Week 7

This week, Hayden taught us how to make a Bible study and Werner came in for the second half of the week to teach on Ephesians. Here is this week’s journal entry:
- It is of the utmost importance that I learn to learn from the Bible myself. In creating Bible studies, I will learn to “catch my own food” instead of always relying on others to feed me. In this way, I will be able to grow spiritually, to critique the scriptures, to challenge my faith, and to connect with the word of God.
- Through the law, I need to die to the law. Only Jesus Christ gives me this ability. The law of God reveals the characteristics of God (which are His glory). The problem with the law is not its content but its ability: it cannot change the heart. But, with Christ living in me, the law becomes not a command, but a promise!
- Because I have been made one with Christ, I have been crucified with Him. It was not only Christ on the cross, but me as well because Christ and I are one. Therefore, I HAVE BEEN (past tense) crucified with Christ. It is not something I need to try to accomplish (or something I can accomplish) as I had previously believed, but it is something that has already been done. When I come to God for forgiveness, I am not appealing to His mercy but His justice! Having sentenced the Son, He cannot sentence me!
- I have died to sin. This is not to say that sin does not affect me or tempt me, rather, the price for the sin – the “jail sentence” – has been paid in full. Since death is the consequence of sin and I have died with Christ, I have, in fact, died to sin. I no longer owe sin anything. Therefore, I need to allow Christ to use my body as an instrument of righteousness rather than letting sin use me as an instrument of wickedness. I cannot counter sin by legalism or licence, but rather by the life of Christ in me and this life does not come from trying but from trusting.
- I need to be in Christ here on earth in order to be in Him for eternity. Death is not so much a way to become closer to God as a change of scenery.
- In Ephesians, Paul calls the church to unity, and this unity can only be found in Christ. And it is Christ’s love that creates unity. The words “In Christ” or “In Him” appear 22 times in the first two chapters of Ephesians. This is because Paul is trying to emphasize that it is only in Christ that we have anything: spiritual gifts, power, everlasting life, etc. These gifts are not separate from Christ, but rather an integral part of Him.
- As a Christian, I need to speak the truth. My acts of service are worth nothing if I am not proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ. It is not a religious retreat that will convert someone but rather when God touches their heart.

This week started off rather meh since I was pretty low on sleep, but after a good talk with Hanna and Sheryl, I started feeling better. God is really teaching me to totally rely on Him, not on my own intellect. He has been slowly pushing me to stop worrying about the future and trust that He will provide and that He will make His will known and direct me.

Tuesday evening was family night. My group stayed at the crossing with Hanna, Sheryl, and Joseph. We played volleyball which ended up being tons of fun! And our team won (although this may be because there were five people on our team and only four on the other)! Afterwards, we played a few rounds of very competitive balderdash then we went down to the fire pit for a campfire with hot chocolate.

On workday, I was in the kitchen with Sheryl, cleaning every single nook and cranny. After cleaning out the fridge, Sheryl was going to compost the leftover fruit pizza, but instead, she said I could eat it so I have had some delicious snacks this week!

I spent most of my free time on Wednesday and Thursday working on my Bible study (the rough draft was due Friday). This one is on 2Timothy 1:8-12. The good copy is due next Thursday, right before we leave for travel weekend. It’s hard work, but I think it will be really rewarding in the long run being able to get something from the Bible for myself.

On Friday night, we had a semi-spontaneous girl’s night. Patti had a Mary Kay lady come over and so most of us splurged and bought cosmetics. Patti made delicious chocolate covered penut butter balls and we snacked on them and cheese and crackers throughout the evening. Afterwards, we watched a movie. Being over tired, I only watched the first twenty minutes before going to bed. All the girls slept over at the Epp’s, it was tons of fun! For breakfast, Patti made us baked French toast. It was absolutely scrumptious! And we also got fruit with breakfast which was a treat!

From 9am to 12pm, A bunch of us went to help out a family that is having a tough time (I’m not sure exactly what the situation is). We mowed their lawn, weeded their garden, fixed up their path, and generally cleaned up their front yard. There were probably about eight Capernwray students and a bunch of people from the local church. It was really fun and the transformation of the yard was amazing! Afterwards, another lady from the church served a barbeque at her house (which Patti and a few others had helped to prepare) for the people who helped out.

While the girls were getting beauty treatment advice, the guys were mud wrestling. Colin and Joseph dug up the pit in the afternoon with the tractor. Apparently, they had fun. But the girls have agreed that we want to mud wrestle and go possum hunting and drive a beat-up car around a dirt track and do all the other stuff that the guys get to do during guy nights!

The rest of the Crossing students had a slip-and-slide set up after lunch right up the street from the Epp’s. The tarps were set up on the grass on the side of a really steep one lane street and the boys were carrying large jugs of soapy water up from the Epp’s to keep the slide wet. It was the fastest slip-and-slide I have ever been on! The guys were having fun “ganging up” on people. Basically, if they felt someone was going too slow, they would run and slide down after them and take them out on their way down. It was really funny (and slightly painful :P).

During the afternoon, I did something I have never done before: I booked a rental vehicle to take from Christchurch to Akaroa for travel weekend. It was rather stressful, but in the end, I found a decent deal. Colin, Cara, Cameron, Brian, Steven (Brian’s friend), Jordan, Robert, and I are heading out to Akaroa from Thursday of next week till Sunday morning. We only have one definite activity planned: sea-kayaking. It should be tons of fun! For Saturday supper, Amber and Colin cooked a supper of baked mac and cheese (yay!) and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Sunday morning, after setting up for breakfast for the last time (duty rotations are on Monday), Jordan, Adam, and I walked into Geraldine to go to the first service at the local church (that is, the traditional service). I then stayed for the first half of the second service (the contemporary service), but left half way through to get some assigned Bible reading done. This was my second time attending the traditional service and I am really enjoying it! I have met some wonderful people and have been invited to one ladies house for lunch after the service in two weeks! I spent Sunday afternoon writing a letter to Penny (my co-counsellor from Te Mapua). I really need to start writing more letters! But time seems rather scarce with all the projects, assignments, classes, and activities we have.

On Sunday evening, Kris Banes (the guy who taught on Colossians and Jonah) came to the Crossing to perform a concert (it was open to the community. So in the afternoon, we cleaned up the formal loungs and set up chairs and vacuumed and set up candles and stuff. The concert was awesome! Basically, he played solo piano. He played a bunch of hymns and talked about the stories behind them. It was beautiful and relaxing!