.This is my second update on The Forge. I don’t really know what to say. The Forge is so hard to explain and I learn so much that I don’t think I can fully get out what I want to say. I will try anyway. That leads perfectly into the first thing I want to talk about that I have learned lately. I have learned that whatever seems hard, uncomfortable, and scary should be tried anyway. I have had several opportunities come up where this was the case but we had to do it anyway. To my surprise the fruit that came out of it made the difficulty, the discomfort, and the fear seem so small compared to what we got out of it. Trust me when I say that it is worth stepping out into the unknown and trying it. If you fail, you fail. But when you succeed, what a joy.
What I have also learned lately is to stop assuming. It really gets me nowhere with people and the future’s events. Usually when I assume what we are going to do I’m usually wrong. Or when I assume that someone is the way they are…I’m always wrong and then I get humbled real quick.
The past month has been insane! I can’t share too much because someone reading this might want to do The Forge someday and I do not want to ruin a great surprise for you. Let’s just say that we got a lot closer this last month. I am feeling like we are towards the end of the honeymoon faze and all of our true character is about to unleash. I can’t wait.
I asked a man the other day, “Who is seminary for?”
He replied, “Seminary is for people who can’t do anything else.”
I thought that was a great answer. I feel like after being here that I would not like seminary. I would be bored. Maybe The Forge should be a three-year program. That would be insane. I’m learning a lot about how God has designed me: my temperament, my skills, my gifts are becoming more revealed to me. Knowing these things is so great. I want to live out my life the way God has designed me. I don’t want to be a screwdriver used as a hammer. I want to be John David Rogers used how God intended John David Rogers to live. Myers Briggs says I’m an extrovert. Others say I am an introvert. I have been more introverted since I have been in The Forge. It usually takes me a good while to warm up and be open with people. I’m still seeking this out. It’s not something to lose sleep over but it is definitely something to think about.
The workload is a beating but I’m getting by. I need to be more disciplined with my time.
I love The Forge and I am so blessed to be here. I remember last year when I was working at Starbucks I started to miss learning. I would do some on my own but I missed being pushed and challenged to learn, and not just in the classroom, but EVERYWHERE. Right now I am at home for Thanksgiving and I have quickly learned how much I already miss my guys and girls I spend every day with. I am being challenged to learn in whatever situation I am put in. I challenge you to do the same. Keep praying for me that I would have this mind wherever I am led. Pray that I would be intentional with my all of my time and that I would never stop learning…even after The Forge.
God IS Love,
John
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Gospel
Well a month has gone by since I have been in The Forge. This is an open blog [apparently spell-check thinks this word is misspelled. Just for that I’m going to misspell spellchek. How do you like that?]. This blog is mainly so I can communicate to my supporters how my time here is going. So here we go!
First off, let me just gratefully thank everyone who is supporting me financially and also those who are supporting me through prayer. I could not be here if it was not for you guys. When I was faced with the finances I had to raise for this program, I was not worried. God honestly gave me a peace in knowing that I know Him and that He always provides and He has put people in my life who love me and desire to see me follow the Lord’s calling for my life. Thank you.
I said in my support letter that my desire in The Forge is to find out who I am. I am definitely learning this…but I don’t like it. The Lord is showing me that I am not what I think I am. I think I am better than people. I think I am more impressive than I think I am. I think my sin is not a great as others. I think I can do anything. I think my desires or my dreams are better than theirs. This is my confession of my sin and I am learning that confession is a beautiful thing. It brings to light your sin and makes it harder for that sin to have any control over you. You now know this. You now have the invitation to hold me accountable. Learning this about myself does not make me feel good. It is not enjoyable to have these things revealed about you but this sin of self-centeredness is being brought to light as I run closer and closer to the light of Jesus Christ. Because He is, I am. I only exist because He created me. I am only saved because He died for me. I am not as impressive as I think I am. Having this mind set makes my God more impressive. Ephesians 2 tells me that I am no better than anyone else. I am by nature a child of wrath, “like the rest of mankind. But God, being right 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 BRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH. AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MY BOAST [Ephesians 2:3-9].” Read this verse again before reading the rest of the letter. Because of HIS GREAT LOVE, mercy, and grace, we are made alive. Alive. Alive. He has made me alive. I used to be dead but now I am alive! He has made me alive! I cannot proclaim that enough. This verse reminds me that I am in great need of Jesus Christ. I cannot live without him. Since we are all sinners saved by the gift of grace that is GIVEN to us and that no man can earn this gift we are no better than anyone else. This is the gospel.
Have you shared the gospel today to anyone? Since we are all equal and this gift has been freely given to us, why are we hoarding it? SHARE IT! This is another thing the Lord is teaching me. I have been merciful to you, and I have given you the free gift of my grace, and I have made you alive. So do what I command you and share me. Are you worried what they will think of you? If so, then it’s about you. But its not about you John, it’s about me and my glory. The Lord has been confronting me more and more about sharing the gospel and teaching me and guiding me in doing this. He is showing me that I am not doing this enough…actually, that I am never doing it. He is teaching me what it means to be bold, loving, trusting, faithful, and obedient in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:16-17 says, “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 and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.” What an awesome verse. There is Holy Spirit power in the gospel. Your job and mine is not to save, it is to love. If I truly love someone I will share with them the greatest news that has ever been and will ever be. The gospel is God’s power for salvation. We plant the seed. God makes it grow. We must remember this! Do you believe this? This verse says that in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” We proclaim this gospel because we believe this gospel. I am talking to myself as much as you all. When I started this paragraph I asked if you have shared the gospel today to anyone. When I say anyone I mean yourself too. The Lord has been teaching me that I need to hear the gospel daily or I start to forget what I believe. Get up in your mirror in the morning and preach it to yourself. Share it with fellow believers…maybe they have forgot. Share it with others because when you share it, you hear it too! One of the first things all of us ever learned in life was that sharing is right. We are sharing more than cookies and crayons. We are sharing Jesus.
Because of your support I can learn these things! THANK YOU!
Love,
John
First off, let me just gratefully thank everyone who is supporting me financially and also those who are supporting me through prayer. I could not be here if it was not for you guys. When I was faced with the finances I had to raise for this program, I was not worried. God honestly gave me a peace in knowing that I know Him and that He always provides and He has put people in my life who love me and desire to see me follow the Lord’s calling for my life. Thank you.
I said in my support letter that my desire in The Forge is to find out who I am. I am definitely learning this…but I don’t like it. The Lord is showing me that I am not what I think I am. I think I am better than people. I think I am more impressive than I think I am. I think my sin is not a great as others. I think I can do anything. I think my desires or my dreams are better than theirs. This is my confession of my sin and I am learning that confession is a beautiful thing. It brings to light your sin and makes it harder for that sin to have any control over you. You now know this. You now have the invitation to hold me accountable. Learning this about myself does not make me feel good. It is not enjoyable to have these things revealed about you but this sin of self-centeredness is being brought to light as I run closer and closer to the light of Jesus Christ. Because He is, I am. I only exist because He created me. I am only saved because He died for me. I am not as impressive as I think I am. Having this mind set makes my God more impressive. Ephesians 2 tells me that I am no better than anyone else. I am by nature a child of wrath, “like the rest of mankind. But God, being right 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 BRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH. AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MY BOAST [Ephesians 2:3-9].” Read this verse again before reading the rest of the letter. Because of HIS GREAT LOVE, mercy, and grace, we are made alive. Alive. Alive. He has made me alive. I used to be dead but now I am alive! He has made me alive! I cannot proclaim that enough. This verse reminds me that I am in great need of Jesus Christ. I cannot live without him. Since we are all sinners saved by the gift of grace that is GIVEN to us and that no man can earn this gift we are no better than anyone else. This is the gospel.
Have you shared the gospel today to anyone? Since we are all equal and this gift has been freely given to us, why are we hoarding it? SHARE IT! This is another thing the Lord is teaching me. I have been merciful to you, and I have given you the free gift of my grace, and I have made you alive. So do what I command you and share me. Are you worried what they will think of you? If so, then it’s about you. But its not about you John, it’s about me and my glory. The Lord has been confronting me more and more about sharing the gospel and teaching me and guiding me in doing this. He is showing me that I am not doing this enough…actually, that I am never doing it. He is teaching me what it means to be bold, loving, trusting, faithful, and obedient in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:16-17 says, “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 and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.” What an awesome verse. There is Holy Spirit power in the gospel. Your job and mine is not to save, it is to love. If I truly love someone I will share with them the greatest news that has ever been and will ever be. The gospel is God’s power for salvation. We plant the seed. God makes it grow. We must remember this! Do you believe this? This verse says that in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” We proclaim this gospel because we believe this gospel. I am talking to myself as much as you all. When I started this paragraph I asked if you have shared the gospel today to anyone. When I say anyone I mean yourself too. The Lord has been teaching me that I need to hear the gospel daily or I start to forget what I believe. Get up in your mirror in the morning and preach it to yourself. Share it with fellow believers…maybe they have forgot. Share it with others because when you share it, you hear it too! One of the first things all of us ever learned in life was that sharing is right. We are sharing more than cookies and crayons. We are sharing Jesus.
Because of your support I can learn these things! THANK YOU!
Love,
John
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