What I Said

*Thanks for asking Tim

So I’m back from BYF and I still can’t fully express how amazing the weekend was. I’m not sure I have ever had such a strong sense of anointing (to use a good churchy word) on my preaching. The old timers were amazing and I came home feeling totally drained but amazingly encouraged. Here is the quick breakdown of what I said to them.

FRIDAY NIGHT
I preached from Revelation 3 about the church in Laodicea and what happens when “love has left the building.” Following Jesus is more about what you want than what you have. Better to be a person who loves Jesus deeply and has long way to go then look like a great Christian on the outside but not have any real passion for Christ. I challenged them to let God give them a fresh passion for Him.

SATURDAY MORNING
We looked at the John 17:14-18 which is often summarized “Be in the world but not of it.” I said that the difference between “in” and “of” is not a difference of location and relationships but of who we are. It’s not about forming Christian ghettos and only being friends with christians it’s about allowing Jesus to make us more like Him. Then I brought it full circle to say that, based on the example of Jesus, you can’t follow Jesus without having friends who don’t follow Jesus. To illustrate all this I put cornflakes in water and rocks in water. The cornflakes fall all to pieces and become goo because they take on the water. The rocks stay just the same because they are solid. I challenged them to be rock solid Christians not religious flakes.

SATURDAY NIGHT
I spoke from 2 Timothy 2 where Paul talks about how what was given to him he gave to Timothy who in turn needs to hand it down to others who will hand it down to others. I spoke as an ambassador from the younger generation coming into leadership to the older generation handing off the baton. I told them we needed them to hand down their:
Effort: Keep serving, no one on scripture retires and no one is better positioned to reach the growing population of seniors then them.
Experience: Tell us stories of the God who is not just the way it was. Tell us the stories of lives changed and sinners set free that will build our faith for what God really can do. Remind us of just how big this thing called the Kingdom is and what’s really worth worrying about (and in the process you will remind yourself).
Example: I asked them to remember when they were younger who the “dear old saints” were. They listed off stacks of amazing followers of Jesus. I looked them in the eyes and told them they were our dear old saints and they needed to step up to it and embrace that role. I have to admit things got pretty intense right there and I think a lightbulb went on for most of them. I said we needed their example that holiness works over the long haul, that a marriage can last form the alter to the casket, and that you can get sweeter and more Christ-like with age instead of just crotchety. I told them they needed to take initiative to build relationships with younger people in their churches and live out an example of sainthood in front of them. Amazing, astounding, breakthrough, night.

SUNDAY MORNING
I spoke on “Why God Waits” out of the story or Lazarus.
He waits for His glory to be revealed. God’s glory is His presence and power made obvious. Jesus waited for Lazarus to die so that when He raised him it would make His power and presence more obvious. Basically God loves a good story.
He waits because he sees things as they really are. There is no “to late” for God. What we see as the end He sees as the middle. This doesn’t mean we won’t go through hard times it just means Jesus can always make His power and presence obvious in the end. In fact if we want to see His glory we need to be ready to suffer. Everyone wants a resurrection but nobody wants to die.
He waits to give room for our faith. Not faith that He will do what we want but faith that he will find a way to bring glory to himself through it. Resurrection was a raw deal for Lazarus but it was the way Jesus brought glory to himself. Sometimes God’s glory is best served by how he intervenes and sometimes it is best served by the way he helps us to endure (see Paul and his thorn in the flesh).
I challenged them to a radical commitment to the Glory of God.

Amazing weekend and something I definitely hope I get the chance to do again.

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