I love RYM. It's such a treat to be able to still attend as an adult chaperone.
This week was full of fantastic teaching and some beautiful beach weather.
The theme for the conference this year was "Scripture is Relevant" and Elbert McGowan, the main speaker did a fantastic job of bringing to light the truths about how scripture is still very, very relevant to us even today.
I'm going to share with you the highlights from my sermon notes throughout the week and some pictures of our group.
Scripture works.
It changes people.
There’s motivation that happens in the context of community (share in things)
The Word conforms is FROM something and it conforms us TO something.
The purpose of The Word is not theological information, the purpose The Word is heart transformation.
Jesus did something unprecedented for us through His death and resurrection and when reading this scripture (Luke 24:13-49) we see that one of the first things He does after He’s risen from the dead is endorse/point people to scripture.
Scripture is ultimately about Jesus-He is the hero of scripture.
Can it be all about Him while also being for us? Yes.
There’s a hero that saves us from our messes-we cannot save ourselves. We need Jesus, our Hero, to come and rescue us.
We usually tie human love to knowledge of that person. What we know about them is what makes us love them more or makes us pull away. Jesus doesn’t love that way. He knows you more fully than anyone, and He stays.
Jesus KNEW what was soon to happen (betrayal and crucifixion). He is not uninformed. He fully understood and He still chose to have a meal with His disciples and wash their feet.
He chose to be at a table with those who would betray Him, one even to His death—this is good news to those who believe in Him because He knows we will betray Him, He knows we will deny Him, He sees all our brokenness and yet, he stays.
His love is a love that cleanses and satisfies.
The washing of His disciples feet was a foretaste of what was to come through The Great Exchange on the cross—the ultimate washing away of our sins, through His blood.
He has a love for us that will transform us.
What He did was the ultimate act of service, the ultimate act of humility.
Where does the power for that type of service and humility come from? If we can realize that Jesus, The King, did that for us, then we can do that for others, too.
We can only do this when we receive what He has given us—it becomes the fuel for our actions.
The fourth night's lesson was in regards to scripture being relevant was about Satan and the various ways we’re tempted throughout our lives.
Throughout all of scripture, we see Satan attack when people are actively seeking God + His word and oftentimes we underestimate the power and opposition of Satan in our lives.
Satan’s desire is to “choke out our faith” as a weed would in a flower bed. He is real and he is he villain—don’t be surprised when you feel him and all the heaviness he brings, all of the doubt, all of the weariness.
But, even as we know this and see this, we can and should also see a pattern of God’s faithfulness as well.
God will make a way out of no way to save His people. Satan’s resistance is fruitless and futile.
The Lord can use the evil of Satan to bring about goodness and show His faithfulness.
Our God is faithful and He has already won.
Elbert’s final sermon was real and it was raw—he spoke on death/mortality and what the scriptures have to say about it.
1 Corinthians 15:1-24
We can’t escape death, not one of us and when we sit back and consider this, it brings sadness.
It would be a disservice to not discuss death+mortality because it is real and it is present. It can bring fear and anxiety but, it can also bring hope.
It’s easy to doubt resurrection in the face of death or when you’re going through trials over and over and over. When we face mortality amongst the ones we love the deepest, our faith can be shaken.
It will appear that the villain of scripture has won and that there is no hope.
IF there was no resurrection, then what? The resurrection is the hope we have. It’s what brings all of scripture together through its fulfillment.
The grand story of scripture is hope—He WILL resurrect and He WILL restore all things.
If you are in Christ, death is a comma, not a period.
Death can touch a lot of things in this life but, it can not touch your union with God, The Father. We KNOW how the story ends—those who have died are with Him and those who haven’t, will be. Encourage one another in those truths.
What an awesome, awesome week and what a blessing it was to get to know each of these youth and sit under such fruitful teaching all week.
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