Urbana 2K15 | Power and Authority

The first morning, or I should say day, of Urbana was a learning a great learning lesson. My roommates and I attempted to wake up at 7:30 to get breakfast, but ended up leaving at around 7:45 which was a mistake. The line at the Crowne Plaza for Urbana breakfast was soooo long; it took us about 45 minutes to get through the line and back up to our room. We ended up missing bible study that morning, so me and two other of my roommates held our own little bible study.

The first bible study was on Matthew 8:1-17, Power and Authority. This passage shows the miracles Jesus did in healing a man with leprosy, a man in paralysis, a women with a fever, and many who were demon possessed. It reminds us how much power Jesus has and that great faith in Him can bring such blessings. Through this bible study, I realized how similar in mind I was with these girls. We felt that the main things that hinder us from asking Jesus to take up and bear our infirmities is guilt, selfishness, and pride in having the ability to fix our own problems. We were also similar in being hesitant when responding to Jesus' "come", "go", or "do" because of doubt in our abilities. The centurion had so much faith in Jesus, and He took the risk of seeking Jesus' help.

"Jesus said to him, "Shall I come and heal him?" The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." .... Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour." (Matthew 8:7-13)

The Bible is full of such beautiful stories. Even with all this truth, we still find the bits and pieces where we think it's too risky. That possibly sharing the Gospel is too risky because we might be rejected by others because of our belief, or we might lead someone astray. The Bible speaks for itself though. I still struggle with this hindrance and belief of "riskiness". Through this bible study, I saw that there's such a common idea of struggling with these risks. But if everyone struggles with hindrances, who will go. Jesus say do, and we should do.

Everyday strive to talk to everyone more openly, welcoming people from "the east and west" to Jesus' feast.