Engage '10

Summer days were approaching and most of the youth who attended the last year's Engage Conference were all been praying for the next event. And yes, by the grace of God the Engage Conference of 2010 sets the stage and was ready to turn the lights on.

Living the Christ-Life was the aim of this conference. In Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me”. When young generations must to follow Christ and live to Him, for Him and by Him great barriers of immoralities falter and holiness reign. A revolution for holiness is what the world needs now. But is revolution enough? Pastor Cody Kargus who was the speaker of the said event once said “Revolution is not enough unless God takes the move”. So friends, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints (Ephesians 6-10:18)”.

Engage Conference was such a blessing for the youths who were in attendance. We felt the longing and the desire to be conformed to the image and likeness of Christ. And here are some of the principles I've learned to live a Christ-Life...

• Engage with a Holy God – Common problem of the world today is that we make God relevant and makes a path of irreverence. Means to say, we make God lower to His standard and making God to our own pleasure. In Isaiah 6:1-4 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke”. Even the angels who are supreme beings than us were all covering their faces and feet because of the holiness of God. How we human beings make God irreverent. Is it right for us to make God less than what He is? Shame on us. Let God be God.

• As we understand God holiness, holy desire must be developed. We must to worship the One True God. What we worship we'll be like that. Let me give you some examples. If we worship money we will be greedy, if we worship sex we will be lustful, and if we worship hard liquor we will be like them bubbling until the last drop (is it true?) and more to mention. But if we worship God we will be like Christ. Is holiness and option? By no means, be "Holy for your Heavenly Father is Holy". It doesn't mean that we must to work to achieve holiness but because of God's kindness and holiness it will lead us to repentance and a desire to be holy. The Almighty God can transform us to be more like Him if we are willing to submit ourselves to Him. So what does holiness mean? It means to be set apart or was chosen, to be cleansed, washed on the day of atonement (we have been cleansed and washed by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ) and the dedication for the Word of God. John Wesley said “ Fear nothing but God, hate nothing but sin”.

• We know that God is very holy and and our sin is very serious, so the cure for salvation is very extreme. The bible says “For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a). therefore, we are all sinners and are punishable to death. But praise God “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23b)”. Jesus humbles Himself and took the flesh of man to be crucified for our redemption. The cross is the core of our salvation. Only by faith and the works of Christ we will be saved.

• The gift of salvation is in our own hands so in return we must to live a holy life. So let this be our theme in Galatians 2:20 - “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”. We are defined and created by God and it is rightful for us to give our bodies to Him. “To follow Christ is costly, we must to deny ourselves and take up the cross daily but it is more costly not to follow Him - (Luke 9:24-25)“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self”? Hell is real and no one can escape it. But if we are in Him, eternal life awaits us where there is no more weeping, but only joy and happiness that the world can't offer.
  

Living the Christ-life is not about our self but it is all about Jesus Christ. Yes, it is hard to be holy but we believe that God can do things possible for the good of His children.

W Medel