The conference this week has been fantastic! I've been challenged in an affirmative way, and can't wait to implement some of the ideas that God is birthing in me this week. My challenge is fitting what I'm learning into where I'm taking it back to; without compromising the integrity of the message. I can already tell that I need to pray more about all of it!
I’ve got a full schedule tomorrow on my busiest work day of the week, then I hop on a plane bound for Atlanta. I’ll be at the Orange Conference all week. I’m real excited about the chance to be a participant and not an organizer. Come to think of it, that may be why pastors love going to conferences.
I’m not a big-time conference attender, because I think that it can easily be overdone in Christian circles. However, this is my first time to be in Atlanta so I’ll have to do a little sightseeing. (Sightseeing is an Atlanta word for sitting in traffic…) If any of my blog readers are there, send me a twitter and we’ll do lunch or something!
Exactly one year ago today I packed up my family in the minivan and sent them off to Lubbock, TX. I then watched my movers pack up every possession I had and put it in a moving truck that I wouldn’t see again for 24 hours. The move out here to Lubbock was extremely chaotic, and we continue to tell of God’s faithfulness to sort out the mess that was our housing situation when we arrived.
One year later, and I’m still glad I headed out West. I miss my trees, lakes, and shopping malls; but I’d still move out here if I could do it all over again.
Matthew 5:48
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
This past Tuesday night I spoke to a small gathering of college students here at the church. I’ll spare you the details of my talk, but as I began to try and apply an application to my message, I just blurted out, “If you want to be more genuine as a believer, then you really just need to be more like Jesus!”
Can it really be that simple?
The application statement for every single sermon ever preached could be, “Be Like Jesus!” In fact, if I had to offer advice for anything (not that anyone has asked for it) but my advice would be to “Be Like Jesus!” I’m going to go rewrite every speech, sermon, or motivational talk I’ve ever given and make sure I finish with the exhortation to, “Be Like Jesus!”
It’s simple yet also profound. I find it frustrating knowing that the answer to all of my life’s problems is to Be Like Jesus, yet being like Jesus has eluded me most of my life. Matthew 5:48 is a great goal, but I’ll never truly meet it. But I don’t take discouragement from the fact that I’ll never genuinely Be Like Jesus, I take encouragement that Jesus was so perfect that because of His perfection I don’t have to be.
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Now playing: Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken – If Not for You
via FoxyTunes
