Yep... Not gonna fall behind!

I just don't understand why people refuse to believe even after they have been crushed in a debate
I think in a debate, especially pertaining to the topic of belief, the losing team should believe the words of the winning team because the winning team is winning for a reason.
So, I learned to accept defeat gloriously and don't use cheap methods to debunk the winning team.

I also learned that belief could be held if it seems advantageous regarding the situation.
The people of Ephesus supported the belief of Artemis so that they could make business through selling icons of her.
So naturally, because Artemis brought them good things, they believed in her and they raged against God.

Acts 19.

Thinking about all of the chapters prior to this one, I think we can admire and respect the persistence that Paul has to spread God's word. Even though, in every place he goes, there is dispute because some people believe and others don't, Paul never once gets discouraged and gives up. Because God frequently tells him that He will be with Paul, he holds his head up and continues to persuade people to accept God.

One thing that I found interesting from this chapter was the power of Satan. I think this is the first time we read about Satan (or the evil).
v.15 "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all.
Here, I saw that Satan is very powerful, witty, and manipulative. Seeing that Satan has lots of power leads me to believe that God is so good because He keeps us from being tempted by him.

I agree with Michael. Earlier in the chapter, so many people witnessed the miracles of God, but they refused to accept Christ.
v.11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
I guess this just shows that many of us think that we will believe if we see (proof), but, even after seeing miracles, we often doubt God.

-Denise

Uggh no more test plz...Just had 3 tests 1 more to go

Well in accouting class teacher is away again. Free class hooray!!!

4Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5On hearing this, they were baptized into[b] the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues[c] and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.

Huh never noticed that. John baptized in repentance, cleaning the people's uncleanliness. But Paul baptized in the name of the Lord. Before we can help others, we first need to see where we lack, so we will not become hipocrites.

God used Paul, and through him did amazing things. God used Paul to spread his glory.

And another point where the jewish preist tried to cast out the demons the demon was not scared because the preist had no authority.

K need to focus back to class...wait free period hooray!!! lol my jewish friends are reading this.

doing my world religions homework. so tired of Hinduism.... but i guess its good to learn about other religions, i cant wait for budhism!!

on the topic of Denise, i thought that aswell but if you think about when/ where they were its hard to believe in Jesus. WE have the technology, the experience, and the history to look at Jesus' work as a whole. They were probably told of Jesus by random ppl or uneducated people. Even with miracles, its hard to believe in such an abstract God. Like even now, people are skeptical at modern miracles.

anywho, backk to studying....
Ciao!!
E-Sek OUT!

"13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding "

I thought that this part was pretty dang cool. hahahha they ran out naked and bleeding.. teehee
But anyhoo this part shows how some people noticed how doing things 'in the name of jesus' gives you power.. so they tried it on their own, even if they didnt have Jesus in their hearts.. They thought that by simply saying that they were doing something in the name of Jesus, that they could fool the evil spirit and others.. But this just goes to show that you cant lie to demons But more importantly, that everything needs to work from the inside out. you can pretend you're Christian all you want, and yeah sure some ppl may believe you for a whiel.. But in the end, you cant fool yourself and you cant fool God.
So let's try to rememebr that faith starts from the outside - and lets not abuse GOd's power, because otherwise, we''ll get such a beating that we'll run out of the house naked and bleeding
lol

aha skating this friday. i hate trig functions, well ts not that bad, pretty easy but application questions are killing me.

aha running naked and bleeding. i'm going to keep this one short because i just can't seem to focus right now. When they tried to take out the evil spirit in Gods name, they were unholy men and they were just beaten. Right after that, most of the people confessed of theirs sins. How can we expect to lead if we ourselves are hypocrytes, and we're unwilling to change. The moment you are willing to change and give those bad things up, tahst where God works. You can't say" Don't do this, because God said so" when clearly you ARE doing it. Thats why christians are AKA biggest hypocrites in the world.

Ciao!

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry I've been slacking lately...I know I don't have an excuse. I won't let it happen again. But I hope every single one of you have been doing well and I hope you're really looking forward to Friday cause it's gonna be so much funnnn

By the way, we're meeting at Finch at FIVE, not six like I said earlier. Sam corrected the time! Hope to see you all there.

In this chapter, God was gaining more fame. Ever since there were thousands supporting God and his disciples (remember when I talked about what a great number this was, a few chapters back?), the number has been just growing more and more, and it says that people still really feared God and some even publicly came out with their sins! I don't think that was a big thing back then. Sure, now we have friends and family whom we can trust and ask for accountability. But for them, it meant public shame, it meant judgment and possibly even punishment. But for their own sake, for God's sake, they came out with it so that they may repent from their sins and follow God. That is a TRUE way of fearing God.

How do we deal with it when we fear God? I think I pray more, and I think more. But what we need to do is ACT. Actions speak louder than words sometimes. Especially when it comes to practising our FAITH.

Roh

When i read verse 1 and 2 i really got into it. because it said "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only,
or did you also embrace him with your heart? I read that and I was like holy that had alot of meaning haha but not really.
so when it said did you only take God into your head or embrace him with your heart and I realized that most of the people take God in there mind
but they dont embrace him with there hearts. So we should all embrace him with our hearts.. And at the retreat our goal is to get everyone whose there
to embrace God with there hearts.. So everyone will fall in love with God and get to know him better. It would also be great because they will want to come to
church instead of coming with ther parents. They would want to hear Sam's serments and sing along with us..
you know what I am saying

smallsize me 8----

-Steven Hong

ACTS 19

1. 2and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[a] you believed?"
They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

Reminded me of how we can't have one without the other. It once again reinforced the fact that the presence of the Holy Spirit is critical to our spiritual walks and our need to constantly call on it to be with us.

2. 17When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

They held the name of Jesus in high honor because of fear. And while I suppose it's good that they revered Him at all, it seemed a little backwards to me that that's why they believed...it reminds me of how oftentimes we'll turn to God when we're suffering or going through troubles but not as diligently when the going is good. It challenges me to be consistent in my faith.

3. I like the town clerk. Put those people to rest. Brrap.

- H