Luke F-I-V-E

Hey guys,

I hope school is going well! Just when I thought it'd be a little easy on the workload because it's the first week back, things are already piling up and readings are getting heavy. Ugh. I hope exam prep. isn't too bad for you guys! Anyways, let me get into this chapter.

In this chapter, we fully dive into Jesus' ministry and the following events occur: Jesus "hires" his first disciples (Simon, James, John and Matthew), Jesus healed a leper and a paralyzed man, and he spoke to people that questioned him about fasting and praying.

In this chapter, I want to focus on three topics - faith, evangelism as a lifestyle, and your image as a Christian.

1) FAITH
We are naturally beings that give excuses. When we're blamed of any act, the first thing we think of is an excuse that'll either make us feel less responsible for what we did (while still admitting the act), or something that allows us to completely deny the fact that we are responsible for the act. It is hard for us to just say "yes" or "no" sometimes. For example, if you are standing in trial for a crime that you committed and where evidence is there beyond reasonable doubt, you don't just admit that you committed the crime. You admit it, then say things like it wasn't your fault, you were pushed into committing the crime, it was a mental problem, etc., to lower your sentence or to push the blame onto someone/thing else. The reason why I mention this is because people in this chapter show similar traits. When Jesus told Simon to cast out the nets, he could have just had the faith to say, "Yes." Rather, he had to talk back to him and say that it wasn't going to work, even though he was going to try what Jesus said anyway. Now, was that necessary? In another instance, Jesus heals this man with leprosy. Afterwards, he gives the man very simple instructions and tells him to keep everything quiet to the people and to follow a procedure of giving offering of thanks at the temple and allowing the Pharisees to know exactly what happened. Sure, he must've been excited since he just got healed of this deadly disease, but wouldn't you want to listen to a man just took this disease away from you? There is a common theme here, which is the lack of fear and faith. I mentioned this earlier and I said that we need to FEAR God and treat with with the utmost reverence. And that comes from faith as well. These two people I just mentioned, if they just did what Jesus told them to do without going off tangent or talking back, the end results could have been much better and they could have definitely been labeled as men of faith. I want us to be like that. Sometimes, when it seems hard to believe God for what he promises us, I want us to simply put our faith in him and do what you think he's telling you. Look at these examples. God will be on your side no matter what. He just wants us to show him that we trust him. In Proverbs, it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and He will make your paths straight." Trust and you will see!

2) EVANGELISM AS A LIFESTYLE
I want to remind you guys that evangelism, which is spreading the love of God and His Word, is not about going to strangers and talking to them about how much Jesus loves them. Sure, it could be, but that's just one way of doing it. I believe in a much more personal way, which is just showing your friends who God is through your actions and words. Show kindness. Show grace. Show mercy. Be generous. Kick off bad habits. Only say nice words. There's a million things you could do to show your friends and family who God is. Remember our motto? ALWAYS WORSHIP! If you're always worshipping in the presence of the whole world, people will see you as a follower of Christ and will be curious as to how they could achieve the same sort of deal. Let me give you an analogy. Let's say that you are a doctor. You work 9 hours a day, 5 days a week at the hospital. That is what you are trained to do, and that is what you love doing in those 5 days that you are at work. On the weekend, while you're off work and you're spending time with your family at a park, you see that someone falls off a bicycle and breaks her leg. Just because you're not at your workplace are you going to ignore her and leave her to suffer while the ambulance gets there? Or are you going to go out of your way to do what you are called to do? Same deal for us! Just because you're not with your church friends or not at a church function, it doesn't mean that you can stop worshipping. Continue! Always Worship! And my definition of worship can have a myriad of different parts to it and it's up to your own interpretation. Verses 31 and 32 say, "Healthy people don't need a doctor - sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent." We are not here to stick together as little cute Christian groups of friends. We are here to reach out. For those of you who weren't Christian before or were not born into a Christian family, aren't you so glad that your friends took the time and effort to bring you out? Even for those of you from Christian homes, aren't you so glad that generations ago, someone had the courage to bring your grandfather or mother or whoever else to the church? If so, it's your turn to pass down the torch! And this relates to the next point...

3) YOUR IMAGE AS A CHRISTIAN
What do you want your friends to see you as? Do you want them to see you as this Bible-carrying boy who doesn't go out on weekends because you are too afraid that you'll be lured into doing bad things? On the other hand, do you want to be seen as a hypocrite because your friends know you go to church on Fridays and Sundays but you do ungodly things during the week? Sometimes it may seem like you have to fall into either one of these groups. But you don't have to. Like I mentioned above, you are called to live among non-believers so that you may spread the Gospel. Yes, in the Bible it says to spread the Gospel, not to contain it. So I urge you not to avoid your non-Christian friends. Eat with them. Play with them. Talk to them often. But remember one thing -- you need to remember who you are and what your beliefs are at all times. Be that one guy/girl that everyone looks up to because you're easy to talk to and hang out with, but you stand firm on your beliefs. It may seem hard at first, but down the road, as you get older, you'll see that you will be well-respected. Your image is very important.

For those of you who took the time to read my long post today, thanks! I hope you learned something out of it and I'm praying that all of you will grow from everything we do here.


Roh

ps. The song list for this week is sent! Check your email!

hello GTs
I only have 2 exams hehe Jan 21 and Jan 22,,, Then I have no school until FEB
heheheheheheh

Roh I loved how you talked about excuses,,, I make alot of excuses to cover everything but something it hits me hard
so I try not to make up excuses
Your devo was pretty long but good!
hehehe

so Luke 5
Jesus preaches on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,, Alot of people are there to listen to the word. This is where he found his first disciple
Simon.. Jesus went on the boat and went into the water to catch a great load fish,, Simon said that they havent gotten alot of fish but when Jesus said to put out the net
Simon listen to him and he was awarded with alot of fish,, From that day Simon trust in the Lord,,
When Simon said "Oh, Lord, please leave me- I'm too much of a sinner to be around You"
I thought to myself and said that I am like him too but from that I learn to praise in the Lord more,,
I pray that we start like Simon and get to know the Lord better.

-Steve Hong

I learned alot fomr what you had to say Roh. I think we should all take this into account because we are all leaders. These 4 months have gone by pretty fast, and soon Hannah and Denise are going to graduate. We should step in right now not later. Sam preached about the song " Waiting on the world to change" by JOhn M. We should do the exact opposite of waiting and take action. Like Roh said, the gospel isn't meant to be contained. I have to say i'm impressed by the involvement of the younger kids. We always seem to be hanging out with them more and it just benefits us to making them into great leaders. Let's continue to work at it and strive for the best, not for ourselves but for the glory of God.

sexy jacob

You know what? I really want to go snowboarding on nice fluffy snow.. mmm


Luke 5

v.10 "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men."
It's important for us not to be shameful. When I read these passages about how Jesus was the most faithful and righteous one of us, I see how flawed I am. I guess this is how Simon Peter saw himself; when he saw how amazing and trusting Jesus was, he couldn't help but notice his own imperfect self. The most important thing about being saved is that you can always start over; you can ask for forgiveness for all of the sinful things done in the past, and start to life a more righteous life.

v.16 "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
I remember that we talked about prayer and how we need to improve in that area this year. If we ever have a difficult time during practice, at school, with friends or family, I think it's important to know that we can always go to God. There's something about prayer that brings a sense of peace. Just as Jesus took time off from the rest of his disciples to pray, I hope we can find some time each day to focus all our attention on God.

v.31 "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
This book really emphasizes Jesus coming to the world to save everyone, including the poor and the meek. Back then and even to this day, society favors the people in the high class and neglects the poor. Jesus came to the world to show us that there is a different kind of love that He wants to share; His unconditional love includes every one of us, no matter how rich, strong, pretty, intelligent, and sinful we are.

-Denise

"Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men."
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Wowwwww is all i can say... this chapter was giant dose of Jesus. These two verses, when i read them, blew me away. Then i was thinking, and was REALLY blown away, that Jesus said these words. You know? like he literally spoke these words to people. Im a guy who loves his quotes/ sayings. But i never really took it for granted that we are so lucky to actually read what he said.

my two cents.

E-Sek OUT!

I love the bible Sam gave us, the additional information and the inquiries it gives us are just phenomenal.

I thought about this verse after reading the Chapter: "Oh, Lord, please leave me - I'm too much of a sinner to be around You."
Sometimes in life (or just anime life haha) there are people who love each other but one of the two lovers feel that he/she is of less value than his/her partner. So, this "inferior" person opts to break up with their partner saying, "You deserve better," or something.
I made the connection between that and this Verse...
I think in love, there is no "You deserve better," because love is something that transcends even time.
In fact, by saying "You deserve better," one may be hurting the other person because it sounds like an excuse to break up.
Therefore, by saying "Oh, Lord, please LEAVE me - I'm too much of a sinner to be around You." Peter is basically saying, "God leave me because I'm less than you are, and you deserve to have better, sin-free, people worshiping you. Even though I'm so full of sin, I want you to leave me and not help save me."
This is probably the worst thing you could say to God, saying you're not worthy for cleansing of sin through Him and separating yourself from Him and His love towards you. One would be rejecting God's love by saying that as well.

so.. this chapter ROCKSS
there are like. 5 amazing stories in this, i love it!

LUKE 5:
"We worked hard all last night and didnt' catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again."
This verse really showed me how much faith Simon had in Jesus. Even though they had fished all night, and logically, they should have been thinking that theres no point in trying again because they werent going to catch any.. And even though they had only heard Jesus speak once, they still had enough faith to do so! Now, I know it's not exactly a life-sacrificing thing to throw a net into a lake.. But sometimes it's the small things that God asks us to do and we don't have enough faith to do it. Like Roh said, its really easy for us to make excuses - but we should really look out to make sure that we listen to God's voice, even if it seems like the little insignificant things hes asking us to do.

"Don't be afraid! From now on you'll be fishing for people!"
Does anyone recognize any FORESHADOWING? DUM DUM DUM. Without Jesus, they caught no fish. With Jesus, they caught an overwhelming amount of fish. And applying to this to the fact that they are now fishers of men, it really shows us that with Jesus, so many people can be saved and brought to his kingdom. If any of you were in the apologetics seminar, Martin told us that there are so many solid facts and arguments that prove the validity of Christianity. But if a person just doesn't want to believe it, they wont. We can do the spreading of the gospel, we can give people these facts but nothing will happen without Jesus stepping in and opening up their hearts - revealing himself to nonbelievers. So lets' keep that in mind when we're trying to evangelize - that we should alwyas rely on Jesus more than the words we speak or the effort we put in.

im glad to see everyone liked this chapter. its good to go on the forum with everyone being so passionate about devos.

I agree with Isaac.
Let's keep it up!

Remember, nobody gets left behind. We either all break, or we ALL do devos together.

thank you sexy babies
GTs

ya I had my lost devo saved in history in the computer lol
So it didnt post yesterday yah it's a first for me but oh well

Man I love the Bible we got there are like little snippets of extra info in the bottom of every page.
God's miracles all have meaning and they have dept, where not everyone will understand. I like the part where
if you think about it Simon was supporting a family and he was going to follow Jesus, so what will happen to his family. Here comes the cool part. Because of Jesus, Simon was able to haul in a lot of fish which he could sell to support his family while he left. So don't you think Jesus already planned to cover that. That was my little geek talking. But really God has is all planned out. We might not understand certain situations in our life right as of now, but there is something behind it. Also God does not challenge us with something we cannot conquer.

well that was my thoughts for today

c you guys

Luke 5

This is gonna be pretty sporadic because I wrote notes on the day of, and not full sentences...Haha.

v.3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon,[b] its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
Jesus preached everywhere, no matter the circumstance. It seems crazy to me that having seen a BOAT, He had the idea to take it out to see to teach. Applicable to us, I think if we can allow our actions to evangelize, then we can carry God's Good Word with us, WHEREVER we go, boats, malls, mountaintops?

31 Jesus answered them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent."
This reminds me that we should constantly be looking out and seeking out for those that are the lepurs and homeless of our society. We have to be the ones who provide companionship to the people that will make others ask and wonder why we're spending time with them..because if we stick to what is comfortable and make our friendship exclusive to believers, than we're taking after the Pharisees instead of Jesus.

- H

sexy