March Partnership Update

Hello friends and family!

I hope this update finds you well and that by now you have accustomed to dating things as 2013 and not 2012! The Lord is faithful and has brought us all to this moment and circumstance by his grace and I’m truly thankful to be sharing it with you. I appreciate the time you have taken to read my updates, remember me in prayers, and be so supportive and encouraging. This has been an intense semester, and I’m growing and learning a ton. Classes are going well; though the work load is heavy, the material is engaging and exciting. My classes this semester are Greek II, Church History, Interpreting the New Testament, and Spiritual Formation for Ministry.

The last two weekends my family and I were blessed to have my younger brother Joe join us from Chicago during his spring break. We were able to spend some time together which was really good for us, and last Saturday he went back to school to finish the spring semester. This past month has also been an exciting one for our church and youth group. As a church family, we are planning ahead for the July 4^th conference and our Good Friday and Easter services, which we are so excited for in the coming weeks. I’ve also been working with the kids’ choir at Arabic Baptist and they have learned a couple of medleys which they will sing on Easter.

Last week class registration took place and I’ve got my class schedule figured out for the summer and fall semesters. It’ll be a busy summer as I’m taking two full courses in addition to participating in ministry at the church and my job, but I’m looking forward to it. I also have a trip to DC planned for next weekend, where I’ll be ministering with my friend Fares at his church, preaching at the youth meeting and leading worship at their Sunday service. On a personal note, I joined an intramural soccer team with my housemates and we will be playing once a week at Gordon College for three weeks. I am also planning a silent retreat for this week, where I take a day of silence with the Lord, which is something I’d like to make more of a monthly discipline in my life.

Thanks for sharing this with me and taking the time to read my update, I appreciate you J I am praying that you would be “filled with the knowledge of his will and spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col 1:9) I ask that you would pray for my classes, that I would have understanding and be diligent in approaching my studies. Please also pray for my trip to DC, that the Lord would give me words to say and use me while there to further his work. That’s all from me. Happy Easter! May the Joy of the Lord be your strength and may the resurrection of Christ captivate our thoughts this season!

Blessings,

Fady

The Temptation Of Jesus

I was almost tempted to title this entry "How Can A Young Man Keep His Way Pure? -Part 2"
BUT! Since Jesus' application of what I talked about last time is the focus - namely his triumph over temptation in the wilderness after his water baptism - we will just roll with that!

King David had some practical words for us which we looked at already...

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
(Psalm 119:9 ESV)

I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
(Psalm 119:11 ESV)

...So what does that actually look like in practice? We can turn to Jesus - our ultimate example in the faith, and in living a life empowered by the Spirit and pleasing to the Father! The gospel writers record for us Jesus' temptation in order for us to see the reality that "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."(Hebrews 4:15 ESV)

And in walks Jesus. He gets baptized. God the Father is pleased with him, though Jesus had done no miracles yet, not an ounce of ministry. The Holy Spirit rests upon him. And he is commissioned for ministry and led into the wilderness to be tempted.

Satan himself is now tempting Jesus, and how does our Lord respond? You know it! With the Word of God. Jesus demonstrates to us: 1- His understanding and application of the above verses from Psalms, and 2- The importance of scripture in spiritual warfare and in triumphing over sin.

We CAN have victory over sin and walk in obedience to our God. Jesus did it. So can we! But knowing scriptures is KEY. It is sad that we can memorize song lyrics, score boards and a profusion of stats but then complain about how difficult the scriptures are to remember. In my next blog entry I will share some of my favorite Bible memorization methods that have worked for me, as well as my favorite scriptures that I think we should all know by heart. Thanks for reading, I hope you have spent more time in the Word today than on my blog. If not then go do it now while you're online here :)

January Update

Hello friends and family!

It is official - I have successfully finished my first semester of seminary at Gordon-Conwell! Thanks for all your prayers and support. You have all been great during my time here so far. I'm very thankful to have all of you in my life as I go through seminary.

I hope you are all enjoying the New Year! I was happy to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s with a lot of you this year as part of the Arabic Baptist Church family. My break was very short as I had to be back on campus for the January term. I did enjoy some time with my family and brother though before he left for Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for him and were able to come to his going away party. I dropped him off at the airport a few weeks ago and immediately began my January term class: Systematic Theology II, which I just finished today! I am also doing well grade-wise and I’m in good academic standing for my scholarship.This Monday will be the start of the Spring Semester, and I’m very excited for it! God has also blessed me with a different room on campus in the same house as my friends.

I will continue praying for you all in this New Year. Thanks for your prayers during this past semester. Please continue to lift me up for this upcoming semester as well.

Fady

Worship The King - A Christmas Meditation

*The following is the Christmas Mediation that I shared at The Arabic Baptist Church of Newton last Friday night. Verbatim. So if you were there, please proceed expecting heavy repetition. Merry Christmas =)

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The story of Christ's birth reminds us of a very important truth, it is this: Every great story and king has a humble beginning. Even as we have seen in our last election, both Obama and Romney were trying their hardest to convince the voters that each of them had a humble, lowly start. That each of them had struggled like many of us and had overcome many trials and challenges. Being humble is being relatable. It is so with our King. Jesus, the king of kings, had a humble start. He was born in a manger - that is where you feed your  animals. He humbled himself, taking on the form of a servant, in order for us to relate to him.


Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

(Matthew 2:1-2 ESV)

We observe here a few things:

• Jesus was born 'King of the Jews'
• The wise men sought Jesus
• The wise men came to worship Jesus

At the time of Jesus' birth not much was different from our day. People were still very busy, as it is with us this time of the year. Joseph and Mary had a lot going on, just as most of us do today. Mary was pregnant and had no where to give birth. The nation had a census which caused a lot of traveling just as we have seen during our elections last month. They also had a national crisis involving the murder of about 20 little children under the Hands of King Herod as we have also just experienced with the Connecticut middle school shootings. There were stars in the sky, wise men traveling, babies being filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb, barren women becoming pregnant, a virgin pregnancy, angels appearing, priests becoming mute, shepherds seeing angels and a lot of craziness.

And we see in the middle of all that - Emmanuel - God with us. Right when it is most busy, most crazy, most chaotic, most problematic, that is when Jesus comes. Jesus initiates with us. He want us as his people, he seeks after us like a shepherd is after a lost sheep. He is saying 'slow down' this holiday season and come worship me as the wise men did. 

If Jesus the baby could talk at the time, what would he have asked for? Would he have asked for gold, frankincense and myrrh? I think he would have been perfectly satisfied with the wise men's worship. If Jesus could ask for anything this Christmas he would ask for your worship. That is what he desires. "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him". (John 4:23 ESV) Jesus here tells us that this is the heart of God, it is after true worshipers. That is what he desires, seeks, and wants - it is that true worshipers would worship the father in spirit and truth. 

There is a beautiful promise in James 4:8 that says "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you". How true is it that Christ has already taken the first step and he is calling all men and women to him. Especially this season as some of us are rejoicing and others grieving, as some are care-free and others burdened, as some are feeling fantastic and others overwhelmed. Christ is calling all to come and worship him. Christ is calling us all to come and spend time with him and give him our worship as a gift this Christmas. And his word promises that when we draw near to him, He will draw near to us.