God used many ways to work in Paul’s life before he was a missionary. One way God worked in Paul’s life is that Paul was a Pharisee. That means that Paul knew the Scripture really well, so he could use that later in ministry. Another way God worked in his life was that Paul had a dual-citizenship. He had Roman citizenship, and he also had Jewish citizenship. So Paul couldn’t get persecuted as bad during ministry by the Romans because he was a Rome citizen.
There are also many ways that God worked, or is working in my life. One thing he is using in my life is my musical gift. I have used my gift of music many times to serve my church and my school. I think God will use that gift later in my life. Another way God was working in my life was when I hurt my finger last year. While I was going to physical therapy and doctors appointments, I gave my life to Jesus. Later, I am going to profess my faith and profess publicly that Jesus is my Lord and Saviour. Now that Jesus is my Saviour, I think God will use that experience throughout my life too.
In Bible class, we did a PBL project on Christian persecution in a country. I was assigned to learn about Christian persecution in Mexico. Mexico is number 43 on the World Watch List. The World Watch List is a list that Open Doors puts out to show the rankings of countries that are being persecuted. There was a couple things that stood out to me while studying Mexico. One is a story. There was a woman and her son that were walking to a church meeting one day. On the way to the meeting, a 15 year old boy attacked the woman with a machete. The woman’s son stepped between his mom and the attacker to try and protect his mom. They both were rushed to a hospital and well cared for. The 15 year old boy was dragged to the hopsital by angry citizens that were going to the church meeting as well. The people threated to hang/burn the attacker. Another fact that stood out to me was that people who believe in Christ are getting disowned by their own family. The last fact that I found interesting was that there was also a war that started in Mexico because of Christian persecution. The war was called the Cristero War. The Christians were getting mad at the Mexican government because of the way they were getting treated. The Christians didn’t like that just because they believed in Christ, they got treated unfairly. One thing that I really like about our part of the project is the website we made. The website has a lot of different pages that explain about Christian persecution in Mexico, and also different fun facts about Mexico. I also like all of the work that was put in to the website.
What did you do for the Stephen project (ie. newspaper, comic, song, etc.)?
I made a cake with my friend.
2. What did you do well on the project? (or what are you proud of and what do you want me to look at when I grade it?)
I like how each part of the story we have Stephen, and then we have a little thing that connects to the story. One example is under speech, we have Stephen, and then we made a scroll.
3. How do you think you would feel if you were really observing this event?
I think I would be mad at the people stoning Stephen because I think Stephen was a good and righteous man. I also think I would leave before he died because I don’t like seeing people die or in pain.
4. Re-read Acts 7:57-58. How would you feel towards Saul?
I would be really mad at Saul for encouraging the killing of Christians. I do not like people who persecute Christians.
5. What do you think encouraged these early Christians? In other words, why did the early Christians keep up the faith despite the persecution?
I think one of the reasons that they kept up their faith is because of all the apostles and deacons in the church. The early Christians saw that the apostles were brave and trusted in God even though they were persecuted, so the early Christians knew they could do that too.
A covenant is a promise or contract between two people or two groups of people. There are two types of covenants. There is a conditional covenant, which means both sides of the covenant have to keep the promise they made. There is also an unconditional covenant, and that means only one side of the covenant has to keep their promise. God made an unconditional covenant with His people. God said He would send them a savior, and that Savior is Jesus. Jesus is the new covenant. The visual I chose for this theme is shaking hands because people usually shake hands when they make some sort of an agreement. I am really glad that God made an unconditional covenant with His people because I don’t think anybody would be able to keep their promise with God. God will never break a promise.
Conflict/Doubt –
Conflict and Doubt is a thing we see a lot in this world, especially because of the coronavirus. God knows that we will all go through a time of doubt in our life. Just because we have times of questioning, that doesn’t mean that we are bad Christians. We need to turn to God when we doubt. We need to pray and ask God to help us trust in Him. God is always faithful, as we are not. The visual I chose for this theme is a mask. I chose a mask because we can doubt that Covid isn’t going to go away, but we can trust that God will help us through it. Sometimes, I can have a day when my mask is bothering and I can doubt that Covid won’t go away, but I am glad that God will help me through Covid.
Salute to a King –
The Israelites struggled to stay focused on God. They started believing in other gods besides the one and only true God. The Israelites really wanted a king like the other nations surrounding them. The Israelites looked at those other nations and wanted to be like them. The Israelites begged Samuel to give them a king. That sometimes reminds me of my own life. I don’t want a different king than God, but sometimes I want things that my friends have. The visual I chose for this theme is a phone. I chose this because sometimes I’m jealous that my friends have a phone and I don’t have one. Pretty much, that is like what the Israelites were doing.
Symbol of a Lamp –
God promised that through David’s kingdom, or line, the ‘lamp will never go out’. Meaning, through one of David’s descendants, Jesus, God’s light will never go out. The visual I chose for this theme is the sun. I chose the sun because it is a light that will never go out, and Jesus’ light will never go out. I’m really glad that Jesus’ light will never go out, but I think we need to shine His light to people too. If we shine God’s light to other people, His light will shine even brighter throughout the world.
A Savior –
Because the Israelites could not keep the conditional covenant with God, God offered a new covenant. The new covenant would be written on Christian’s hearts and they wouldn’t have to offer sacrifices to ask for forgiveness from God. Jesus would be their sacrifice. Isaiah gave many pictures of the new covenant to the Israelites. The visual I chose for this theme is a cross. I chose a cross because Jesus was sacrificed to forgive us for the sins that we have done. I am really grateful for a loving Father, Jesus, who would do that for His people.
Slide to Destruction –
Israel had one king that worshiped God, and Judah had two kings that worshiped God. Obviously, the kings that Israel and Judah had weren’t that good at all. They chose kings that worshiped other gods, like Baal. Those kings were focused on power and popularity, not God’s law. Because Israel’s kings didn’t worship God’s law, God sent the Assyrians to scatter them. And because Judah’s kings didn’t worship God’s law, God let the Babylonians take over them. The visual I chose for this theme is a slide with a big mud puddle at the bottom of it. I chose this as my visual because if someone slides down it, they are going to be a big mess. This could end up being really bad, and if we do something really bad, and keep on doing it, we could end up in a really bad place. I think it is really important to keep God in the middle of our lives.
Slavery/Salvation –
The slavery/salvation theme is about how people intend to do wrong, but God changed it for good. God is very faithful, He will never change, and is always present. God was unchangeable, faithful, and present to Joseph and Moses. He will be unchangeable, faithful, and present to us too. Here are some examples from the Bible; Joseph was sold into slavery, but God was there and Joseph ended up helping his family survive the famine. Moses was born into slavery, but again, God was there, and Moses ended up leading the people of Israel out of Egypt. I am really glad that God is always there to help us and to be there for us. Even if we don’t have it as bad as being sold into slavery or born into slavery, God will help us no matter what. The visual I chose for this theme is a recycle sign. I chose a recycle sign because when we recycle, the thing we recycle that is not usable anymore, it is recycled to something new that can be used for a good purpose.
Sent to the Promised Land –
The Israelites had to trust God through a lot of their journeys, though through the desert, and into the Promised Land. They had to trust God to give them food, save them from snakes, provide water, and many other things. The people of Israel had to trust in God, but we need to too. We need to choose if we will trust in God and follow Him, or if we will do our own things and follow the world’s way. The visual I chose for this theme is a picture of some sting in a chaotic mess because it reminded me that even though this chaotic time, we still need to trust in God. I really needed to trust God during online school. I really had a hard time not going to church and school because I couldn’t see my friends and family. I really missed seeing them. This theme really reminded me to trust in God no matter what happens. Even though I already knew to trust in God, this theme really reminded me.
Sleeping on the floor next to my bed is really fun, but it is really hard too. Today, I could feel the soreness in my back from sleeping on the floor. This weekend, I found out that when I sleep next to my bed, the light in the hallway right outside my room shines right into my eyes. That bugs me. Last night, one of the fire alarms went off in the hallway outside my room because it was out of batteries. I think I could hear it much better on the floor than in my bed because the noise was going down. My dad fixed it, but it took me a while to fall back asleep. Finally, I did. I slept great the rest of the night. I also found out that I feel like I slept in much more than in my bed because the light from outside shines up and my bed is higher than the floor. Also, I had a lot of late nights this week, but I fell asleep really fast those nights. So far, sleeping on the floor is going well.
My consumption challenge is sleeping on the floor. I slept right next to my bed. Some things that helped me realized that sleeping on the floor was hard. Some of those things were, not being able to see the clock, having to get up to turn my lamp off, and when the fan blew at me and it was really cool. I also had a hard time falling asleep, and I did wake up a couple of times when my blankets came off me. That happened like 3 or 4 times. The way I set up my bed on the floor was having a sleeping bag under me, then I had 1 to 2 blankets over me. This made me realize that sleeping on the floor is really hard when you live under certain circumstances.
I am doing a consumption challenge to realize what people in poverty are going through. I am going to sleep on the floor for a week to realize what those people have to go through every night. Everybody in 7th grade is doing the consumption challenge, but they get to choose what they are going to do for it. The thing I hope to take away from this is that people living in poverty are going through every day and maybe someday I can donate something to an or start something to donate things to people in living in poverty.
Amy Mencia es el esposa de Carlos Menica. Lucas Pablo Mencia es el hijo de Carlos Mencia. Joseph Mencia es un hermano de Carlo Mencia. Magdelena Mencia es la madre de Carlos Mencia. Roberto Holness es la padre de Carlos Mencia.
Carlos Mencia es más cómico que yo. Yo soy menos fuerte que el. El es tan felíz como yo.
Carlos Menica tiene cincuenta y dos. Lucas Pablo Mencia tiene trece. Joseph Mencia tiene aproximadanente sesenta y siete.
