp. We covered all ten parables as well as some of the ways of God and the difference between doing the will of God and God doing His will in you, with you, through you, as you, in the world around you. They really got into that teaching. It came out of the 9th parable from Matthew 13:47-50, how the Kingdom is like a net that gathers in all kinds of fish and in the end they are separated, good from bad. The point was that there are many people in the Kingdom but the Kingdom is not in them, and this will not be uncovered until the end.
We went to Matthew 7:21-23 where Jesus said “Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven…Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name…I will declare to them, Depart from Me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.” We identified those activities as good deeds but done in their own power and for their own glory (they bragged about them, desiring some recognition or glory for doing them). I told them the worse kind of flesh is good flesh, educated flesh, polite flesh… but it still just flesh. They got it. God does His own will in our lives by His own Word in our lives, and His Word bears fruit, fruit that remains, a great harvest. I asked them this question: What is the fruit of the Word in our lives? It is the Word! When the translator said it, one of the pastors in the back stood up and shouted “Hallelujah, Hallelujah!” It was a great moment for me to see the revealed truth of the Word connect with someone so immediately and so joyously.
The only problem I am having, (not really a problem) is the heat and the humidity. I actually don’t mind the heat or the humidity but I am not accustom to working in it like I used to when I worked in it for a living (prior to August 7, 1982). They have a fan for me, which helps a lot. And I am drinking lots of water.
Their assignment for tomorrow; find and identify the parables of Jesus from the feeding of the 5,000 to the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. What do these parables teach? This is when the crowds started to thin out. Since it has started getting dark here but morning in Texas I will say Salamat pagi (good morning) and Puji Tuhan, Praise the Lord! Hope you have a good day today, I have already.
No comments:
Post a Comment