Forgiveness

The two verses that Amy shared with us yesterday:  

Mark 11:25-26

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” 

Ephesians 4:32

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

September 19, 2011 - Monday Discussion

Hey y'all and guyzes, 

I'm happy all of you could make it to the monday discussions! Really, thank God we could do this because I really learn more about you, especially when you share a lot of personal stuff. Shoutout to Kathleen and Vincent:  Is Monday a bad time?

News!. 

1.  Welcome Sarah Wong into this discussion group, I hope we can invite all the central region kids soon (that means Toby,  Willy, Kuan-Lin, Kuan-Hsuen, and anyone else who I might have forgotten.)

Summary:

So just to summarize for those who couldn't make it, Amy shared about the topic "forgiveness"; we talked about how sometimes it is hard to forgive but it is something very important to do. we discussed the small differences between just forgetting their offense and forgiving their offense. Thomas shared that we should be kind to those who offended us and this is a very good way to test your forgiveness. I hope all of us can put what we learned into practice and try to repair the relationships that have been stretched for too long.

Prayer Request: 

1. Keep ALEX, the nebraskan, in your prayers. She is sick with something. (probably some strand of corn virus :) ) . And i've noticed that a lot of us are getting sick, including Thomas, Amber Lo, and ____? 
2. Keep this group, this "United Body of J2" in your prayers because I feel like we have something good, something that will be edifying and constructive for the future of this church going on. Pray that we will continue to bond together and sharpen each other so that VERY SOON, when we our fellowship is strong enough with one another, we can have a fellowship and bring some of our friends.

Reminder: 

1. Monthly Dinner/"Hang out" Administration, we scheduled some form of fellowship near this coming weekend so keep us/me posted. Otherwise, I will call you myself, muhahahaha. (Amber and Ebone)

Proposal:

1. If no one gets far enough down this message, we'll just discuss at church or next monday but: after Thomas, Sarah, and I had a nice conversation after everyone left, we decided this was a great opportunity to really discuss personal weakness/viewpoints/advice in life. They are extremely applicable to daily life and attitude i feel. So here it is:
2. CAN WE HAVE THIS PHONE CONFERENCE MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK?????? :) (remember, they are voluntary, but it would be nice if that opportunity was just made available).

P.S. Polling question to test if you actually read all the way down here: 

* Your thoughts and comments MEAN A LOT TO ME! please please please please please dont hesitate to say anything you think, even if you think it's "dumb"

So...

do you like or dislike what we are doing? Do you want a different way to communicate (video chat, whale calling)? Do you feel like we are moving too slow are we "okay"? and finally, Where do you want this to go? just another chore or an opportunity to bond and prepare to fight in the front line? In your action packed life, if you have time, try to think of this and share it with everyone. 

Have a good rest of your week, keep each other in your prayers.

Your brother in Christ,

- Kenny Z.

First Monday Bible Study via Phone Conference

Thank God we just finished our first Bible study/ discussion together.  The topic was "Unconditional Love" based on James 2:1-4:


My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.  For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?




Our discussion leader lead us into the following discussion topics: 

• How do you choose your friends? 
• What kind of people do you prefer to be with? 
• How much do you think your eyes influence your decision to befriend/ approach someone? 

7 students + 1 teacher participated tonight.  

A survey/ discussion for improvement will be given out in class this Saturday.  

Plans for a New Beginning

Plans for a New Beginning 

From the J2 Fellowship on September 4th, 2011.

At the start of the fellowship that cool summer day, the new J2 class of the year 2012 sat down around the glass table and discussed the following goals. These goals give insight as to where we are individually and where we plan to go. I hope by reading these, we can understand each other better and know that we are all one in Christ and we move forward as one body. 

Note: these are paraphrased 

There's not much contact with each other outside the church; we should spend more time together not only there, but outside to really get to know each other and be closer than school friends. - Thomas

We need to have a prayer life together, a stronger prayer life at home, in church, and everywhere, on a daily basis. It's not easy to find time together, even at church. - Ebone

We need to put what we learned in class in to our actions in daily life - practice what is preached. We should learn skills on how cope with peer pressure, how to communicate with others, and how to testify to others and answer questions proficiently. - Esther

We should learn to have a higher priority for God in our lives. Also, we should do more evangelism because the evangelism effort at Dallas is not enough. - Amy

We definitely need more fellowship, at least once a month, just so we can be on the same page. We should see each other not only on week ends so we can not only be church buddies, but also spiritual companions. - Kathleen

We need more fellowships, more out reach in church, picnics, carnivals, and activities to have opportunities to invite friends and let them feel comfortable. Also in class, we should have activities that edify us but are also molded for visitors; The lessons should have a combination of bible knowledge and interesting material. - Amber

We need more fellowship to really draw closer to one another so that we can work together as one body. We should get close to the point we can share about anything without awkwardness and feel comfortable to seek each other's advice. Also, it's time we accompany words with actions and be examples for the church. - Kenny

We need hands on learning; for example door to door evangelism. If we only go to church, we may become "churchy" and this makes our faith lukewarm; there has to be more than that. We need to go out to share what is learned. Faith without deeds is dead. - Brandon.

We should have weekly talks about how we all are; we can share our problems and see how God would help in those scenarios. In addition, we should give our selves challenges and goals for motivation every week. We could have bible challenges related to the lesson that Saturday and give ourselves deadlines to accomplish these tasks and at the end of the week, share our progress - Vincent.

We should get to know each other more than just church friends and help each other learn and like what Vincent said, every week we should have a talk about how our week went and our problems and tell each other how we can get over that. And for the people in Dallas, going to do action like door to door would be really good. - Alex (later after meeting).

So in summary, there were several words that left an impact: together, daily life, evangelism, fellowship, hands on learning, and others. This amounts to two simple, yet very broad goals:

Fellowship and Action.

I have high hopes for this J2 class and through love, prayer, and reliance on God, I hope we can become part of the front line that will do its part to transform this church into a powerful, living church. Thank you all for sharing and I hope we can keep one another in our prayers!

Prayer Request: Steiner Ranch Fire (Austin, Texas)

Please pray for the safety of our Austin family in Christ, Stephen and Angel Jang, and their two toddler sons, Austin and Gabriel as the fire is only 45% contained as of this afternoon.  The Jang's, along with other residents in the community, has been evacuated out of the area.  May our Lord give them comfort, peace and healing amidst the disaster.  


For more information of the Steiner Ranch fire, please visit: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/steiner-rach-fire-information

Philippians 2:1-4

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

Prelude: Tapping into the Source

At first I really didn't know HOW it happened.

How when one person said, "we should have more fellowships this year." someone else said, "Yeah!  Let's have one tomorrow!" and everyone just agreed to it.  How at 5pm my door bell rang, you showed up one after another, and I didn't have to wonder in an empty house if people were still coming. How we had a full attendance.  How not a single person was missing.  How you made finding a ride seem like a piece of cake, no matter the distance.  And how everyone had so much zeal and love for God, yet we didn't seem to notice before?  

At the end, when I reflect upon it.  I realize it was God who was in the works.  
Did you feel His presence, too?

The time is now.  Tap into the Source and find our strength together.  


"For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.  For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus:  that if One died for all, then all died." 
(2 Corinthians 5:13-14) 

A New Beginning

Sunday 9/4 J2 Fellowship

Time: 5-9pm
Location: Chang's

1) Discuss goals and plans for 2011-2012.
2) Dinner
3) Outdoor activities in community pool, basketball & tennis court. Sorry I can't provide you with any equipments because we have a pretty unathletic household (except maybe Jeremy..) so please BYOB (B as in ball). I can lend you towels if you want to swim.

If you need a ride, please contact me through FB, email or phone. (214) 755-7372

See you tomorrow!