Hello, my name is Carson Oerman and this is my Final Project for Unit 2 of Religion 8.

10/16/17

Chapter 3 Review

I think that the theme of Chapter 3 is Shelled. I think that this is the theme of Chapter 3 because the book gives lots of evidence for this theme. On pages 23 and 24 Lucado told the story of the father and his three children at the convenience store, at this moment Lucado told us that he knew there was a chance to help the father and his children but he did not wanted to go out of his shell/comfort zone. Everyone in the world does this, whether it be trying not to look at the homeless people on the street or when missionaries talk about the lost and lonely souls in the poverish countries we all seem to try to hide in our shell and ignore what is being said. More evidence I have for that is on page 23, on this page Lucado writes about how God took the “shells” off the apostles. The apostles were unshelled on one of the biggest busiest days in Jerusalem, while they were talking in different tongues and preaching, they had nowhere to hide from what was happening.
I think that the authors main points were to tell the reader that they should not hide from anything and that they should tell anyone then can about Jesus as the apostles did. These two points relate to the theme in the fact that when we get out of our shell, we will be more willing to share the Word of Christ with others.
One idea that Lucado implied through the chapter is the fact that there are so many people in the world who need to hear the Word of God and I we are stuck in our shells, we aren’t doing what God made us for.
I believe that the author’s goal was to show the reader that we hide in our shell so much that we don’t even notice that we are ignoring people sometimes. Most times that person is in desperate help and by us ignoring that person, we are also did respecting God by our refusal of helping those people.

Chapter 3 Prayer

Gracious Lord, you have done so much just to reach out to the sinfulness of my heart and to bring me to eternal life with you. You have so much love towards your people. Even though your grace is for all, I try to keep it to myself. Help me Lord to not shut myself in my shell when I see your people in need. Help me to unshell myself so that I my work with you in your mission of love. Unshell me that I will reach out to your people in need. In your Son’s name. Amen.

Chapter 4 Review

I think that the theme of Chapter 4 is to give the message of Jesus. I think that this is the theme because on page 39 Lucado says to give the message of sins forgiven and death defeated. Lucado also uses bread to symbolize the Word of God, and he often uses the phrase, “Don’t forget the bread” in Chapter 4. Lucado also tells the story of when he went to the grocery store for bread and he came home with no bread. He relates this story to how when we have the chance to tell someone about Jesus, we can’t forget about the Word of God. Lucado also relates this story to the Pentecost, he states that while Peter was in front of hundreds of people, he did not forget the bread. In other words, Peter introduced the people to Jesus.
I think that the author’s main points were to show the reader how easy it is to forget the Word and to also show that reader how God can help you as he did Peter to not forget the Word. The first main point relates to the theme because it is sometimes hard to tell others about the message of Jesus and the second relates because God will always help us while we are sharing the gospel to others.
One idea that I think Lucado is trying to portray in Chapter 4 is the fact that if God helped the apostles back then, He will always help us so that we can accomplish what we were made for.
I think that the author’s goal was to tell and show the reader why they have to remember to introduce people to Jesus. I think that this was the author’s main point because he gives a huge explanation why to not forget Jesus.

Chapter 4 Prayer

Blessed Jesus, you freely give me the Bread of Life every day. You go into my dark heart and make it shine bright, you replace my fear with security and my hate with your love. Father, please remind me every day that I am given the Bread of Life not because I deserve it, but because of your grace and love. Help me to be an eager disciple in your Son that I may be bold in telling others about the grace and love you have shown to me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Chapter 9 Review

I think that the theme of Chapter 9 is to not do things for public acceptance. This means that we should not do things just to get attention from others. We should also not do things because we want a reward for our good deed. One example that Lucado gives us is the story about Ananias and Sapphira, they sold their land and told the church that they would give all the money they got from the sale to the church. They were hoping to be praised for their good deed but when Peter found out that they did not give all their money to the Church, Ananias and Sapphira we in big trouble. The result of Ananias and Sapphira lying to God and the other people, was their death. Peter even gave them both a chance to come right with God, but they both denied having kept some money so they breathed their last.
I believe that the main points Lucado is trying to portray in this chapter are summarized on page 93. The 3 main points are Expect no credit for good deeds, Give financial gifts in secret, and Don’t fake spirituality. The first point means that if no one notices you do something, don’t be disappointed. Ask yourself the question, “If no one knew of the good I do, would I still do it?” If you wouldn’t, you are doing the good deed to be seen by people. The second point means that we like to be seen giving money to someone as much as we like to be seen earning the money. The third point means to not go to church just to be noticed by what you are doing, but go to worship the Lord.
I think that there are two ideas Lucado is trying to portray through the chapter, one is the fact that doing something to be noticed is going against God, not just others and ourselves. The second is that we should do things not for attention but we should do it by grace because it is the right thing to do.
I think that the author’s main point was to show the reader that we need to do good deeds by grace and not because we want attention. I do think that Lucado accomplished this in the chapter.

Chapter 9 Prayer

Dear Lord, I know how much you hate hypocrisy. Please help me to not seek public recognition for the things I do, because I know it turns me away from you. I don’t want to be a liar and a hypocrite. So Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit and teach me the ways so that I will give all the glory not to myself, but to your son Jesus. In His name I pray, amen.

Reflective Essay

I think that the book Outlive Your Life did a superb job of explaining this by giving a story about a real person whose experiences we can relate to and understand, an example of this would be Jim Wallis. He was a normal seminary student who decided to cut out verses of the bible that talked about poverty or oppression. This is an easy to understand story and we can relate to Jim because we are both ordinary people. After Lucado tells the story, he goes into a bible passage and when he is done with the bible passages, he tells you why the two stories relate to each other. By doing this Lucado can help the reader better understand the bible passage and know an example of how this happened now or just a short while ago.ng the book of Acts in a very current context. Author Max Lucado did this by giving a story about a real person whose experiences we can relate to and understand, an example of this would be Jim Wallis. He was a normal seminary student who decided to cut out verses of the bible that talked about poverty or oppression. This is an easy to understand story and we can relate to Jim because we are both ordinary people. After Lucado tells the story, he goes into a bible passage and when he is done with the bible passages, he tells you why the two stories relate to each other. By doing this Lucado can help the reader better understand the bible passage and know an example of how this is happening in our life today. By doing this I do not think that Lucado tells anything new about the Bible story, he just gives the main ideas/points of the Bible passage and how they relate to life today.

I have Outlived my Life prior to this unit by serving others and being a good friend and son. I have Outlived my Life in service by participating in servant events with my church and Lincoln Lutheran, I have also helped homeless people by giving them food. I have Outlived my life as a friend and son by showing my experiences to others, spending time with them, and showing my love towards them. I see myself Outliving my Life through the kindness and love I have shown to others through my actions and words.

The most exciting action that I have done is help a homeless person. I just had the urge the help them and I felt excited. By doing this I also felt filled with the Holy Spirit which made me be very happy about the action I just did. I was also excited because I knew that the person I helped would be thankful and happy for what I did. I want to help more homeless people in the future because I think that most people look down on them and they are just regular people who don’t have the resources for a shelter or food. In the future I also want to share the Gospel to people.

Colossians 4:2-3 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, also pray for us, that God may open us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account for which I am prison.” I chose this verse because it talks about what we should pray for. I can apply this to my life because I should always be praying for God to open a door to others and for the word of Christ to go into their lives. 1 Timothy 1:16 “I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” I chose this verse because it talks about how we have all sinned but have received the gift of everlasting life. I can apply this verse to my life today because I am the worst of sinners who receives the mercy of Christ.

One thing that was made clearer when watching the movie AD: The Bible Continues is how much the Pharisees and the Chief Priests didn’t like the disciples. The way the Pharisees talked and they way they looked at the disciples made it clear. They talked to the disciples in very defined voices and they looked at the disciples with eyes of despise for they thought that what the disciples were talking about was blasphemy. Another thing that was made clear to me was how even after the disciples were told not to speak in the name of Jesus, they did. In the movie I could really see how all the disciples wanted to do was spread the word of God. They had no fear in being persecuted by the Pharisees for what they talked about for they trusted that God was with them all the way. One last thing that was made clearer to me when I was watching the movie was the fact that not just the Christians were surprised by Saul’s conversion but everyone was. In the movie Rueben and all the others who were following Saul to Damascus were confused and surprised at what had happened. Then Ananias and the other Christians heard about this and were confused, surprised, but still scared. In the Bible and the movie Ananias was scared to go to Saul even if he had been changed.

This father is outliving his life by showing his child how he cares for him and loves him.