Students finally got to wear rain boots and use umbrellas because of five consecutive days of rain. As physical sickness and exams kicked in, this week was a time of leaning on the Lord and encouraging one another in love.
Fred from Williamsburg Christian Church (WCC) spoke at Large Group about living a life of worship. In Amos 5:21-24, God revealed the Israelites' offensive complacency and indifference in loving those other than themselves. They were content with comfortable worship and did not care for the poor. Fred shared that in Scripture, "justice" includes legal justice and social righteousness: "God's rightness done everywhere." Just because we are in the New Covenant doesn't mean that God's character of justice and love have changed from the Old Testament. We are called in Romans 12:1, "by the mercies of God, to present your (our) bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your (our) spiritual worship." God calls for our entire life to be worship toward Him. We worship not just at Large Groups and church Sundays but in all that we are and all that we do. And that although we may "squirm off the alter," His mercy and grace will bring us back into His arms. We are to seek reconciliation for all things as we have been reconciled with the Father through Christ the Son.
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Jeffrey Buffkin from BCM was the speaker for this Friday's Large Group! He shared on God's love and how we should love Him faithfully and reflectively in return.
The scripture he focused on was Mark 12:28-33. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus answers, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The goodness of God should not be dependent on the circumstances of our lives. Our love should reach the magnitude of His unconditional and relentless love for us, proven by His sacrifice of the Son. The second greatest commandment is "you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” Once we receive this love from our Father, we must let it overflow so that the basin below us may be poured into and overflow as well. Jeffrey has shown great faithfulness to the young hearts on this campus and we, ACF, pray that his work may bear great fruit and be multiplied manifold. We encourage you to love in an Agape love and to be loved in Agape love. This week was yet another packed week for WM students as classes started to pick up speed. This didn't, fortunately, deter ACF from also continuing with our events and activities!
Along with another Bible Study and ACF Dinner, Agape played its first Intramural Indoor Soccer Game on Thursday Night. Although it was a pretty close game, Agape came out victorious. Friday was the first student TED-Talks of the year. However, rather than focusing on how God revealed Himself in their studies, the two students who shared (David Heo and Megan Man) gave two different kinds of talks. David shared his testimony about how God worked continuously in his life regardless of struggles he went through while Megan shared about her favorite word "Overflow" and about the issue of poverty. At the end of large group, Bigs and Littles pairings were announced and new relationships were formed! Congrats to all the new families out there! With another week coming up we are excited to see all that God has planned for us! PTL. Last week was a hectic week for students as they plowed through their first full week of classes. ACF still went ahead and had events throughout the week!
Tuesday was ACF's first game night, Wednesday was ACF's first dinner at the Caf, and Thursday Melody led ACF's first Bible Study. A lot of firsts! On Friday, at Large Group, Garrett from Williamsburg Christian Church came and shared his testimony and his experiences in his walk with God. ACF also prayed for all members who had birthdays in the summer and right after a scavenger hunt was had. Winners of the hunt received prizes. All in all, it was a fantastic week: PTL! |