Intro & Alliance Part 1

The idea for this blog came to me earlier today. It spawned from two thoughts. The first thought was how disappointed I was that so many people missed the amazing sermons during the Alliance Youth Conference. The second was that I myself didn't want to forget these amazing sermons. I'm by no means an amazing writer nor do I think that I can do justice to the these inspirational sermons, but this is as much for my own retention as to present these ideas to those who weren't there to hear them themselves (regardless of your religious background). The name of this blog is Seek Ye First, which comes - as many of you may already know - from Matthew 6: 33 which says:

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (NIV)

To change the world, we must start by understanding God's will. To understand God's will, we must follow Jesus and emulate his example. To emulate Jesus, we must know what He did, what He stood for, and most importantly, what He died for.

With that, I'll begin with the Alliance Youth Conference. For those who don't know, The Alliance Youth Conference is for young adults who, in recognizing that it's only through Christ that this world can be change, want to be that change this world desperately needs. In the words of One Generation Under God (onegenerationundergod.com), through which the Alliance Conference is run,

The Alliance Conference is a youth & young adults conference inspiring and equipping the next generation to effectively change their world; the conference has been described by many who have attended as a "life-changing powerful weekend!"

"Life-changing" is certainly an accurate word to describe the conference; however, I do not feel like that's enough. It needs to be "world-changing." After an amazing weekend, I realize the ball is now in my court for the latter.

The second annual Alliance Conference began on Friday, November 5, 2010. After an amazing time of worship, screaming praise to God until our voices were hoarse, Pastor Doug Lasit came up to speak. Pastor Doug is an amazing man who launched the incredibly influential youth conference Generation Unleashed in Portland, OR. His experience in evangelism is remarkable; however, that's not what made his sermon so potent. What will stick with me forever is his testimony. I will not summarize the whole thing, but will just say that he found God after being mugged on Halloween night - at the time he was also homeless. Since then, he's been ministering to youth and young adults of this world. His sermon revolved greatly around Jeremiah 18: 1-4:

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. (NIV)

 If you haven't guessed this yet, you are the clay and God is the potter. Pastor Lasit took this passage to say something simple, but powerful: you were made in a very intentional way by the hands of God to be a vessel, not an object on a shelf. Let's back up a moment. There are two important details in this passage of Jeremiah that I just blew by. It says "so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." You were made by GOD, the best "potter" in the entirety of existence. He didn't mess up when making you; He made you "as seemed best to him." He made you for a purpose; He made you for perfection.

The second section of this passage Pastor Doug pointed to was that "the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands." The pot broke. Does this mean the potter wasn't good enough? No. It means the clay is easily broken. God does not break his creations. His creations break because of flaws in themselves. There is good news to this though. When you're broken, God doesn't just glue you back together cracked and no longer pretty to look at. When God presses His hands against you, he makes something better than the original (did you catch that? I didn't say "as good as the original" I said better). The cracks aren't just fixed; they disappear completely. But how are you better? Before you were just a pretty object on a shelf. Now, you have this testimony on how God healed you when you were broken. You're no longer a display item for people to look at and say, "Wow, look at how nice he/she looks. That's awesome," before passing by. You are a vessel! You have a testimony to bring to everyone. You have God in you to carry to the world.

One last thought for this sermon. God is the potter. We've established this. Now we'll skip to another verse. Romans 9:20 states:

But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” (NIV)

Sometimes, when we're hurt and broken we think "Why, God, did you make me like this? Why am I so broken?" However, God knows you. He did not make you broken. He also knows what you can do if you surrender your life to Him. He will make you better than new. He will make you his vessel. He will give you a testimony to share with the world. To change the world. But you have to take the journey. Many people are out there, saying "Jesus, where are you? I'm broken. I need you. Where are you?" Jesus' response? "Follow me and find out."

With that, I end the first night of the Alliance Youth Conference. There are still three inspirational sermons left, which I will summarize in the subsequent post(s). But now that I've reached the end of the first night. I realize I haven't explained the URL of this blog, even though I already explained the title. Fear not, this delay was intentional. I mentioned that Seek Ye First referred to how we must seek Jesus before we can change anything. Well, change is what this is all about. I, for one, am tired of the corruption in this nation that BREAKS THE HEART OF GOD. Divorce, suicide, premarital sex, teenage pregnancy, rape, and human trafficking are at an all time high. We sit back as MTV and Hollywood warp us into a desensitized generation, where people just become statistics. We don't know what it means when someone says that there are at least 100,000 children forced into prostitution each year in the United States. But God knows each one of those children. He created them; He feels their pain. What's His plan for saving them, you ask? What's His plan for ending suicide, divorce, and rape? Same as His plan for bringing salvation to the unsaved. You. You are His plan. There is no Plan B. If this world is going to be changed it's up to you - and me, and every other disciple of Jesus Christ on this planet. Psalms 46: 10 states:

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”(NIV)

I would like to see my generation change the world, so when I step outside my front door, I don't see a world that has forsaken God and cries out in pain under the yoke of the Devil. I see a world on their knees in worship. A world that exalts His name above all names. A world the Devil is afraid to enter.