[Passion DC 2008] Why does Chris Luk want to be a Fruitcake?!
Hello everyone,
Some of you have asked me how Passion Regionals 2008 [USA]: Washington DC (February 22-23, 2008) <http://www.268generation.com/regionals07/ > went, some of you have heard my shortened spiel, others have heard the whole thing, and some of you, I'm only assuming, that you would want to hear about what amazing things God did there in a short 27 hours! (Want to read the short and sweet version? Go to http://www.268blog.blogspot.com )
Grab your beverage of choice, grab a comfortable chair, and a pillow because this is going to be long!
First off, this is by no means a review, a "put-up" nor a "put-down" about this conference nor other conferences, I just hope to effectively convey and share how I experienced God while I was there. I am not going to be able to summarize anything of what God did this weekend and do it any justice. He's just too amazing for that. I do hope, however, to provide you with some resources and hopefully encourage you along the way :D
One of the things I've always enjoyed about Passion Conferences <http://www.268generation.com/> is how ridiculously Christ-centered they are. This is the fourth Passion gathering that I have attended and every single time it happens, it's always about one mission and one verse. Life is short, so live for what matters most:
"Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls." -- Isaiah 26:8
A Glimpse of Passion: http://youtube.com/watch?v=q-SBEvOSepA
Many people initially think that Passion is just always a big concert. Sure, Passion might be known best for their large numbers of Christian CD sales, but when you finally attend a Passion Conference, you realize how un-concert-like it really is and how Christ-focused every second of it is. I always love how "un-hyped" the atmosphere gets when it starts. Sure, everyone is crammed like sardines outside in the cold and everyone runs in to get as close as they can to the stage to be in the "praise pit", but then you see the countdown starting, and THEN you see groups of people huddling together praying together for the Holy Spirit to come and move powerfully, the video montage plays, and it says things like:
Then next thing you know, you're proclaiming "Our God is a God who saves". How true is that? Our God is a God who SAVES! We are lead into a song taken from Psalm 68: "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered" -- that is the power that our God has! Then we continue to proclaim "Saviour, He can move the mountains, Our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save! Forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave; Jesus conquered the grave!" What a way to start. Proclaiming the truth about Jesus Christ at the top of our lungs with the focus not being on "famous people". Francis Chan jokes about this later, "If only Chris Tomlin was leading me in worship, then I could REALLY worship!" What a lie. Focus your mind's attention and heart's affection upon the Lord for who He is and what He has done and you can freely worship Him :D
Cool, eh? A song written about singing and joining with the heaven's anthem for Jesus' name above all things :) I like it! So that's what university/college students end up doing when they realize that their lives are short and that Jesus is the only thing worth living for and proclaiming. I'm pretty sure that this video was taken at the last main session at Passion DC (the video skips a bit). I remember hearing people talking about how the risers/bleachers/seats were shaking from all the people undignified-ly dancing :p Wonderful :)
If you were there, trust me, there's no way you could have danced and celebrated there thinking "Chris Tomlin is still single, isn't he?" No way! You'd be there screaming, "Thank you GOD that your arms are not too short to save, that you are a real and personal God that has saved us from death and given us life!" Undignified worship of the Lord Jesus Christ who is worthy of it all. I'm pretty sure that Priscilla really enjoyed it also <http://wholyyours.blogspot.com/>
Which goes to say, if you just need to dance before the Lord because of the overflow of your forgiven heart or because you want to declare the truth in the words that you are singing to Him, DO IT! If you feel your church or fellowship is "dead", BE the change!
Anyhow! When Louie Giglio walks out and just introduces the mini-conference saying that we aren't here for anyone "famous", or to be the start of something, but rather to seek Jesus Christ above all things and to merely join in and be a speck in what God is already doing in the city, just wow. We are here to have an encounter with God and something will happen only if we encounter God (not if we encounter "famous people"). Nothing is going to happen -- nothing is going to change unless we have an authentic face-to-face encounter with the Creator of the universe.
The next thing we did was to get into prayer triangles. "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." -- Ecclesiastes 4:12.
So here's the idea: one person prays, the other two agree, this cord of three in agreement is much stronger than just a cord of one. It's just plain cool to see an army of so many join together agreeing with one voice and seeking Jesus Christ all at the same time. It's times like this when there's a spark in your head that realizes that Jesus is building His church all over the world and that you are NOT alone. There ARE others out there your age that love Jesus Christ and want His fame to be the brightest thing in the whole world.
There were lots of prayer sessions where we prayed for lots of things including our own home city, our own campus, cities around the world that God has placed on your heart, for (Kampala,) Uganda London, Paris, China, and Hong Kong specifically :D, for the campus and students where the conference was held (where only 300 out of 30,000 students love Jesus), and so much more. It was great to be able to see a student from mainland China who loves Jesus, who is not afraid to stand for her faith in a place like China, and also a young couple from Hong Kong who love prayer :D Lei <lyang13@hotmail.com> will tell you much more about them if you ask him! Lei got their contact information, prayed for them, and got prayed over by them! But that's just not fair since he knows Mandarin :p
I know Benson wants to head over to Hong Kong and drag the rest of his loving relatives to the upcoming Passion Conference when Passion finally lands there. <http://www.268generation.com/worldtour/ >
HONG KONG AND VANCOUVER:
Here's my shameless plug. When Passion comes to your city, whether it be Vancouver, BC (October 6, 2008) or to Hong Kong (October 16, 2008), go! Don't go just to see what the "hype" is about. There is no hype ... there's just God. G-O-D period. Go, join, and seek Jesus Christ first and foremost and just let Him speak to you and be saturated in His presence. Go and just experience a snapshot of what God is ALREADY doing in your city. Your city isn't taken over by darkness, there's just not enough LIGHT. Go and be encouraged! There are other LIGHTS shining for Jesus in your city. You are not alone. SHINE. Be the light. Passion isn't going to bring revival to your city, only the Holy Spirit can do that, but this is one opportunity where your city can seek the Lord together as one voice and one body to do it! Who knows, you might actually see some of us from Toronto fly over to your city and join you lifting up the name of Jesus Christ! :D (Priscilla's up for it, I know that! :p)
Do Something NOW!!! :D :D :D
Something both Priscilla and I were really looking forward to (and I mean REALLY looking forward to) was the Do Something Now campaign. Last year, at Passion 2007 when it all started, Louie was saying that if people that follow Jesus Christ are gathered together in one place (especially 23,000 of them), the city should know that something different is happening in their city, that people that love the Lord are present and are making a difference in the world. We talk about it all the time how when we are in the presence of God, we can feel it, we are changed, and we leave different. Same thing, when people of God are present, when we leave, the world should be different. As Dr. Voddie Baucham says, "leave the world a better place than when you got here". (You know I can't write anything without quoting Voddie).
This year, I came READY to give and do something to change the world! Thanks to Uncle David, Auntie Emily, Uncle Hin, Auntie Astrid, and Auntie Betty (and all my other American relatives) for their continual donations in forms of Chinese New Year Red Pocket Money of American currency. Just to let you know that your money was diverted to something much more amazing than I could have ever dreamed :)
When we Christ-followers work together, we are a mighty force.
So at previous Passion gatherings, there were many opportunities that you could help out with to change the world for the better right NOW. When you approach many inter-city homeless shelters, the two major items they always need more of are towels and socks. Towels can be used as a variety of things such as a blanket, a jacket, a mattress, or actually as a towel. Similarly, socks can be used to keep hands and feet warm. So why not show people in the city that people of God love them and that Jesus loves them enough to provide for them?
So this year I went READY! I went to Walmart and bought a whack-load of towels and a huge pack of socks that filled two-thirds of my traveling duffel bag. I don't say this to make myself seem "better" than others, rather I tell you that because I was soooooo excited to see how God is going to use something so simple help better the Virginia/DC community :) There's surprisingly a lot of infrastructure related to homelessness in the Washington DC area alone.
Cool, eh? All that from "poor" college students :) That's a lot of towels and socks. You should see what a big pile of towels and socks looks like. It's really quite beautiful :)
Kampala is in Uganda, in case you didn't know. Passion will be flying to Uganda, even with all this unrest, to preach the name of Jesus, His saving grace, forgiveness, freedom, and how He can give life.
The goal was 3,000 towels by the end of the conference. By the afternoon session, there were only about 2,000 towels present. So people went out after the afternoon session and bought towels like CRAZY! It was amazing :D
There was also a church group that called their church to help them buy a truck-load of towels. Sure enough, their church stocked up a whole van of towels ready to give. I remember standing in line to get in for the main session, next thing you know, a red truck pulls up to the entrance and you see an army of university/college students run in through the side entrance to drop off all the towels they just bought, then run back outside to get back in line (and park the truck) :p
As you read above, over $42,000 was given for Blood Water Mission to provide water wells for African villages. Each well can provide water for a village of 700 to 1000 people for their lifetime. Exciting times. Did you know that the primary cause of death in Africa isn't HIV/AIDS, it's actually water-borne disease. Clean and accessible water is life.
Some of the organizations I really enjoyed partnering with at previous Passion Conferences was OneVerse and Bibles Unbound. OneVerse <http://www.oneverse.org/> is just a genius idea. See this at a SCAC near you! :p (Priscilla at Scarborough Chinese Alliance Church).
One Verse is simply this, there are still about 2,200 people groups that do not have a Bible available in their native language. OneVerse's mission is to provide those people with an accurate translation of the Word of God. At roughly $24 a verse, you can help create Bibles for people who do not have access to the Word of God. I thought this was just the most amazing idea of all time. Imagine not being able to read the Bible.
Bibles Unbound was great because it didn't require any money on our part (although if you were to do Bibles Unbound with your church or fellowship or group, you will have to pay for the postage). The concept was simply this, they give you a Bible in a language, (say Chinese,) an envelope, an address sticker, and a bookmark. The Chinese Bible, the envelope, and address you put together and mail it off. The bookmark, you keep. The bookmark tells you which city and province in China the Bible is going to and the name of the person it is sent to. Your "deal" is that you will pray for this person for one year, praying that the Holy Spirit will reveal truth to them and that God's Word will do what it was sent to do and not return void. (Isaiah 55:11). Kitty and I had the opportunity to do this together last year.
There you have it. You can change the world NOW. Some things might take some money, other things (such as prayer and diligence) won't take any money at all, just your time and discipline (which for some might be a bigger sacrifice than money). Towels and socks are very affordable. Don't think that you as one person can't change the world. You can. Especially since the Holy Spirit is inside of you. Have an encounter with your Creator.
Onto what I learned!
Above are links to the messages for you to use as resources, enjoy, and learn from. One thing we thought would be really nice is if you decide to listen/watch these message, just donate $5 to Passion Conferences since it is rightfully their property and it would be nice to not steal their God-given resources <https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=268gen2&formId=28478 >.
Although I would highly recommend that you check them out regardless :D
At the end of every main session, there was a time for silent meditation, to just allow the Lord to speak to you; stillness so that you could personally seek your loving Father, to approach the cross, to write down your cries and prayers to the Lord, for intercessors to pray over you. I really enjoyed this time too, just listening for His voice and for how He wants you to respond. No, this wasn't some 15 seconds of silence, this was a blissful 10 to 15 some-odd minutes of glorious silence listening to your Father.
I don't hope to summarize what they talked about, rather, you listen to it and see what the Lord says to you personally :D I hope to write about a few things that struck me and that I learned.
Life is short, live for what matters ... Fruit cake:
After listening to this talk, you just WANT to be a Fruit cake. So, listen to it :D
One of my favourite lines:
That's what I got in my time with the Lord. "Make me a fruit cake". I always love hearing stories of people coming to realize that Jesus Christ is REAL and He truly is a Saviour who can save you no matter who you are. Be light in this world. People will notice it. They will laugh and scoff at you at first, but they will want to know why you have "no life" :)
Christa is a real person! She is now married to Jeremy. I talked to her on Facebook :)
You might feel like the only one in your campus, in your workplace, in your home that loves Jesus Christ, but keep truckin'. You are not alone :) There are other fruit cakes around to support you :)
Don't give up praying for your non-Christian friends even if it seems like they're not receptive or interested in what you have to say.
There's new life in this song to me now :D
Everyone needs compassion:
A love that's never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.
Everyone needs forgiveness;
A kindness of a Savior:
The hope of nations.
Chorus:
Saviour,
He can move the mountains:
My God is Mighty to save!
He is Mighty to save!
Forever,
Author of salvation:
He rose and conquered the grave!
Jesus conquered the grave!
So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures;
Fill my life again.
I give my life to follow;
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.
Chorus
Shine your light and let the whole world see!
We're singing for the glory of the risen King:
Jesus!
"If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -- 2 Corinthians 5: 13-21
Tear-jerking happiness and joy.
The Holy Spirit:
This message probably the most hard-hitting one :D Be weird in the right ways. So many Christians are weird in the wrong ways. Sometimes we're not weird enough :p When the Holy Spirit convicts you, be obedient and just do it. "I've found a treasure so amazing that my life doesn't even matter anymore." Now the kicker is to do something with my and your life. Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." How many times in life have you done good deeds and the praise bypasses you and they give glory to the Father directly? I thought about how things have been going on in (The University of Western Ontario's) Asian Christian Fellowship this year.
Have you ever made statements like, "I love God so much, I'm going to spend my life proving to God that I love Him"? That's not the way it is, it's not about you, Chris, it's about how much He loves you.
"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." - Galatians 4: 6-7
Francis jokes about how his testimony "sucks" and that's usually what I end up joking about too. No so-called radical and exciting transformation. We know that God will forgive the sinner that didn't know better, but then what if we already become a Christian, we have the Holy Spirit, and we teach people, and then we screw up and caught up in sin?! That's probably most of us! We already know the Truth, we know who God is, we have the Holy Spirit within us guiding us and cleansing us, but we still fall?!
How sure are you that God loves you? I really enjoyed this part. Be certain that God loves you. Just know it. "Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God ..." - Galatians 4: 8-9.
Just think! If you could go to Heaven now and ask God, "Do you know Chris Luk?" The Father above would say, "I know Chris! D'Uh! He's my son :D I love that guy!" Isn't that CRAZY?! Father God above sitting upon His throne, loves you, knows you, and calls you His son. 100%. Now YOU know it. Wrestle with that. He knows you, He loves you, He knows your name. Be sure of it. Be convinced. I am so loved by God :) He's just crazy about me because He's just that good! He's one who doesn't call me His slave, He calls me a son :)
Open the Bible for yourself. Open the book and ask, "God, reveal truth to me". Don't just let people feed you theology. Don't have "heads that feed you information". Believe in the Holy Spirit and that He can reveal truth to you. Was a lot of your theology fed to you? Read scripture for yourself. If you were stuck on an island with only the Bible, what would you come away with? If you had never been to church and you never met a Christian, what would you expect to see when you finally saw a church or met a Christian? Would it be the church that we go to today? Everyone was radical and insane for Jesus in the Bible. "God, give me this Holy Spirit that you're talking about" -- that's what you would get out of reading this whole Bible.
I laughed at this part :D "Imagine if you were a disciple ... it was so much easier to be a disciple! They had Jesus next to them, how do you screw up with Jesus walking next to you? ... How hard would it be to witness? There's Jesus. That's so lame! Of course I could've been a disciple." :p Go make disciples and all that, but wait for the Holy Spirit first. Could you imagine the anticipation that they had for this Holy Spirit to come? The promise of Jesus coming like a rushing wind and as fire. (Another funny part :p) Francis speaking Chinese :D I learned a bit of Chinese :D When something this crazy happens, people knows it's from God. It couldn't have just been human, it was supernatural. There's no way that they could've learned "Chinese" in 2 seconds and preach the gospel effectively to those in the surrounding area. God got the glory right away, not the disciples. Cool, eh?
Shouldn't there be a major difference between someone who doesn't have the Holy Spirit and a person who has the Spirit of the Living God inside of them?! What about people that don't know Jesus that actually have a huge amount of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness (the Fruits of the Spirit)? AND more so than "Christians"?! You're a temple of the Holy Spirit. You should have a love, joy, peace, patience, kindness like no one else on this earth. Otherwise, if you tell them "I have the Holy Spirit within me", they will think you are LYING! People come with an immense expectation from you if you have the Holy Spirit within you. Doesn't that not make any sense in our current day church? Especially when we do things with our own power. Was the Holy Spirit even there?
Funniest thing of all time :D "Can you imagine what goes through your mind if you're a caterpillar?" <http://youtube.com/watch?v=D3H_-mHKIsM > Back to 2 Corinthians 5 from above.
You're not a "normal" human being anymore. You're a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.
It doesn't matter if you're the only one, you have God inside of you. He can use you to transform lives.
"What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" -- Luke 11: 11-13. Do you really think that God's going to give you a dumb spirit or that God's not going to hold onto His promise of putting His Holy Spirit within you?
How cool is this? A guy made a vlog about it :D http://youtube.com/watch?v=xfgrHadYaPA
God is most glorified in your suffering:
I say this with the most humble sensitivity that I can. I saw this talk for the first time about a month before my grandmother passed away. I suppose it was God's message for me to "brace for it". It was perfect. I hadn't cried watching a sermon in a while. Louie talks about Jacob, Ashley's brother (yes, they are real people, they actually do exist!), who loves intercessory prayer, has seen God heal so many other people, but when Jacob asks for his own sister to be healed, God doesn't grant him his wish. This one time that Jacob prays as hard as he ever has, for God to do something for the first time just for him, God didn't say "yes". Instead, God let his sister die. Jacob wrestled with this. How could God ignore his pleas? How could God ignore us? How can we believe anything that He has ever said to us? Before we've made a mess of our lives, God made a mess out of His Son's life. Be a light in times of darkness. He is the light and He is in you. Focus on the cross, you will KNOW that He loves you. He really, really, really does.
Another great message. Big tear-jerker with no "pretty bow" at the end of the talk. Knowing and living Christ for only 5 months is real life. Life is short, live for what matters.
God of this City: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk >
An amazing song with an amazing beginning:
<http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Bluetree__Rock_worshippers_and_one_of_the_Greater_Things_to_emerge_from_N_Ireland/29468/p1/ >
I'm so glad that God decided to birth this song into our world. What an amazing prophetic word ... greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city.
Cities are not just places on a map. Cities are made of people. This song could be about the city you are in now, the city that the Lord has placed on your heart which might be on the other side of the world, the city might be your university campus, the city might be your hometown.
Pictures:
I uploaded a few pictures taken with my dad's point-and-shoot at http://chrisluk.myphotoalbum.com/
You can see images taken with my DSLR from Passion 2007 here: http://chrisluk.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=Passion07-AgenerationunitedforHisrenown
For His name and renown,
Christopher Luk
Some of you have asked me how Passion Regionals 2008 [USA]: Washington DC (February 22-23, 2008) <http://www.268generation.com
Grab your beverage of choice, grab a comfortable chair, and a pillow because this is going to be long!
First off, this is by no means a review, a "put-up" nor a "put-down" about this conference nor other conferences, I just hope to effectively convey and share how I experienced God while I was there. I am not going to be able to summarize anything of what God did this weekend and do it any justice. He's just too amazing for that. I do hope, however, to provide you with some resources and hopefully encourage you along the way :D
One of the things I've always enjoyed about Passion Conferences <http://www.268generation.com/> is how ridiculously Christ-centered they are. This is the fourth Passion gathering that I have attended and every single time it happens, it's always about one mission and one verse. Life is short, so live for what matters most:
"Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls." -- Isaiah 26:8
A Glimpse of Passion: http://youtube.com/watch?v=q
... To lift up the Holy One:
His name is Jesus!
His name,
His fame,
Is what Passion is all about:
Are you with us?
But we are not here as many but as one:
Let's rise up as one:
Let's believe in this Holy One!
Could there be a day? When His name is the brightest,
And our campuses know His fame?
We believe it is possible,
We believe it is coming,
We believe it is time,
He's here.
He is ...
Everything bight and good,
Lasting and true,
Everything new,
He is ...
Price payer,
Shame bearer,
Grave ender,
Breach repairer,
Crown wearer,
Re-arranger,
Hope's anchor,
World changer,
Church builder,
Always sustainer,
Freeing,
Loving,
Never ending,
He is here.
Then next thing you know, you're proclaiming "Our God is a God who saves". How true is that? Our God is a God who SAVES! We are lead into a song taken from Psalm 68: "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered" -- that is the power that our God has! Then we continue to proclaim "Saviour, He can move the mountains, Our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save! Forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave; Jesus conquered the grave!" What a way to start. Proclaiming the truth about Jesus Christ at the top of our lungs with the focus not being on "famous people". Francis Chan jokes about this later, "If only Chris Tomlin was leading me in worship, then I could REALLY worship!" What a lie. Focus your mind's attention and heart's affection upon the Lord for who He is and what He has done and you can freely worship Him :D
Chorus:
We will sing, sing, sing!
And make music with the heavens!
We will sing, sing, sing!
Grateful that You hear us
When we shout your praise!
Lift high the name of Jesus!
What's not to love about You?
Heaven and earth adore You,
Kings and kingdoms bow down,
Son of God, You are the One,
You are the One we're living for,Chorus
You are the love that frees us,
You are the light that leads us,
Like a fire burning,
Son of God, You are the one.Chorus
Cool, eh? A song written about singing and joining with the heaven's anthem for Jesus' name above all things :) I like it! So that's what university/college students end up doing when they realize that their lives are short and that Jesus is the only thing worth living for and proclaiming. I'm pretty sure that this video was taken at the last main session at Passion DC (the video skips a bit). I remember hearing people talking about how the risers/bleachers/seats were shaking from all the people undignified-ly dancing :p Wonderful :)
If you were there, trust me, there's no way you could have danced and celebrated there thinking "Chris Tomlin is still single, isn't he?" No way! You'd be there screaming, "Thank you GOD that your arms are not too short to save, that you are a real and personal God that has saved us from death and given us life!" Undignified worship of the Lord Jesus Christ who is worthy of it all. I'm pretty sure that Priscilla really enjoyed it also <http://wholyyours.blogspot.com/>
Which goes to say, if you just need to dance before the Lord because of the overflow of your forgiven heart or because you want to declare the truth in the words that you are singing to Him, DO IT! If you feel your church or fellowship is "dead", BE the change!
Anyhow! When Louie Giglio walks out and just introduces the mini-conference saying that we aren't here for anyone "famous", or to be the start of something, but rather to seek Jesus Christ above all things and to merely join in and be a speck in what God is already doing in the city, just wow. We are here to have an encounter with God and something will happen only if we encounter God (not if we encounter "famous people"). Nothing is going to happen -- nothing is going to change unless we have an authentic face-to-face encounter with the Creator of the universe.
The next thing we did was to get into prayer triangles. "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." -- Ecclesiastes 4:12.
So here's the idea: one person prays, the other two agree, this cord of three in agreement is much stronger than just a cord of one. It's just plain cool to see an army of so many join together agreeing with one voice and seeking Jesus Christ all at the same time. It's times like this when there's a spark in your head that realizes that Jesus is building His church all over the world and that you are NOT alone. There ARE others out there your age that love Jesus Christ and want His fame to be the brightest thing in the whole world.
There were lots of prayer sessions where we prayed for lots of things including our own home city, our own campus, cities around the world that God has placed on your heart, for (Kampala,) Uganda London, Paris, China, and Hong Kong specifically :D, for the campus and students where the conference was held (where only 300 out of 30,000 students love Jesus), and so much more. It was great to be able to see a student from mainland China who loves Jesus, who is not afraid to stand for her faith in a place like China, and also a young couple from Hong Kong who love prayer :D Lei <lyang13@hotmail.com> will tell you much more about them if you ask him! Lei got their contact information, prayed for them, and got prayed over by them! But that's just not fair since he knows Mandarin :p
I know Benson wants to head over to Hong Kong and drag the rest of his loving relatives to the upcoming Passion Conference when Passion finally lands there. <http://www.268generation.com
HONG KONG AND VANCOUVER:
Here's my shameless plug. When Passion comes to your city, whether it be Vancouver, BC (October 6, 2008) or to Hong Kong (October 16, 2008), go! Don't go just to see what the "hype" is about. There is no hype ... there's just God. G-O-D period. Go, join, and seek Jesus Christ first and foremost and just let Him speak to you and be saturated in His presence. Go and just experience a snapshot of what God is ALREADY doing in your city. Your city isn't taken over by darkness, there's just not enough LIGHT. Go and be encouraged! There are other LIGHTS shining for Jesus in your city. You are not alone. SHINE. Be the light. Passion isn't going to bring revival to your city, only the Holy Spirit can do that, but this is one opportunity where your city can seek the Lord together as one voice and one body to do it! Who knows, you might actually see some of us from Toronto fly over to your city and join you lifting up the name of Jesus Christ! :D (Priscilla's up for it, I know that! :p)
Do Something NOW!!! :D :D :D
Something both Priscilla and I were really looking forward to (and I mean REALLY looking forward to) was the Do Something Now campaign. Last year, at Passion 2007 when it all started, Louie was saying that if people that follow Jesus Christ are gathered together in one place (especially 23,000 of them), the city should know that something different is happening in their city, that people that love the Lord are present and are making a difference in the world. We talk about it all the time how when we are in the presence of God, we can feel it, we are changed, and we leave different. Same thing, when people of God are present, when we leave, the world should be different. As Dr. Voddie Baucham says, "leave the world a better place than when you got here". (You know I can't write anything without quoting Voddie).
This year, I came READY to give and do something to change the world! Thanks to Uncle David, Auntie Emily, Uncle Hin, Auntie Astrid, and Auntie Betty (and all my other American relatives) for their continual donations in forms of Chinese New Year Red Pocket Money of American currency. Just to let you know that your money was diverted to something much more amazing than I could have ever dreamed :)
When we Christ-followers work together, we are a mighty force.
So at previous Passion gatherings, there were many opportunities that you could help out with to change the world for the better right NOW. When you approach many inter-city homeless shelters, the two major items they always need more of are towels and socks. Towels can be used as a variety of things such as a blanket, a jacket, a mattress, or actually as a towel. Similarly, socks can be used to keep hands and feet warm. So why not show people in the city that people of God love them and that Jesus loves them enough to provide for them?
So this year I went READY! I went to Walmart and bought a whack-load of towels and a huge pack of socks that filled two-thirds of my traveling duffel bag. I don't say this to make myself seem "better" than others, rather I tell you that because I was soooooo excited to see how God is going to use something so simple help better the Virginia/DC community :) There's surprisingly a lot of infrastructure related to homelessness in the Washington DC area alone.
Today, Passion DC really begins. God has touched our lives in ways only He can. Now, it's time to live the life. We will not be the same, and the world has changed. Students this weekend are sending 11,117 pairs of socks and 2920 towels to the shelters of Metro DC! Plus, they gave $42201 to build 14 wells in Africa AND $36,217 for Passion Kampala. Amazing! By the way, if you didn't notice (and haven't already cut yours off), if you turn your DC wristband inside out Passion Kampala is printed on the other side...hopefully a reminder to pray for this event from now until May.
From www.268blog.com
Cool, eh? All that from "poor" college students :) That's a lot of towels and socks. You should see what a big pile of towels and socks looks like. It's really quite beautiful :)
Kampala is in Uganda, in case you didn't know. Passion will be flying to Uganda, even with all this unrest, to preach the name of Jesus, His saving grace, forgiveness, freedom, and how He can give life.
The goal was 3,000 towels by the end of the conference. By the afternoon session, there were only about 2,000 towels present. So people went out after the afternoon session and bought towels like CRAZY! It was amazing :D
"This was awesome! My new friends from The Loft went to K-Mart to buy more towels. They contacted the manager about getting a discount for buying tons of towels and if they get more than 10, they could get 15% off. Well, they started pooling their money and then more Passion attendees showed up and wanted to pool also. They ended up getting someone to go to the front to have them make an announcment [sic]. They paged the entire store for all Passion attendees to go to the home decor section. Andrew told me that another 20 people showed up and they cleared the entire aisle of towels! lol! Now, I'm at the lobby waiting for the evening session to open when all of a sudden, there's just this line of people with towels coming in! I was in shock and blown away, lol! I hope the receipt makes it to Louie. That reaffirms even more to me that God is ready getting this generation moving for His glory!"
So in slightly more detail here is the KMart story...Our group was compelled to go to pick up more towels to help meet the goal. So we called Rite-Aid and they had been cleaned out of towels! (I wonder who could have done that?) So we went over to a KMart and actually went to the manager asking if there was any way that we could get a discount if we bought enough towels. He took us to a towel section in Home Decor and said he would give us %15 off if we bought at least 10. So our group of 8 started to pool money together and then some more people attending Passion came around the corner and they contritbuted [sic] money as well then we prayed that somehow God would provide more money...we felt like we could give more. We sent someone up to the front to announce on the PA system that anyone in the store from the Passion Conference should go to the Home Decor section. We had 20 more people show up and we gathered enough money to clear out all 103 towels left! PRAISE GOD!!!
Comments taken from www.268blog.com
There was also a church group that called their church to help them buy a truck-load of towels. Sure enough, their church stocked up a whole van of towels ready to give. I remember standing in line to get in for the main session, next thing you know, a red truck pulls up to the entrance and you see an army of university/college students run in through the side entrance to drop off all the towels they just bought, then run back outside to get back in line (and park the truck) :p
As you read above, over $42,000 was given for Blood Water Mission to provide water wells for African villages. Each well can provide water for a village of 700 to 1000 people for their lifetime. Exciting times. Did you know that the primary cause of death in Africa isn't HIV/AIDS, it's actually water-borne disease. Clean and accessible water is life.
Some of the organizations I really enjoyed partnering with at previous Passion Conferences was OneVerse and Bibles Unbound. OneVerse <http://www.oneverse.org/> is just a genius idea. See this at a SCAC near you! :p (Priscilla at Scarborough Chinese Alliance Church).
One Verse is simply this, there are still about 2,200 people groups that do not have a Bible available in their native language. OneVerse's mission is to provide those people with an accurate translation of the Word of God. At roughly $24 a verse, you can help create Bibles for people who do not have access to the Word of God. I thought this was just the most amazing idea of all time. Imagine not being able to read the Bible.
Bibles Unbound was great because it didn't require any money on our part (although if you were to do Bibles Unbound with your church or fellowship or group, you will have to pay for the postage). The concept was simply this, they give you a Bible in a language, (say Chinese,) an envelope, an address sticker, and a bookmark. The Chinese Bible, the envelope, and address you put together and mail it off. The bookmark, you keep. The bookmark tells you which city and province in China the Bible is going to and the name of the person it is sent to. Your "deal" is that you will pray for this person for one year, praying that the Holy Spirit will reveal truth to them and that God's Word will do what it was sent to do and not return void. (Isaiah 55:11). Kitty and I had the opportunity to do this together last year.
There you have it. You can change the world NOW. Some things might take some money, other things (such as prayer and diligence) won't take any money at all, just your time and discipline (which for some might be a bigger sacrifice than money). Towels and socks are very affordable. Don't think that you as one person can't change the world. You can. Especially since the Holy Spirit is inside of you. Have an encounter with your Creator.
Onto what I learned!
- Main Session One - Life is short, live for what matters ... Fruitcake (Louie Giglio): http://www.gigasize.com/get
.php?d=x0b6syw1l6d - Main Session Two - The Holy Spirit (Francis Chan! YAY!): http://www.gigasize.com/get
.php?d=sv3v3tzc2vb - Main Session Three - God is most glorified in your suffering (Louie Giglio): A similar "version" available here (we have yet to get the Passion DC version): http://northpointministries
.org/player/FLVPlayer/FLVPlayer .swf?skinName=http://northpoint ministries.org/player/FLVPlayer /clearSkin_3&serverName =cp20979.edgefcs.net&fallbackSe rverName=&appName=ondemand &streamName=fcs.northpointcc /npcc/Sunday_Sermons/Hope /Part1,50,fcs.northpointcc /npcc/Sunday_Sermons/Hope /Part1,150,fcs.northpointcc /npcc/Sunday_Sermons/Hope /Part1&isLive=false&bufferTime =2&autoPlay=true&autoRewind =true&isFullScreen=false
Above are links to the messages for you to use as resources, enjoy, and learn from. One thing we thought would be really nice is if you decide to listen/watch these message, just donate $5 to Passion Conferences since it is rightfully their property and it would be nice to not steal their God-given resources <https://web.memberclicks.com
Although I would highly recommend that you check them out regardless :D
At the end of every main session, there was a time for silent meditation, to just allow the Lord to speak to you; stillness so that you could personally seek your loving Father, to approach the cross, to write down your cries and prayers to the Lord, for intercessors to pray over you. I really enjoyed this time too, just listening for His voice and for how He wants you to respond. No, this wasn't some 15 seconds of silence, this was a blissful 10 to 15 some-odd minutes of glorious silence listening to your Father.
I don't hope to summarize what they talked about, rather, you listen to it and see what the Lord says to you personally :D I hope to write about a few things that struck me and that I learned.
Life is short, live for what matters ... Fruit cake:
After listening to this talk, you just WANT to be a Fruit cake. So, listen to it :D
One of my favourite lines:
"And I don't need to know where,If Jesus is the King of a kingdom, then the only thing we can say is "Yes, Lord". Not, "Maybe, Lord" or "No, Lord", or "Maybe later, Lord". It's just, "Yes, Lord". When a king tells you to do something, you do it. (Isaiah 26:8).
I don't need to know what,
I don't need to know when,
I just need to know one thing:
Are you going with me, Jesus?"
He'll say, "Oh yea."
"Okay, yes."
And your parents are going to go:
"What are you going to do?"
"Don't know."
"When are you thinking of doing this?"
"Don't know that yet."
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Don't know. I don't know. But I know who I'm going with, I'm going with Jesus Christ. Wherever He goes, I'm going with Him. If He goes to the ends of the earth, I'm going."
That's what I got in my time with the Lord. "Make me a fruit cake". I always love hearing stories of people coming to realize that Jesus Christ is REAL and He truly is a Saviour who can save you no matter who you are. Be light in this world. People will notice it. They will laugh and scoff at you at first, but they will want to know why you have "no life" :)
Christa is a real person! She is now married to Jeremy. I talked to her on Facebook :)
You might feel like the only one in your campus, in your workplace, in your home that loves Jesus Christ, but keep truckin'. You are not alone :) There are other fruit cakes around to support you :)
Don't give up praying for your non-Christian friends even if it seems like they're not receptive or interested in what you have to say.
There's new life in this song to me now :D
Everyone needs compassion:
A love that's never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.
Everyone needs forgiveness;
A kindness of a Savior:
The hope of nations.
Chorus:
Saviour,
He can move the mountains:
My God is Mighty to save!
He is Mighty to save!
Forever,
Author of salvation:
He rose and conquered the grave!
Jesus conquered the grave!
So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures;
Fill my life again.
I give my life to follow;
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.
Chorus
Shine your light and let the whole world see!
We're singing for the glory of the risen King:
Jesus!
"If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -- 2 Corinthians 5: 13-21
Tear-jerking happiness and joy.
The Holy Spirit:
This message probably the most hard-hitting one :D Be weird in the right ways. So many Christians are weird in the wrong ways. Sometimes we're not weird enough :p When the Holy Spirit convicts you, be obedient and just do it. "I've found a treasure so amazing that my life doesn't even matter anymore." Now the kicker is to do something with my and your life. Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." How many times in life have you done good deeds and the praise bypasses you and they give glory to the Father directly? I thought about how things have been going on in (The University of Western Ontario's) Asian Christian Fellowship this year.
Have you ever made statements like, "I love God so much, I'm going to spend my life proving to God that I love Him"? That's not the way it is, it's not about you, Chris, it's about how much He loves you.
"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." - Galatians 4: 6-7
Francis jokes about how his testimony "sucks" and that's usually what I end up joking about too. No so-called radical and exciting transformation. We know that God will forgive the sinner that didn't know better, but then what if we already become a Christian, we have the Holy Spirit, and we teach people, and then we screw up and caught up in sin?! That's probably most of us! We already know the Truth, we know who God is, we have the Holy Spirit within us guiding us and cleansing us, but we still fall?!
How sure are you that God loves you? I really enjoyed this part. Be certain that God loves you. Just know it. "Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God ..." - Galatians 4: 8-9.
Just think! If you could go to Heaven now and ask God, "Do you know Chris Luk?" The Father above would say, "I know Chris! D'Uh! He's my son :D I love that guy!" Isn't that CRAZY?! Father God above sitting upon His throne, loves you, knows you, and calls you His son. 100%. Now YOU know it. Wrestle with that. He knows you, He loves you, He knows your name. Be sure of it. Be convinced. I am so loved by God :) He's just crazy about me because He's just that good! He's one who doesn't call me His slave, He calls me a son :)
Open the Bible for yourself. Open the book and ask, "God, reveal truth to me". Don't just let people feed you theology. Don't have "heads that feed you information". Believe in the Holy Spirit and that He can reveal truth to you. Was a lot of your theology fed to you? Read scripture for yourself. If you were stuck on an island with only the Bible, what would you come away with? If you had never been to church and you never met a Christian, what would you expect to see when you finally saw a church or met a Christian? Would it be the church that we go to today? Everyone was radical and insane for Jesus in the Bible. "God, give me this Holy Spirit that you're talking about" -- that's what you would get out of reading this whole Bible.
I laughed at this part :D "Imagine if you were a disciple ... it was so much easier to be a disciple! They had Jesus next to them, how do you screw up with Jesus walking next to you? ... How hard would it be to witness? There's Jesus. That's so lame! Of course I could've been a disciple." :p Go make disciples and all that, but wait for the Holy Spirit first. Could you imagine the anticipation that they had for this Holy Spirit to come? The promise of Jesus coming like a rushing wind and as fire. (Another funny part :p) Francis speaking Chinese :D I learned a bit of Chinese :D When something this crazy happens, people knows it's from God. It couldn't have just been human, it was supernatural. There's no way that they could've learned "Chinese" in 2 seconds and preach the gospel effectively to those in the surrounding area. God got the glory right away, not the disciples. Cool, eh?
Shouldn't there be a major difference between someone who doesn't have the Holy Spirit and a person who has the Spirit of the Living God inside of them?! What about people that don't know Jesus that actually have a huge amount of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness (the Fruits of the Spirit)? AND more so than "Christians"?! You're a temple of the Holy Spirit. You should have a love, joy, peace, patience, kindness like no one else on this earth. Otherwise, if you tell them "I have the Holy Spirit within me", they will think you are LYING! People come with an immense expectation from you if you have the Holy Spirit within you. Doesn't that not make any sense in our current day church? Especially when we do things with our own power. Was the Holy Spirit even there?
Funniest thing of all time :D "Can you imagine what goes through your mind if you're a caterpillar?" <http://youtube.com/watch?v=D3H
You're not a "normal" human being anymore. You're a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.
It doesn't matter if you're the only one, you have God inside of you. He can use you to transform lives.
"What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" -- Luke 11: 11-13. Do you really think that God's going to give you a dumb spirit or that God's not going to hold onto His promise of putting His Holy Spirit within you?
How cool is this? A guy made a vlog about it :D http://youtube.com/watch?v
God is most glorified in your suffering:
I say this with the most humble sensitivity that I can. I saw this talk for the first time about a month before my grandmother passed away. I suppose it was God's message for me to "brace for it". It was perfect. I hadn't cried watching a sermon in a while. Louie talks about Jacob, Ashley's brother (yes, they are real people, they actually do exist!), who loves intercessory prayer, has seen God heal so many other people, but when Jacob asks for his own sister to be healed, God doesn't grant him his wish. This one time that Jacob prays as hard as he ever has, for God to do something for the first time just for him, God didn't say "yes". Instead, God let his sister die. Jacob wrestled with this. How could God ignore his pleas? How could God ignore us? How can we believe anything that He has ever said to us? Before we've made a mess of our lives, God made a mess out of His Son's life. Be a light in times of darkness. He is the light and He is in you. Focus on the cross, you will KNOW that He loves you. He really, really, really does.
Another great message. Big tear-jerker with no "pretty bow" at the end of the talk. Knowing and living Christ for only 5 months is real life. Life is short, live for what matters.
God of this City: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
An amazing song with an amazing beginning:
<http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk
One of the key tracks on the album is "God Of This City" from which the phrase 'Greater Things' which gives the album its title is taken. I ask Aaron about the song and as he recalls the circumstances his voice breaks and he begins to cry, still moved by the events he's describing. "There's a couple from Carrickfergus, Ian and Leslie, and they moved out to Thailand to a place called Pattaya. We got asked to go and be part of an event called Pattaya Praise. Pattaya is a seaside town/resort place, and physically, it looks to be like the darkest place you'll ever go to. And spiritually, it is THE darkest place we have ever been to. You just feel the evil. You just feel the enemy all over that place. It's a very small place; in Northern Ireland we have a coastal town called Bangor and it's very much like that. But in that small area there are 30,000 prostitutes and that figure excludes kids and excludes anything that's outside of the range of, say 18-30, and who are female. You probably hear of ladyboys and all those kinds of things? It's got a ladyboy community and all this kind of stuff, and 90 or 95 percent of Thailand's income comes from the sex industry."
...
Aaron explains what happened next. "There was a bar called The Climax Bar - on a street that's about 10 metres wide, it's a kilometre long and it's filled with everything you can physically imagine. And I promise you, as a red-blooded male, to keep your head in the right place you've got to look down at the ground and walk down that street and pray because it is just so in your face. People hit you with menus about everything, flashing lights, just everything you can imagine goes on in that place. You see kids as young as eight, nine, 10, just selling themselves, you know?! You see 60-year-old guys walking down the street with two 13 or 14-year-old girls. Forget about the Christian thing, you just get raging! You properly get raging when you see that happening, you know?!"
He pauses to compose himself and continues, "But we got the chance to play in this bar, a two-hour worship set in this bar. I don't think the people in the bar spoke a word of English but we basically got to go in. The deal was that we play and we bring a following of people with us; so we're there, set up, really good gear! Amazing drums, the biggest drum kit you've ever seen in your life. I walk in and my dream amp is sitting there! Walk in and Rick's big Mesa Boogie stack sitting there! I was like, 'Woah!' So we all set up and there was like 20 Christians all standing in front of us, and the deal was we play, they buy lots of drinks, alright? I don't think the place has ever sold so much Coke in its whole life in one night!"
He laughs and describes the scene, "So all the Christians are all sugared off their heads on Coke.that's Coca-Cola by that way! The drink! And we got to play for two hours. And just the way the band set up, we like using loops, and at one point I just started singing out. I started singing "Greater Things", something along those lines, almost prophesying over the city. And without going into the band dynamics, slowly this groove emerged from this thing. And long story short; we walked out of that Climax Bar with pretty much a nailed song, as strange as that sounds. Then we were on the way home. We were all. . .it was that tumbleweed silence, you know? It was like, 'What actually just happened in that time?!' It was one of the most powerful worship experiences we've ever had. I actually remember looking out, and you're looking down a wee alleyway, into the street, and it was just 50 or 60 probably British tourists and they're just sitting there listening going, 'What is this all about?' Coming from The Climax Bar which is pretty much a strip club. Just, here we are singing about Jesus in the middle of this. You've got a German guy who's completely wrote off, with a prostitute on each arm and he is just like your Number One Fan! It was one of the most random experiences but it was a God thing, God was there."
I'm so glad that God decided to birth this song into our world. What an amazing prophetic word ... greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city.
Cities are not just places on a map. Cities are made of people. This song could be about the city you are in now, the city that the Lord has placed on your heart which might be on the other side of the world, the city might be your university campus, the city might be your hometown.
Pictures:
I uploaded a few pictures taken with my dad's point-and-shoot at http://chrisluk.myphotoalbum
You can see images taken with my DSLR from Passion 2007 here: http://chrisluk.myphotoalbum
For His name and renown,
Christopher Luk
posted by Christopher Luk | 2:57 PM
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Be singled out 
