Recently, Hillsong Conference in Sydney Australia was held between the 30th of June to the 4th of July. This year I was not able to register as I am now able to go to the adult stream conference, the price is obviously and significantly more expensive. You can figure out why I didn't go just by knowing that I am unemployed. Haha. Other than that, I had prayed and asked God to speak to me, to give me what I needed to hear. He did just that. Although I was not able to go to every night rally, as much as I'd love to, He gave me what I needed to hear. And I want to share you the things that God had spoken to me.
Steven Furtick is one of my favourite pastors of all time. Besides the fact that he founded a church purely on faith and trust in God, his messages are always so practical to apply to your life. He spoke on the first night of Hillsong Conference, praise God because I thought I would miss out on him, and his message was titled: 'The Problem with Pinterest.' The scripture was 2 Corinthians 3:12-17. The problem with pinterest is directed at today's culture of comparison. He stated three problems that we had: There's a problem with comparing ourselves to other people's images of perfection, there's a problem with living in the past and there's a problem with our ideas of progress. The last one got to me. However it's how he opened the message (above quote) that hit home.
This above quote was linked to the Steven's last point, there's a problem with our ideas of progress. In all that we do and throughout the life that we live, change will always occur. In God's perspective, He transforms us from glory to glory it is never from shame to glory. This goes to show the amount of faith, value and belief God has in us. If the God of all creation, of the universe, sees no shame in us, what more of us. What more of how we see ourselves. In all transformation and refining of our character, God continuously to look at us with love and grace. He can't bless who we pretend to be. We are to remove our 'veil' so that He may work with the real us no matter how we see ourselves.
This message was delivered by an Australian pastor, forgot his name, who spoke quickly for about 7 minutes on the book of Joshua. He spoke about how Joshua was about to encounter the walls of Jericho, when an angel of the Lord appeared. He asked the angel: 'are you for us or against us?' The angel answered: 'I am neither for you nor against, I am here as commander of the Lord's armies of angels to take over (paraphrased).' The simple message of knowing that God doesn't take sides in our situations instead He takes over, shows the ultimate authority, righteousness and power He has. Let God take over.
Carl Lentz, another of one of my favourites, spoke upon Psalm 23. A classic scripture typically known for 'though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.' We being the sheep and God being the shepherd concept, he emphasised the fact that sheep will always need a shepherd. This Psalm 23 reality check is: if God is your shepherd, you no longer need to chase the right situation, you just need to chase the shepherd. Chase Jesus!
Continuing with this message, sheep do not strife. They don't have anything but to hold onto and follow their shepherd. Know that there is security in the shepherd. There are two things a good shepherd does: they always correct and they always protect. The correction point is what spoke out to me the most. See, our perspective of correction can be distorted. It is never against us but it is for us, for God corrects us of the little to avoid the big disasters. He always gives you something to ponder when you're tempted to wander (Hebrews 12).
This one was from Louie Giglio's message from the last morning rally of Hillsong conference, which I live streamed. His message was titled: 'What's in the Bag?' Which touched upon the 'unforeseen' characters of the Bible who contributed to its establishment. Tychicus was a man who did what Paul told him to do, faithfully and whole-heartedly. He did so, not even realising what was in his bag. In his bag was the word of God that we now have today. Because of his heart to carry what he had, we have these letters of Paul for us! A long awaited answer to a continually asked question: what is God's will?
Throughout that week, I am glad that I didn't go to every night of conference. Simply because I knew that God had told me everything that I needed to know and hear. Throughout that week, I realised that no matter who is at Hillsong conference, God will always find a way to speak to you that will transform you. Regardless. Don't go to Hillsong conference for the sake of the worship or the speakers, go there to encounter Jesus in amongst thousands of other people who are seeking to do the same. Don't get me wrong, the speakers and worship are fantastic however it is who they are serving, who they are presenting that makes this conference dynamic and life-changing.