ENCOUNTERING GOD

*In a moment that [to the world] looked like the biggest failure, turned out to be the worlds greatest success story ever ... Jesus' death + resurrection for humanity.
-joel houston (via my paraphrased notes)

God is alive. He IS the great I AM, not the great I WAS. Same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The first and the last. Yahweh. Provider. Ever present help, in OUR time of need. A God of LOVE and MERCY no one can ever fathom...this is the God I serve. This is the God that desires ME and YOU. This is the God that sent his one and only son, to die an undeserving, criminals death that to the world looked like a FAILURE, turned out to be the greatest SUCCESS story ever..Jesus died so WE could have LIFE. This is LOVE, real, true love. God wants to encounter YOU, try encountering HIM.

Yew..God is too good. I had the honor and privilege to go down to Miami Florida this past weekend to worship with Hillsong United and their pastors. The conference was called Encounter, and an Encounter it was! The worship of course was amazing, you could just sense the presence of God throughout thee entire arena. As for the speaking, the pastors at Hillsong blew me away...I will be honest, I came to the conference with this pre-meditated inkling that the people from Hillsong Church were (sinful nature..we ALL judge :)) a tad arrogant and perhaps not in it for the right reasons -- I was -- to my delight, proved wrong.. I was actually a little shocked at how humble and down to earth those from Hillsong Church were, I mean we do get caught up thinking they are these huge celebrities because they are known internationally and sell out shows BUT the truth of the matter is they come from their local church. So, pretty much their conference was just a glimpse of what their church looks and feels like on Sundays. They were so passionate about Jesus and making HIS name famous that the event almost had nothing to do with the people behind the conference!! I loved that. I will say though, if you've ever seen a Hillsong DVD or clip of them performing they obviously have cool lighting, great music, and all the rest of it BUT they do a pretty good job of not making it about the people on stage and making sure all the praise goes right to Jesus and making HIS name known.

Pastor Phil Dooley, Brian Houston, Scott Samways, worship leader Joe

l Houston and anti-slavery activist Zach Hunter all spoke throughout the weekend...definitely life changing messages from each of them.

Phil Dooley spoke the first night on Tearing Down The Walls, this was one that spoke right to me! He talked about how as Christians we are to tear down the walls of self- shame+guilt- judgment- indifference. Walls of self make us become more concerned about what WE are doing and loose sight of what GOD is doing...causing us to miss what God has set for us. Walls of shame + guilt cause us to live feeling like failures when Christ already succeeded for us on the cross! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)

Brian Houston spoke on Encountering God..this one was powerful. Plus he is really passionate when he speaks so it cuts right to the core. He referenced John 9, when the blind man is healed through obeying Jesus' commands, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see." (John 9:11) Clearly, the blind man had a true God encounter. God encounters; where things are changed- doors are opened OR closed- dreams are renewed. He talked about how we are to live knowing AND expecting God encounters. When we experience an encounter, Satan does EVERYTHING to under mind it and fills our soul with doubt, as if it wasn't a true God encounter. We are to believe in the impossible. Though, the people in John 9 could not believe that the blind man was able to see, the man himself had believed in the impossible -- therefore the impossible took place, by Christs healing power. Finally, Brian talked about how we cannot allow our voice of reason and logic get in the way of truly encountering God. We can't let these thoughts undermind the POWER of what God can do -- "An encounter is a collision with the unexpected."

Then they did a tag team type session on Faith+Hope+Love, where Scott Samways spoke on Faith Zach Hunter spoke on, Hope and Joel Houston spoke on, Love...((add message notes later))


"Oh, the depth of the riches
of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"For from him and through him
and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen."
Romans 11:33-36