A few months backs, a vision came to two crazy sisters’ minds and hearts: a vision of local teens coming together to have fun while embracing and experiencing the love of Jesus. And just a few weeks ago, it happened.
If you missed out on Consumed 2013, well, you missed out. Josh’s song leading brought us together in praise, adding a much needed element of worship to our day. Through the words of Trey, Robb, and Daniel, we were given eye-opening accounts and challenges—all helping us understand that our God is BIG, too BIG for any box!
Trey Talley, our keynote speaker, led us through a better understanding of four BIG elements of our Christian faith. Here’s a little snippit of each of those:
LOVE (Trey)—there is nothing we could do to make God love us less, and there is nothing we could do to make God love us more. His love is BIG! You know how little kids (and sometimes big kids…) will dare each other, each time adding a little bit more of a hard core measure? The one that trumps them all is “whatever you say, plus one!” You can’t beat that. Well guess what? In Ephesians 3:20, we’re told that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…”; and that “immeasurably more” is God’s “whatever you say {or think or dream or imagine}, plus one.” That’s how BIG his love is.
GRACE (Trey)—what an incredible gift we’ve been given… If you ever start to think of God’s grace as something you deserve, well it’s meaning kind of vanishes. We have been given, through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the gift of a BIG grace—one that forgives anything we do. Grace isn’t a paycheck—it’s not earned by the work of our hands. It’s a gift that can only be received with the open hand of faith. Grace is the gift; faith is our response.
LIFE (Trey)—the Great Commission was not written with the intent of us going out alone. In it, our God promises to be with us always! He is on this adventure with us; therefore the Great Commission becomes the “Great Co-mission”. He has called us to live a life of excitement and action and adventure—not necessarily of ease or luxury, but of purpose and passion. Don’t go to church…Be the church. Live a BIG life!
GOD (Trey)—Our God is BIG! So big in fact, that He sent his son and his spirit to die for us and live in us. The miracle of multiplication is always the most impressive… However, the most impressive miracle of multiplication is that of Jesus himself. See, when he was a human on earth, he was limited …to two hands and two feet…to one mouth…to one place. But, he didn’t stay human. When he left us to return to the Father, he lost the limitations of humanity. And he became the greatest miracle of multiplication—in US! God spread himself widely through enabling Christ to live in us. If He’s BIG enough to do that, what can’t He do?!
Talk about some powerful messages that the Lord delivered to us through Trey! Add in interactive and gripping classes taught by Robb and Daniel—our brains were on overload! But that’s the point… Our God is so BIG that our little bitty brains can’t even comprehend it. We try to limit Him into “boxes” of all different sizes so that we can understand…but He just doesn’t work that way.
The icing on the cake of the day was our worship times with Josh. He has definitely been given the gift to lead a group of people’s hearts to Jesus through song and lifestyle.
Not to mention, none of us will ever look at a disco ball the same…
We are so grateful for each and every single person who came to our first event. This has the potential to grow into something BIGGER than we could ever imagine for our communities…and the potential to bring so many people into a relationship with our great BIG God!
Stay tuned for what’s coming your way next year! And in the mean time, do good (no, I don’t mean “do well”…that too, but…). And most importantly, love like Jesus.
