Campus Crusades Retreat

I went on my Campus Crusades Retreat this past weekend and had such a blast. It was an amazing learning experience for me and the speaker Steve Rieske really convicted me in a lot of ways. He talked about how the world today is essentially "Babylon" and things haven't changed. The conspiracy of "normal" today is greed, power, and sexual immorality and it's everywhere. He said we as Christ followers need to start a revolution and begin to help change the way the world is becoming. He gave us a road map to the Revolution and said you need to:
1. Deny self.. Find the areas in our lives where we find our worth and the things we so strongly desire and deny them because if they're not Jesus, they're Babylon.
2. Self Death.. God tells us so often to GO. We need to LEAVE Babylon, because it's not going to leave us. Die to what we were.
3. Follow.. Act with love and compassion to all as Jesus did when He walked the Earth. Spread the gospel by love, be on fire for God. If you ever wonder "am I doing enough?" then you're not, because when you're on fire for God you're so consumed by it you don't have any other thoughts but how else you can further His kingdom.

The biggest thing I took away from this weekend was a new point of view on judging other people's sin.  We cannot evaluate someone else's life. Their right and wrong are based on how well they know Jesus.  Because by knowing Christ, his values become our values, but for someone that is lost, what they know and seek for comfort in this world is what's going to eventually break them down until they have to call out for God.  We cannot try and remove the sin from their lives, or their hearts will starve and they will never be able be broke before God.  They will develop a works-based faith where they say, "I don't sin, and I do all these good things" and it will lead to a faith where they don't NEED God because they feel they have it all together.  Don't lead people astray, and don't judge their sin. Just love on them, show them a love like Christ loved us, so that they see it and desire more than just what the world has offered them.



"The greatest blessing God could give you is himself" - Steve Rieske

"What are we doing with our time that is so much better than sharing the gospel?" - Natalie Clifford