Ocean City Missions Trip

What a week it was in Ocean City. It was truly a blessed time full of stepping out of our comfort zone for God, preaching and dramaing on the boardwalk. I learned so much on this trip and I would like to share some of the happenings.

First of all, I am really thankful. Paul Adams and his crew of evangelists were so instrumental in preparing us for the boardwalk. They were kind and helpful, walking us through the ins and outs of the Open Air Campaigners (OAC). OAC uses a sketch board to convey the Gospel message.

They go to Ocean City and other various campuses to share the Gospel. I have a lot of respect for these men who sacrifice their entire lives to bring the good news to unbelievers. They taught us all the letters and the riddles that catch people's attention. They then showed us how to neatly transition int

o the Gospel message. Much thanks to Carmina as well for teaching us the skit. The skit was a tremendous success and attracted a lot of people.

Secondly I can see the power of the Lord. Throughout our missions trip, I continually prayed for God to give me the words to say, the courage to stand in front of unbelievers, and the strength to be bold. I truly felt no fear for my strength was grounded in the Lord and his saving work. I did not fear persecution for we should

count it as a privilege to suffer beside our Lord. When people attack you while you're giving the Gospel, they attack the author of the Gospel. I was truly able to see first hand how God can use a weak, needy servant for the furtherance of His kingdom. This week is probably my most meaningful week in terms of expanding God's Kingdom. The first week I preached the Gospel with no fear. I could feel the Holy Spirit give me clarity of speech. Every second that I spent sharing the Gospel was so joyous. I've never experienced such satisfaction in the Gospel and I pray that I continue to find joy in it. I pray that this evangelism thing wasn't just this week but the next chapter in my life where I look for opportunities to share.

Thirdly I was encouraged. Whenever I gave a message, I was blessed to have a lot of believers in the crowd that really encouraged me after the message was finished. I really get the "edification" of the body now. I want to be the same way, encouraging and spurring others on towards the Lord. I was also encouraged by the people I spoke to on the board walk. There was one person in particular and his name was Chris. He grew up in the Christian home just like me and really didn't have a relationship with Christ - basically not living out the Faith. He had fallen away for a couple years and the message on the boardwalk really hit him. It was as if God was continually pursuing him all these years. I pray that I can be faithful in encouraging him to live for Christ. What was also awesomely encouraging was seeing others step out in faith too. Watching Greyson and Mikie preach with conviction was amazing. It's really encouraging when you see people that love God preach God's love. Seeing Yolanda, Mary, and Alisa perform the drama and talk to people one-on-one about the Gospel really showed how each one of them have grown. How they were unafraid and unashamed of the Gospel. THIS IS HOW WE MUST LIVE!!!!! UNASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!! We must find ultimate satisfaction in the Gospel and cling with all our might to it.

Application Time

So now that I'm home and back to into my normal environment, there are many things that I need to work on. First of all, I need to get into the Word more. When speaking to people on the boardwalk, I encountered a jehovah's witness. I must be able to defend the Bible and it's truths. I must also not be so naive in thinking everyone has a firm grasp of the Gospel and what it means to be saved. Given this, I need to preach the Gospel to Christians, my friends, non-believers, and also myself. The Gospel is the basis of our Christian faith. Therefore, we need to be living a Gospel-centered life, fueled by prayer.

So these are just a few tidbits from OC. If you would like to hear the details, just hit me up. I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE MORE!!!!

BTW...I haven't forgotten about my notes from WorshipGod. I shall be posting them up this coming week before school starts.

WorshipGod Conference Part 4

The Fourth Session was given by Thabiti Anyabwile and is titled: "The Church of Worship". This dude is an author and also the senior pastor of The First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman. The main focus of Anyabwile's was the church and how it is essential, critical, and central to your spiritual well-being. I am guilty of previously coming to church out of duty, going because I had to. Up until last summer, I viewed church as a chore. Now I realize how important the church is to my spiritual walk. How the brothers and sisters are there to encourage us and spur us on in Christ. Anyabwile presents this equation: church = people, community, body.

2 Corinthians 12:12-27 describes the church as a body with each individual being a member of the body. In this body, each member has a different part to play. The body cannot function without all the parts together. The well-being of the entire body depends on the spiritual health of the members. In vs 26 it says that if one member suffers, all of the members suffer. As members of the same body, we must take care and watch out for each other.

Anyabwile lists 5 reasons as to why we need the church:

1. Because it's God's workmanship

Christ is the one that joins us to His body. He elects each and every single one of us. Therefore we all have a purpose in being in the body.

2. Because we need to be cared for

Every member of the body cares for each other like I mentioned before. One of the challenges he gave us was to have a meaningful conversation with everyone in the church. I am definitely guilty of aimless conversations. We need to dwell on things of consequence, our spiritual health. Love in the church should abound out of our doors so that when strangers step into our church, they can experience the love of Christ through us. We were also warned about individualism in the church. It can be dangerous when people isolate themselves from the members of the body.

3. To be equipped and matured for the Christian life - Eph 4: 11-15

When we edify the body of Christ, we are encouraging others to pursue God. Worship at church should fulfill this purpose while being glorifying to God. Becoming spiritually mature and to be like Christ is the goal of the Christian faith. The church is instrumental for individual growth. Think about it, can an arm severed from the body continue to grow? No! It strivels up and rots! You see why we cannot mature in Christ independent of the local church?

An illustration he gave was this: We cannot cut out the body and just love the head, in the same way, we cannot cut out the church and love Christ.

4. We need God's grace

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:"- 1 Peter 4:10

God's grace is channelled through God's people. God blesses us through His people.

5. We need God's love

"⁹Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. ¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." - 1 John 2:9-11

Whoever loves God must love his brother. We are command to love the members of His body!

LISTEN TO THE SESSIONS ONLINE!!!!

http://purechurch.blogspot.com/

WorshipGod Conference Part 3

The 3rd main session at WorshipGod Conference was given by Jeff Purswell, a pastor at Covenant Life Church. His talk was titled, "The Leaders of Worship". The talk was focused on answering the question, "Why do we gather?" Scripture is taken from Hebrews 10:19-25.

Purswell starts of by saying doctrine must precede practice. We must have a firm grasp of Biblical doctrine in order to worship correctly. Theology has an enduring effect on how you worship. If you have convictions of what you are doing, faith will come.

He names a couple reasons as to why we gather for corporate worship.

1. To encounter God - Hebrews 12:22-24

The purpose and nature of the church is to gather in God's presence. We are able to gather in God's presence no matter what type of facility it is as long as we approach the Father through the Son. When we worship on Sundays or any other day, we are worshipping with the angels in heaven and entering the presence of our Heavenly Father. We cannot take this lightly for something of eternal consequence is occurring every Sunday.

2. To respond to God

We cannot by our own means draw near to God. Rather, Christ's redemption allows us to draw near. All true worship is a response to God, to how He has showed himself to us. When we are worshipping, we are not adding anything, giving anything, or offering anything to God. When I heard this, I was shocked. When I worship, I always think that I'm the one giving God the glory. But as sinful beings, our worship cannot be meaningful without God. Therefore, our worship is given on behalf of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is then the mediator between us and God. The Gospel yet again!!!!

Something else that I never realized was that worship doesn't stop with the singing. Listening to the pastor give his sermon is also part of worship. Purswell put it this way, "In singing we are addressing God, in preaching God is addressing us." In fact, there's nothing more central to worship than preaching God's Word. This is why the pastor can technically be called the primary worship leaders since they are speaking the words of God to us. True worship is learning how to please God to the best of our ability as well as giving God all the glory by praising Him.

3. To strengthen each other for the glory of God

Gathering together in a corporate setting is for the purpose of building each other up in spirit and truth. We cannot run the race alone. As Christians we must pick each other up when one falls and rejoice when one triumphs. This past year, I have really been blessed with close brothers and sisters who are willing to fight this fight with me. It is even more refreshing to see God's kindness and care through them. As God's army, we our goal is to display God through revealed truth and to set forth His excellencies by deepening each other's knowledge of God.

Further God's Kingdom!

WorshipGod Conference Part 2

John Piper's second session was titled "The Heart of Worship". He starts off by reinforcing points he made the night before. John 17:1-5 describes Jesus praying right before He is arrested. In His prayer, he prays first for His glory, then for the disciples, and then for all believers. Jesus first and foremost prays for His own glory through the cross, so that people can see His glory forever before anything else. Through this we see that God's glory is of utmost importance to Jesus.

Piper goes on to talk about the relationship between the Gospel and His glory. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 talks about the Gospel as light. God is the one that enables your heart to percieve light. The Gospel is revealed to the elect. Satan doesn't want you to see the Gospel which is also the glory of Christ. And only God can reveal His glory. How then are we suppose to join God by magnifying his glory? He must magnify the Gospel.

The way in which we bring the most glory to God is by being the most satisfied in Him. The basis of "Desiring God", one of Piper's books, is this phrase: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." He looks to Philippians 1:19-21 for Biblical support. Paul's goal was to magnify God in his body whether dead or alive. Christ is glorified if in death, all the satisfactions of this life is worth nothing compared to the pleasure of being with God. Though this is something that is out of our control, we must ask God to give us that satisfaction in Him. This is something that all Christians should strive for.

Now how do you have a heart of worship? Here are a couple of things to remember:

1. The pursuit of joy is not an option but mandated

If we aren't pursueing joy in Christ, corporate worship is dead. Let's then answer the question, "Why do you go to church?" Many pastors say, "You don't go to church to get something, but rather to give." In reality though, there's nothing that we as broken people can give to the church! Think about it this way. A deer panteths for the water of the stream. Can the deer offer anything to the stream? All the deer does is take satisfaction in Him. This is the manner in which we must go to church. Thirsty, empty, and desperate, craving God's fullness. Finding ultimate satisfaction in Him will then in turn spur you on to giving back into the body, to share the completeness God has given to you.

2. Pursueing satisfaction in God makes worship radically God-centered

Some people may say pursueing your own satisfaction in God is selfish. But this is not the case. We were made with an emptiness that only our Creator can fill. As Christians, this should be our mentality, "There's nothing I'd rather do than to give God glory." Though we say "I'd", it doesn't make the statement selfish because what is the end? Giving God the glory!!! Piper gave an awesome illustration. Imagine a bunch of thirsty puppies. A cup of water is placed on the floor amongst them. The puppies then gather around the cup and drink greedily. We are just like the puppies, crowding around God, a cup that is never empty. God is in the center when we all crowd around Him!!! We must be so into God that we forget ourselves.

3. Worship is only for glorifying God

The sad truth of today is that many pastors use worship for different purposes other than glorifying God. Some use it as vehicle to attract people, evangelize, raise church moral, and encourage monetary offerings. This shouldn't happen if we view God as the center of our lives. Piper gives an example in that you can't say, "I love to play ball with you son" so that he will cut the grass. If you delight in a person, it's an end. But if it's a means for something, it's not a delight anymore. But you'll also find that when you truly delight in the Lord, all of the other things come into place.

4. All of life is worship and all gatherings are corporate worship

How do we make our outward life make people admire God and not us like Matthew 5:16 tells us?

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

The answer is to rejoice in persecution for great is your reward in heaven. By rejoicing in our persecution, we become the saltiest and the brightest thing in the world. The world innately grumbles and asks, "Why me?" in the face of persecution. But by being satisfied in and rejoicing in our reward (which is Christ), people will start asking questions.

Do you magnify God's glory by being satisfied in Him alone?

WorshipGod Conference Part 1

So I had the awesome opportunity to go to the WorshipGod Conference at Covenant Life Church this past Wednesday to Friday. The worship and the teaching there were very impactful and insightful. I really liked how Gospel centered all the messages and songs were. The Gospel must take on a greater importance in our lives. It is because of the Gospel we have life through our Saviour Jesus Christ. It is because of the Gospel we can be free from sin and have a peace in Him. It's because of the Gospel we can go to God the father. I tend to forget these fundamental things which are essential for Gospel-centered living.

The first speaker at the conference was John Piper. You may know him as the author of "Desiring God" and "Don't Waste Your Life". His talk was so incredibly deep and thought provoking! Here goes my attempt to explain some of his talk to you.

His first talk was titled "God of Worship" and is taken from Romans 3:25-26. He first laid down the different mindsets or outlooks an individual can have on the world. The first is the "secular mindset", the one that everyone is born with where they view man as the center of all things. Life is about my expectations, my rights, my desires. My desires are the measure of all things. The opposite is the "Biblical mindset" where God is the center and His rights and His goals are the center. We are dependant. These mindsets determine our perception as to the purpose of the universe. The Biblical mindset affirms that the purpose of the universe is to bring glory to God.

Piper posed this question: "What is the problem God is solving in the sending of His Son? Most people answer by saying that our salvation was the main purpose of the coming of Christ. Piper however posed another view. Remember David, when he sinned by killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba? Nathan the prophet went to David and told him about his wrongdoing. David then repented and God forgave him. When God allows sin to go unpunished, it does not satisfy God's righteous nature. As a just God, He cannot tolerate any kind of sin. Piper gave an illustration: If a murderer went before a judge and apologized for killing a man and the judge allowed the murderer to walk free, how would that be just? In the same way, God had to vindicate His own righteousness by doing one of two things, either send us all to hell or send His only Son to die for the remission of all sins. Our salvation was a secondary objective to the vindication of God's righteousness. Through this, we see that God's love for us is based on His love for His glory. We are no longer the foundation of our salvation.

Then people ask, "Is Jesus an ego maniac? And in being an ego-maniac, is that love? We look to Matthew 10: 37-39.

"He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worth of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."

To answer the question, it is in fact love. The only eternal happiness is a happiness focused on the glory of God. God's unswerving faithfulness to uphold and display His perfection through the cross is for my enjoyment. Therefore, we experience the greatest joy when we are glorifying God. When God's exhaltation is your joy, your joy will never fail.

Now exult in Christ's exaltation!!!!