Reflection 12

            This week discussion talks about the Christianity in the Philippines on how it was started and begun its growing here. There are people who are missionary came from Spain and America teaching in building school and teaching here. They develop the character of willingness serving the Lord in the field where there are people who need education and more active in academic. I really learned that I can impart my life through going to other country just to teach and help people to become more knowledgeable in the things in so many ways. I realize then that the growth of Christianity before was not an easy task to do for just an hour but it consume the rest of your on how determine you are to accomplish well.

            Throughout my life experience in God, I want to continue my habit in studying things around me and develop skill in handling the word of God especially the gospel of Christ. It must be presented well to the people with meaning and the relevance of it in our entire life. I want to be active and always on time when there is a call for help to do services in this country. I want to give the credit to God for whatever accomplishment I have in this institution.

            From now on, I will have to know my standard before the Lord and reflect in what areas that he can use me to impart my learning to the people. I will strive for excellence to minister to the people in many ways that they develop being independent in their lives that they can make their own thorough the resources around them.   

Refection 11

            This week discussion talks about the pietism that focuses spiritual renewal and emotional transformation. They did `bible reading, prayer, and experience personal conversion. I learned that in this way I can develop my sense of having intimacy relationship with the Lord through prayer and personal unto him. To become spiritual and religious, I have to become selfish berore the Lord but to become selfless instead.

            Throughout my experience in God, I can say that life is such precious gift from him that ass Christian needs to take good of it. It is such an opportunity to let us testify the wonders and greatness of God in our lives as I continue walking with Him. Because of this, I have to prioritize the things that are glorifying God the most so that time will come he will reward us in heaven for the great is reward awaits for us.

            From now on, I will have to balance my schedule before the Lord so that I can spend time with him alone through personal conversation with him. I have to be sensitive in reading the word of God for it helps me a lot in my study here at BTC, doing his ministry, interacting with other people. Also, I will have to focus on godly things by helping the needy and persevere in studying and handling God’s word.

Reflection 10

            This week discussion talks Ambrose of Milan one of the founder of the doctrine of Salvation by faith alone. I learned that he shows boldness to proclaim the truths with the people. He has the courage to tell the meaning of the salvation that can be found in Jesus alone through faith. I feel like that the Church has to do the responsibility to preach the good news to many people.

            Throughout my experience, I want to focus on eternal things not on what is perishing on this earth. Christ must be the center of my heart, mind, and everything thing I want to do especially when I teach or proclaim Christ. I want to neglect feeling shy because what I am doing is for God’s glory nor for my own sake.

            From now on, I will preach the gospel without any hesitation and practice my teaching well. I will have to study hard what I am going to speak so that they will be able to get the point and understand the meaning having Jesus in the heart. I will not stop proclaiming the message of salvation to all people so that I can develop my confidence to speak in front of the many people.

Reflection 9

            This week discussion talks about the life of Saint Gregory the great, Augustine Redivivus, and Saint Francis of Assisi. I learned things that impacts my life as I continue my service to God. These people came from different type of family that are religious and wealthy but amazingly they chose to leave their status or their comfort zone. The important of simple living is where I can determine what I need the most like education, talents to develop, and influencing others. Living a life that has no direction or purpose is just a mess. I really learned that the church has to be develop or growing through searching that has the capability to do the ministry not measured by his or her degree but the heart of willingness that deserves the honor and glory.

            I want to put in my mind that every leader has nothing to do how good they are but how willing they are to sever others. I have to maintain personal contacting with other people by telling the truths from the Bible. I want to know my personal relationship with the Lord whether I am doing for his will not my own desire. I want to spend time with the Lord every day to check my hearts daily and to be spiritually renewed.

            I will remind myself to maintain my closeness to God to direct my path toward the goal of reaching others to Christ. I would like to do the best I can render service to God whether it produces good or bad result. I will continue to glorify the name of the through helping, feeding, and teaching individual with the very words of God. I will become a student of the culture to have closure with the people around us and interact with them.   

Reflection 8

            This week discussion talks about the life of Martin of tours and Saint Ambrose of Milan and how they influenced the society as they became influential through their teaching that makes people think. They have different background just like Martin who had pagan parents unlike Milan for he was born in a Christian family. I learned that God can use different types of people to be known and preserve the Christian development in a particular society. It doesn’t matter how intelligent a person is but how determine and sincere to do the ministry through serving people in the areas of physical and spiritual needs.

            From my experience, I want to change the way I interact with other people especially those who needs help. There are some people who are still innocent about Jesus and confuse the assurance of salvation. As a servant of Christ, I want to have the willingness of the heart to listen and correct the negative thoughts because it might produce negative result as well. It is hard somehow to develop the good character when there are people who become the stumbling block of doing opposite thing.

            The first thing I will take is that I would like to practice humility when reaching out people to Christ because it becomes a challenge for me because not all people I meet understand my teaching. It takes time to develop the habit of being humble in presence of the people around me. I would like to develop the character of being a good listener because as a preacher. I can make an impact to the people by listening to their needs and concerns about the status of their lives. in order to understand the situation that they have, I will ask them a question relevance to their experience. The more I become sensitive to other people, the more I learn to determine their strengths and weaknesses that would help me where I can help them develop their capabilities. I will continue to live my life in Christ through being a good steward of my time and task.

Reflection 7

            This week discussion talks about the life of Basil the Great who has the brilliancy of mind and character as well as studied literature. It’s such an interesting life story to study because he came from a religious family and was nurtured by his parents. He has different kind of living that could be reflected to what he accomplished. He wrote the longer and shorter rules for monastic life. He applied his learning through writing and hid famous one is Hexameron which means the six days. There are people who became his inspiration throughout his life journey. It was an interesting to hear that he helped the poor during famine. The character he has shown was a big impact to encourage every Christian to do the same to those who are needy. He let his life shone to every people. Another things is that crusades’ main idea is the series of attempts to gain Christian control of the Holy land, had a profound economic, political, and social impact on the societies involved. It is interesting to understand the relevance of crusades that made an impact to the life of the religious people. They are used the power of the pope to regain the holy land form the authority of the Muslim group.

            Form my past experience, I came also from different background that reflects of who I am today. My parents nurtured me the way I behave and interacted with other people around me. It impacts me that character must have the most part in everything I want to do. Some people might rebuke for the things I have made and influence my mind and heart. There are times that God used other people as instrument or tool to shape my life and to evaluate the growing process within me. I really learned that helping other is such a wonderful thing to do and I should engage my skill in every activities to render service for God.

            As I follow Christ’s steps, I would like to imitate his character through helping those who are in need without any exchange and telling them about the salvation with the firm foundation of the scripture. I will continue my study habit as I develop learning and understanding things so that it can be used for influencing others’ minds and heart to have in Christ Jesus.   

Reflection 6

            This week discussion talks about the scholastic controversy deals with making images or scholastic icons. There are such people who engage with the activity of telling others about the truths they have learned. One of the example is the life Ulfilas who was engaged in the mission activity to the north that he worked among the Visigoths by leading them to faith in Christ as Arius preached him. Patrick is another person came from Ireland who was sent as a missionary. He was once captive of the Scots from England. He was a swineherd, prayed for his freedom and he has vision to escape from God. These two people reminded me that the task of a missionary was not an easy one for it involves the character and patience to endure hardship. It is how they were so devoted to preach what the truths they heard. It doesn’t, matter to how big the problems are in the field as long as the combination of the determination and focus are build up with how to cope it

            From the past experience, I can only imagine when I was telling other people about Christ with the different kind of people the way they behave. As I think of that, I came to know that how strange a life without any clear understanding of what I thought, do, and say. It becomes my unforgettable moments to let the people open their hearts for Christ that me thinks a lot that there is a God who are working and convicting people to believe in him through his Holy Spirit. From the above people, they sacrificed themselves to be in the field without knowing the result or the consequence that they might undergo but interestingly they felt that God commissioned them to go. So I can truly say God called me to experience pain and struggles to develop my character and behavior to be prepared in the activities that I never have.

            As I continue my life journey in Christ, I will not neglect the pain to shape me to become what God wants me to be. It is my joy telling others about Christ and lead them to believe what I am believing for. I will do praying to determine the calling of God and his will always prevail in my heart not my own will. I will become one of the faithful missionary of God wherever place he will put me.

Reflection 5

            This week discussion talks about Marcion of Sinope who embrace the Paul and went to Asia Minor. The beliefs are there are two different God- the creator-God in the OT and the good-God in the NT, Christ was not born of a virgin woman that means a son of a good-God and a stranger of a creator-God, Christ had no physical resurrection, people that rejected Christ were to be punished on judgment day, marriage is not allowed, not allowed to eat meat and drink wine, and lastly everyone must baptized. He was rejected as a heretic in Rome third time. He started a Church and was a student of and believer of Paul. Another is the Council and Creeds and it’s to counter threat of heresies and to clarify Christian doctrines.

            I learned that every belief or even my teaching should have the reference of the scripture and it should not contradict to what the Bible says about Christ. There are lots of teaching today that sometimes would corrupt the people’s mind and doing such things that are unlawful. I learned before that the reality of life seems so unfair because of misunderstanding then it will come to the point of punishment. I discover that conflict occur because of the reality of the teaching and its meaning that affect their way of practices and standard of faith. They are just an idealistic person that concludes reality as their experiences. I know how to balance to determine the person of Christ and build the foundation that is proven by the authority of the Scripture. From the past experience, I heard about some teachings of other religion that makes me think how to explain some of their views base to the bible.

            

Refection 4

            This week discussion, I learned and amazed how God used Justin Martyr as the result of explicitly explain the important truths in the Bible- the Gospel. I knew that the gospel is the message of salvation for it Crist’s centered life, ministry, and works. Justin was a Christian apologist and philosopher and was born in Flavia Neapolis on A.D 114. The life journey of Justin to continue his service in the Lord started when he was converted 133. It was such a trending story to hear from the time when he was martyred on 165 A.D in Rome but interestingly his contributions in our history made an impact to all people to be aware of the teaching of the Gnostics belief and how to refute against them- the Syntagmata. He proved that Christ was the Messiah. And the other thing is that Arianism was led by Arius who was influential Baucalis Church that he made Christianity easied to understand and his method is eloquent preaching. Some of the belief of Arianism is that Christ did not always exist and Christ is bigger than man but lesser than God. They taught us that Jesus is not equal to God- his authority, rule, and power. They are different from the teaching of the Calvinist or we can say they are just opposite. Nevertheless, they have some views that are scriptural and can be based in our practices and belief but again not all of them are true to as believers of Christ.

            I learned that we can still do the work for God’s kingdom when we are eager to play the role of a true Christian though we are surrounded by many troubles in life. It is my responsibility to explain the importance of the word Christianity unto others because they are God’s people also that Christ also died for them. God has given us the task to preach the truths from the Bible to influence their minds with Jesus. Life is not easy on earth as long as the truths has been revealed to the innocent people today. I have this in mind that without pain, there is no gain that means we need to thrive hard to finish the job and never stop to what gives credit to God. We need to know how to explain the different belief so that others may not confuse about the true teaching.

            As I continue to minister, I would like to really base my teaching from the biblical teaching and to let them know that the Bible is the ultimate authority for faith and practices. I’ll have to a firm foundation when I preaching to those who are innocent. I’ll accept the challenge of being hurt when somebody just ignore me and reject my teaching. But I do believe God is indeed is at work and he’s the one to convict people. I will not get discourage easily because there is a time for everything.  

Reflection 3

This week, I learned from this class that how God's plan of redemption has been worked out from the time of the end of the first century until today and I was so ignited about this course because it deals about the history of the church of the different issues of the people in the past. It talks about the progressive development of the Christianity even if in the tough times. however, they are meant to survive though many trials happened to them. I was more concerned about their spiritual growth as they experienced difficult times knowing that God is with them no one can fathom his mighty power. the second thing I learned from this course is from the life of Ignatius and Polycarp for they one of the instrument used by God in advancing the gospel. the authorities thought that they are against to the Roman law for what they did. Ignatius became the reputed student of John the Baptist and his contributions that he wrote a series of letter as an example of Christian theology. I was convinced that when I started to run the race i really need to finish it because I do believe that Christ is the finisher our faith