Bring-A-Friend Bible Study (2-3 Oct 2020)
As usual, we started our meeting by prayer. We thanked our Heavenly Father for the fact that He allows us to meet and unite to learn about Him, feel His presence and praise Him, despite all the circumstances.
This time, we had ice-breaking games as we wanted to get to know each other better. These meetings also have the objective of reaching out to new people, getting to know others and even ourselves better. On Friday, students from all over Europe told us different things for which they are thankful to God these days. It was obvious that the pandemic has created huge chaos in their lives, therefore, many thanked God for the good health He gives us. On Saturday, we played a game called “2 truths and 1 lie” which was very entertaining for our youths.
The highlight of our Bible Study sessions was the real bible study which was done together with Pastor Joseph Yoon from Kiribati.
His lecture was from Luke 15:11-24, the story of the prodigal son. Through this story, he explained, we can learn about the 3 main difficulties which are to be found outside our father’s home (God) and about the 4 gifts that we can receive as soon as we return to Him.
Firstly, we cannot control our fleshy desires, we cannot overcome the temptation of sin, which leads us to a life of despair and sorrow. It is not in a man’s power to win over this kind of situations; therefore, this leads us to the third phase where we realize we are left alone. No human being can help us just as we could not help ourselves. It is only God who can solve the problems of our heart.
God is constantly calling for us; “Return back to me”. He wants to give us what He has prepared for us and that is the 4 gifts. The first gift He wants us to receive is Jesus Christ, who is the “best robe”, as the Bible tells us. The second one is “the ring”, which means power and authority. When we meet God through Jesus Christ, though we were lost, He restores our initial status. The third gift is the “sandals” and it represents our future steps into God’s world.
Through the sandals, we gain the strength to speak His words and preach the Gospel. Lastly, the fourth gift was the fatted calf. God wants us to have the best food in the world and that is only Jesus Christ. It is the food for our soul that would satisfy God.
As the work of man and the law are made to show us, we cannot do more, but sin, Jesus came unto this earth and saved us. Only when we genuinely believe in His power, we can live an enjoyable and colorful life.
Our last activity in the program was the STOP session. We were able to share to other people how we felt about the bible study, what we learnt, what our revelations were, and it all led us to one conclusion: we should ask ourselves daily “what is my relationship with God like today?”.