We want to keep that flame going on and not let it just be a "spiritual high" experience that we experience and leave it behind when reality kicks in! Like what Joyce Meyer said in her sermon on spiritual maturity, "we shouldn't just go from conferences to conferences, hear inspiring sermons, feel good like a sniff of a perfume and then go back to our worldly lifestyles. We need to take it back and study it!" So decided to take this few days after coming back from sydney to really digest & internalised my thoughts and to share what God has inspired & revealed to me in this conference! :)
Team Wesley”goes to hillsong” limited edition t-shirt at Hillsong Conference 2012, allphones arena!
One thing I admire about going with this "Team Wesley" group, is we are all like-minded people who served in the ministry in some way or another. After our first pre-conference meeting a week before the conference, we felt the need to be intentional going into this conference, not just to go there, have fun, see our favourite speakers and worship leaders, but to really come in with a teachable heart and set spiritual goals together that we want to take back from this conference.
On our way to Darling Harbour to continue our sharing before the conference.
On Day 1 of our trip we started our sharing at Pancakes on the Rocks and continued later at Darling Harbour, where we shared our heart desires & questions on our minds coming into this conference. I had a slightly different agenda with many of them, as after going for so many different conferences and camps over the years. I can say that I have a lot of "head" knowlege and experiences of what this conference is probably going to be like and the kind of sermons I would probably hear. Athough I was still excited for this fresh experience, there was this at the back of my mind of a couple of the speakers theology. I didn't want that to affect me, as this are just preconceived presumptions and none of us have the jurisdiction to judge except God. So prayed about it for awhile, and decided to prepare my heart and set this goals for myself just before the conference as I believe God can still speak through anyone and He did if you read on! :)
1) To be opened, have a teachable heart to what God got to say from the various speakers and not to have any preconceived presumptions of their background or what we heard of them.
2) To have a renewed fresh encounter of God and just be in awe of Him!
1) Personal revelations from God pertaining to my first goal :)
What your about to read below in this part are abit heavy theologically *(Disclaimer this are just my personal thoughts and insights I got from this conference that I want to share and hope not to have a "debate" of this openly here)
On day 4 of the conference, after hearing a whole spectrum of sermons from different speakers from different parts of the world. God impressed this on my heart. "He has called us all with different callings, some to preach on grace, some on missions,some on social justice,some on victory,some on the greatness of God! I believed each church in the world have a different facet in living & growing in their Faith in the same God." I may not agree with 10% of a couple of their sermons, but who am I too judge. For example, one of the speakers preached a beautiful message of grace where I can tell is out of the conviction of God's revelation to him and I believe we should all hear too! Some will say that you can't hear this all the time alone & how can want grow in spiritual maturity on that alone. But what if we are just hearing this because that's the same message he will preached where ever he is called to preach. We do not know how he does his mentoring, bible studies and at the end its the lasting fruits that matters.
We are all called for different ministries to advance God's kingdom. And I believe God reveals to us a different facet of him in different churches and countries and there's so much of God that we can learnt from each other.
Having said this, this conference has gave me new insights to this "theological" tension I once reflected on in a note I wrote before.
It always aches me to hear churches of different denominations "judging" one another for their doctrines or theology. Especially recent issues that have arise in a church in Singapore today. God has gave me this strong conviction to preserve the unity of the bigger body of the church in what ever capacity of influence I have. Only God has the jurisdiction to judge us according to our call. So as long one is not outrightly preaching something that is totally off doctrine of who God is and doesn't help in advancing God's kingdom in anyway. I think we should really show love to one another. I may not agree with some doctrines due to the lenses I have from what I've learnt or influence from my upbringing in a methodist church. But I hope and pray that churches out there can agree to disagree on certain doctrines but yet love and treat one another as fellow family members in Christ.
"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35 (NLT)
Now on a lighter note... :)
2) Personal revelations from God pertaining to my second goal!
To be in a conference with so many reknowned international speakers and worship leaders around the world, worshiping with 21,000 other like-minded believers all over the world who are all passionate and hungry for God, in one same place is an experience and sight I will never forget! I still remember the nights we can just sing and worship God non-stopped forever. Especially when we sang the last night of worship. The words of "I surrender, I surrender, I want to know You more, I want to know You more" from the voices the voices of 21,000 all over the arena resounded for more than 15mins straight without any music! That was a glipse of heaven I will never forget. Our hearts were just in surrender to the Lordship of God that brings you to your knees in repentance and in Awe of our Almighty Soveriegn Lord!
Besides the experience of God through the worship. God's presence was very real to us throughout the conference answering us with issues and questions that we were just talking about the night before. E.g on directions and calling in life & Steven Furtick spoke directly about it on the first morning message. I still remember on the thursday night we had a discussion on why we raise our hands in worship, and the next day on Friday morning Louie Giglio gave a long sermon illustration of the theology behind why we raise our hands in worship. I was like... WOW, WOW, WOW! Didn't we just discuss about that the night before. God somehow knew the questions on our hearts. And God spoke to so many of us from the various speakers and I was so encouraged just seeing how God inspired and assured each and everyone of us there.
Below are a compilation of selected quotes from the different speakers:
Steve furtick- "Never ready faith in the ever present God", "You are never ever ready,"God doesn't really want to give guidance, He wants to be our Guide!"
Christine Caine- "Compassion is only a word until we cross the street and actually help the needy",
"If our heart is truly change by God, we will catch the heartbeat of God for His people!"
Joyce Meyer- "Be all God want you to be, Be all God want you to do, and be all God want to have",
"Grace will meet you where you are at, Grace will never leave you where you are at.",
"The moment you give yourself up to Him than the Holy Spirit can do his work"
Joseph Prince- "Through our weakness , The abounding grace of God will come even more!"
"The holy of holy, the mercy seat covers the law, Some of us a pushing aside the "mercy seat" to get the law. The Mercy seat is the grace for us", "The same grace that change us will continue to transform us"
Louie giglo - How Great is our God! Worship is our weapon to the enemy!
"It was a weapon of praise that led me out of the darkness and back into the land of the living. It was praise that ripped open that cloud and allowed the light of God's love to shine in and draw me back up into the symphony of all creation"
Chris Mendez- "To be continued filled by him in our everyday life! We all have that supernatural connection to the power of the Holy spirit."
This is a personal note to the members of "Team Wesley"Our first of the many Human Pyramid at Royal Botanic Garden :)It was really great company spending the 10 days with you all in Sydney! And can tell that we had great fun and felllowship as the time just past sooooo fast! Will definitely remember all those crazy things we did there! Doing those human pyramids at random places (Our hostel rooftop, at Royal Botanics & at Blue Mountain! Runnning from place to place! And like what cheryl said "We're really crazy asians, queueing at different doors in the arena". Will miss the company we all had! :)Anyways I have word for each of you! God has taught me and showed me so much just spending time with each of you. :)Yunhao, you have been a really great team leader! You have done a fantastic job coordinating and settling all the administrative matters like lodging, flight,conference matters for all of us! And i'm amazed at your influence to gather everyone to come for this conference, even if it means to skip med camp! haha. I can also see that you really desire the best for your small group. Seeing how you encouraged your group members and really taking on the sherperd role for your group is definitely an inspiration to me. :)Grace, you have definitely been a great blessing to all of us! You mapped out all our travelling plans and coordinated all the R & R stuff for all of us! And I really got to say, i'm so impressed at how you and danette have such a heart of servanthood to wake up so early each morning to make breakfast & packed lunch for everyone when everyone's still a sleep. And your such an amazinggggg cook! Especially to cook carrots that I actually like is quite a milestone for me! Your really quite a smart girl and I believe God is going to continue to use you with the talents he has given you to bless many! :)Amanda, I'm really encouraged by your passion & hunger for God! I've learnt much from you actually. I truly admire your heart and passion for the lost and your definitely one with so many creative talents, to dance, to sing & even play the guitar. I believe God is going to use you mightly for His Kingdom with the talents & gifts that He has bless you with! And I want to assure you from what Steven furtick said, "God doesn't really want to give guidance He wants to be our Guide". :)Danette, firstly, thankyou for doing an amazing job rushing out the design for our limited edition, "Team Wesley, goes to hillsong" T-shirt in just 1 day! And i got to say, similarly to grace, I truly admire your heart of servanthood. To be able to wake up so early each morning, to make breakfast/lunch for us and to hold such a huge responsibility being our treasurer. I was truly encouraged by your sharing on how this conference inspired you to want to take back all that you learnt to your usher's ministry and small grp. Can really see your dedication and heart for the ministry that God has place upon your heart! And I believe God has so much more exciting plans install for you ahead! :)Cheryl, thanks for taking all those wonderful photos! I think you and amanda took more photos than me actually haha! Especially with a photo count of (999). Anyways besides that, can really see your dedication to step up more in your smalll grp as a YSGL now from the conversation I had with you, and is evident that you really desire to find out more about God from the questions that you were asking me.Continue to seek after Him daily and I'm sure you will continue to grow deeper in spiritual maturity! :)Sarah, your our "most normal" person in our team! haha! I guess your constant laughter is pretty contagious. You certainly bring joy to the team! Besides that, I can tell that you really desire to grow deeper in the faith and i'm encouraged that you have stood firm in your faith even if it means that you are the only christian you possibly know in your campus. Continue to pursue Him more! :)Mavis, remember our plans to go for trekking and camping at blue mountains next time! haha! Anyways, besides that i believed circumstances has allowed you to grow and mature alot in the past year, being the vice camp commandant for sec1-3 camp, interning in TSS, leading a ysg. Hope that this conference has inspired a flame again that will just increase more and more as you seek after God's heart! I can see that you really desire to take your walk with the Lord seriously and that's really the first step in growing in Spiritual Maturity! :)Michael, you are really such a nice guy! Sadly you could spend only 6 days with us. But i can say, im truly encouraged by your sharings and what I known of you ever since we started our DG group. You really have a heart for people and I believe God is going to use you so mightly for His Kingdom plans to lead & encouraged his people! :)Gerard, hope you had a memorable 20th birthday there, it was fun celebrating with you there! Can tell that your really an intellectual guy who really reasons your understanding of God. Glad that God has taught you much at this conference and hope that His spirit will give you the wisdom to response to others when the time calls for. Besides that, like mentioned previously, im amazed at the brotherly heart you have for bryan and how you brought him to church. God has definitely use you well! :)Bryan, i'm actually the most encouraged by you! Getting to know you more in this trip and seeing how God has inspired you in this trip to grow deeper in the Word, and to have the increase passion to serve Him has truly encouraged me. I believe you will make a great camp group leader as long as you are faithful to the Lord and have teachable heart, God can use you greatly! And I will gladly support you in this! Hope and pray that this conference will only be a start for many more great things that God has install for you! :)
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