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This week we got to hear from our very own Chad Hampsch. Chad absolutely has the spiritual gift of teaching & it has been incredible learning about the book of Romans from him, but before I get into Romans, I want to briefly talk about the picture I used for this blog post. That picture was taken when I studied abroad in Israel, Turkey, & Greece. We were standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (I mean, what a moment). The reason I’m bringing this up is because spring break starts tomorrow for us & a group from KI is going on a trip to Israel! I so wish I could go back, but I am genuinely thrilled for my classmates to experience all that I got to when I was there. Being over there changed my life. The Bible just comes to life for me when I read it now!

Now that I’ve gone on a little rabbit trail, let’s get back to Romans!

If Romans could be summed up on one sentence, it would be this: The righteousness of God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul is writing on the back end of his third missionary journey, most likely at the end of 57 AD. He is making a trip back to Jerusalem with a gift from the Gentile believers for the Jewish believers. There was a constant tension between Jewish & Gentile believers in the early church, which will be evident in the book of Romans. There is no full-proof evidence of how the gospel reached Rome, but most scholars show evidence of the gospel reaching Rome within 2 years of Christ’s death, & the book shows many parallels to us & today’s church.

So what do we know about Paul?

• What is Paul doing?

“But now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia & Achaea have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, & they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. Therefore, when I have finished this, & have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ & by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, & that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God & find refreshing rest in your company.” Romans 15:25-32

• What is Paul’s heart?

“& thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation.” Romans 15:20

• Why is Paul writing this letter?

“For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours & mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (& have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks & to barbarians, both to the wise & to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” Romans 1:11-15

• Does Paul feel secure?

“That I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, & that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints.” Romans 15:31

Two of my favorite verses in the book of Romans are 1:16-17, which is not only the theme of Romans, but is the central theme of the entire Bible:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first & also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith.'” Romans 1:16-17

The book of Romans is 16 chapters long, & a broad breakdown of the book is as follows:

• Condemnation: the need of God’s righteousness
• Justification: the provision of God’s righteousness
• Sanctification: the demonstration of God’s righteousness
• Restoration: receiving God’s righteousness
• Application: the behavior of God’s righteousness

That is as far as I’m going to go regarding the breakdown of Romans. Now I am going to share some things that really stood out to me when studying this book.

When thinking about some real-life questions that people might ask me, one that immediately comes to mind is this: “Why should I believe in God?” To answer this question, I would first start by sharing how God has changed my life personally. For example, God is so loving that He sent His only Son down to earth to pay my death penalty, & when I put my faith in Him, I am adopted into His forever family (Romans 8:15). I have seen His faithfulness & healing in my life, & He has sustained me & made His presence known to me when I have felt alone & afraid (see Isaiah 41:10). Then, I would share some other thoughts, which are confirmed in Romans:

• The universe points to the existence of God

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power & divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:20

• Our own consciences reveal the existence of God

“In that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness & their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.” Romans 2:15

Another thing I love about Romans is the “Romans Road,” which is a simple way of explaining the gospel message:

• All men have sinned (“For all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God” 3:23)
• The penalty of sin is death & separation from God (“For the wages of sin is death” 6:23a)
• God knew that we would need to be saved, so Christ came to give us the free gift of eternal life through His death (“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” 5:8 & “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” 6:23b)
• His death is sufficient to pay for our sins (“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” 8:1)
• We are saved when we place our faith in Jesus Christ (“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, & believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, & with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” 10:9-10)
• The gift of salvation is offered to everyone (“For ‘whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved'” 10:13).

My other favorite part of Romans is found at the end of chapter 8. Verse 34 gives us four truths about Jesus: He died, He was raised from the dead, He is at the right hand of God, & He intercedes for us. In light of these four truths, what can separate us from God? Nothing. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. 

“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

As you meditate on the words Paul shares with us, here are some questions to think about:

1. How can one man’s death provide salvation for all?
2. What does the Spirit do in your life?
3. Can anything separate us from God?

I hope this brief overview of Romans strikes a cord in your heart because I know that this book has forever changed my life.

Loyally,

Lindsey

There is Hope

Have you ever wondered why God allows evil & suffering in the world? What about if there really is “something greater”? As a Christian, even I sometimes struggle to trust in the plan that God created. But, as I continue to learn about the deity of Christ I am constantly reminded of God’s grace, love, & hope.

When looking at the deity of Christ, some initial thoughts that come to mind are:

• We live in a Theistic universe
• God uses miracles to confirm His message & messenger
• Christianity is confirmed by God through:
  • Internal evidence
  • Manuscript evidence
  • The church fathers
  • Jewish sources
  • Roman sources
  • Archaeology

Understanding the deity of Christ is important to me because I want to know how to better defend my faith to non-believers, how to comfort both believers & non-believers in times of suffering, & be able to share the hope I have with non-believers.

There are several objections to the deity of Christ, but there are multiple ways to defend it, as well. Out of all the ways to defend Christ, my top two are these:

1- The Gospels are an accurate historical work written by first century eyewitnesses.

Eyewitness accounts of Biblical events supports the authenticity of Bible manuscripts. This shows overwhelming bibliographic reliability of the Bible.

2- There is a remarkable record of prophecy.

The Bible records predictions of events that couldn’t be known or predicted by chance or common sense. According to Bible Evidences, “The Old Testament contains 333 prophecies regarding the Messiah, most of which were fulfilled by the first coming of Jesus Christ. Even the most liberal critics acknowledge that these prophecies were written at least 400 years before Christ. Mathematicians have easily shown that the odds of all these prophecies being fulfilled by chance in one man is greater than the number of atoms in the universe many times over.”

I could go on-and-on about evidence that Christianity is confirmed by, but instead, I want to demonstrate how the deity of Christ impacts my everyday life. At the beginning of this post, I briefly mentioned some real-life questions: Have you ever wondered why God allows evil & suffering in the world? What about if there really is “something greater”? I want to encourage you in the fact that Jesus confirmed His claim through His miraculous sinless life, death, & resurrection. He can use evil to bring about His purpose & it reminds us of our need for God. If you place your trust in Him, there is a source of strength to your suffering, even when you cannot see or understand it. As believers, we are called to trust even when we do not understand, & there is hope for us.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13

If you have not placed your trust in God, I want to be able to show you the ways Christianity is confirmed, to encourage you to have hope in something greater–God, & to find comfort & peace in times of suffering. Life is not easy. Let me be the first to admit that. When I’m experiencing sickness, suffering, pain, or death around me, I have to cling to the fact that God is in charge.

God loves us so much that He sacrificed His only Son for us. He paid my death penalty, so that I may put my faith in Him.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

God continually sustains me & makes His presence known to me when I feel alone & afraid.

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

God has an overarching plan for me that cannot be denied. It is being worked out in accordance with His will & will be finalized at Jesus’ second coming & eternity future. He is not the author of evil & does not tempt people to do evil. He wants people to have free will so they could choose to love Him as in a real relationship. When God paid for our evil choices, it also demonstrated the event of His love for us for His glory.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

When He gets rid of evil, it is over for everybody. He hasn’t gotten rid of evil yet, so people can still choose Him.

“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

Some people might wonder how I can believe in God when there is so much suffering in the world, but my response would be that I have personally seen His faithfulness & healing in my life. He is with us in our trials, & can still use trials for our good. In the end, He will restore everything to perfection.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

“Then I saw a new heaven & a new earth; for the first heaven & the first earth passed away, & there is no longer any sea. & I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. & I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, & He will dwell among them, & they shall be His people, & God Himself will be among them, & He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; & there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4

I pray that as you read this post you find comfort & peace in God who loves you so much. Life is not & will not be easy on this earth, but if you place your trust in Him, you can have eternal life with Him in heaven. All men have sinned, & the penalty of sin is death & separation from God. God knew that we would need to be saved, so Christ came to give us the free gift of eternal life through His death. His death is sufficient to pay for our sins. We are saved when we place our faith in Christ, & the gift of salvation is offered to everyone.

“For all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, & believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, & with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10

“For ‘whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.'” Romans 10:13

If you want this, I would love to talk to you about your decision & walk through the next steps with you.

Loyally,

Lindsey

 

A Simple Human Trying to Understand a Complex God

Last week my KI classmates reunited in good ole Branson, MO. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to join them. I ended up in the hospital for a week with sapovirus & gastroenteritis (aka a really bad stomach virus). Talk about an unexpected start to the New Year! I got to ring in 2017 lying in an ER room. I mean, just last year, I was recovering from major hip surgery, so I guess this whole hospital + New Year’s Eve thing must be a trend. Well, one that I hope ended this year. So, with a whole week in the hospital I had a lot of down time (obvi). I watched way too much Netflix, read some books, & played a ridiculous amount of card games with mom. One day it snowed & I was so bored that I raised my hospital bed as high as it would go, just so I could watch the snow fall outside (lol).

While being in the hospital for a week was the last place I wanted to be, I got some sweet, sweet time with Jesus. I had time to process all that I had been learning from first semester, pray about the year, & just talk with God. I got back to KI on Monday night & let me tell ya – it was such a sweet reunion with friends! Still to this day people continue to check in on me to make sure I’m feeling okay & to say how glad they are that I’m back.

Last week my classmates learned about the trinity. Now that’s not an easy topic to begin with, let alone try & catch up on everything. I know I’m a week behind, but I’ve loved getting to study the trinity more than I ever have before. As humans, our brains cannot fully understand the complexity that is the trinity. It takes faith to trust that God is who He says He is. This difficult but fundamental concept within Christianity is that God is the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit. Yes, I’m saying the Father is God, the Son is God, & the Spirit is God, but they are all unique. The role of the Father is to send His Son, the role of the Son is to send the Spirit, & the role of the Spirit is to dwell in us. The easiest way to explain this incomprehensible topic is this: One God, three persons. Throughout the entire Bible, we never see the word “trinity,” however, there are ideas that point toward there being a trinity.

Here are some things that I know for sure about the trinity:

• There is only one God
• All other “gods” are not really gods at all (1 Corinthians 8:5)
• God is revealed in His Word, in His world, & the Word who came into the world (Jesus)
• This God – the only One who is, the One who is revealed in Scripture, the One who became flesh – is Trinitarian
• The three persons are equally & fully divine
• The three persons need to be distinguished but cannot be separated

Some key passages to explain the trinity are these:

1 Peter 1:2 (NASB) “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ & be sprinkled with His blood: May grace & peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

This verse shows us the working of the trinity. We see the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sanctification of God the Spirit, & the sprinkling of the blood of God the Son. The Father foreknew us. Following His foreknowledge, the Spirit came to sanctify us. This separates us & brings us back to God. This is the aspect of the Spirit’s sanctification before Jesus’ redemption. Then, there is the sprinkling of the blood of the Son, which indicates Christ’s redemption.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NASB) “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart & with all your soul & with all your might.”

This is the key verse of Judaism. The capital LORD means Yahweh, which means God the Father. He first revealed Himself in Exodus with Moses. God means Elohim, which means plural God. So the literal translation is, “Yahweh your plural God, Yahweh is one.” This shows that there is One God, three persons.

Matthew 3:16-17 (NASB) “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; & behold, the heavens were opened, & he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove & lighting on Him, & behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”

In this passage, the nature of God as the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit can clearly be seen. Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, & as Jesus rose up out of the water, heaven opened up, & the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove, descended upon him. A voice from heaven was heard saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” God the Father clearly announced Jesus’ identity, & the Spirit descended on Jesus, which empowers Him to begin His ministry.

Genesis 1:26 (NASB) “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; & let them rule over the fish of the sea & over the birds of the sky & over the cattle & over all the earth, & over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

This verse shows plurality in the Old Testament. God, or Elohim, is plural every time it is used in the Old Testament. This verse then reads, “Then God (plural Elohim) said, ‘Let Us (plural pronoun) make man in Our (plural pronoun) image, according to Our (plural pronoun) likeness…” These plural pronouns used of God prove the trinity.

I believe in the trinity because of Jesus & once the trinity is revealed, the hints of plurality & foreshadowing in the Old Testament are also clearer. With the coming of Jesus, distinctions between the persons become clearer, too. God has always been & has always been one in three persons. Studying God is a response to who God is, is dependent upon God, & involves the heart, soul, mind, & strength. It is an act of worship that ultimately results in a life of obedience & service.

Looking back to when I said, “This God – the only One who is, the One who is revealed in Scripture, the One who became flesh – is Trinitarian,” if God is trinity, then it matters that we believe in the trinity. If we don’t, we are believing in a god who does not exist. Belief in the trinity affects everything else, including the way we read the Bible.

Although the word “trinity” is not found in the Bible, the concept clearly is. It is revealed in time & space in Jesus, & only the trinity “makes sense” of the Biblical storyline & the incarnation, God with us. No one has ever known God apart from divine revelation. He takes the initiative, He condescends to us, He makes Himself known, & He acts in our world. We know who God is by what He does. We can say meaningful things about the trinity, but it is still unfathomable. I believe it because the Bible teaches it & because it is true.

I’m just a simple human trying to understand a complex God. I can’t wait to be in heaven one day & ask God all the silly questions that fill my earthly brain. As a believer, I trust in God’s plan & know that He is always faithful.

Loyally,

Lindsey

 

Beautiful Jesus

If you had told me a year ago that I would be able to give an overview of the entire Bible in 30 minutes I would have started laughing. Yet, on this beautiful, chilly fall morning, I did it.

I did it.

I had done it several times leading up to today, but actually presenting it felt different. When I finished presenting, I walked out of the room, overcome by an overwhelming sense of awe for my Savior. I started crying. Literal tears streaming down my face. I realized in that moment that it wasn’t about giving a flawless presentation.

It’s about telling the story of redemption through Jesus Christ. 

WOW! My body was (& still is) consumed with emotion- everything from complete awe of Jesus to being so proud of myself for being able to do what I just did.

Obviously I can’t share my entire 30 minute overview with you on here, but if there are a few things I would say it would be these:

• God is faithful. He is faithful even when we remain faithless
• God meets us right where we’re at in the midst of our shame and guilt
• God fights the battle for us, all we have to do is be obedient
• If you walk with God, He will fight for you
• The Lord redeems us

The Bible is the greatest book in the world because it is God’s love letter to mankind, in which He reveals Himself, the way of salvation, & the future.

I’ve had the song “Beautiful Jesus” by Jonathan David & Melissa Helser on repeat for the past couple days. It is the perfect culmination for what I’ve learned through doing my Biblical Overview.

“Beautiful Jesus, my glorious friend

The One who never grows weary & stays till the end

Oh, how I love You, I cannot begin to say

All of the reasons that I love to sing Your name

Oh, how I love You

Oh, how I love You

Oh, how I love You

Jesus

Oh, how I love You

Oh, how I love You

Oh, how I love You

Jesus

I love You, no one’s like You

Keeper of my heart

Beautiful Jesus”

If you want to hear my Biblical Overview, I’d love to do it for you. I hope this blog post gives you just a glimpse into how much this “assignment” has changed my life forever. Thank you, God, for sending Your only begotten son, Jesus, down to earth to die on a cross for my sins.

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:12-13

Loyally,

Lindsey

He Remains Faithful, Even When I am Faithless

This week we had the privilege of hearing James Skinner talk about the Kingdom Era, which covers 1 Samuel through 2 Chronicles. A little background information on the kings – Saul had no heart for God, David had a whole heart for God, & Solomon had a half heart for God. Now with that being said, I don’t want to share with y’all every single detail I learned about this era. Instead, I want to talk about some practical applications that I took away from this week.

I’ve been learning a lot lately about the character of God. I’m just continually in awe of the One who saves. Here’s the thing, though. Sometimes I feel unfaithful to the Lord. I wonder if I’m the one exception to His grace. I feel unworthy.

Inadequate.

Overwhelmed.

There are a million more words I could use to describe how I’ve felt recently. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about the character of God, it’s this: He will always remain faithful, even when I am faithless. Satan is a taker, but God is a giver. All is good in God’s time. I don’t know about you, but knowing that God is fighting for me makes me feel overwhelmingly thankful. I know that the power of God is in the Word. I know that He rescued me. I know that I am His child.

That isn’t always easy, though. When you stand up for God, you will be attacked. When you follow God, your motives & abilities will be questioned. Even though it can be the most challenging thing to do, your courage should be based on who God says you are. Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you. Here’s the good news:

When you know who you are in Christ, it will set you free!

 God is always more concerned about the heart. He shaped David’s heart & character. David was faithful in little & faithful in much. We should be too. You can’t lead if you can’t serve. Leaders lead & shepherd your flock – Christ is the Chief Shepherd. Be faithful in the little things, just like David was.

Now I want you to think about something for a minute. I’m going to list three questions. I want you to first rank them according to how they currently fall. Then, I want you to rank them according to how they should be:

How I see myself?

How others see me?

How God sees me?

If the rankings do not line up, then something needs to change. We have nothing to offer, but God has offered us grace:

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:4-8

When we accept His free gift of grace, we are a part of His family forever:

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:15-16

If you have been feeling doubtful lately, I hope this encourages you in some way. I pray that every person who reads this will feel loved by the One who loves perfectly.

Loyally,

Lindsey

 

 

What We Can Learn from the Old Testament Prophets

Let’s be honest. You’re probably thinking: “Why is Lindsey writing about Old Testament Prophets?? I don’t care anything about that!” Well, I’m here to change your perspective.

This week at the Kanakuk Institute, we got to hear from Blake Holmes, who is the Equipping Director at Watermark Community Church in Dallas, TX.

In the past, I’ve 100% been more prone to open up my Bible to Proverbs or Matthew. I mean, who opens up their Bible to Habakkuk or Lamentations? Even though I haven’t, I am definitely going to now. I have come to fall in love with the OT prophets!

At first thought, I concluded that the OT prophets were all about gloom & doom. Instead, the message of the prophets is repentance & compassion. There are 17 prophetical books: 5 major prophets & 12 minor prophets. The difference between major & minor prophets is not significance, but rather length of book. Now don’t worry – I’m not going to go into detail about all 17 books. So keep hearing me out!

There are 7 principles to keep in mind when interpreting the prophets:

1. Context: historical context is key!
2. Roles: the prophets served 2 roles – to forth tell the truth of God’s Word & to foretell what is to come.
3. Covenants: read the prophets against the backdrop of the OT covenants (Israel’s commitment to follow the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, & the Davidic Covenant).
4. Theme: the theme of the prophets is one of repentance over idolatry, social injustice & religious ritualism, & restoration (a future hope through the coming Messiah).
5. Double-Fulfillment: prophecies often have a double-fulfillment, an immediate, & a remote perspective; they emphasized 4 chronological periods – their own day, the captivity & return, the first coming of Christ, & the millennial reign.
6. Oracles: the longer prophetical books are collections of spoken oracles, which are not always presented in their original chronological order.
7. Literal fulfillment: although the prophets often speak in figurative terms, there is no need to spiritualize their meaning; thus, we can anticipate a literal fulfillment.

Today, lots of people turn to fortunetellers & so forth, but the Bible has people who can really predict the future because God helped them. They were called the OT prophets. Everybody can go to fortunetellers, but only God can predict the future.

If you want to know what I’ve learned about each prophet, please get in contact with me. I would LOVE to share my notes with you! But for now, here are some questions for you to wrestle with:

• What do you trust in for security?
• Do you ever feel like you’re the exception to God’s grace? Why? How can you change that view?
• How can you find comfort in the sovereignty of God?
• When have you questioned the Lord’s goodness & sovereignty over evil?
• What is the Lord calling you to reprioritize? In what ways are you prioritizing your comfort over the Lord’s call in your life?
• When are you most tempted to rely on your own strength rather than the Lord’s? What are you currently relying on the Lord to accomplish?

These are all questions that I’m working through right now because of what I’ve learned about the OT prophets. It’s so cool to know that the Old Testament does apply to our lives today. It’s not just for people who lived 2000 years ago. God is faithful. He is faithful even when we remain faithless.

I hope this got your heart stirring!

Loyally,

Lindsey

Life on the Island

Hi friends! I cannot even begin to describe how incredible these past two weeks have been! I moved to Branson, MO to attend the Kanakuk Institute over Labor Day weekend. The Institute is located at Kanakuk’s Family Kamp. I got placed with a random roommate & it turns out we could be the same person, as we have so many things in common! I’m excited to see our friendship grow in the months ahead. From the very first night, I have experienced so many fun adventures – everything from sports on the lower fields right on the lake, karaoke nights, scavenger hunts, dance parties, movie nights, hot air balloon festivals, college football watch parties, road trips, hammock hangs, & so much more.

Some of you may be wondering, “What in the world is the Kanakuk Institute??” Well, let me tell ya! KI is an 8-month graduate discipleship program. That just means I am living in a community of about 85 Christians & we are all learning more about the Bible, why we believe what we do, how to defend our faith, & how to win others over for Christ. I know the word “Institute” might throw some of you off – it’s not an institution, with no phones or access to the outside world. I promise 🙂

We are two weeks in, & yes, we’ve had a blast so far, but we’ve also had the most authentic fellowship I’ve ever experienced. We shared everything about ourselves – the good, the bad, & certainly the ugly. It was hard at first to be so open about my life to practically strangers, but I came to realize how freeing it is to share & be transparent. I never thought I would become so close to a group of people so quickly. We can walk with each other, fight for each other, keep each other accountable, & just do life together in such a genuine way.

We have learned about prayer, conflict resolution, & evangelism. We worked through a 12-step recovery process in Christ. We have already heard from some incredible speakers –Keith Chancey, Chad Hampsch, Todd Wagner, & John Elmore, & I can’t even imagine how great the rest of our speakers are going to be throughout the next year. I just wanna share everything I’m learning with everyone! If you are struggling with living in bondage of your sin, & want to find healing & restoration, please reach out to me & I will personally walk through the 12-steps of confession with you.

It has been a crazy busy two weeks & we haven’t even started our internships yet. I will definitely be learning how to manage my time between Institute classes, Nursing classes, dining hall duty, my campus job, & my internship. Nevertheless, stay tuned for weekly updates about what I am learning here at the Institute! Blessings to you all!

Loyally,

Lindsey