Thriving Frequency 2015 | Restoring the Breaches
Dr. Eric Mason and Pastor Larry Smith
I have loved every Thriving event I've had the privilege to attend. Posts from the 2013 Thriving Summit and the 2014 Thriving Frequency conference can be found on this website. And here is the previous post from the 2015 Thriving Conference:
2015 Thriving Frequency Conference | Worship Sets Song Lyrics
The following posts will feature notes from some of the sessions I was able to attend. For an overall video review of this conference, check out the video Thriving Frequency 2015 Recap. I have a small cameo at the 3:36 mark.
Restoring the Breaches | Focusing on Jesus
Dr. Eric Mason
Epiphany Fellowship Church
Philadelphia, PA
Hebrews 11:39-12:4
Jesus is our Rock, He's our Fortress, He's our Deliverer, in Him we can trust. Will we pick up our crosses and follow Him, trusting He can give us more life than we could try to take?
What would it be like to see the splinters, the wood chips, the dragged trails of the crosses the followers of Jesus have carried through their neighborhoods and cities? Who are we willing to bleed for? Who are we willing to lay down our lives for?
We have to focus on Jesus. There can be so many other things to focus on, even good things, that we miss the main thing. But anything else we focus on will crush us because we will roll with the false highs when things are going "good," and will be crushed by the temporary lows when things are "bad."
The whole focus of the book of Hebrews is Jesus is better than anything we could focus on to be our strength and our deliverance.
If you look to angels,
Jesus is more glorious and heavenly.
If you look to Moses and the Law,
Jesus is a better prophet and teacher of love and obedience.
If you look to the Sabbath and rest,
Jesus is our perfect rest and satisfaction.
If you look to sacrifice and service,
Jesus is the final sacrifice and serves you and this world with utmost dedication.
If you look to the temple and God's presence on earth,
Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.
In human history, we have been surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who understood that delayed gratification is the life of someone who is looking to when God will reconcile heaven and earth. The Scriptures Christology (teachings on Jesus), Ecclesiology (teachings on the people of God), and Eschatology ( teachings on the renewal of all things) all point to this.
If God didn't give you another thing in your life on this earth, if He's given you Jesus, has He not already given you enough? Are you willing to lay it all on the line for Jesus' legacy?
Church, are you hunkering down in a building or are you living on the block? Lay aside every weight and run (Hebrews 12:1). Do you want the seats filled or do you want the people filled with the Holy Spirit who sanctifies, empowers, and sends?
God loves to do a lot with a little. He loves it when we can say, "I don't know how He did it, but He did it."
And remember, God uses us in spite of us. But that doesn't mean we're supposed to be falling back into the "in spite of us" again and again. If we're walking with Him, we should be growing in holiness. So what are you laying aside? What is the sin that is clinging closely that needs to be torn off (Hebrews 12:1)? "Running the race" includes the word run, "agon," where we also get our word agony. We run the race even when all hell is breaking loose. God gives the strength even when we don't feel like it. Walking with Jesus is consistency in the face of adversity.
More money (i.e. more expectations for comfort), more people (i.e. more sinners who need invitation and challenge in becoming more like Jesus), and more building (i.e. more expenses and repairs) doesn't mean you stop needing God. We always need to look to Jesus. He is the Founder and Trailblazer. He is the Perfecter of our faith who will bring us to completion. He is our Joy who gives us unending satisfaction with God no matter what.
Jesus brings blind and broken eyes into glorious focus to see things we could never have seen without Him.
What would it be like to see the splinters, the wood chips, the dragged trails of the crosses the followers of Jesus have carried through their neighborhoods and cities? Who are we willing to bleed for? Who are we willing to lay down our lives for?
We have to focus on Jesus. There can be so many other things to focus on, even good things, that we miss the main thing. But anything else we focus on will crush us because we will roll with the false highs when things are going "good," and will be crushed by the temporary lows when things are "bad."
The whole focus of the book of Hebrews is Jesus is better than anything we could focus on to be our strength and our deliverance.
If you look to angels,
Jesus is more glorious and heavenly.
If you look to Moses and the Law,
Jesus is a better prophet and teacher of love and obedience.
If you look to the Sabbath and rest,
Jesus is our perfect rest and satisfaction.
If you look to sacrifice and service,
Jesus is the final sacrifice and serves you and this world with utmost dedication.
If you look to the temple and God's presence on earth,
Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.
In human history, we have been surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who understood that delayed gratification is the life of someone who is looking to when God will reconcile heaven and earth. The Scriptures Christology (teachings on Jesus), Ecclesiology (teachings on the people of God), and Eschatology ( teachings on the renewal of all things) all point to this.
If God didn't give you another thing in your life on this earth, if He's given you Jesus, has He not already given you enough? Are you willing to lay it all on the line for Jesus' legacy?
Church, are you hunkering down in a building or are you living on the block? Lay aside every weight and run (Hebrews 12:1). Do you want the seats filled or do you want the people filled with the Holy Spirit who sanctifies, empowers, and sends?
God loves to do a lot with a little. He loves it when we can say, "I don't know how He did it, but He did it."
And remember, God uses us in spite of us. But that doesn't mean we're supposed to be falling back into the "in spite of us" again and again. If we're walking with Him, we should be growing in holiness. So what are you laying aside? What is the sin that is clinging closely that needs to be torn off (Hebrews 12:1)? "Running the race" includes the word run, "agon," where we also get our word agony. We run the race even when all hell is breaking loose. God gives the strength even when we don't feel like it. Walking with Jesus is consistency in the face of adversity.
More money (i.e. more expectations for comfort), more people (i.e. more sinners who need invitation and challenge in becoming more like Jesus), and more building (i.e. more expenses and repairs) doesn't mean you stop needing God. We always need to look to Jesus. He is the Founder and Trailblazer. He is the Perfecter of our faith who will bring us to completion. He is our Joy who gives us unending satisfaction with God no matter what.
Jesus brings blind and broken eyes into glorious focus to see things we could never have seen without Him.
Restoring the Breaches | Connecting with God
Pastor Larry Smith
Epiphany Fellowship Church
Philadelphia, PA
Psalm 84:10
Are you vitally connected with Jesus throughout your day? We can too often be diligent in working on others while neglecting ourselves.
Harriet Tubman reveals how we are so often blind to where we are blind to the Gospel in this quote of reflection on her own incredible life of service and sacrifice, "I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."
Do you recognize that any area of life where Jesus is not reigning as King and giving you true freedom is an area of slavery? Do you have any "Jesus replacements" in your life?
In Psalm 84:10, the heart of the person close to God sings that they would rather have one day in the courts of the temple where God's presence is than a thousand elsewhere. They would be a doorkeeper or temple beggar in the house of God. They would rather be considered the least of these on the fringe with God than revered in the loftiest places of society without Him. This means time and presence with God is more rich than any comfort or wealth.
So how do we build our lives in such a way that times of disconnect with God are minimized? How do we not settle with saying, "I would like to buy about three dollars worth of Gospel, please. Not too much." (D.A. Carson), and instead seek the greatest treasure. Our seeking should be first and foremost for transparency and intimacy with Jesus. We cannot trade for a false Gospel that is based on our feelings or accomplishments. We need to be apprentices of Jesus who desire more disciplined repentance, not just easy ecstasy, more persevering transformation, not just entitled transcendence or we regress. Some things we cannot learn except through time, trials, and enduring hardships.
You don't find time for connection with God, you make time for sitting with God. "A dead thing can go with the stream. Only a living thing can go against it" (G.K. Chesterton).
The real Gospel is union with Christ, and union with Christ not just as a theological proposition, but as a daily life-defining reality. This is the heart of God's presence and activity in creation and redemption. Union with Christ requires the long journey and ongoing execution of self ("I die daily," 1 Corinthians 15:31) so we can see who God has truly made us to be for Him and others. Proper adherence to dead religion requires the ongoing execution of acts and duties that we do to make ourselves feel better. We move towards Jesus by:
Practicing the habit of remembering God (Psalm 84:10)
Practicing the discipline of renewal and eternal focus (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
Practicing stopping to recognize Jesus is with us (John 15:1-11)
Practicing delighting in the God who is and acting accordingly (Psalm 37:3-4)
Practicing yielding to the Holy Spirit in submission and thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:18-21)
When we practice the habit of thanksgiving for the opportunity to practice all of the above, we will discover the contentment and peace God has given us in Christ in profound ways.
Living in thankfulness is a consistent, active, and hardworking decision to oppose entitlement and disillusionment. This practice involves:
(1) Consistent thankfulness for God's presence with you at least three times per day (begin the day, during the day, end of the day)
(2) Cross-centered thankfulness that the deathly wages of sin are not being paid on you because Jesus paid it all
(3) Circumstantial thankfulness that is active in times that are good or bad
"God can't give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing" (C.S. Lewis).
Only broken people really need Jesus (Matthew 9:12). We need to abide with Him (John 15:1-11). This will include:
Bearing fruit for Christ (vv. 4-5, 8)
Possessing the ability to do anything that pleases God (vv. 5-7)
Experiencing an effective prayer life (vs. 7)
Reveling in God's lavish love (vv. 9-11)
Keeping and doing God's commands (vs. 10)
Abiding takes ongoing consistent effort in our abiding (Philippians 2:12-13). If you don't change how you spend your time with God, you won't see transformation apart from God.
– Sully
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