David Platt.
If you don't recognize that name, open up a new tab, google it, and immediately watch videos and buy books because trust me, you're going to want to be familiar with that name.
David Platt is a young preacher right here in the southeast who is the most by-the-book, wash-me-in-biblical-truth pastors I've ever heard. I have never read a book or watched a video by him where I did not feel like I was constantly growing in my walk with Christ. Seriously y'all, he's that good. He makes sure that what he says can be backed up by the Bible and is God-breathed and you just don't get that anymore.
Whew, anyway, on to what this post is about.
So David Platt does this thing every year called "Secret Church", inspired by some of his past mission trips in Asia years ago. On these trips, church goers could be killed if the government saw that they were attending church so they literally would risk it all to walk to an underground, undisclosed location and for 12 hours straight they would go through the Bible with David. Yes, the whole Bible. David describes his experiences with them in his book "Radical" (seriously, you have to read it), and it's amazing. It will sure make you think twice about how you walk into your church on Sunday. Well, after these trips, David began to wonder how he could instill the same sense of passion and urgency for the word in his own church back home. So began Secret Church.
It started with just David's church. They would remove some of the comforts in the sanctuary, such as chairs, and hundreds of members would come and sit on the ground for 6 hours and go through a large portion of the Bible. It became so popular that soon thousands attended. It began to be podcasted until it grew into what it is today. Secret Church was one week ago and over 63,000 attended/watched from their own church homes. Dozens and dozens of countries are represented in that number. And it is AMAZING. God speaks volumes through David every time and it is never a disappointment so I recommend that you check that out next year because it is worth all 6-7 hours.
Now, to what I actually wanted to write this post about...
David's message this year was all about how we can disciple to people of different religions. However, he made sure to start off the night reminding us why it is so vital to spread the good news to everyone that will listen. He did this through an acronym which just so happens to be G.O.S.P.E.L., which inspired me to do a little 6 week series on each of the letters.
Here's what each post will be on:
G: God's Character
O: Offense of Sin
S: Sufficiency of Christ
P: Personal Response
E: Eternal Urgency
L: Life Transformation
I am so looking forward to this new journey that I myself am getting to partake in and I so hope that you all will join me and get something out of it too.
Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts
Friday, May 6, 2016
Friday, October 24, 2014
"But my God you never will"
Quick update on my life: I'm in college, I have a hard major, I am stressed and don't have time to think.
That about sums it up without going into too much boring detail. I've had some ups and some downs in the last month, many of which were cleaned up after dropping a class taught by a professor who thought very highly of himself. All in all the college experience is getting progressively better, even as I head into a very hectic and stressful week.
The worst thing about college, for me at least, is the intimidation. I am a woman engineering major, which means I am among the a vast minority of people. I go to a college where every freshmen enters majoring in some type of engineering field and quickly changes to a business major. Engineering is HUGE here. Definitely the best college to go to for engineering in the state, and almost in the entire southeast. Engineering companies around here only hire graduates from my school in a lot of cases. But think about how incredibly intimidating that is! I am in a male-dominated field, and I am by far not the smartest student in the college. I live every day in intimidation and awe that I can actually do the things that I am doing. I mean, a year ago I was going to go to a private school and become an elementary school teacher. My life has not always looked like what it does right now. The difference is God stepped in and told me what he wanted me to pursue. He laid on my heart mission work that I can do as a Civil Engineer. He put a love of math in me (something I was NOT born with) and a fascination with structures. And so I made the switch and here I am. And I'm doing pretty great so far.
Granted, it will get much, much harder as I get into higher level classes. But I trust God. I know without a doubt that I am in the major God wants me in. He blessed me with scholarships specifically for engineering, something I know he wouldn't have done with this is not where I was supposed to be. I know that right now I'm not studying for me, I'm studying for the gospel. I will not ignore the mission calling that God has on my heart. I can't wait to see how that unfolds, but I'm not giving up on it. But bottom line is, I'm not in school for me. Which is why I am working my butt off. I'm doing the Lord's work right now. And I truly believe that. It may sound crazy, but I truly believe it.
The only thing that is getting me through it is knowing that God is stronger. I go back to a worship song I have sang many many times. Part of it goes a little like this:
"I may be weak,
but Your spirit's strong in me,
My flesh may fail,
but my God You never will"
Whenever I'm intimidated or scared about what the future is going to look like this, I remember these verses. I know that I can do NONE of this on my own. Not joking, none of it. I would be doing terribly in college. I am not strong enough to handle this pressure by myself and I know that. I know that sounds crazy because many people go through college without Christ, but it's been a tough transition and on my own I am not emotionally or mentally capable of handling it. But God is. And God never fails. And I'm here by his calling, by his plan. So I know he's got my back, and I'm going to follow him throughout this journey, no matter if it takes 6 years and I lose all my scholarships and I'm a nervous wreck. I'm where I need to be.
I challenge you all to find exactly what it is that God is leading you to. It may not even be a degree or a call to the mission field in the sense that most people see it as. It could be something totally different and crazy. I just want you to listen to that calling and stick with it. It will be intimidating, but let God amaze you. He will work wonders in you, no matter how crazy it is, and you will push through. I'm going to use the very over-used bible verse Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength". It's over-used because its so incredibly true. Go out there and be awesome. And listen to this worship song because it is the bomb. (ps. I'm a civil engineering major, not a computer engineering major, so you're going to have to copy and past the link below into your browser, but it's worth it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMVvqI1-tM4
That about sums it up without going into too much boring detail. I've had some ups and some downs in the last month, many of which were cleaned up after dropping a class taught by a professor who thought very highly of himself. All in all the college experience is getting progressively better, even as I head into a very hectic and stressful week.
The worst thing about college, for me at least, is the intimidation. I am a woman engineering major, which means I am among the a vast minority of people. I go to a college where every freshmen enters majoring in some type of engineering field and quickly changes to a business major. Engineering is HUGE here. Definitely the best college to go to for engineering in the state, and almost in the entire southeast. Engineering companies around here only hire graduates from my school in a lot of cases. But think about how incredibly intimidating that is! I am in a male-dominated field, and I am by far not the smartest student in the college. I live every day in intimidation and awe that I can actually do the things that I am doing. I mean, a year ago I was going to go to a private school and become an elementary school teacher. My life has not always looked like what it does right now. The difference is God stepped in and told me what he wanted me to pursue. He laid on my heart mission work that I can do as a Civil Engineer. He put a love of math in me (something I was NOT born with) and a fascination with structures. And so I made the switch and here I am. And I'm doing pretty great so far.
Granted, it will get much, much harder as I get into higher level classes. But I trust God. I know without a doubt that I am in the major God wants me in. He blessed me with scholarships specifically for engineering, something I know he wouldn't have done with this is not where I was supposed to be. I know that right now I'm not studying for me, I'm studying for the gospel. I will not ignore the mission calling that God has on my heart. I can't wait to see how that unfolds, but I'm not giving up on it. But bottom line is, I'm not in school for me. Which is why I am working my butt off. I'm doing the Lord's work right now. And I truly believe that. It may sound crazy, but I truly believe it.
The only thing that is getting me through it is knowing that God is stronger. I go back to a worship song I have sang many many times. Part of it goes a little like this:
"I may be weak,
but Your spirit's strong in me,
My flesh may fail,
but my God You never will"
Whenever I'm intimidated or scared about what the future is going to look like this, I remember these verses. I know that I can do NONE of this on my own. Not joking, none of it. I would be doing terribly in college. I am not strong enough to handle this pressure by myself and I know that. I know that sounds crazy because many people go through college without Christ, but it's been a tough transition and on my own I am not emotionally or mentally capable of handling it. But God is. And God never fails. And I'm here by his calling, by his plan. So I know he's got my back, and I'm going to follow him throughout this journey, no matter if it takes 6 years and I lose all my scholarships and I'm a nervous wreck. I'm where I need to be.
I challenge you all to find exactly what it is that God is leading you to. It may not even be a degree or a call to the mission field in the sense that most people see it as. It could be something totally different and crazy. I just want you to listen to that calling and stick with it. It will be intimidating, but let God amaze you. He will work wonders in you, no matter how crazy it is, and you will push through. I'm going to use the very over-used bible verse Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength". It's over-used because its so incredibly true. Go out there and be awesome. And listen to this worship song because it is the bomb. (ps. I'm a civil engineering major, not a computer engineering major, so you're going to have to copy and past the link below into your browser, but it's worth it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMVvqI1-tM4
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)