Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas………..

I pray that all of you will spend Christmas day being deliberate about remembering God’s gift of His Son to us all. God’s sacrifice for insignificant rebellious people like us makes me want to sing His praises for the rest of eternity. He is truly deserving of more than just a day. There are so many around the world that still haven’t heard the good news of His Son. Many will say Merry Christmas without ever knowing the treasure hidden behind those words. Let’s pray as we close out this year and think of how we can invest our life for 09, to find ways to open our hearts and mouths to declare His mercy and grace to those who are so desperate to know it.

Have a great Christmas Berean Family…..

peter

Penn Says: A Gift of a Bible

Memorable Quote from J.I. Packer

from Keep In Step With The Spirit by J.I. Packer concerning the Corinthian church..

“If our reaction as readers is merely to preen ourselves and feel glad because our churches are free from Corinthian disorders, we are fools indeed.  The Corinthians disorders were due to an uncontrolled overflow of Holy Spirit life.  Many churches today are orderly simply because they are asleep, and with some one fears that it is the sleep of death.  It is no great thing to have order in a cemetery!”

December M Care Update

This past month brought some unique challenges. Daniel (a guy that I meet with consistently every week to study) has been struggling. He had accepted Christ through Henry and was studying the Bible with Matt. Now he is at the point where there is some doubt that has been bothering him. He was raised in a very strict Communist home, and so it has been hard for him to let go of that system of belief. He has told me about some Communist ideas and how he thinks it is consistent with reality. The challenge to this was trying to refute these claims because I had never studied Marxism before. This also challenged me to examine my own beliefs and worldviews as well, and why it is consistent with reality. I really had to pray to God about this stuff.

There is another guy named Alan who I’ve hung out with a couple of times who I also had the opportunity to share with. He is an actual Communist party member, and so talking to him was interesting because he intensely scrutinizes reliigon. This guy is pretty smart too (he’s very political and knows a lot about global issues), so our conversations have been very engaging.

My conversations with Dan and Alan have been challenging, but also a growing experience for my own understanding of the Christian worldview. Please continue to pray for me and for wisdom on how to tackle opposing worldviews that I will inevitably encounter here.

Things to Keep in Thought

(1)Growth – ongoing sanctification and love for JC.
(2)Purity – in thought and in affections.
(3)Humility – to think of myself as nothing, to have a more serving heart.
(4)Dan & Alan – for them to know the truth and to be saved by the truth

Ni hao, BCC! I can’t believe we are almost at six months since we’ve been in China!  Time truly flies… it really just seems like yesterday when I was in shock by the dark clouds of smog outside as our plane landed at the Beijing Int’l Airport, and I got off the airplane with my jaw dropped!  Thankfully, he has provided us with semi-clear skies now and added ferocious winds with it!  Despite the cold, I honestly can say that Beijing seems like home to me, and as the time quickly passes, I am even more thankful each day to have this chance to be out here and serve him!
This past month has been the most consistent with work and meeting up with students.  I am enjoying meeting with Claudia each week to go over a book as well as weekly studying the Bible together.  She is asking a lot of good questions and I am encouraged by her desire to know more.   She is very close to accepting so please continue to think of her, for him to widely open her heart, and that I would boldly and accurately share with her.
Now that things with our visa situation has settled down, Mike and I have consistently been able to meet together each weekend to study Grudem and have an intentional time to lift up our various concerns together.  Our family back home is definitely in our prayers, so please let us know if there are specific concerns!  I am more convinced each day that being on my knees and in his Word is truly like the air I breathe.  I need to do it because without it, I can not live.  I am realizing more the preciousness of my daily time with him, and I am so grateful for his Word and being allowed to commune with him, which is life itself.
I have been singing the song below in my heart this past week.  I hope that everyone is truly falling in love with C as we reflect on the coming Christmas season! Zai jian!
‘He is the air I breathe”
He is the air I breathe, He is the air I breathe
Your holy presence, living in Me.
Chorus:  I—- I’m desperate for you.
I—- I’m lost without you.

*People/things to keep in mind:

Claudia-  that our study together would mold her heart; for her heart to be convicted of her need for JC.  That she would in return come to repentance and accept him as her Lord and Savior.

Stella-  that her interest to know the Bible more would grow and would be eager to study and speak of eternal matters.

Family- assurance of salvation for Dad, Mom, Sister and Brother in law. Mom’s health; and sister’s health as she is having a baby very soon!

Our team of two-  that we would continually lift one another up, keeping each other accountable in love.

Personal health-  that my stomach and overall health will improve despite the cold season, and that I would learn to trust in him no matter how my health ends up.

Looking for a New Year’s Resolution?

What is it? It is a Bible reading plan that Berean hopes to use to encourage its members to live up to our namesake by studying through the Scriptures daily (cf. Acts 17:11).  It will cover the canon in 4 basic sections.

1. Psalms and Wisdom Literature
2. Pentateuch & History of Israel
3. Chronicles & Prophets
4. Gospels & Epistles

Each day, the plan will have a selection from each of these 4 sections.  Going through the sections and sticking to the plan will allow the participant to get through the entire Bible in one year (a very commendable and more importantly, profitable exercise).

Why should we participate? The 2nd point of Berean’s vision statement reads, “Berean exists to glorify God by equipping His saints with His inerrant Word.”  In many ways, this is an unnecessary statement as it is the duty of all Christians to become familiar with the Scriptures.  The Bible abounds in exhortations to be saturated in Scripture (cf. Dt. 11:18; Ps. 119:30; Jn. 20:31; Rom. 15:4).  Sadly however, most Christians have never gone through the entire Bible cover-to-cover.  There can be many reasons for this.

Though not a complete remedy alone, a Bible reading plan, if used effectively, can direct believers to the Scriptures in a steady and consistent fashion to understand the entirety of God’s counsel.  There are a variety of plans out there but I think the best ones are those that expose you to a section of the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and miscellaneous sections from the Wisdom & Poetry books (e.g., Psalms and Proverbs).  There are some obvious benefits to reading the Bible this way.  Here are 5 such positives:

1. Scripture informs Scripture as one is daily exposed to both Old and New Testaments. This allows the reader to trace the entire storyline of God’s written Word and understand in a comprehensive scope His redemptive plan, beginning with the progressive unfolding of the “shadows” in the OT to the full disclosure of Jesus as the Son of God in the NT.
2. The wisdom books can be taken in smaller doses and meditated upon as they were originally intended to be.  For example, it surely doesn’t seem from the anthology-like character of Proverbs, that they were meant to be all read in one sitting.  Rather, they are to be taken and digested slowly one-by-one.
3. Reading the Bible everyday will ensure that you keep His Word close to your heart thereby enabling the Spirit to transform your character and disposition into a deepening love for God, affections for Christ, and greater Christlikeness.
4. Doing something together is always better than doing it alone.  This is after all why we exist in community, right?  We can spur one another to keep pressing on and we can share in mutual encouragement by exchanging biblical insight in passages that a number of people have been reading.  (Note: The Scripture reading that opens up each Sunday service will be chosen from that week’s reading list).
5. Daily disciplines yield life-changing habits!  As God is gracious in strengthening us to get through the Scriptures in 2009, it will be a recurring trend in later years!

How should I go about doing this? Reading the Bible was never meant to be a chore!  However, inasmuch as we may desire to understand the Scriptures, laziness and apathy eventually win out.  Therefore, I’d encourage you to read not merely with your mind, but your heart as well!  Regular meditation and prayer ought to accompany your daily readings for the Word to bear fruit as it was meant to.  Another piece of practical advice: find a consistent time and place to read.  We are creatures of habit and the more we get used to doing something, the easier it becomes.  No matter how spontaneous we may enjoy being, it isn’t very conducive to a steady devotional life.  Finally, invest in a good study Bible!  There are a number of resources that the Lord has blessed us with to help answering some of the questions that inevitably come up when we go through the Bible.  We should take advantage of these tools.

So now what? If you’d like to participate, e-mail me at bereankid (@ gmail.com).  I will send you the reading plan and enroll you in a weekly e-mail list that will serve to assist you in that week’s reading selections.  YotB will commence Thursday, January 1, 2009.