Adventures of Matt and Pippa

Matt and Pippa Perkins DO London!!!!

Monday, August 28, 2006

The wondrous cross

Had a great week at Contagious 2006! It’s just unique, every august up to 200 teenagers gather for a bible conference/camp. A theme is taken, e.g The Holy Spirit, the sovereignty of God etc and in many different ways over the week the whole bibles teaching on the subject is explored, preached, taught. In small groups, larger seminar groups, big preaches. This year the theme was The Cross, something with which, if I’m honest I had become overfamilar and complacent about. Theres nothing like Contagious out there, even for adults, apart from the CSM (Church student ministries) easter conference for students which is basically the same.

Matt and I had the privilege this year of being asked to lead the Taskforce, the studenty age, who want to practically serve to facilitate the bible teaching. These 17 young men and women of God just totally blew us away, and inspired and challenged us greatly as we taught them something of the bible’s teaching on Christian leadership. How we wish we had been as useful as them when we were their age, those passionate and willing to lay down their lives for Jesus and his gospel. The fun and fellowship was such a taste of heaven for us, such a spur and an encouragement! Praise God! We really grew to love them very much.

And what did I learn, what was I challenged afresh with? Heaps! Like…

Finding out more about the passionate, oh so deep love of the trinity for me, that love which I cannot even describe or comprehend the depths of! Feeling that as a reality in my heart once again, and knowing it in my mind for sure, despite my poor performance as a Xian!

And yet realising that my view of the cross was too small. That the cross isn’t all about me, me me but it’s a public, no, cosmic display of Gods glory! Yes, look at the cross and see the glory of God! God’s glory shown in love and punishment of sin!

Challenged by hearing again about Jim Elliott and his co workers who laid down their lives for the gospel and the work God did through and because of that! The challenge going out to all those young people to lay down their lives for the gospel and Gods glory also. And the positive response. 2 young girls trusting in Christ work on the cross for them for the first time!

Hearing again that Satan loves to make Christians feel unuseable and so we do then become less useful as we become convinced we’re not worthy enough for God. His tactics of sin, suffering and superior xians. Yet seeing from Colossians 2 that Jesus has disarmed and defeated Satan and so all he can do is put a plastic gun in our backs, not a real one and try and “hold us up” but we now in Jesus have the power to resist and fight him. We are set free to fight this loser!

And so now to remember all of life is about Gods glory, when tempted to know Satan is defeated, when thinking of the future know Gods call on my life and be thinking evangelism and mission, remember in my relationships that are difficult, the call to love.
Death to my self obsessed nature and now to carry on more zealously living the cross shaped life…

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