WOW... I don't even know where to start! This week was very intense, but totally amazing. The lectures were awesome! I was pretty excited to learn about spiritual warfare because I haven't had much teaching about that before. The first day we covered the topic of angels and demons. We talked about the differnt kinds of angels: warrior, messenger and worshipping. We learned about the fallen angels and how Satan tries to wage war against us. He tries to bind us in sin and silence us. He makes us feel like we are the only ones struggling with something and then fills us with shame. These are feelings that I have felt before, and this week really encouraged me to believe that it doesn't have to be that way. The good news is that Satan has already been defeated by the cross and through Jesus we have authority over him. On wednesday night we did some worship and then decided to wage some spiritual warfare ourselves. If there were areas in our lives where we were struggling you could go up and share with the group and then we all prayed for them. It was actually a very powerful night. I love that the people here are so open and that there is no judgement so that everyone felt comfortable sharing what was on their heart.
The last two days of lectures this week were on Jewish Roots. Initially I was thinking...okay so are we going to talk about Old Testimant traditions and celebrations or something.... well I was very wrong. The speaker, was so knowledgable in that area and they were some of my favorite lectures. He talked about how we should look at the Jewish people as our older brother. God entered into a covenant with Isreal and that is still being honoured today. Through Jesus and the spread of the gospel, Christians are now fellow -heirs. Romans 11:11 shows that because Isreal didn't beleive in Jesus, it made it possible for the gentiles to receive salvation. Verse 8 states that God blinded them and I believe that He did that so the rest of the nations could receive the gospel, otherwise it would have remained a strictly Jewish thing. The good news is that God will remove that blinding and they will realize the truth about Jesus. Even today, this is happening as it has never happened before, mostly in part due to the severe persecution that the Jews have suffered at the hands of the church.
This is what the second day was mostly about, it was a history lesson on anti-semitism and the church. To be honest I was overwhelmed. I had no idea that it had been so bad over the centuries and it made me feel sick! The holocaust is only one example of how this has happened. I had heard a lot of the stories before, but when they were all told together it really made me understand how the Jewish peoples have suffered. The most intersting thing was how the speaker related this to the decline and restoration of the church. Over the years the chruch lost its Jewish roots, then gifts of the spirit, moves on the spirit and then the authority of the word. This was during the middle ages. Then by about the 16th century we started to gain these thigs back starting with the word being restored. This happened at the same time that Jewish people were flooding back to their homeland (Isreal) for the first time in centuries. Anyways we have gained all those things back now and I think that really says something about where we are in God's plan. There was another verse we were talking about, but I actually can't find it now so sorry, but it says something along the lines that after all nations of the earth hear the gospel, Jesus will return. So anyways if anyone has heard of the 10-40 window of unreached people groups. That is the main area that has left be reached. Anyways we are rapidly approaching that time, whether it be in our lifetime, or our childrens'. Regardless of what you believe about this idea... because i know it freaks a lot of people out... it should motivate you to make sure that you are right with God. For me it makes me see how important it is to serve God during this life and not worry about how much money I can make or if I can buy a car or house or anything like that. So... I hope this wasn't too confusing, but it is so hard to write everything down in a way that makes sense. My point was that this was a good week and I learned a lot about how it is important to remember our Jewish roots. God made a covenant with Isreal and as beleivers we have been adopted into the covenant!
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