Friday Update # 1- Joy in My Heart

So, today I have joy in my heart for the Lord has blessed me and I am eternally grateful for that. This week has been great. I preached at my church this past Sunday night. I preached on Acts 2:36-42 with the title "Cut to the Heart". The Lord blessed me and I hoped that He blessed others through me with the message that if we are going to go out to the world and reach the lost for Christ, we must humble submit to His will, set ourselves apart from the world in service to Him, and we must commit to the scriptures daily. Then spent Monday working on my Psalms paper on Psalm 41. I will not go into what I wrote, but I encourage you to read it because it is a great prayerful Psalm and it shows how the heart of David, even though not perfect, was after the true worship and praise of God. Monday night I was fortunate to eat sushi with one of my cousin's and his wife and I got to hear about a ministry opportunity he is involved as a leader of. Tuesday I went to class and after class heard Eric Metaxas who has written a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer a martyr during WWII standing up for his Christian beliefs and conviction.

You can find out more about him here: http://www.ericmetaxas.com/ We have been blessed this semester to have to be discussing in our chapel services the German Confessing Church during the Nazi Regime and the Barmen Declaration. You can find out more info on this here: http://www.beesondivinity.com/communityworship



We have truly been blessed by this series not only through our chapel services, but also through an ongoing film festival with films on the same topic. Last movie we watched was Sophie Scholl which if you have not seen it I recommend it. I recommend it if you want to see a movie about a girl who truly lived out her faith even to the point of death and it shows a resistance movement to the Nazi take over. Here is a website on that movie, watch it if you enjoy movies that convict, encourage, and inspire one to keep their faith.




Anyway, the rest of the week included spending time in class, reading, taking tests, writing, and visiting friends talking about my upcoming Jman opportunity. I am excited about my Jman opportunity and next week I will hopefully post more about it. For now Keep the Faith and find Joy in your heart that can only come through Jesus Christ.

Things I am thankful for:
My school and its commitment to standing for Christ in the midst of persecution
The fact that Lord willing will be going on the Jman trip for 2 years
The Lord is using me to preach the Gospel and has given me strength and ability to do that.

Ways you can pray for me:
Endurance as school continues to get busier heading toward graduation in May
Patience in awaiting to hear the specifics on my Jman assignment
Middle brother and his back