Luke 13 May 19th

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Hey guys...
To be honest, this week was pretty bad and stressful, considering not only the university stuff, but also coordinating things with other school bands and stuff, where I've terminated one of the small ensembles because of lack of proper direction. My mood this week hasn't been so great, but I'm getting better today. Much better, especially by reading God's word so much more earnestly than usual. It's making me desire to write a whole lot, and it's such an awesome opportunity to continue sharing.

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree alone was something pretty shocking. If we don't produce any fruit for God, then anything else we do will be useless. I talked a while before on how essential James talked about the concept of 'faith without deeds is dead.' What we do ultimately shapes our fruit - what's really in the core of our faith. Surely, we have to know everything inside out of the bible - it's God's word. To know him is to know God and to follow him - and be sure WHO we're following after. THAT too is part of fruit.

There's something that comes to my mind when I'm thinking about this: It's not GOD who cuts us off if we're not fruitful. It's WE who cut ourselves off from him.

The parable of the mustard seed really makes me think that with a little bit of faith, that alone has the potential to transform into something amazing. I'm sure our faiths were weak as children, but as time passes, we struggle, yet it builds ourselves up in a way - and now our faiths are still weak, but much stronger than before. Things have potential if blood, sweat, and tears are really poured out into this. This is a great encouragement to those who have weakened faiths (like this week, that DEFINITELY was the case for me.)

That's what I decided to reflect on from this chapter.
Take care guys, see you tomorrow for practice. I'm stoked; how about you? Please pray for me, again (university things, direction, lack of patience)

Julian.

SO tired and stressed reading this Macbeth stupid book.
Doesnt even make sense.
burn it.

2 Jesus answered, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no!

This is a simple but very effective verse. When the Galileans were punished, some were more severe than others.
That does not mean that the punishment was whatever sins they did.
It was becasue they did not repent.
IF YOU REPENT you will always be forgiven, but if not, you will perish like the Galileans did. You may suffer a little or a lot.

i tried to understand "The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast"
but it was kinda weird.
if anyone gets it explain it to me!

Oh my god. I'm so tired right now. Anyway, I'll try my best to finish this up and then I'm off to sleep.
BTW, GUYS. I LOVEEEEEE my uke! It's the cutest thing!

14 But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”

From this passage and verse, I learned that you shouldn't twist God's words to confuse others or to make him sound vain or to question him because you have no faith. Rather, you should take what you've been taught and learn how God meant for it to be, and use it.

I know that was short. Sorry, guys. I am pooooooped, not to mention I've been sick the past two weeks. :/
So, goodnight! See you guys tomorrow! (:

Oh my goshhh, so this week has been really stressful, but I finished my 5 day inclass accounting ISU in 4 &&&&&& I got a 97 on my law ISU too! So much weight has been lifted off my shoulders

    24Do all you can to go in by the narrow door! A lot of people will try to get in, but will not be able to. 25Once the owner of the house gets up and locks the door, you will be left standing outside. You will knock on the door and say, "Sir, open the door for us!" But the owner will answer, "I don't know a thing about   26Then you will start saying, "We dined with you, and you taught in our streets."    27But he will say, "I really don't know who you are! Get away from me, you evil people!"

It says here that a lot of people are trying to get through the doors of heaven, but not everyone does.
These people are shut out and is condemned away from this heavenly place forever~
i really want to go through those doors and live WITH my God forever!!
It says in the bible that to go to heaven we must have faith in Jesus Christ and accept/know that Jesus died on the cross for us.. But more than anything we really need to believe it. We need to love others the way God loves us and live a Christ-like life where we live FOR God's purpose, and His purpose only.
I don't think I told any of you this story before, but a few months back on boxing day, as some of you might remember, I was at nkpc. I met with the senior pastor who has known me for all of my life... And out of no where, right when he saw me he said "Grace, you need to believe me when I say that what I'm about to say is not from my own thoughts, but it's from God.. I wasn't planning anything like this, but I think that God REALLY wants me to tell you this" it was so random and i was really sick that whole week and slept through Christmas... So at the time I was just zoned out and didn't really care but i remember his exact words to me "Grace, God thinks that you are so beautiful. He loves you so much and you are beautiful in His sight. He is pleased with you " i didn't get the full impact of his words until recently... Im starting to grasp the weight of his words.. Realizing why my parents were like going crazy with happiness and shock.
I felt really happy thinking abou this, i wasn't really proud of myself because I realize that I still have so much to learn with so many imperfections... But knowing that God felt this way and told me through this pastor.. I felt GLAD that He was happy with me... It meant that I was doing something right~
I want to continue to please God like this. Knowing that each time, I'm taking another step closer to that door
I pray that each and every one of us will continue to really LIVE for God and will do things that are pleasing in his sight... Because in God's eyes, you are all TRULY beautiful

Hahah like Joseph said, in our english, we're doing Macbeth
I must say.. it is quite gay..

1 About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. 2 “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? 3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. 4 And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? 5 No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.

This verse clearly states, everyone will get the same reward/suffering depending on whether they repent. Jesus stated that people don't suffer more dpeending on their sin, it all depends on their repentance. To God, there is NO degree of sin whatsoever, That being said, this is a great reminder that we can never judge anyone. In a society view, some people may "sin" that his far more severe but in God's eyes, sin is sin. We should see it like that as well. JUst because someone has a higher degree of sin than others, it doesn't mean that we have the right to judge them or look down on them because we too have the same tragic flaw that the dude next door does, which is sin.

Goodnight

Yeaaa. I just got a new Gibson switchblade strap today! So comfortable... haha. AND MY B DAY IS TOMORROW!~

So in today's chapter, there was a lot about God's kingdom. It explains why we should turn to God and even the way to Him.

4 And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites?5 Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you too will die."

I'm guessing that this verse was to give us negative inspiration. There's 2 types of effective convincing. Telling people they'll gain something if they do something or telling them, something bad will happen to them if they don't do it. Though I don't believe the sole purpose of this verse was to threaten us, it still is the motivation we may need. It explains how should never think of us as more righteous than the next person, because truthfully, we are all the same sinners on the inside. Never should we think of ourselves as above the law. We are all under it, and punishment is always imminent so work hard not to have reason to be punished, and never think that someone deserves the punishment while you don't.

Good Night guys.

Man seems like everybody's stressed out today...

18 Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”
20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

I really liked these parables. Like a mustard seed and yeast. They all grow and that's what the word of God and the Kingdom of God is like. But the thing I got from this is this. If we don't take the word into our hearts, it's worthless. If the mustard seed did not land on soil, it will not grow due to the lack of nutrients, and also if the yeast is not properly taken care of, it may get infected and the person who consumes it may get sick. So the point I get from this is this, the Word of God is something that shouldn't be taken lightly but something that should be taken seriously. The word of God is something so powerful, and it can change our lives forever you know what I mean??

30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

This is something very self explanatory. Something that should take place in every church. As leaders we should put ourselves lower than everybody else just like Jesus did in a wedding he went to. Instead of seating infront of the wedding he sat all the way to the back and put himself lower than the others. He's a God but put himself in our shoes and was born as a human. A king that was born in a barn. Something that none of us will do.