Jonathan Edwards’ Love for Scripture

“Oftentimes in reading [the Bible], every word seemed to touch my heart. I felt an harmony between something in my heart, and those sweet and powerful words. It seem’d often to see so much light, exhibited by every sentence, and such a refreshing ravishing food communicated, that I could not get along in reading. Used oftentimes to dwell long on one sentence, to see the wonders contained in it; and yet almost every sentence seemed to be full of wonders.” (Edwards’ Personal Narrative)

John Piper on Christianity in China

Click here for Pastor John Piper’s thoughts on 200 years of Christianity in China.

September M Update

Greetings my fellow Bereanites! This will be my last and final update, reporting straight from the motherland with much Seoul! It’s so nice to not have to write encryptic messages nor have to speak to people using code.

This past month was the month to wrap things up. I was able to meet with Stella a few times. Upon meeting with her, I ended up sharing the gospel with her again just so that she fully understands. She’s going to try and go to church with our good pal Rita. Conversing with Stella, it just confirmed how much we need the local Chinese Christian community to help us out with further follow ups. Stella’s English is pretty ok but it was still pretty challenging trying to explain Christianese to her. It also confirmed that we really need to study and know the language in order to be most effective.

I also met with Sunny who had recently gone to church with Rita. She’s pretty interested and from my point of view somewhat hungry to know more and seek after truth. Though she slept for most of the service that Sunday when she went to church with Rita, she told me that she wants to go again. Sunny’s been reading through the OT/NT packet trying to understand the outlining of the Bible. We need to keep petitioning God to soften the hearts of these girls so that they may truly open their eyes and continue to seek after Truth.

My short stay in Beijing has been such a blessing to say the least. God has definetly caused my heart to grow and learn how to love the people here. He has shown me the many opportunities of ministry that can be produced, all we lack are more workers. Let’s continue to stay vigilant of our immediate surroundings, there are countless people who live among us who desperately need Christ here and abroad.

Hello everyone! Just wanted to say thank you again for the support you guys have given for the past year. Reflecting back over the past year reminded me again that all the fruit that is bearing now was only made possible by our faithful God, who listened and answered our prayer requests. So as an encouragement, keep up the good work, both in prayer and deeds!

We’ve been able to play basketball with Carter and Allen a few times since the camp ended. With them living at home, there hasn’t been a lot of opportunities to speak or to share, but the good news is that both of them will be living on campus, so we should be able to meet with them more often than any of the other students. Please continue to pray for opportunities, but also for their hearts to become interested in the gospel. I believe they find it hard to buy into the gospel because of their situation, so please pray the God will give them insight to see beyond those things.

In addition, we’ve been able to meet with Stanley. I was able to give him a book. Our recent conversations have been somewhat on the non-spiritual side, after he watched a few films that talked about the “silence of the God.” Please continue to pray for a genuine desire to know more about the Bible and the gospel.

Hello everyone,

Well since camp I have been trying settle in and get more familiar with the area. Alex has been really helpful in showing me to different places and answering random questions that I have, so I feel like its more like home now.

Alex and I have been meeting with students from the camp as well as Rita and John. Most of the students went back home, so the few that were still in town, we tried to meet up as often as we could.
We’ve been frequently meeting with Daniel, and gave him a FoF booklet that we will begin soon. He’s been hungry to just read, He’s already read through the Pentateuch, and we have been trying to guide him and answering questions that come up. We’ve encouraged him to focus on the gospel from John and help him grow in his understanding of the good news. If you can pray for him that the God would give him wisdom and guidance as he continues to grow.
We met with Trog and were only able to meet once before he left for home. We gave him a survey packet. He also seemed very hungry, so continue to pray for him that he would grow and that our time with him would be fruit filled when he gets back. He’s been reading at home but was unable to find a local church there, so well help him when he gets back.
I also got to spend some time with Tony, a friend of Henry. He is a genuinely nice guy that I have no problem getting along with and spending time, but it has been hard to meet with him because of distance and work. So the only time we can meet is on Saturdays, but he had work and stuff the past couple weekends so he was unable to meet. He is still in the dark, but I shared with him some truths about total depravity, and I think that was hard for him to really take to heart. So if you could pray for him that I could have opportunities to just meet with him. And more importantly that the God would soften his heart to take in the truths we talk about and give him the trust to believe.
Alex, John, and I have been going to BICF together every Sunday, and it has been good fellowshiping with him. If you could just pray for his growth, he is having a hard time being fed at that body and seems to be a bit discouraged. Also he, Alex and I will begin to go over some things together in a small group.

Hi everyone,
We’re excited to see all of you very soon, and plan on updating you in person! I’ve just been meeting up with friends I’ve made over the past year — if they are in the family, I’d like to encourage them one last time; if they are not, I’d like to challenge them to continue searching and leave them with a strong, positive impression of Christ in my life. Thanks for all the encouragement and support over this past year!

Only 1 week left before coming home – things are not as busy as I expected, but I am sure that will change when next week hits….trying to keep busy meeting up with friends but given school just started again, and some people just got jobs…it is hard to keep a full schedule — will spend most of this week meeting up with folks and we will have our final group meeting on Saturday with those folks – it has been a great year of learning and seeing all the different things the God has to do all around the world – definitely a good year of gaining longer term perspective and solidifying future potential to come out long term

Bible Study ?s

Matthew 22:34-40

Study Questions
1. Why is the question of which is the greatest commandment in the law something that an expert of the law would ask Jesus?
2. Give specific examples of how loving God and loving our neighbors sum up the Old Testament commandments.
3. What point do you think Jesus was making by asking about whose son the Christ is?

Discussion Questions
1. Is it possible to learn to love God emotionally as well as in obedience? What practical things can we do to have greater affections for God?
2. In what ways have you tried to love your neighbors lately? Think of some practical ways that you can apply loving your neighbors with your group.