Week 5

1. What is the gospel? How would you describe the gospel to someone who's never heard it?

God loves; Sin separates; Jesus saves; You decide

These four bullet points are the core message of the gospel but yet it feels not yet complete, and I think the missing component is the love displayed by the messenger who brings this gospel to them.

It's as if these bullet points come to a life and truly be effective only when they are presented by the one who is aware of God's aching love for those individuals and decide to carry God's heart in them and reach out to them. 'Without love....' 1 Corinthians 13

2. Have you had any new revelation about sin this week? If so, what?
Previously, the concept of sins was a list of 'don't-dos', and I was measuring my christian-ness according to that list. But I realized that, everything all comes down to pride, and every sin has pride at its root.

This whole idea is so counter-cultural...Independence is one of the most desired virtue in our society. We live in this mindset that no one can tell me what to do..and I will earn as much as I can so I can afford whatever I want to do. Unfortunately, this mindset is all over the place within church as well.

3. What steps are you taking to let go of pride and independence?

I am examining different areas of my life that may have been affected by pride and my independence first. The biggest part that I am currently struggling with is my finance. Being dependent on God about finance seems to be the biggest challenge for me.

Week 4

1. Have you been inspired this week by hearing the story of Pick-a-Pocket? How so?

It's encouraging to see these artistically talented folks being inspired and convicted to do something for Christ and have actual courage to act on it. We live in the world where being an artist is discouraged simply because it does not make money. It is refreshing to see a group of people being obedient and rising up for voiceless and fatherless with their gifts.

2. Was there anything you learned this week from the Pick-a-Pocket members experiences that you think will be helpful on outreach?

Failure does happen, and there is a fair amount of heartache involved in God's ministry.

3. It's good to make sure we are not forgetting the things we've learned about God from one week to the next. How are you practicing or using the things you've learned from previous weeks? For example: In the week about hearing God's voice I learned not to put God in a "box" therefore I'm trying to be open to new possibilities of how God will teach me or use me. Another example: During intercession times, the whole practice of sitting completely quiet before God was new to me and I became interested in trying it more. So now I've been spending a little time every week in quiet with God.

I have been dwelling on a thought that everyone here is uniquely and beautifully created and everyone has the image of God in them. I have been trying to be reminded of that in every encounter with others and serve them as much as I can.