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All writing not directly quoted, but a recap from what our speaker Jeff Wallace spoke & some extra takeaways.
The moment we reach up to Jesus
"He was not obliged to redeem us... It is the grace of God that, when we were all without hope, Christ came into this world, to do things we never could have done, to fulfill that holy and just and good law which brings us all in guilty, and He did fulfill it to the last jot and tittle; to suffer the punishment we deserved, and he did suffer it up on the cross, and drank the bitter cup to the very dregs; and by the things He suffered He provided a perfect righteousness for every one that is willing to believe." -J.C. Ryle, The True Christian. Saul was a man whose life mission was to persecute christian's for their faith, Acts 9:1-2 "Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he fond any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem." Before Saul had his encounter with God he sinned, after his encounter with God Saul was changed into Paul and lived a life proclaiming Christ. Many of us are switching between a life of Saul and Paul.
God's grace exposes your brokenness and need; many of us right now are in a struggle between being hood and holy, a struggle between living a life for Christ or one of the world. Many of us dont own our faith we go to church because our parents make us or because our friends go; right now I am telling you that it is not important who you came with but who you leave with and im not talking about car pooling with your friends on the way home im talking about leaving with Christ. We go to church on sundays and act out for the rest of the week, we cant have both light and darkness they cannot coexist. Tomorrow is never and will never be promised to us, if we are living a life of sin and not obedience to the Lord then heaven wont be promised either. It is far better to yield to the Lord in your own time than to have the blinds removed from your eyes from God, God knows everything you do and is not afraid to expose you. "He has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth." Acts 17:31.
Grace is God taking the initiative. Grace by definition is courteous good will, really let this soak in God does not need us, but the amazing thing is He WANTS us! God even wanted Saul a man who went after His chosen people. Acts 9:3-5 "As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' said Saul. 'I am Jesus...''' Instead of eliminating Saul like God could've easily done He saw something in Saul like He sees in every single one of us. In the midst of Saul's rampage God still saw fit to go after Him, once we realize that God is waiting for us with open arms we can see that God wants to pursue us and is able to turn our ratchedness into righteousness. God will take anyone's broken pieces and turn them into masterpieces.
Grace shows how to love well in the journey. When we receive love from God we learn how to love others, we learn the difference between assests and liabilities, and if God can love us in all of our sin then surely we can love our haters, the liars, the fake, etc.
Now what are you going to do with what you know? When you get a good thing like knowing and being able to have a relationship with your creator - you dont let that go. Paul did not want to go back to being Saul, you cannot have a true encounter with God and not be changed.
Going from here:
1.) Know God for yourself: grow upwards in your faith
2.) Own your faith: grow in your faith
3.)Make it known to others: boldly go out professing what you believe.
The saying knowledge is power is 50% true, knowledge is the aquisition of information power is taking action knowing that knowledge.
The Moment We Reach In To Use Our Gifts
"For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way, we who are many are in one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts." Romans 12:3-6 Everybody has a gift. Acknowledge what your gift is and use it to the fullest of God's glory. 1 Peter 2:9 says "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Everyone possess a gift, but not everyone uses them for God's glory. We protect what is valuable to us, but we need to protect our gifts at all cost & use them well. If you are popular guess what you have a gift; you have the gift of being an influencer and you can influence those watching you. But if you abuse your gift those same people watching you will follow suit. You never see the gospel trending on twitter or any other social media because the people who have the power to make a difference aren't using it to further God's kingdom, they have that power and hold onto it not sharing it with anyone.
Have an unshakable belief. Do you believe that God can use you? In the Bible Noah, Sarah, Joshua, David, Josiah, Nehemiah, Esther, Jeremiah, Mary, Joseph, etc. all had unshakeable beliefs and were used by God. Despite your circumstances, your flaws, and even your past God wants to use you but that will only happen if you will let Him. Many of us look at God's call and cower in front of it as we tell ourselves that we're to small or insignificant to be used or we're not worthy to be used, but those are our words and not God's. God doesn't call on the qualified He qualifies the called.
You need to have a vision for your life. No this does not mean that you have to have everything together and have your whole future planned out, it means you need to know what you believe and what you want in life because when you stand for nothing you will fall for everything.
Community: The Moment We Reach Out To Others
"Just one thing. As citizens of heaven, live tour life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that are standing from in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of destruction for them, but of your deliverance - and this is from God." Philippians 1:27-28. You should live your life for God whether someone is holding you accountable or not because God is always holding you accountable. You wouldn't sin if God was standing right there beside you so how can you sin knowing that God is spiritually right there beside you.
Know your identity in Christ. Live like citizens of heaven, live sincerly and act authentically. Your teams, highschools, friends, etc. are not what connects us, we are united in the body of Christ. Some people in your life are darkness dont identify as them, darkness and light cannot dwell together which will you choose for your life?
One in spirit: Unity begins with attitude. Make sure your attitude is right, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." Phillipians 4:8. The people you do life with, your community should have the same spirit as you. We can have a tight knit group but if we have a negative core group we will go down the wrong path that leads to self destruction. You and your group will be one in spirit but it could be the wrong spirit, we must keep in mind that even Satan has a spirit. Alot of times we dont have a problem reaching out to people but we have a problem with reaching out to the wrong people.
One mind: Unity happens when the desires of 'the people' align with the desires of God. Our friends that smokes, drinks, cusses, and haves sex is NOT going to tell you about Jesus. Dont go back to the very thing that God has delivered you from. Whether we realize it or not we teach what we know but reproduce who we are as a person, we dont want to put out a fake, inauthentic faith that reflects on christians as a whole. We dont want that to put out into a community to be put out into the world.
Home: The Moment We Reach Home To Heaven
"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:6-8 Paul didnt want Timothy to be sad for him because he was going home, Paul had finished the race. If we live well we can die well and be at peace that you have fufilled your eternal purpose.
Live a life that can be celebrated: Be able to say that you have fought the good fight. How you live today will determine how you die tomorrow, let the life you have lived be well with your soul if you weren't going to be here tomorrow. Don't take the knowledge you have for granted your life is not your own and you werent created for things of the flesh. Tomorrow is not promised and that goes for everyone, think about non-believers as believers it is our responsibility to share the gospel we can not save everyone but being in a room of non-believers is like being in a room of people on fire. The difference is you know God, you know the creater, the savior of the world, that is knowledge more than enough to save someone; so in a room full of people on fire- a room full of unbelievers you are the fire extinguisher, you have something that others dont and only you know how to use it. Dont hold that knowledge to yourself. Live a life that can be immitated: be able to say I have kept the faith, because if you live a life faking an authentic faith and never share your faith or take action upon God's calling or use your gifts you will be same person that you were before the only difference is you will have wasted your life away putting on a front.
Know your character: Do you have a Godly character?
Influence: Are you being the salt and the light to those around you?
Relationships: Do you love your neighbors like you love yourself?
Lordship: Seek God first and let everything else fall into place.
Discernment: Spot the wolf in sheep's clothing know what is good & bad for you. When the devil want to approach you he is not going to announce himself and give you time to prepare yourself for what he has in store for you. Satan is not going to come in wearing bright red and holding a pitchfork he is going to come through a boyfriend, social media, bad friends, bad decisions, temptations, mindsets, etc. Some of us when met with these tribulations arent going to be ready to fight the fight and would rather turn away and not deal with it, some arent willing to suffer for their faith for their God. No one said being a christian was easy, making the decision to be a christian will be one of the hardest decisions you will ever make but it will also be the best decision you will ever make. Many will be against you and will try their very best to tear down the faith you have so carefully built up, but we have a God who loves us and fights for us one that was willing to send His son to die for sinners like you and me. Jesus didnt die a gruesome death so that we could freely sin He died so that we could be free from sin.
The following are some pics from the weekend enjoy!
