[created] for something greater

A look into the mind … what does that mean?  Well basically there is this concept of mind, heart, hands:  you fill the mind with knowledge about God… this knowledge then becomes convictions of the heart… these convictions then become actions in your hands.  But i am kinda of going heart, mind, hands… because i don’t know why… im random like that lol.

Well throughout the OC we had sessions, workshops, sessions, workshops… and a couple more sessions.  But within these sessions I swear pure gold was being poured out of the mouths of the Pastors and workshop co-ordinators.  So here are some of the things my mind caught… and then i will share how it becomes the heart.

the [sessions]

Ps PN’s last session was basically a look into how Hope Bangkok contextualises anything from public holidays to cultural traditions to make it either evangelical or relevant to Christ.  I was really inspired by the ideas he shared to us.  An example is on the labour day public holiday they basically throw a big party for all the workers in the church.  This got my mind churning of how we can contextualise to the Australian culture in Ablaze.

Another session was when Nigel from Hope Busselton began to speak out about his convictions on reaching out to the Australian community.  Oh man was I convicted.  Ok to be honest at first the walls went up… my mind instantly went into arrogance mode and the enemy began to speak things into my mind like “how dare he speak to me as if i wasn’t trying… who gives him the right to stand up there and say this kind of stuff… I dont need to hear this i am an ABC!”  but as I took hold of my own pride and threw it aside God stirred a conviction in my heart.

Amidst all of this the conviction that came into my heart was that i am not doing enough.  Yeah i talk about how australian i am.. yet i have not brought a single australian to church… not even as a new visitor.  I was thinking up all these new programs to draw in the australian crowds but God simply said to me the ones i have chosen to impact the caucasian australian community in your church will come simply for me… they will look beyond the skin and see the God you worship and the vision you have.  Do not worry, I will convict them when you bring them.  WoW! when God spoke this to me I had a great peace on my heart to know that GOD WILL CONVICT THE HEARTS!!! but my job is to bring them in.  It might take 100 people before the 1 God has chosen to impact the community but i know that God has this person out there waiting for someone in the church to step out of their own comfort zone and say hey… do you know God?

In the first session we talked about this concept called ’syncretism’.  Syncretism is basically when you try to mesh 2 totally different beliefs together… aka… biblical compromise.  During this session my mind was churning like crazy… basic principles began to flood back and my own beliefs in the Word of God began to be challenged.  I was reminded that the Word of God is the truth and that nothing in it can be changed, that we cannot compromise a biblical principle to make someone else *like* the truth of the Bible better.  God began to convict my heart and challenge me to know his Word better!  I think alot of the times I don’t press hard into the principles of God because i myself don’t know them very well… but God began to challenge me to dig deeper into his Word.  I was even given a word by Peter Truong to get more into the Word of God to see my new season of growth!

the [workshop]

I attended ‘capturing the heart of church planting’ and ‘a just right universe’.  The church planting workshop was an interesting one.  I was originally meant to attended Ps Lances workshop on ‘how to avoid burnout in ministry’ but i felt the prompting of God to go to another workshop and when i looked at the list the church planting workshop just seemed to jump out at me.  Ok i admit i didnt go the church planting one straight away… but i went eventually.  Anyway I was expecting to get this great call from God to plant a church somewhere but by the end of it honestly i think i know that church planting might not be for me… well not in the near future anyway.  BUT something i did get from this workshop was actually the heart for it.  I believe this has been apart of God’s softening of my heart towards missions and ultimately to understanding the Great Commission better.  By the end of it I had a new found respect for church planters and a new found conviction to intercede for our neighbouring islands cities and towns that are yet to be reached.

A just right universe by Ps Ian Foley was pretty interesting as well.  Ps Ian Foley is actually Dr Ps Ian Foley with a PhD in something smart in science :).  But he basically just shared his scientific view on creation and evolution and how the universe has been created just right for us.  There are things i knew like how if the earth’s axis was even 1 degree out we’d all fry and freeze to death… if the earth’s rotation was too fast or too slow there would be either too much wind or not enough wind… and much more… but Ps Ian spoke about one thing that really intrigued me.  The Big Bang Theory!.  Ok so i was expecting a… this can’t be true etc but instead he spoke on the perspective that… hey this could be true because we don’t know how God created the universe?    Ps Ian says he supports the idea that the universe is 10million years old  BUT  that mankind is only 6000 - 10000 years old.  Did you catch that?  It is much too much to type…

Wow this post is long… ok i think i stop now… but those are some of the major things i caught at OC…

finally will be how I plan to put these things into action into my life..

see you laterrz

sorry photos will come later… too lazy to post them up now =D