First day of Passion 2011 at Ft. Worth just passed by and WOW - what a start! The main verse that Louie spoke on this evening was from Philipians 1: " For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain!" Powerful, powerful words!!The conference has started out kind of slowly (most people started getting registered around 18:00), but sure enough by the start of the first session we had a room full with over 10,000 students in it. The worshp time was great, as always, even though sound was not the same as usual. But when we opened the word of God the Lord has really started opening up what the conference will be about.
"Has the TRAJECTORY for your life been set?"
Louie was reading from Philipians 1 and then from Acts 9:1-5, 9 and talking about how it is important for us as Christiains to first and forewmost to be the "servants of Jesus Christ" (that's how Paul introduces himself and Timothy in the beginning of the book). It is important that people know us in that role first of all. Then he contiued talking about why Paul always introduced himself like that - at some point in his life he went through a life changing encounter with Jesus Christ. and he just could not be the same (Acts 9:1-9).
That meeting on the road to Damascus for Saul (whom Paul used to be) has set a TRAJECTORY for the rest of his life. A change that he went trough was enormous and inreversable. "Can we all confidently say that in each of our lives we went trough that change?" If we didn't and just pretend being a Christian, the we will not be living out the words of Paul, where death would be gain for us, but to continue living in this world is Christ.
"We often turn Paul's word upside down! "We live to gain, and when we die then we will be with Christ (even though truth be told, we really do not want to die)"It was interesting, that even though the book of Philippians is mostly about joy, from the very first session of the conference the keynote was seeming to be on transformational change that takes place in our hearts, when we experience God face to face for the FIRST TIME. The question, which Louie was getting at that first evening was: "Have you ever really experiened that transformational change, that only God can bring in your life?"
Then in the evening before we went to the David Crowder live concert we went to the prayer area, which is called "Kneel" to pray for around an hour: for the conference, for our nation, campuses and the world. It was an incredible experience, even though I'm usually not the most endurant person when it comes to prayer:-( However, this time it was such a blessing both for me and Katya to go through...
Well, I think this is enough information for this post, even though that first day of Passion was that and much more (as it usually is at Passion conferences). Good night, will update more later!!
