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Thank you Father. coffeehouse recap coming soon. :)
single-minded ccf winter retreat update, jan. 16-18, 2004 i must admit, i doubted God at the beginning of the weekend. why? i don't know... because that's actually quite stupid, to doubt that God could work in me or in our fellowship. of course, as expected, He proved me wrong. the weekend turned out to be inspiring, exciting, and extremely eye-opening. the Lord convicted me of my weakness, and encouraged me in His strength. He showed me that it's all about the Cross of Jesus Christ. Without the cross there is nothing, and nothing besides the cross is anything. God showed me that He is moving in our fellowship even without our trying, and challenged us to imagine the possibilities if we were to try! Andy Ng's testimony about dorm outreach touched me, and while i felt guilty that i had misused my two years in the dorms, it excited me to know that the freshmen were able to hear a real life example of the potential they still have. Jeff's talks were convicting. He emphasized the centrality and sole significance of Jesus Christ in our faith. the four things that the cross achieved: propitiation, redemption, justification, and reconciliation, are VITAL in why we are called to bring the Good News to the world. the kingdom of God is the big picture, which we should always keep in mind when we think about our own lives as followers of Jesus. If Jesus is our King, and He is calling all people to himself, as people of the kingdom, we need to be participating in that! if we aren't, then what are we doing for the kingdom? Evangelism is not just a set of propositions... it's about what GOD is doing. He has a master plan. And he's given us the responsibility to be a part of it. We are in the process of joining God in restoring His creation to SHALOM, the way He intended things to be. Evangelism is not just for people who are "gifted", it is our sole duty as members of God's family. Evangelism is countercultural. But God never told us it would be easy. He did promise, though, that we can be strong under His grace. Evangelism is not an individual effort. The body of Christ is called to be as one, to work together to bring the Gospel to all people. As CCF, we can support each other in our personal evangelism, as well as bring nonbelievers into our midst, so they might experience God's love in community. let's not work alone, but work as a single-minded body that has Christ at the center! Let's participate in God's kingdom work, not because he needs us to, but because He deserves it! "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." 2 Timothy 2:1-2
urbana. i would like to thank a few people before i get into my whole schpeal: 1). GOD. thank You for your work on the cross, for calling me your daughter, and for allowing me to attend urbana, among everything else that i am grateful for. :) 2) CBC & Knox Presbyterian Church. your financial support enabled me to be met by God and to do a great work in my life. thank you! 3) everyone who was praying for me/us: your prayers really meant something! I know that God was faithful, because He spoke to me as well as everyone at the convention. thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord. :) 4) all the people who worked to make urbana possible: i was amazed at the organization and thoughtfulness planned out with the housing, bus schedule, exhibits, speakers, worship, seminars, bookstore, and everything else that made urbana such a thorough and personal experience. may God continue to bless your ministries and the many urbanas to come! *** it's difficult knowing where to start when i've learned so much and experienced so much. i'm almost certain this will come out making no sense at all. but i will try, because i think it's important to share what God did, to give Him glory and also to get others excited about His work and His mission! as i was saying in my other blog, the theme for the week was taken from the Lord's Prayer: "Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done". the general theme in everything we saw, heard, did, and experienced, was that God is doing something HUGE. He's bringing His kingdom! And that doesn't just mean he's converting people to become Christians. It doesn't mean He wants us to go to church, read the Bible, and sing worship songs. although all of those things are included, His mission is MUCH greater than that! He wants to bring His glory to this world, the way He intended it to be when the world was created. And that means restoring creation (you, me, animals, plants, etc.) to the rightful beauty it was made to be. part of that included Jesus' dying for our sins, because we messed up big time. but more than that - God is working to bring justice, peace, and joy to this world. And He wants us to be a part of this work! Urbana helped us realize that God doesn't NEED us, because God doesn't really NEED anything, but God loves His people, and He wants us to share that love! A kingdom means that there is a king. And in this great kingdom, Jesus is our King. As servants of the king, we need to make God SOVEREIGN LORD in our lives, and in this world. That means foregoing all other things that rule our lives - the values of success, comfort, and material things - and allowing Jesus to sit on the throne. We must also be obedient to His commands, and carry out what He tells us to do, no matter what! This was a tough challenge, because not only does that mean getting rid of any idols in our lives, it means being active in carrying out God's work, which is often challenging and outside of our comfort zones. God's kingdom includes ALL kinds of people, because this Kingdom is for anyone who proclaims Jesus as LORD and Savior. At Urbana we were introduced to new kinds of cultural worship, heard from speakers of all different ethnicities, and were challenged to cross cultures and look beyond "western christianity". one of the biggest challenges was that we mustn't assume that us as western christians are the more fortunate or more powerful people, and that the people we encounter in other cultures are poor, desolate, and need OUR help. God loves all people the same, and He gives us all different gifts so we can make up a diverse but complete body of Christ. So what now? Throughout the week I believe God challenged each of us to listen to His voice directing us. After such motivation, it may be easy to want to get up and save the world. Although single-handedly that is humanly impossible, I think Jesus wants each of us to do our part in the way that He has called us. for some this may mean a full time commitment to overseas missions. for others, that is living out a godly life in the workplace after school. some may feel a need to reevaluate their campus fellowship's vision and approach. in whatever context, there is a harvest out there that God wants us to reap! Let us pray that He will help us "CARRY OUT" his mission and do what we can to usher in God's Kingdom on earth! "Yes, Your Majesty!" Luke 10:2 [Jesus] told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field..."
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visitors
welcome back to the castle conversation... where i'm not in a castle, and it's not really a conversation. :)
verse of the week
"Conisder how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor dressed like one of these... But seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well." ~ Luke 12:27,31
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