Passion LA Conference

This past weekend was the Passion LA Conference down at the Nokia Theater.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the Passion movement, it's not related to that Mel Gibson movie that came out a few years ago. Passion is aimed at university-aged students, and it is a movement to awaken this "next" generation of believers to be passionate followers of Christ.

The conference featured worship leaders Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and David Crowder, and the main speakers were Louie Giglio and Francis Chan. Each session featured an extended time of worship singing, and a message from one of the speakers.

Both of these guys are great speakers, but I personally thank the Lord for the gift of Francis Chan. If you've never heard him speak, you seriously need to. His church is down in Simi Valley, and it's called Cornerstone Community Church. If you haven't heard him, go to their website, and download one of his sermons (they have both audio and video).

Francis spoke on Saturday morning, and he talked about a number of things, one of which I wanted to share with all of you. He explained that over the last two years or so, he'd been rethinking the ways we do church, and in a greater sense, Christianity, and in an even greater sense, Western Christianity. He had asked himself, "how much of my faith has been fed to me through traditions, and through people's opinions?" He pondered being stuck on a deserted island with just the Bible, and reading it through without any outside bias or influence, and what conclusions he would reach.

He said that upon completing the New Testament, he would have a HUGE expectation for the Holy Spirit. Jesus spent a lot of time reassuring his disciples that when he was gone, he was going to send another that was just like him to be with them, and not just be with them, but be IN them!

Francis looked at the day of Pentecost in Acts, and talked about some of the amazing things that the Spirit of God did (for those of you who might not know about Pentecost, it's basically the beginning of the church, and some pretty amazing things happened to help it get on its way).

He then asked us how much we think of the Spirit, and how obvious it is that He (the Spirit) is living within us? He reflected on the idea that if a believer and an unbeliever stood side by side, there should be some kind of difference in the believer because of the real Spirit of God living in him! What difference is the Spirit of God making in your life??!!

The Spirit lives in us to comfort, guide, and convict us. How sensitive are we to his leading in these areas?? After the sermon, we had a time of silent reflection and meditation led by Louie Giglio. He explained that in Scripture, the Spirit is said to convict of three things:
1. He convicts of sin in our lives that we, as believers, need to repent of

2. He convicts of righteousness, that when believers feel weak and defeated by our sin, he assures us that we are redeemed children of God

3. He convicts the unbeliever of judgment, that they would know and understand that their sin must be punished, and if they accept the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, their deserved punishment is placed on him, and they stand justified and redeemed before a holy God

Take some time to be still before God. Maybe after you've spent time in his Word, and had some time to pray; be still and listen. Sometimes we check off our "quiet time" as another thing on our long to-do lists for the day, and we don't give God time to speak to us. Ask for the Spirit's conviction in your life, whether of sin, or righteousness, and think about how he is leading you. The Holy Spirit is an equal part of the Trinity, and he's just as much God as God the Father, just with a different role. Think about it, the very Spirit of God Almighty resides within you, as a seal and assurance of salvation! Let's make more of an effort to be aware of him and seek his leading!