This week we heard from two men from Kansas City. Being around the two of them was evidence
enough of the widespread culture of the area.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we heard from DA Horton, a pastor from the
inner city. The first time we heard him
speak he told us that he speaks three languages… English, Evangelical, and
Ebonics. This guy is super passionate
about the Gospel. However, looking at
him, or even hearing the way he speaks, you probably wouldn’t guess he’s a
pastor. Thursday, we heard from Darrell
Shemwell who does…well, I’m not really sure.
But he’s a dear friend and mentor of Adam Donyes, and he is incredibly
wise.
DA talked with us about two of our fundamental
pillars here at link year; Heart Transformation, and Maximizing Moments. Romans 12:1-2 says,
“I appeal
to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.”
Here, Paul is challenging the Romans to offer their bodies as sacrifices
to the Lord…but what does that look like?
It’s like you’ve baked a really fancy cake, and you are finally ready to
serve it to your friends. You cut it,
plate it, and hand it over to them.
After that, it is theirs; whether they choose to eat it or not, whether
they like it, hate it, or feed it to the dog.
It’s theirs. Likewise, we are to
give our bodies over to God. Not just
rent them out from time to time. Eternal
life starts now. When we live with an
eternal perspective, people will see the difference in our lives, and we will
ultimately be able to point them directly to Christ. In the second verse, Paul is warning against
getting caught up in the things of this world; the here and now. Rather than pretending to be a really great
Christian, and obsessing over the materialistic things around us, we need to
set aside the things of this world so that our outward appearance matches our
internal content. God is always
transforming us. He uses things in our
lives to shape and mold us into the person we need to be, but it is our jobs to
present ourselves to him. We need to put
our lives at his disposal.
DA shared a story about a silversmith and his apprentice:
“A man once went to a silversmith and asked, How do I make Silver?” the
silversmith replied, “I cannot make metal, but I can show you how to use
it.” So he put some silver in the
fire. After a while, he pulled it out,
examined it, and replaced it in the flames.
He did this several times. After a
while the man grew impatient. “How do
you know when it is ready?” “When I can see my reflection,” the silversmith
replied,
“then I know that the impurities are gone, and it is ready to be used.”
“then I know that the impurities are gone, and it is ready to be used.”
God will
often times leave us in the flames in order to work out our impurities. He is helping us grow daily in order to
become more and more like him.
Eventually, we will be prepared to do exactly what he has laid out for
us in his perfect will.
DA made it
very clear that you cannot be idle in the faith. You can either live in autopilot, or you can
maximize every moment of your life.
Ephesians 5:15-21 makes this clear.
Verse 15 says “look carefully then, how you walk…” When you’re walking carefully, you are aware
of everything around you, and you are super cautious. Our lifestyles should be the same. Wisdom is the application of knowledge, and
we are called to walk as wise. Apply
your knowledge; live in the word you know!
Opportunities come with an expiration date, you can never get them
back. When we’re given opportunities, we
must redeem them. The God of this world
blinds our eyes. We need to look to the
one TRUE God in heaven, and take the opportunities he gives us. God didn’t create us to be stagnant sitting
ducks. We must live spirit filled
lives. You cannot glorify God under the
influence of anything other than God.
Darrell
Shemwell talked to us about sovereignty.
God created everything from nothing.
We can’t even begin to comprehend that… to us, nothing will always be
the absence of something. We have no
concept of absolute nothingness. Because
God created us, we know that he has absolute control over the universe, and
over our lives. He created and sustains
all things. He also shared with us a lot
of information about predestination, which I would love to continue to learn
more about. At this point, I feel as
though I have too many questions about it to be able to share with you what I
learned.
I hope
that every one is having a great Holiday season! Remember the reason for the season. We are inticipating the coming of the
savior! The perfect sacrifice that God
sent into this corrupted world to save us.
Keep CHRIST at the front of CHRISTmas.
God bless!
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