We're baaaaaack! It was a tremendous week at Beulah. Even with a rainy Friday, the weather was exceptionally nice for June in southern Illinois. The music was worshipful and Spirit-led (thanks 1000 Generations for being sensitive to the Spirit rather than your own schedule). The games and recreation time was mostly fun...sometimes gross, and the preaching was relevant and direct. I want to share what I thought were two of the most profound messages shared within the sermons. OB, that is Older Bob (Bob Phillips), examined the account of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 on Friday morning. In that sermon he stated that we (both individually and as a church) are never more in God’s will or closer to Jesus than when we share the message of Christ with someone who is lost. He based this statement on Luke 19: 10 where Jesus says, “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” If that was Jesus’ purpose, surely it should be ours! Another profound word came from YB, which is Younger Bob (Bob Swickard), who explained the difference between preferences we have and convictions we hold. Simply put, preferences are things we want to do, while convictions are things we must do. Unfortunately for many people, preferences seem to win out over convictions. Looking back at the week, it’s too bad more folks don’t have the conviction to share the Good News with the lost…Jesus did.
2 comments:
I'm not totally convinced it's the preferences that win out over convictions all the time. I think sometimes it's more a matter of priority. If I were to honestly review the things I do - many of them would fall into the 'have to do' column more than the 'want to do' column, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are the things God wants me to do. Does that make sense??
Yeah, lots of sense...aren't there times when doing what we perceive as good might not be what God wants...we often see the immediate while God sees with the big picture. That alone shows the importance of being in right relationship with God.
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