Celeste, Neill Sebastien D.

(TTh 11:30-1 PM) Christian Beliefs: Reflection Paper Growing in Christ

(Fundamental Belief #11)

Feb. 21, 2012 Sir Baltazar Diesta

The fundamental belief Growing in Christ, as I have understood it, is about us, having the same victory Christ had when he triumphed over the forces of evil. In simple terms, His victory gives us victory. When Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, He showed willingness, though Satans angels tried to tempt Him up to the very last moment, He remained strong. He lived a sinless life for 33 years in this world where trials and temptations abound. Through this sacrifice, Jesus not only offered His life to pay penalty for our sins, but through His self-sacrificing character, He also made possible the cleansing, the removal of our sins from the heavenly sanctuary and most especially, from our lives, the lives of those who believe in Him. This was a gift. His life was given as a substitute for our own. I also realized that, when we commit sin, we tend to seek forgiveness, and right away, He is there. He is always ready to forgive. He empowers us to live in the way that pleases Him. If you come to think of it, this means that it is possible to live without sinning. As we walk with Him as He too, walks with us, the Holy Spirit dwells within us and empowers us. He has given us an example of how it is to live righteously, in His own likeness. I am encouraged by this message. By having faith in Gods goodness, we will be strengthened. His goodness towards us makes it possible for us to also, share it to others and see how we help them learn through our own experiences. The belief says that, we are called to grow into the likeness of His character, as we commune with Him daily in prayer, feeding on His Word, meditating on it and on His providence, singing His praises, gathering together for worship, and participating in the mission

of the church. As we can see, gathering for worship seems to be very important. Honestly, there are times when I feel lazy to go to church. There are even times when we tend to curse the speaker, especially if his/her sermon is long and a little bit boring. I realized now that, by doing those wicked things, I am missing a lot. Since worshipping together also means sharing our joys and sorrows, I am missing the benefits worshipping together brings to everyone. By worshipping together, we pray for each other, strengthen each other, encourage each other and most of all, learn from each other. We come to church, not only to give to God our praises through worship, but to learn about Him and His ways. Lastly, it says that as we give ourselves in loving service to those around us and in witnessing to His salvation, His constant presence with us through the Spirit transforms every moment and every task into a spiritual experience. Thinking about this phrase, I wonder what spiritual experiences I already have encountered for the past 16 years of my existence. I remember back in high school, when we handle summer crusades during the months of April to May. Many of those experiences are quite fitting to what this last sentence really says. If you love and care for what you do, for example, doing service to others in the name of Christ, His constant presence, or guidance in your work will make it possible for you to encounter spiritual experiences through the Spirit. Every task will be a lot easier for us to handle if we submit ourselves to Him and allow Him to use us as an instrument to reach out to others. During those times, danger always lurks within our midst. Some people look towards us sarcastically. Some even try to cause trouble during one of our services. However, we remained strong because we know that God is with us. It was a success for we baptized some of them and introduced them to our faith. We felt Gods power throughout that month-long experience. We only not shared the Gospel to them, but at the same time, we also benefited from them by learning from their daily

experiences, how they remained strong amidst the harsh way of living they had gone through with every day. I learned how to become distinct from those experiences. We should learn how to manifest our faith to others in a specific way. We cant have our faith in a vague or unclear manner. We should be actively engaged in whatever way the Lord is leading us, with the world around us. Knowing this belief, my hopes have reached its peak. My hopes will remain high for I know that I already have that victory through Christ. Jesus victory makes possible our victory over the evil forces that still seek to control us, as we walk with Him in peace, joy, and assurance of His love. Our lives as a believer does not consist of attempts of how to subdue the works of the evil but rather, it consists of how to fill our inner beings, our hearts with the thoughts of God. I believe that through His guidance over my life, I will remain strong in my faith. We will always be heard by God because Christs sacrifice opened up a permanent way to reach out and talk to the Father. We need not to summon spirits to assist us. By believing that He is with us, we know that we will always be forgiven. All we need to do is to repent and accept Him as our personal Saviour. Being aware of the fact that God is with me and is constantly present in my everyday living motivates my service to others and nurtures my hope not only for today, but also for tomorrow and for the future that my sins will be eradicated and all the works of evil in this world will also vanish. In order for us to grow in Christ, we need to grow in our faith by allowing the Holy Spirit to renew our minds through the Word of God. As our minds are renewed, our beliefs and values in Christ become stronger, motivating us to trust God even more. Therefore our faith grows. When we trust Christ more, we will obey Him more because we will have grown in our awareness of the true value of knowing and following Christ.

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NEW YORK (AP) It was a glitch not subliminal advertising when a McDonald's logo suddenly flashed by on a recent episode of Iron Chef America, the Food Network said Thursday. The clip from an episode aired on Sunday showed a brief red flash, nearly invisible to the naked eye, at a point where two men are holding up glasses. It quickly appeared on YouTube, slowed down to reveal that for one frame, the screen was showing the McDonald's logo with the words, "I'm lovin' it." "It was a technical error on our part and not a subliminal message as suggested by a website running the slow-motion playback," said Food Network spokesman Mark O'Connor. "It has been corrected for all future airings." The McDonald's logo usually airs where the network reveals sponsors for the program, he said. Nothing nefarious is suspected in the error, he said. "We don't do subliminal advertising," said Bill Whitman, a McDonald's spokesman. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted 1/26/2007 9:32 AM ET

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-01-26-mcdonalds-ironchef_x.htm