Merry Christmas and enjoy this song about Jesus!

Hello everyone who reads my blog and has probably prayed for me and supported me financially!

I am so excited, because the Lord has given me so much this year and I get to give some back to all of you as well! Just as Jesus said "You received without paying; give without pay.” (Matt. 10:8b, ESV) Throughout the course of the past few years since seriously following Jesus, I've been super blessed to able to receive from the Lord and write down some songs. Most of them are praise, adoration and worship to the Lord, and some of them are messages from God to me, His saved children or everyone in general, and some are me preaching to my soul truth about God like the psalmist did (Ps. 42). By God's abundant grace I hope to continue to work on them and record them all so that they may be a blessing to the nations of the Earth. As a Christmas present to help you celebrate Jesus, here is the first song I've ever shared publicly called "Highest Praise" which is simply about Jesus, how amazing He is, and just giving Him the praise due His name. I hope and pray that it is a blessing to you all. (email me at uttleynathan@gmail.com if you want me to send it to you for free so you can freely share it with others as well. Sorry I couldn't just the file on Blogger, Blogger wouldn't let me) Enjoy, and I hope this leads you to worship Jesus and live your whole life for His glory!

SBS is over!

Praise the LORD!

I never thought I would make it through, but now that SBS is over it seemed to have gone by so fast. But life is but a mist (James 4:14) so what do I expect. I've been seriously so blessed by all that God has given me and blessed me with during these last months. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me financially and spiritually through prayer and finances. I'm so blessed by each one of you who have given me money for school, food, and little extra to bless others, and even get ice cream sometimes. I certainly have been well taken of. Thank you all!

As for what is next, right now I'm spending time just looking back at all that happened this past year, meditating on Scripture, and seeking the LORD to know Him more and more. I hope it's going to be a great time of refreshment. I also hope to spend time catching up with old friends, family and supporters, and if anyone wants to Skype please let me know, I'd be happy to talk with y'all! (Skye name=thenuttley) I also need to read a few books before the end of this quarter, and I'm also working on recording and refining some of the songs that I've writing lately. 

Then, on January 7th I'm starting the Titus Project, which is a 12 week program, consisting of 3 weeks of lecture phase and 12 weeks of outreach. It is specifically for SBS graduates, to equip us all to teach and preach and to take Bible teaching where it is most needed and we can most effective. (http://titusproject.com/) I will going on outreach to the Philippines for a month and then to Taiwan for a month.

If anyone feels led to pray for me, please pray above all else that I would hear God's voice clearly and do all that He wants me to do, so that I would walk in a manner worthy of His calling on my life and be fully pleasing to Him. (Colossians 1:9-11) Also, please pray that I would have more wisdom to use my finances skillfully and that I would have all I need to go on outreach. Please pray for the anointing of God on our words as we teach and preach, that the Holy Spirit would lead us all into believing truth (John 16:13), would cut us to the heart and bring us to repentance (Acts 2:37), so that we would lay down our lives and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23-24), loving God wholeheartedly and loving people like Jesus loves them. (Matthew 22:37-40, John 15:12). I would also greatly appreciate prayer to know what exactly God wants me to do with the songs I've been writing. 

Thanks!

God's mercy in the Old Testament

A long, long time ago (about 3.5 years) on a continent far away (from Taiwan, meaning America)...

I was wondering if the God of the Old Testament (OT) was the same as the God of the New Testament (NT). And I came to realize that many people actually wondered if they were the same God. They would say: “Jesus is so loving, but the God of the OT is so wrathful, vengeful and destroys lots of things.” Of course that is true about God because He chooses to be ferociously holy, just and He perfectly hates sin. He is a really good lover, and He is also a really good hater. He completely hates sin and will punish it according.

Yet the God of the OT is so merciful AT THE SAME TIME!!! You know how I know? We just studied the book of Jonah in our School of Biblical Studies. It is not a myth, fairytale or even parable, because Jonah was clearly a historic person who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel (793-753 BC, see 2 Kings 14:25) and Jesus himself referred to Jonah as a completely historical person (Matthew 12:39-41; Luke 11:29-32).

So if Jonah is a real person who really walked the same earth that we're standing on, lets do a little research into the historical background of the ancient nation Assyria and its former capital, Nineveh.

Nineveh was the “greatest of the capitals of the ancient Assyrian Empire, which flourished from about 800 to 612 b.c. It was located on the left bank of the Tigris River in northeastern Mesopotamia (Iraq today).” -(HIBD, p. 1192)

Also, about Assyria: “The Assyrians worshipped the vicious god Ashur and a multitude of other gods and goddesses. Assyrian brutality and cruelty were legendary. The Assyrians were known to impale their enemies on stakes in front of their towns and hang their heads from trees in the king’s gardens. They also tortured their captives—men, women, or children—by hacking off noses, ears, or fingers, gouging out their eyes, or tearing off their lips and hands. They reportedly covered the city wall with the skins of their victims. Rebellious subjects would be massacred by the hundreds, sometimes burned at the stake. Then their skulls would be placed in great piles by the roadside as a warning to others.” (HIBD, p. 942)

Clearly these were terribly evil people, so evil that Jonah didn't even want to prophesy to them at all! Yet God was so in love with even this wicked nation that he got in the way of Jonah's attempt to escape his duty by sending a storm, then a fish, and after Jonah's disobedience He even allowed Jonah a second chance at prophesying His message to Nineveh! (Jonah 1-2) Then after Jonah goes and declares the word of the LORD to Nineveh (calling them to repent) Jonah, most likely the author of this book writes:

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10, ESV)
And in the last verse of the book, God says: “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”” (Jonah 4:11, ESV)

What an amazingly merciful God! He extends the opportunity to repent to even the most wicked of nations! He will have mercy on everyone that will simply repent!
I hope this is encouraging to everyone reading this. God is the same, He never changes. He has always been loving and merciful, and always will be loving and merciful. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8, ESV) That means He is always just, merciful, compassionate, holy and loving, and He will never change. FOREVER!!! Praise God!



If you want, you're welcome to pray this prayer or one like it in response to this amazing truth:
Jesus Christ, thank you so much for revealing God to us through your life. Thank you that you paid the ultimate price of your life to pay the debt we owed God because of our sin. Jesus you're so merciful and so just at the same time. I ask God that you would fill your church with revelation of just how great, how holy, how just, how merciful you really are. God let us be like Jesus, who is the Faithful Witness. God anoint us with power to preach the gospel and tell people of the amazing message of reconciliation that we have through your Son Jesus. Amen!

Here is the source from which I got the historical information (cited as HIBD):

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen & T. C. Butler, Ed.) (1192). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

2nd quarter review

After having a nice break, I made this short movie that shows the lighter side of SBS. Of course, as in most universities we spend most of time studying, so I thought I would show some pictures that had people not just studying, although I love the bible and really think its so exciting to study! I also am realizing that most of the time I'm pretty serious, and I'm learning to experience God's joy even more, so here is this video, I hope you're filled with joy as you watch it!



Also, here are all the books that we studied in depth this quarter, just to show I didn't spend everyday at the zoo or the beach :) haha:

1. Revelation
2. 1 Peter
3. 2 Peter
4. Jude
5. James
6. 1 John
7. 2 John
8. 3 John
9. Genesis
10. Exodus
11. Leviticus
12. Numbers
13. Deuteronomy
14. Joshua
15. Judges
16. Ruth
17. 1 Samuel
18. 2 Samuel
19. 1 Kings
20. 2 Kings
21. 1 Chronicles
22. 2 Chronicles

Thanks again for all your prayers and financial support!

For prayer, please continue to ask God that according to His perfect will he would:

1. Help us pay all the finances owed for school fees. Praise God I already got mine fully paid!
2. Show us all exactly what to do after SBS. I'm praying, hoping and planning to go to Haiti with the optional bible teaching outreach after SBS called the Titus Project.
3. Keep us all energized and full of spiritual strength to keep getting all we can out of SBS until the end, which is just 12 weeks away!!!

Happy Holiness

Can people that live holy be happy? Do those two words even belong in the same sentence? Some may say no, but I want to say Absolutely! We were created to live in a sinless garden of pleasure with face to face communion with the living God who is perfectly glorious, beautiful, just, holy and loving. (Genesis 1-2) It was because of the serpent's deception and man's SIN that God kicked man out of the garden, but he immediately promised that he would crush the head of the serpent that tempted his people to disobey him (Genesis 3). And ever since God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden he has been RELENTLESSLY pursuing us to show us how much he loves us and wants to be with us! He told Moses to make the tabernacle so he could dwell among his people without killing them (Exodus 30-40).

But that wasn't close enough for God. He wanted to dwell among us. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV) But even that wasn't even close enough. He had to come down and dwell inside of us, which is what happened for the first time for all believers on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) and is what happens whenever someone decides to put their faith in Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14). This God is amazing! He is so holy and set apart that the four living creatures never stop crying “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”” (Revelation 4:8, ESV) And yet he came down as a baby, died on the cross a criminals death (Philippians 2:6-11) was risen again from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:4-5) and then sent his Spirit to dwell in man. This God is good and loving and wants to be close to us!!! And he gave his own Son, and the Son gave his own life for us!!! Thank you God for all that you've done to bring us into intimacy with you yet again!!!

Look at this amazing passage: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6–11, ESV)

Paul says that we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ!!! That's means there is joy in the gospel and joy in salvation through Christ! Look at this amazing verse written by David: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11, ESV) In God's presence there is fullness of joy!!! So why are so many people not elated like Paul and David because of God and being in his presence? Well for me, it because of my lack of revelation of how great God truly is. That leads me to look to sin for my pleasure, which leads to condemnation, which causes me to run away from God and try to somehow "hide" from his presence until I can make myself look clean again. But the great news of the gospel is that through simple faith in Christ that produces repentance, I am made completely holy by the work that he did on the cross!!! (Romans 3:24-25) That is such good news! “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!!!” (Romans 8:1, ESV) Praise God!!!

That means that through simple faith and repentance I can be made right in my relationship with God. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, ESV) Man this is good news! Now I want to go completely hard for God because I am free from the power of sin!!! But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1–2, ESV) If I mess up Jesus is still advocating for me before the Father! That is amazing!!!

So what is so good about being holy anyways? Holy and godly living is our joyful response to all that God has done for us. It is for the sake of relationship with Jesus Christ himself that we live holy and righteous, JOYFULLY obeying God's commandments. Everything I do that is not in God's will, no matter how momentarily pleasurable will ultimately end in DEATH (Romans 6:21), but when I am a slave to God everything I do out of obedience to God leads to Eternal Life!!! There is nothing but Eternal joy in obeying God's commands! (Romans 6:22-23) “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.” (Psalm 119:92–93, ESV)

I just want you to read this, because it such rich scripture: “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” (Psalm 119:97–104, ESV)

Oh to be clean and pure and spotless! It is such a joy to be free from guilt, shame and condemnation! Oh to experience the pleasure of God not only in my identity as His Son but in every move, in every step, in every decision that I take. Oh to make that man happy! It is becoming the chief desire of my heart to live a life that puts a bigger smile on the face of Christ through love and obedience. Can you imagine what a joy that is going to be the day we stand there face to face with the man like eyes of fire (Rev. 1:14) and hear him say "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." (Matthew 25:21). Oh what a joy that is going to be for both of us!!! And then we'll experience the greatest joy of all time as we get to dwell face to face with God forever. FOREVER!!! That means it never ends!!! The eternal unending bliss of getting to be with God is going to be amazing!!! And we get to experience a little bit of that now, as we cry with Jesus, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, ESV).

Father, thank you so much for the gift of unbroken fellowship with you through the price that your Son paid on the cross. Jesus thank you so much for your goodness and your love towards us, that your commandments are not burdensome, but lead us to life. Jesus I pray for me and everyone reading this, and everyone in your body that you would give us fresh passion and vision for wholeheartedly loving you and obeying you. God make it our delight to meditate on your word day and night, that we would bear fruit for your glory oh God! In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Here is an awesome podcast from some friends of mine that I've been listening to that will surely blow your mind!!! http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/circuit-riders/id449476756

What I've been learning about God and abortion

A real controversial issue right now is the issue of abortion. I understand that everyone in the world doesn't agree with me on this issue, but I believe that I've called to God to do my small, and just to write a blog to plea with all of us to do our small part to defend the innocent unborn humans.

I'm sure that most Christians have been aware of Psalm 139 for some time now, but to just to remind us all of how precious each life is in the sight of God: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13–16, ESV)

And while it's incredibly important to have the positive feelings of love towards the babies, I believe God wants to baptize with an anguish, reverence and godly fear regarding his judgement towards those that those repent for killing children in the womb.


Let me repeat that statement in a slightly different way: I believe the same God that created the heavens and earth and revealed himself through many ways (especially Jesus Christ) is a righteous judge and will have vengeance on those kill humans... unless they repent and put their faith in Christ. Of course, I'm as guilty as anyone of sin, with all the times I've had anger and lust in my heart, stolen things, lied to my parents, coveted many things and much more. I'm completely guilty, and I thank Jesus for the amazing gift of what he's given me through simply faith in him. But being saved from his wrath makes me want to save others from his wrath as well. So that's really the thing that motivates my heart to want others to come to know Jesus, because I know if they don't repent they will have to face the righteous judge that fights for his people and doesn't miss a single act of disobedience to him.

Another passage I want to share with you is what I was reading in Leviticus. For a little historical background, the priests of Molech would make his hollow idol out of bronze, and his arms would be outstretched as if to receive a gift. Then they heat the idol up with fire, and place babies into the outstretched, heated arms of Molech. While the babies was screaming, crying and burning to death, other people would be playing drums to drown out the sounds of the baby. And this is what God said to Moses: ““Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.” (Leviticus 20:2–5, ESV)
The most fearful part of that passage is not just what happens to those that kill babies, but also what happens to those that would close their eyes to the baby killer. And that is what convicts me even that if we simply stand far off and close our eyes to the murder of the unborn, then we are equally to blame. I may be wrong, but I am certain that as fellow human beings we must speak up and act out to defend the unborn.


So what can we do? I've been really thinking a lot about that lately, because I believe it is so much more than praying and speaking about it, although those are both so important. 


Here are some practical application I've thought of and prayed about to fight for every human life:
1. Pray and fast. We are in a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:12), and our prayers can change individual hearts, change circumstance and change the spiritual atmosphere in different regions.
2. Give money to those that adopt children, orphanages, or even adopting yourself. I've even heard  One of the biggest things that leads to abortions is children not being valued. By adopting children, we are sending a message to the world that every life has value. Please pray specifically for more as I would love to adopt many children in the future, hopefully when I'm married.
3. Help an expectant mother out in many ways. I know that knowing there are people around to help out encourages me to keep obeying God, and I can't imagine how much it would help a single, teen aged abortion minded girl to have someone caring for them, and showing them that both they and their baby are valuable.
4. Speaking out and voting are important as well. If we are able to elect officials and vote for laws that will protect children and promote family and adoption, then our money as taxpayers will go to help the right things, not the wrong things.

If someone needs an awesome movie to share with others, here is one, made by Christians that are serious about seeing abortion end and life be valued:



Also, here is an awesome pro-life website run by people that I deeply respect, but don't know personally: http://bound4life.com/.

Please let me know if you guys find any more awesome websites!!!

Jesus, I plea your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God end abortion and send revival to America, so that the nations of the earth may be touched.

Considering the judgement of God

In SBS (School of Biblical Studies), we have been reading the bible. Which is an amazing book, because its actually 66 smaller books. And depending on which books you read, they are actually personal letters or corporate letters, gospel accounts, books of wisdom, books of poetry, books of prophecy, apocryphal (about the last days before the return of Jesus) and historical books. It was written by about 40 different authors, in 3 different languages, spanning about 2100-1500 years from start to finish (depending on the dating). When you read this book, you will learn many things about the God who created the universe, you will see that he loves to give good gifts to His children (Matt. 7:7-11), He is love (1 John 4:16), he is gracious and compassionate (Psalm 145:8-9) he is dazzling, majestic and beautiful (Revelation 4-5). He is all of those good things and more.

But while I was reading the bible lately, especially the book of Revelation, along with almost every other book, I noticed something that I think is so crucial to understanding a fuller picture of who God is, and that is God's judgement. And I think that understanding this aspect of God will compel us even more to love others and warn them of the coming judgement for those that don't choose to follow God. It will also cause us to live like God is really holy, just and is really real. We will be reverent, fearful and trembling before the presence of God Almighty. At least this has been the case for me.

Another product of studying and meditating on the judgement of God is the fear of the Lord. Which is awesome, because “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7, ESV) “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Proverbs 9:10, ESV).

So, I would just like to encourage you to consider a few scriptures with me and ask God to increase the revelation of Him as a just, holy judge in your life, that you would fear Him, love Him, honor Him, live holy and warn other people of the judgement of God that is coming to unbelievers. I heard a secondhand quote from atheist that went about like this: “Even though I don't believe in God, I really respect the people that tell me about the reality of eternal punishment, and I think that if anyone believes in hell for unbelievers and doesn't tell people, they must be very evil and unloving.” So, WE HAVE GOT TO WARN PEOPLE of what will happen if they don't repent and follow God!!! We must also warn our fellow Christians of what will happen if continue in sin and live as lukewarm Christians, maybe even intellectually believing in God but not seeking to love and obey Him wholeheartedly. And we must do it with love, gentleness, humility, respect and complete Christlikeness. For the sake of love, people have to know.

And depending on where you decide to read, I guarantee that at one point you will run into a verse that talks about the judgement of God. In case you haven't found them yet, here are some verses from the New Testament and God's judgement on unbelievers (I bolded most of the parts that speak of judgement):

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:16–20, ESV)

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36, ESV)

“This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction that comes from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:5–12, ESV)

“and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11–15, ESV)

“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”” (Revelation 14:11, ESV)

“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:23–25, ESV)

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”” (1 Peter 4:17–18, ESV)

“For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”” (2 Peter 2:20–22, ESV)

““Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”” (Matthew 25:41–46, ESV)

I just can't get away from the constant warning of Jesus and His apostles that there will be eternal fire and punishment for those that choose to disobey and reject Jesus. I don't presume to know exactly what is like, but I know it will be terrible, absolutely terrible. And in my walk with Christ this has been one of the most difficult things to comprehend, but one of the most rewarding, because to understand this truth brings into the reality of the universe that were living in, and causes me to share the gospel with greater urgency.

Sometimes I start to think, if God is love and he loves everyone then why would he send them to hell? As the answer that I keep coming back is that He is absolutely loving, and he loves righteousness and hates wickedness. He loves to reward the righteous, and he loves to bring justice to the wicked. And while we deserved death, Jesus came to die for us (Romans 5:6-11). God is actually patient in sending Jesus back to earth because he desires that everyone would repent and come to the knowledge of Him (2 Peter 3:8-10). Like Jesus said: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, ESV)While at the same time he loves to show mercy, he has also drawn a line where there is no more mercy, but judgment that is deserved. Let us boldly proclaim the full counsel of God, that He is loving, just, merciful and holy, and so much more, all at the same time.

In love, let us tell others the good news, that through simple faith (which naturally leads to repentance and obedience), people can have eternal life with Christ instead of eternal punishment with the devil.

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, ESV)

“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11–12, ESV)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8–10, ESV)

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:23–26, ESV)

Dear Jesus, thank you that you are so holy, just, loving and kind. I pray for myself, those reading this, and the global church, that we would have great understanding of the destruction and punishment that we deserve as sinners that fall short, and that we would have even greater understanding of your grace of mercy, of your displayed through your death on the cross. God I ask that you would put an all-consuming in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that as we come to understand it more, we would take this good news to our neighbors, our friends, family, children and even our enemies, that you would have the glory God. I love you Jesus, and its in your name I pray. Amen.

First quarter in review

Taiwanese walking with costumes in on of the frequent idol parades

Because it was the end of the quarter last friday, June 15th, and now it's our break until next Monday the 25th, I thought I would share an update and a summary of all the Lord did throughout the last 3 months of SBS! It is written: “And they have conquered him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:11, ESV). So that's why I'm sharing my testimonies! My hope is that through my testimony you would be encouraged, strengthened and boldened in your own walk with the Lord.

We were able to dive in deep into many books, looking at the background of the original hearers (for a historical narrative) and readers (in an epistle), the authorship, and able to spend much time gleaning from all the timeless truths that God has placed in his word. These are all the books we studied so far (18 complete books):

Galatians
Titus
Ephesians
Mark
Luke
Acts
We started studying Psalms, and will do at least 5 every week until the end of the school
Philippians
Colossians
Philemon
1 Timothy
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
2 Timothy
Hebrews
John

My Classmate and friend Cari joyfully studying the word

There are many more things to give thanks for that happened during this first quarter:

- Robert and Genese Francois overcame huge financial hurdles, even getting stuck at the airport at Canada to come here to Taiwan. God was so good and gave them so much money at just the right time.
I was able to pay the doctor's bill that came as a result of having Dengue Fever last, thanks to my awesome supporters!
- Especially during the first couple of weeks I wondered how I was going to finish the whole course, let alone one week, but God is faithful and brought me through the whole first quarter!
-At our base, we saw at least 5 Taiwanese younger people decide to give their lives to Jesus!
-One of the students in our class had been praying for her dad and sharing the love and message of Jesus with him for about 10 years, and he finally decided to believe and follow Jesus!
-Two of the students needed visas to come from Indonesia, and they didn't know how long it was going to take to get the visas, thinking it could take up to a month, but we all prayed and they received their visas the very next day!
-I've able to learn a little Chinese, Biblical Greek, French, and even more Haitian Creole which has been so much fun! The blessings of living in a multicultural base are awesome!

Robert, Genese and I during their first night in Taiwan

Thank you to everyone who prayed for me and supported me this past 3 months while I was in SBS!

If you would like to keep praying for me and my school, please simply pray that as we study the word we would grow in our knowledge of God himself even more than the word, and that we would share what we're learning, that God would pour out his spirit and many more people would come to know Him. Thank you!

The faithfulness of God

During our SBS we do three in the inductive method of bible study:

1. observation (looking at the text)

2. interpretation (figuring out what it meant to the Original Hearers (if it is a narrative) and the Original Readers (OR). This includes looking into historical and cultural information relevant to those groups of people"

3. Application (From figuring out what it meant to the OR, we can discern timeless truths, which we can then apply to our lives)

And this week one of the books we read was 1 Thessalonians. In it there is an amazing passage written by Paul to the Thessalonians: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24, ESV)

And I was just amazed at the faithfulness of God, so I chose to take some time (definitely not enough time) to just look back at my life, specifically in my journals, and see the ways that God had shown up and was faithful to help me when I was struggling or when my friends were struggling. Here are some of the highlights, mostly just from my first year of following God! There are so many more things that have happened, I doubt anyone would have the time to read them all at once, so here are a few:

-After getting baptized and saying I believed in Jesus, I tangibly experienced the unconditional love of God. It was an amazing experience and I drove home laughing and full of joy.

-During my early days of following Jesus I prayed that God would help me be reconciled with a certain friend. The following day, our relationship was much better, and I even said I was sorry for treating him wrong, he said he was sorry for treating me the way he did and we were reconciled.

-I prayed that God would allow me to get to know a certain girl even more, and then next few months I enjoyed an incredible friendship with her as we sought after God together. Then, after experiencing some pain as we weren't very good friends for different reasons, we were also separated a little as friends. But I had my relationship with Jesus to lean into, and oftentimes when I prayed I would experience the tangible presence of God and could feel him speaking to me, and in the loss of other friends I experienced a greater friendship with Jesus than anyone else in my entire life. Then, after about 2 years of not really talking to this friend, I started praying for her that she would decide to follow God and that we would be friends again, and I just talked to her 2 months ago and she is full throttle after Jesus and is going to do her DTS in Switzerland later this year. Praise God!

-I would constantly receive strength from the Lord, whenever I was worried, anxious, sad, depressed, which happened almost everyday I could run to God and find all I needed through prayer with him. Just knowing that He was with me gave me such peace and comfort, I had a journal full of my prayers, thanksgiving and worries, and it was the knowledge that God was listening and actually doing something about it that gave me so much peace. More specifically, after coming home from a difficult and discouraging day at school, I asked my mom to pray for me because I was depressed, and within 5 seconds of her praying I was immediately overcome with an incredible sensation of feeling God's love and joy and his affirmation in my life. It was incredible, and so encouraging that God would let me feel His presence in such a tangible way.

-On a back packing trip I first felt as though I “heard the voice of God.” It was really an amazing experience, where we were told by our leaders to just start reading the gospel of John as we went on by ourselves for about 20 hours. While on my own, I felt the Lord speaking to me about the upcoming year and my need to be freed from the fear of man so that I could actually obey him properly. While it was nothing spectacular, I certainly remember feeling that there was a loving, gentle voice telling me to do something that was so beneficial in my life. Also, while reading the book of John, I felt Him speaking to me through the words of the eyewitness account about Him, and I felt as though I really knew Him as a person and as a friend.

-I remember I saw an amazing answered prayer in my life! There was this amazing youth group retreat with the middle schoolers, and I had been praying for Aiko Tasaki. She is a sweet girl that had a very tender heart towards the Lord. I remember writing in my journal something like, I pray that she just gets rocked by your incredible love God, and it totally happened: She was wondering why she was going through so many hard times, and me and some friends prayed and felt to say to her 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, saying that we are comforted in our afflictions so that we may comfort others, and that God calls us to die to ourselves so that in that dying we can be full of His Spirit and joy as we forget about ourselves and love others. As we talked about that and prayed, she had an amazing encounter with the Holy Spirit and started laughing and being filled with joy! There was also another young man who people had been praying for that gave his life to the Lord that same weekend. Tanner Nielsen gave his life to Jesus after encountering the presence of God in a worship time. Wow Wow Wow that was an amazing weekend!

-While I had begun following God January 2009 mostly because of the good, amazing emotions that were a result of my relationship with God, the good emotions eventually weren't as consistent and I realized I couldn't cling to my own joy as the undeniable proof of God's existence, both for myself and for others. I remember in January-February 2010 I wondered many times why I was so depressed and felt very angry at God. I even remember one day at school I heard voice in my head saying, "There is no god" "its not worth it" "give up." It was during that time that realized I needed to have faith in more than my own subjective feelings. I read a book called “The Case for Christ,” written by Lee Strobell, an atheist who set out to disprove Christianity. The funny thing is that while he setting out to disprove it, he became more and more convinced himself that Jesus was who he said he was. I read that book and saw that Jesus was a real man that walked the earth and claimed to be the Son of the God described in the Jewish OT (Old Testament) There were many OT prophesies fulfilled in Christ, like the place (Micah 5:2, ESV) and the nature (Isaiah 7:14) of his birth, and the nature of his death, (Isaiah 53 and Psalms 22). Jesus actually claimed to be God, the same one that was eternal with no beginning and who created the earth, so he was either crazy, a liar or telling the truth. Just like Lee Strobel I came to believe that he was telling the truth. Since then I have wondered and asked questions about God, even wondering about Mormonism, buddhism, or Islam, but every time I ask questions God keeps proving Himself faithful in being able to answer all of my questions, and he keeps showing me that He is who he says he is, just as his people recorded in the bible. He is so amazing!

Taipei 101 and 101 things I'm thankful for.

Yesterday Robert, Genese and I were able to go to the second highest building in the world, named Taipei 101 because it has 101 floors. It was a great day to give thanks to God and celebrate the way he got all of us to Taiwan to be a part of the SBS.

Some of the SBS crew in front of Taipei 101

Part of our School of Biblical studies is to do a final application after we finish reading each book of the bible. For the book of Colossians, I was inspired by Paul's words: “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:15–17, ESV).

So, for my final application I took some time and just wrote a list of 101 things I was thankful for, you don't have to read it all, I mostly did for personal edification and enrichment. I deeply enjoyed it, and it gave me much for faith in what God is capable of doing, and highly encourage each one to apply Paul's words in their own way.

1. A sweet laptop
2. a comfy bed
3. salvation from the power of sin
4. salvation from the power of death
5. when I die I get to see Jesus!
6. Jesus loves me!
7. The Father loves me!
8. The Holy Spirit loves me!
9. I've never been starving in my entire life!
10. There is a fan next to my bed to cool me down when I'm hot.
11. There are many awesome people who have supported me, have prayed for and been super encouraging.
12. Alison Tenneson and my parents gave Robert and Genese money to buy a ticket to come here

13. 

    Robert, Genese and I in front of Taipei 101

    When Robert and Genese got stuck in Canada and needed more money God provided for them 1086USD in one hour through his people.
14. I didn't know how it was going to happen, but now Robert and Genese are here in Taiwan!
15. God is so much more committed to me than I could ever be to Him!
16. Gabrielle Villahermosa, my friend from Kona
17. Jared Karpa, my friend from Kona
18. Tim Kizziar, who helped me out in a season where I was struggling following Jesus
19. I've been able to spend almost 10 months of my life in beautiful and amazing Kona Hawaii
20. God is raising up a global prayer and worship movement, and soon 24/7 prayer and worship will cover the earth!
21. IHOP-KC started in 1999 with 20 intercessory missionaries and now has trained 1000s of people and inspired millions to pursue Jesus through prayer and worship
22. nothing is impossible for God!
23. There is no heart that God can't turn to him!
24. Samra Spear, who was an awesome English teacher
25. Mrs. Johnson, an amazing health teacher
26. Dan Bing for breakfast, which is like an asian pancake with egg and cheese in it
27. quesadillas
28. cheese in general
29. oatmeal
30. cheep cheep rice
31. rice and beans from Haiti
32. rice and bean sauce from Haiti
33. Patays from Haiti, which is a fried piece of dough with vegetables inside
34. All the students from the Haiti DTS, they were so amazing
35. All the money God gave us, over 100,000 USD for all the people that needed money

36. 

    Taipei 101 in the distance, it far away and very massive

    transit visas to get through the U.S. to Benin
37. Chimene Djeumo, a mighty woman of God from Cameroon, Africa
38. My parents love Jesus!
39. My parents told me about Jesus and I believed for the first time when I was 4
40. Music is so fun to play!
41. I'm so thankful that as Christians we get to follow God together, and its not good to be alone
42. I have two awesome roommates
43. I get to take a shower with hot water, and with much more than a gallon a day
44. I don't have to walk all day to get clean water, I can just go to the fridge where there is clean water freshly filtered
45. I can pay the equivalence of 1USD and get a really good sandwich for breakfast
46. Misty Edwards, amazing singer/songwriter/worship leader
47. The Jesus Culture band
48. There is live worship and intercession streaming from IHOP-KC 24/7
49. When I was in Kona last year someone gave me a guitar
50. Earlier this year in Kona someone gave me a prophetic word that encouraged me to keep leading worship
51. My parents paid for many years of drum lessons
52. My dad worked very hard to provide for his family
53. My parents took me many places on family vacations when I was younger
54. Sean Murphy was an amazing leader during the Haiti DTS.
55. Jesus has the power to raise the dead!
56. A Cambodian student had a heart attack while we were ministering in Cambodia, they probably died, and one of my friends on the team prayed for them and they were totally fine and came to class the next day.
57. Someone was healed in Cambodia of a chemical imbalance in the brain, and they were able to study much better after my friend and I prayed to Jesus for them.
58. Jesus loves to heal the sick!
59. Mike Bickle
60. Football

61. 

    An amazing view of Taipei from the observatory

    Lacrosse
62. Basketball
63. Foosball
64. Tim Tebow
65. Jeremy Lin
66. my Grandma
67. Fritos, our family cat that recently passed away
68. Having a car for 2 years in high school
69. DTS right after high school
70. A high school diploma
71. I get to be in a School Biblical Studies (SBS) for 9 months!
72. After the SBS I get to do 3 weeks of preaching and teaching training and then 8 weeks of outreach
73. God is so good!
74. God is gracious and compassionate.
75. God is slow to anger and rich in love.
76. He accepts me every time I come back to him!
77. He has good plans for me!
78. I don't have to worry about ever being lonely because he is always with me!
79. God has given me his indwelling spirit!
80. God speaks to me and tells me He loves me!
81. We have 66 books in the canon of scripture that show us what God is like!
82. There has been so many people that died to give us the bible that we have today!
83. I'm thankful that God raised up Martin Luther to restore the teaching of salvation through God's grace and faith in Jesus.
84. There is so much evidence of Jesus and who he is!
85. There are 4 different perspectives on Jesus written a few decades after Jesus died that each show the same Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John!
86. We have amazing staff in our SBS that always take care of us and teach us a lot about the bible!
87. Jesus died for me! (did I say that one already?)
88. There are immeasurable riches, wisdom, knowledge and mystery to be searched out through the knowledge of Christ.
89. God is raising up a generation that is committed to preaching the gospel
90. Loren and Darlene Cunningham, who started YWAM 52 years ago.
91. I'm thankful that there are Christians all over the world!
92. I'm thankful that there are fewer and fewer people that haven't heard about Jesus everyday.
93. God is drawing Christian leaders all across the world to come together through Call2All congresses.
94. We have Lou Engle come to the YWAM base in Kona earlier this year and prophesy that God is going to raise up 24/7 worship and prayer at YWAM bases.
95. There is going to be a 2 week training school called the Circuit Riders in Kansas City this summer that is going to call people to faith filled proclamation of the gospel and train in basic principles and application. I believe this is going to a huge convergence of prayer and missions, filling people with fire for the great commission even more!
96. For all of eternity we will get to gaze upon God and cry “holy, holy, holy!”
97. I will get to be friends with angels one day
98. God has filled me up with joy in his presence!
99. When I had Dengue Fever in Haiti there were lots of people to take care of me.
100. According to Lee Strobell, a journalist who investigated the claims of Jesus, there are currently about 5,646 extant greek manuscripts of the NT. Thats a lot!

101. 

     This was an advertisement that says "How far would you go for love"
     Jesus went to the cross. There is no greater love!!!

     If anyone has read this far in the list, I want to thank you as well :). Thank you reading, and may you be blessed in your thanksgiving as well!

Robert and Genese in Taiwan

"O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them." -Psalm 40:5 NLT

Robert is now in Taiwan studying in the SBS! We have seen God provide money and opens door in ways that were impossible and unthinkable for us. Along this 8 month journey God has really challenged my faith and shown me that He is capable of all things! God is so good to help me when I have have so little faith! This is a journal entry from March 1st, me basically telling God how little I believed that Robert that get to Taiwan, but still praying for it. I included this journal entry because it just shows where I was at, and the way God answered my prayer despite my unbelief in Him:

Journal entry from March 1st, 2012:

"I have no idea how Robert is going to get his money, and his plane ticket and all of those things. Thank you God you completely understand and totally know what's going on with him. God I honestly don't have the faith to believe that Robert could actually go to Taiwan. Jesus give me faith.

God I honestly have no idea how hes going to get to Taiwan. But its now that we will truly see a miracle. Thank you Lord. That is just so much money to sow into a plane ticket when I'm not sure that he will really get a visa through the us. God I don't want to walk in unbelief, but I also want to be honest with you I don't know what to do! Jesus help me God! I know that he needs the visa from the U.S. First he tried earlier and he got denied. Thank you Jesus for your ridiculous love for Robert, that while he was still a sinner you died for him. Thank you God that you said ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. So I'm asking God that you would pour out your spirit in a powerful way and move in power to give Robert everything he needs to get to SBS! Jesus we need your power so bad! Thank you for getting us in a perfect position to see an undeniable miracle. God you're so good! Thank you so much for your ridiculous provision in the past, that he had all that he needed! Thank you that all of the students in our DTS had everything they needed to go on outreach! God you're so good!"

So then Robert didn't end up getting his transit visa through the US, but the Lord provided all of the money so that he could go through Canada! God is so good to do what we're not capable of doing on our own. He is now in Taiwan, studying in the SBS!

Here is Robert to tell the story and say thank you!

Highlights from the past 2 months

The Lord has been doing so many things here in Kona in the past 2 months. I got here January 8th and it has been non stop excitement ever since. Sometimes its hard to sleep because there is so many exciting things going on, sometimes is so easy to sleep because I'm so tired.
So here a few quick highlights from the past 2 months, and then a short video with some of the best prayer room moments, along with a healing testimony. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support, my time here has been phenomenal!

• Getting to run with about 10 other wild eyed lovers of Jesus and pray and worship together almost everyday
• Seeing the students in the schools flourish and lead out in bible studies, prayer meetings and outreach
• Seeing over 45 people choose to follow Jesus in a 3 week period in the streets of downtown Kona. That's a lot, way more than the past!
• Seeing God touch and heal people physically, making short legs longer to free people of back pain, healing the emotional wounds of the past. God also healed someone of Carpal Tunnel, which you can see in the video
• Being able to grow in the skills of worship leading and teaching, and serving on the base 

The book that tranforms the nations

I just finished an amazing book that was talking about the bible called The book that transforms the nations. Written by Loren Cunningham, the book describes the tangible modern day evidence of what God said: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV). It contains many stories about how God would stir in a few key people that would study The Bible and preach it to others, and then the whole society around them would be transformed.

One of the amazing stories is about a little island in the pacific. The story starts with nine sailors that took over the HMS Bounty, a British ship, and settled on the Island of Pitcairn with a few other Polynesians they had abducted. They burned their ship to evade detection by the British, who were seeking to give them justice at the end of a hangman's noose. After starting out relatively well, they soon descended into a hell of their making. One of the men discovered how to make liquor, and soon had everyone drunk. Then there was lots of fighting, death and disease. Finally there was just one man alive from the original sailors, who became known as John Adams.

Then, in an act of sovereign intervention, Adams found a Bible in the chest of one of his shipmates. He started to study the book, and it wasn't long until he decided to follow Jesus. He then taught the word to the entire island, and everything changed. Later two British captains came to Pitcairn and said the culture on the Island was like a Golden Age. Since Adams had begun teaching them from the Bible, no young woman had been seduced. Theft was unknown. They lived in order and peace. That totally shows the power of God's word to change an island!

In the book you can also read many more stories, such as what happened in South Korea, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway and others, when people decided to obey God's word. Therefore I highly recommend the book title The Book That Transforms Nations by Loren Cunningham. Check out this link if you're interested in getting a copy of your own: The Book That Transforms Nations.

This is another reason why I'm so blessed and excited to be able to spend 9 months straight reading God's word in a very intense way, because I will be more equipped for what the Lord has in the future. Just to give you more of a taste of what I'm going to in about a month, here is a video made from the SBS program in Kona:

Don't forget Haiti!

About 2 years after the devastating earthquake that killed 250,000+ beautiful Haitians, there is much joy to be had about this nation, as well as much sorrow and anguish.

Even now many people still live in tent cities, devastated by extreme poverty, resulting in suicides, rape and much more evil as the enemy preys on the weak and broken.

At the same, the Lord God Almighty has done powerful things over the past 2 years, including causing President Preval, who was in office in 2010, to call for 3 days of prayer and fasting to Yahweh, aka Jesus Christ, our beautiful savior and God of the bible! This certainly is an incredible time for the nation, as the 200 year commitment of Haiti to Satan has ended in 2004, and it is very clear the Lord is on the move!

When I was there this past year I experience tremendous open hearts to Jesus, as I met the hungriest people ever. It truly is an incredible opportunity to partner with God as he transforms that nation.

May the Lord stir your heart to continue pouring yourself out for this beautiful nation as you watch this film. If you wish to respond by supporting a Haitian called to go to a School of Biblical Studies in Taiwan the same time as me, click here: Robert going to SBS.
Also, please send up fiery prayers for Robert as he currently needs:
1. Transit visa through America
2. Favor for visa to Taiwan
3. Supernatural provision of about $11,000 for tuition, airplane tickets and food