What will life after college look like for you? What is God calling you to in this next chapter of life and how do you discern this? Sadly, many students who had a very active involvement in Campus Outreach on campus, tend to really struggle with having an effective personal ministry beyond the campus context. Why has connecting with the local church beyond college been such a challenge? Every upperclassmen at the conference should not miss this seminar. Campus Outreach is more committed than ever to helping you have a healthy transition and fruitful impact here and around the world! Come check out some of the very exciting opportunities CO graduates are apart of currently as well as much more on the horizon!

Justification and assurance are two important theological terms and experiences that many of us don’t understand. This seminar will explain these ideas by answering the questions, “How does God save me?” and “How can I be certain he has?”

What comes to mind when you hear the word church? God’s Word contains a meaning of the church that is far greater than a building or simply a weekly routine. The church is the bride of Jesus Christ and has been charged to be His representative on Earth until He comes again. In this seminar we will look at Scripture to understand the central role that the church plays in God’s great plan of redemption. We will look at how to cultivate a love for the church like Christ has, and a greater understanding of what the church is. Don’t make the common mistake of waiting until you are out of college to be meaningfully joined to a church. Join us for a time to consider how to order your college years, and beyond, around the local church.

Suffering, evil, death, emotional pain, and the circumstances of my day…does God really control everything? How can I believe that there is a God that’s really in control? If he is in control, then how can I believe God is GOOD when my circumstances and life are a wreck? Is God really working “all things for good” or even my good? Are these questions you ask yourself or that you get asked in your personal ministry? If so, this seminar will address these questions and how you can know with certainty.

Do you have a desire to help people in your life know, understand and believe the gospel? Come to this seminar to learn Biblical, practical, and tasteful ways to live a lifestyle of making the gospel clear to others.

Some of us are fortunate enough to be launched into adulthood through great homes and stable sovereign foundations, others escape their childhood but with a limp. The source of that limp can become the power of God through our lives. How do we overcome the pain to unleash the power of God in our lives and others. It is in our weakness that we will most clearly see and experience the face, power, and glory of God. Don’t miss this one!

EM Bounds wrote, “Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.” God’s method of building his kingdom in the world has always been multiplication – as one person invests their life in another. This seminar will teach you the Biblical basis of discipleship and how God can use you to change the world – one person at a time.

Eating breakfast. Going to Class. Reading my Bible. Playing Sports. Sharing my Faith… does it all matter to God? Aren’t some of these things more important to God than others? This seminar will examine the Bible’s teaching of “whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God.” Ultimately all we do and say bears witness to the transforming power of the Gospel in our lives and in the world.

We will look at Luke 10-11 to try to understand some of Christ’s most important teaching on how to pray and why to pray. We will also look at practical ways to build the discipline of prayer into your life so that you can see more answers to prayer. We will try to understand why boldness and perseverance are so important in prayer.

Relationships are the fabric of our lives. Sin is an aspect of our relationships. Though sin is a major problem for our relationships, possibly the greater problem is our inability and often times, unwillingness, to deal with our sin. The aim of this seminar is to understand the nature of sin in our relationships and become experts in subduing and overcoming it.

Relationships and Dating: Why are relationships so hard? What does God say about how we should relate, date and marry? This seminar will explore the timeless principles that will help you build healthy relationships with the opposite sex. God is a relational God and has lots to say through His Word so we can walk in love and freedom in an area of life that the world has sold us a counterfeit.

The Bible – One Story from 66 Books, approximately 40 authors over 1500 years. This seminar is intended to unpack the big picture of the Bible. What is it? How did we get it? What’s the point? Can we trust it? and more.

Our goal in discipling is not just an “improved spiritual life” but to see disciples of Jesus who are thinking, living, leading, and growing to impact the world. Come and learn how to develop truly world-impacting disciples. Jesus was that type of disciplemaker and you can be too. Don’t just settle for leading a group…lead a revolution!

It really is all about him. Jesus is the deal with this whole Christianity thing. And he is the deal with the whole universe and everything that exists. And he is the deal for all eternity and for the lives we lead now. And yet in the midst of our busyness—and at a hectic five-day conference about him!—we can be so quick to simply assume, and even forget, the One who it’s all about. So our mission in this seminar is to marvel, to look at Jesus in his stunning and spectacular glory and together be amazed. We’ll see that there is a beautiful simplicity to Jesus, but also a captivating complexity and depth that corresponds to the longings of our hearts and will satisfy our souls forever.

If Jesus were here today, who would he rebuke and who would he embrace? What would he say to the moral person who is seen by many as “Christian” yet is not a Christian? What would he say to the guy in the fraternity house drinkin’ it up? While you might think you know his words for these people or even his words for you, his response might surprise you. Whether you’re investigating the claims of Christ or have recently become a Christian, knowing what Christ says to you is central understanding of the Gospel.

As a pastor of a growing church and a seminary professor, George Robertson has gained experience in guiding young leaders in ministry. Every ministry calling requires preparation and training. Come hear what you should be considering if you are interested in pursuing formal seminary training.

DEALING WITH DISAPPOINTMENT
“I know what to do in my walk with the Lord when things are going well. I just don’t know how to think or process through life when things are really disappointing. Do I ignore it? Do I delve into the disappointments? What’s God? What’s me?…My failures?..My decisions?…My circumstances? What do I do with all the disappointments in life? I feel under-equipped to handle these things Biblically!” If these are your questions, come join us as we seek to get some “handles” on how to think and live through our disappointments in life whether big or small.

GOD’S HEART, MY RESPONSE
God’s desire is for people from every tribe, language, tongue, and nation to worship Him. This is an incredible vision that will require an army of sold-out believers ready and willing to take the gospel to their neighbors and to the nations. Come hear about God’s heart for all peoples and be challenged to consider your part in this God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, Kingdom-furthering, Joy-enhancing vision for world evangelization. Whether you minister as a professional or professionally minister, God has a purpose, plan, and place for you in this great endeavor.

LIVING FOR CHRIST IN A LIKE-MINDED MISSIONAL COMMUNITY
How can weak and sinful people like us really keep Christ and his purposes at the center of our lives? If we want to live all in for Christ, what will it take? How does God intend for us to live out this life?

So often, we think of evangelism as something we do rather than what flows out of who we are. In Romans it says,”… how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” We will look into three perspectives of reaching friends with love and truth: through who you are, what you say, and how you say it.

God’s plan for His people is to live a life that is full of joy and pleasure. Psalm 16:11 states “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” His means of experiencing this fullness of life comes through the discipline of spending personal time alone with God. This seminar will give several biblical examples of how rich and deeply we can experience the presence of God through a consistent devotional life, and give some practical examples of how to build this discipline into your life.

Good leadership makes a difference. If you find a sorority, a business, an athletic team, or even a family that is healthy and growing you will find a leader who is making a difference. “Who should be a leader and what does a leader look like?” “How do I transform the circumstances around me, and affect change in others?” This seminar explores what it takes to be the leader you were meant to be.

Do you feel like your time spent studying the Bible is unproductive and lacks direction? Come and learn how to get more out of your personal study of God’s Word and learn how to uncover the deep truths of God’s Holy Word.

Calling from God is pouring all of who you are into all of what you do. Your Dreams not only give you insight into what you should be DOING, but they also give insight into your BEING (your design). Learning to dream in God is a necessary step in discovering God’s call.

It is a sad reality that many of us live and think as though God’s favorite word is NO. As a result, the Bible becomes for us a big book of rules and growing as a Christian is all about increasing our list of what we DON’T do. There is one small problem with this mind set…It’s wrong! From beginning to end, the Bible reveals a God of YES. The implications of this are none other than life changing. We will look into how our view of God, of sin, and of growing as Christian are all radically altered when we see God as the Bible reveals Him: The God of YES.

Audio Only:

Ashlee Johnson‘s message to the women at the CO National Conference

John Piper spoke to the men at the CO National Conference on December 31, 2011. He used the life of Augustine to relate to the men at conference. He referenced Augustine’s book Confessions.

Audio Only:

Hebrews 11:32-40

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

God has given you one life to live in this age. There is no chance for reincarnation. The way you live this life now will affect eternity. You waste your life if you don’t bring it into sync with God’s purposes for you.

3 reasons why you were made:

1. God made you for his glory. Isaiah 43:7, 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Philippians 1:19

2. God made you for joy.

3. He made you to love other people.

Christians care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering.

If we are not finding our deepest satisfaction in God, we cannot love people. The un-wasted life is the life spent making God significant and whose love overflows to meet the needs of others.

2 Corinthians 8:1-4, 8

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia,  for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints… I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

Everything that Paul teaches aims towards Christians growing into loving people. What is this biblical definition of love? The Corinthians believers were poor and afflicted, yet they were full of joy. This abundance of joy in God has resulted in a overflow of generosity to the poor in Jerusalem. Love is the overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others. Our agenda is set for the rest of our lives; our aim is overflow with joy in God.

Acts 20:35

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

The word “blessed” in Greek actually means joyful, happy. Paul is saying that when you give yourself to bless another person and increase their joy, your own joy increases. There is an assumption that if you do acts of love for the sake of the reward, you are not loving. This is not what Paul says in Acts 20. Paul urges us to remember Jesus’ teaching on love, namely, when we do it, we are blessed. The freedom and the power to love other people comes from all that Christ is for us.

Hebrews 10:32-39

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

How did these believers in Hebrews have such a touch from God that they joyfully accepted the persecution and plundering of their property? The answer is they knew that their possession in Christ was far superior to any material goods. Not only that, it was everlasting. Having material possessions is not the source of joy. Knowing God is the ultimate treasure. If you try to abandon your pursuit of everlasting joy in God, you can’t love God or other people.

Audio Only:

Written summary of this talk

John Piper One on One:

Audio Only:

Written summary of Harry Reeder’s talk

Harry Reeder’s One on One:

Hope and Alonzo’s Testimony:

Audio Only:

Written summary of Trip and Sho’s talk

Sho Baraka’s Testimony:

Pastor’s Panel:

Sho Baraka came to know the Lord through Campus Outreach. He found that college will teach you how to make a living, but not how to make a life. Sharing the new life in Christ is not an option, not just to unbelievers but to believers also.

Here are three questions to think about.

How are you going to manage your time?

Students need to see themselves as debtors to Christ, and therefore keep themselves from being enslaved by enormous student loans. Too often students stop serving Christ and start working to pay off their debt.

How are you going to manage your talent?

Not matter what you end up doing, God has called you be a missionary. How are you using your talent for God’s pleasure? You may not have the opportunity to have a Bible study over lunch on a campus, but you have the ability to impact Christ no matter what your calling may be.

How are you going to manage your treasure?

How will you leverage your treasure for the glory of the Lord? You probably don’t make a lot of money right now, but one day you will be earning that steady paycheck. You need to think now how you are going to honor God with all your treasure.

Pastor’s Panel:

Audio Only:

Written summary of this talk

Ashlee Johnson’s One on One:

Tommie’s Student Testimony:

Audio Only:

Written summary of the talk

Matt Chandler’s One on One:

Bentli’s Student Testimony:

Audio-only:

Written summary of the talk

JD Greear’s One on One:

Ned and Sarah’s Student Testimony:

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

God has given you one life to live in this age. There is no chance for reincarnation. The way you live this life now will affect eternity. You waste your life if you don’t bring it into sync with God’s purposes for you.

3 reasons why you were made:

1. God made you for his glory. Isaiah 43:7, 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Philippians 1:19

2. God made you for joy.

3. He made you to love other people.

Christians care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering.

If we are not finding our deepest satisfaction in God, we cannot love people. The un-wasted life is the life spent making God significant and whose love overflows to meet the needs of others.

2 Corinthians 8:1-4, 8

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia,  for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints… I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

Everything that Paul teaches aims towards Christians growing into loving people. What is this biblical definition of love? The Corinthians believers were poor and afflicted, yet they were full of joy. This abundance of joy in God has resulted in a overflow of generosity to the poor in Jerusalem. Love is the overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others. Our agenda is set for the rest of our lives; our aim is overflow with joy in God.

Acts 20:35

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

The word “blessed” in Greek actually means joyful, happy. Paul is saying that when you give yourself to bless another person and increase their joy, your own joy increases. There is an assumption that if you do acts of love for the sake of the reward, you are not loving. This is not what Paul says in Acts 20. Paul urges us to remember Jesus’ teaching on love, namely, when we do it, we are blessed. The freedom and the power to love other people comes from all that Christ is for us.

Hebrews 10:32-39

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

How did these believers in Hebrews have such a touch from God that they joyfully accepted the persecution and plundering of their property? The answer is they knew that their possession in Christ was far superior to any material goods. Not only that, it was everlasting. Having material possessions is not the source of joy. Knowing God is the ultimate treasure. If you try to abandon your pursuit of everlasting joy in God, you can’t love God or other people.

———-

Check back January 12th for conference audio and video.

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Joy is the most serious pursuit in the world. I want you to be serious in your quest for joy. It is not a marginal pursuit, it’s central. It’s not optional, it’s mandatory.

There is an infinite chasm between those who are happy not to go to hell and those who are happy in Jesus. Being happy in God is not the same as being happy your not going to hell. There is nothing spiritual in not wanting pain. There is massive difference between these two types of people.

John grew up with a notion that it was not right to pursue one’s own happiness. It seemed the Bible was calling believers to divest themselves of a desire for happiness in order to be true worshippers. Now he realizes that the true Christian must pursue their own happiness in order to truly worship God.

CS Lewis’s The Weight of Glory changed everything for him in seminary. In it Lewis explains that the problem with believers is not that they have too strong of desires but that they are too weak. We fall for worldly, inferior pleasures while forsaking the infinite fountain of joy that is God.

This led John to look for biblical evidence for Lewis’ statement.

10 Observations that this is a serious and biblical quest.

1. It is a serious quest because if we don’t delight in God above all things, we dishonor God.

2. God commands you to be happy. Psalm 100, Psalm 37

3. He threatens terrible things if we will not be happy. Deuterony 28:47

4. The nature of faith teaches us to pursue our joy in God. Hebrews 11:6, John 6:35

5. The nature of evil teaches us to pursue our joy in God.  Jeremiah 2:13

6. The nature of conversion teaches us that we should be on a serious pursuit of joy.  Matt 13:44

7. Jesus’ teaching about self denial leads us to the conclusion that we should pursue never-ending joy in God.  Mark 8:34

8. God himself offers to us the fullest and the longest joy. Psalm 16:11

9. The call to love people teaches us to pursue joy. (To be addressed in Rally 7)

10. If you pursue your fullest joy in God, you magnify God.

God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. It is not duty that honors God, although duty is good. God is made much of when we delight in him. God sent Jesus into the world that we might go on holiday to the sea.

———-

Check back January 12th for conference audio and video.

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time krestore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,  11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

What can Christ do with one life?

What would it be like if there were 5000 students lit on fire to share the Gospel? Is it possible that we could experience an awakening from students being transformed by the Gospel?

There are 2 indisputable biblical facts:

1. No one can come to Christ unless God’s grace searches them out.

Everyone that is alive right now is a walking miracle. God’s sovereign hand has drawn you to him, you did not come to him out of your own choosing.

2. God saves people through people.

In John 4, the woman at the well brought many people to Christ by her testimony to them.

Harry Reeder went to Uganda on his first mission trip and saw a movement of the Gospel. This movement can be traced back all the way to British missionaries, many of whom did not last long in the field. It was through these people that God saved and continues to save his people in Uganda. Campus Outreach is what it is today because of a handful of people that wanted to reach their campus at Samford University.

Acts 17:6

These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.

These words were spoken by an enemy of the Gospel. What kind of people have turned the known world upside down? You can trace back the lineage of God’s servants through Acts 1 back to the Gospels. Thousands of people were turning to Christ as Jesus taught, and thousands of people came to know Christ after his death and resurrection. How did this happen? By what method did this come about? Jesus makes it clear through his command in Matthew 28, “Go and make disciples.” Acts 1 tells us that believers were filled with the Holy Spirit. The job of the Holy Spirit is to empower believers to bear witness about Jesus Christ.

There are many of you that have come searching for something. You need to know now that it is Christ alone that can save you from your sins. You and I are born with a heart ready and willing to crucify Christ. But it was the Savior who came and drank the cup of wrath for our sake. Now we can come to him and receive eternal life. Campus Outreach won’t save anyone. It is the people filled with the Holy Spirit, centered on Christ, and empowered by the Gospel that will save people.

———-

Check back January 12th for conference audio and video.

Here are three questions to think about.

How are you going to manage your time?

Students need to see themselves as debtors to Christ, and therefore keep themselves from being enslaved by enormous student loans. Too often students stop serving Christ and start working to pay off their debt.

How are you going to manage your talent?

Not matter what you end up doing, God has called you be a missionary. How are you using your talent for God’s pleasure? You may not have the opportunity to have a Bible study over lunch on a campus, but you have the ability to impact Christ no matter what your calling may be.

How are you going to manage your treasure?

How will you leverage your treasure for the glory of the Lord? You probably don’t make a lot of money right now, but one day you will be earning that steady paycheck. You need to think now how you are going to honor God with all your treasure.

———–

Trip Lee was born in Dallas, TX. There is a culture of Christianity where everyone thinks they are a Christian. He prayed “the prayer” when he was five years old, but he felt it wasn’t genuine conversion. Looking back, he realized he never treasured Jesus, he never hated his sin. It wasn’t until jr. high when people lived the Gospel out that he realized what he was missing.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God’s Plan

God reconciles sinners to himself. This assumes that we were separated from God. We don’t have just a strained relationship with God that needs work; we are enemies of God that need Christ in order to be brought back to a loving relationship with God. Christ does this, we don’t. He can and will save anyone he chooses.

God’s Gift

God gives the ministry of reconciliation to reconciled sinners. If you have been reconciled to God, you have been made a minister of reconciliation. God used Paul, a persecutor of the Church, to become a worker of the Gospel. God can use even you. How does this gift work? We have been entrusted with this message of reconciliation. We have become representatives of God Almighty to fallen humanity. We need to remember that the Gospel does the work of salvation, regardless of our weaknesses.

God’s Message

We sinned against God, but Jesus came in the flesh without sin. This sinless God-man took the full wrath for all of humanity’s sin. Jesus’ payment for all these sins means they will never be counted against us. We get credited with righteousness on his account. This message is mind-blowing. This is the best news in the world! We must always look for opportunities to share this good news.

———-

Check back January 12th for conference audio and video.

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

He mentioned earlier that every person is born sinful. We worship the creation rather than the creator. God gives us great gifts, but those gifts cannot ultimately fulfill only what God himself can fulfill. Don’t terminate your worship on those things that will leave you empty.

Matt Chandler constantly asks his kids where good things ultimately come from, desiring them to grow up giving glory to the Creator for all his good gifts. God is after our praise in order that we may more fully enjoy him. God is not after our begrudging submission. God is not withholding from us the best things in life. He is after our affections and delight.

Romans 1:28

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

The world fails to acknowledge God. Most people are more in tune with what they don’t have than what they have been blessed with. We should ooze thankfulness for the manifold grace we have received from God.

Be Transformed

Romans 8:29 makes it clear that God’s plan for us is to conform us into the image of his son. Before the beginning God predestined you to be like Christ. A great danger is that you would know about Jesus, but never know him. How do we become more like Jesus? We have to look to him. By beholding Jesus, we become like Jesus.

Matt Chandler learned early on that there are things that stir up his delight and affections for Jesus Christ. We need to ask ourselves: What stirs our affections for God? For Matt it’s early mornings, strong black coffee, old music, and old books to name a few. He calls this disciplined delight.

On the other end, those things that destroy our delight in God are morally neutral things. These things rob us of our affections for God. It doesn’t take too long before we are entertained by those things that break the heart of God. We have to watch ourselves being lazy under the banner of “rest.”

Fuel those things that stir your affections for Christ. Starve those things that rob your affections for Christ. Get violent against those thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:5 demands that you take every thought captive in order to obey Christ.

Finally, we have to test the will of God in a way that we proclaims that we know God to be good. There are times when we will feel like what God is asking is impossible. We will be ready to trust God by being transformed by Him.

———-

Check back January 12th for conference audio and video.

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Regions Greenville, Minneapolis, Charlotte, DC, Florida, Memphis + Girls From (Lynchburg, Minn, Indy, Greenville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Charleston)

Location Grace Baptist
Address: 7815 Shallowford Rd, Chattanooga, TN 37421
Regions Charleston, Raleigh, Augusta, Lyncburg, + Girls from (Augusta, Raliegh, Memphis)

Location Christ Church
Address: 8645 E Brainerd Rd, Chattanooga, TN 37421
Regions Indy, Lexington, Atlanta, Birmingham

Location Baylor School – Basketball – Bussing Location
Address: 171 Baylor School Rd., Chattanooga, TN 37405
Regions Greenville, Minneapolis, Charlotte, DC, Florida, Dallas, + All Girls Basketball

Location Covenant College
Address: 14049 Scenic Highway, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750
Regions Charleston, Augusta, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Lexington, Atlanta, Raleigh

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Paul is making this appeal not based on the abilities we have, but on God’s mercies. In order to understand this, we first have to deconstruct the idea that we are born inherently good. We are born sinful. All people everywhere are born sinners. We are hopelessly broken, and daily pursue our idols over God. Every one of us prefers creation over the creator.

Second, we must acknowledge that we think we are smarter than God. We won’t come out and say this, but we live this way. God gives us instructions in his word how to live, but we make excuses why we won’t follow God’s instructions.

Third, we fail to acknowledge God. He has knit us in our mothers’s womb. He has given us amazing gifts and abilities. What God has given us to make much of him, we turn and use to make much of us. We decide to build our identity around our abilities instead around the God who gives us all things.

God’s first response to our self–worship is the reality of hell.

His second response is nothing short of spectacular. God sends his son Jesus Christ to die in our place. Christ’s death pays our debt. The grace that God gives us is through his son

In light of this great gift, Paul urges us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Why the body? Paul is talking about sacrifice of bodily behaviors.

Romans 6:13

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

This offering of our bodies is our act of worship. We need to pay attention whenever the Bible talks about worship, because this is where our joy is at stake. We enjoy what we worship.

God is after our he is after our ultimate joy, which is found only in him. So if God calls us to obedience, to sacrifice our bodies to worship him, we can be sure that he does it for our joy.

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Check back January 12th for conference audio and video.

The Gospel is the Center of Everything

Colossians 1:5-6

Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,

Paul sees the progress of the Gospel on two fronts: 1) out in world and 2) deeper in the life of believers. The Gospel is not just for the unbelievers; it is for believers also. Too often we look at the Gospel as something that is only important at conversion. We think that after we believe, we need only keep a bunch of rules in order to be good Christians.

Obedience without a love for God is not a delight to God. He is not honored when we try to follow the rules without having a heart that loves him. God commands that we love him, but we are not able to produce this love for him ourselves. The Gospel is what creates in us a love for God.

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

It is beholding this love God has for us that creates in us a love for God.

How do you make the Gospel the center of your life?

Here are 2 statements you can pray back to God:

1.  In Christ there is nothing that I can do to make me love you more, nothing I have done could make you love me less.

It is impossible to do anything that could increase God’s love for you. He offered Jesus Christ, his only son on the cross for you.

2.  Your presence and approval are all I need today for everlasting joy.

There is nothing else that will give you ultimate, unending joy. The Gospel helps us see that our happiness begins and ends in Christ.

You need to ask yourself: have you received the Gospel? Are you going to the Gospel to create this love and affection for God? It is my prayer that God would not only save you with the Gospel, but continue to build you up as you progress in the Gospel.

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Check back January 12th for conference audio and video.

Greenville Van 2011 Information

Spartanburg Bus 2011 Information

Clinton Bus 2011 Information

Cullowhee Carpool 2011 Information

The promotion:

The contest has been completed.
First Place Video:

Second Place Video:

Third Place Video:

To view the rest of the videos that were created, view our group.

Please direct any questions to contest@conationalconference.com.

Congrats! You guys win two free registrations to the conference.

Thanks to all who participated. There were lots of good videos made. Feel free to browse the rest here.

click to watch on vimeo.com

Receiving $100 off the cost of conference the third place winner is:

You will receive an email from Peter letting you know how you can win your prize

Watch the video, then click on our contest page for more details.

This page is under construction and will contain more information by August 2011. Please check back then for more information on our conference