GYC 2007: Be

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Steve Conway - Morning Devotionals

Steven Conway

As Precious As Christ

Nothing Between

Be Ye

“Arbeit Macht Frei”

It's good to see so many of you out here this morning.

As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm.

And I think this morning, if you were a bird, You would enjoy worms, but obviously you're not birds, so we've got more than worms for you this morning.

And I think you will be blessed and challenged by Pastor Conway's message.

I was thinking and reading some in Habakkuk this morning.

And Habakkuk is a fascinating book because Habakkuk the prophet goes before God with some questions.

He says, God, I see so much evil in this world.

And so Habakkuk and God wrestle back and forth with these questions, trying to understand, trying to make sense of the tragedy and confusion that Habakkuk sees in the world around him.

And finally, in the last chapter of Habakkuk, Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 17, he concludes on this triumphant note.

Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 17, 08.17 and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, there be no herd in the stalls.

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Even when things weren't going right, Habakkuk could still rejoice in the God of his salvation.

And so this morning I hope that no matter what's going on in your life, no matter what issues we're struggling with in GYC, especially with Alistair, we can rejoice in the God of our salvation, no matter what the outcome is.

This morning our speaker will be Pastor Stephen Conway.

He's the pastor at the Michigan Campus Hope Campus Ministry on the campus of the University of Michigan.

And I know he is looking forward to sharing with you this morning.

Alana Smith will be doing our opening prayer and after that the next voice you will hear will be that of Pastor Conway's If you would mind please bow on your heads as we pray Dear Father in heaven.

Thank you so much for giving us another day of life today.

And Father, I just pray that you will send your Holy Spirit to be here to guide our minds and to bring us closer to you.

And especially, Father, this morning I pray that you'll be with Pastor Conway as he brings us your message and I thank you father, and I pray this in your name Amen Good morning everyone Good to see you out.

You're the brave ones who sacrificed to come out this morning and I'm glad to see your faces.

Then we'll know you're happy to be here and your roommate didn't force you to get up.

Let's bow our heads for another word of prayer.

Loving Father, thank you for the privilege and opportunity we have to be here.

We ask that you would rain down your spirit upon us, open our hearts and our minds, and I pray that you would use these lips to be able to convey the message you would have for your people in Jesus name amen you know I really don't watch much television but there's a commercial that I only saw 1 time and it simply just captured my mind.

So I searched it up on you know the internet I wanted to watch this commercial again and I found it it was a Volkswagen commercial and in this Volkswagen commercial there's this couple and they're riding down the street in a Volkswagen Passat.

And as they're riding down, they encounter a man who has a huge megaphone and he's hanging out of the window of an extremely expensive automobile and he's saying over and over because my daddy didn't hug me because my daddy didn't hug me and the people in the car look at each other and they keep riding and then they come across a blonde young woman and she's hanging out of a red convertible automobile sports car and she also has a megaphone and she's screaming because the more guys look at me the more I love myself the more guys look at me the more I love myself And then they continue to drive and they come by another man who's hanging out of the window of another expensive automobile.

And then finally, they roll up on this gentleman who's seated in an extremely fancy sports car.

And he's hanging out with a megaphone, and he says, To make up for all of my insecurities.

To make up for all of my insecurities now I don't know who the creator of this commercial was but whoever the creator was I think that they captured something About the psychological process that goes on in our minds.

I read 1 time in a book, and I apologize, I can't tell you what the book's title is, but I read that almost 65 to 70% of the things that we do, we don't do those things consciously, but in fact, we do them subconsciously.

You got up this morning and you made a selection as to what you would wear, or you pack your suitcase, thinking about what things you will wear when you came to GYC.

And most of the decisions that you made were based on subconscious things that were going on in your mind.

We as people do so much in order to impress those around us.

So much to make up for the insecurities in our lives.

As I was thinking this thing over I asked myself the question I wonder did Jesus have this problem?

Turn with me in your Bible to the book of John chapter 1.

In John chapter 1 verse 35 John chapter 1 verse 35 the Bible says, again the next day after John stood and 2 of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked He saith behold the Lamb of God and the 2 disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them what seek ye They said unto him rabbi which is to say being interpreted master Where dwellest thou?

Here these 2 gentlemen are and they have been disciples of John and all of a sudden Jesus comes on the scene and John points to Christ and says here is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and As their eyes focus on Christ, they see him walking and they want to follow Jesus so they begin to walk behind Christ and Jesus turns around you know when you can sense someone is following you Jesus turns around and says what do you want what an Amazing introduction to the Savior of the world.

They say a master Tell us where you live.

That's probably all they could muster And so the Bible says that Jesus responds and says come and see Come and see they came and saw where he dwelt and a bowl with him that day for it was about the tenth hour and if you read the rest of the account you will find that they were so impressed as a Result of spending time with Jesus Christ in his home.

They were so impressed that they went out and began to share the message of the arriving or the arrival rather of the savior of mankind.

Can someone spend time in your presence with you and your home and be so impressed just by looking at the place where you live that their lives are transformed?

Jesus didn't break down the prophecies Jesus didn't give them a Bible study on how he was the Messiah.

He simply gave an invitation to intimacy.

And these disciples lives were transformed.

Jesus had a habit of doing things that kind of threw people for a twist.

There Jesus gives the invitation to intimacy but I want you to take a look with me in John chapter 8 at another example of something that Jesus does.

If Jesus wasn't secure in terms of who he was would he have been able to offer this invitation?

Would he have been able to ask someone to come close to him?

In John chapter 8 beginning with verse 1, the Bible says, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto Him, and He sat down and taught them.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.

And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou?

This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him but Jesus stooped down and with his finger rode on the ground as though he heard them not so when they continued asking him he lifted up himself and said unto them he that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her and again Jesus stoops down and begins to write in the sand and rocks begin to drop and from the eldest to the youngest all of those who have accosted this young woman begin to leave.

Now remember at the very beginning in John chapter 8 in the first verses we are told that Jesus was in the synagogue and what was he doing?

So after this incident takes place with the woman, and Jesus speaks to her and says, where are those, your accusers?

And she rises up and she says, no man, Lord.

And Jesus says, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.

Now everyone who's there at the church service is scratching their heads by now.

They've never experienced the church service like this possibly and they've never heard someone say the things that Jesus has said.

They've never seen someone treat people the way that Jesus has treated them and so they're wondering what type of person is this?

Listen to how Jesus answers in John chapter 8 verse 12, then spake Jesus again unto them saying, Now he's continuing with his message, I am.

Series

Steve Conway - Morning Devotionals

As Precious As Christ

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Present Truth or Cunningly Devised Fables

Present Truth or Cunningly Devised Fables-Part 3

1h 15m

Even Greater Than Angels

44m

Plenary

Explaining the Impossible

1h 20m

Unraveling the Gay Spin

2. Identity Matters

1h

Full Potential

44m

The Art of End Time Preaching

6. Tools of Creative Language and Speech

1h 20m

Restoration 2023

Bible Prophecy in 2023 & Why It Matters

1h 12m

Knees, Keys, and Please!

2. Encountering God

1h 5m

Believe What God Sees

39m

Seminars

Beholding Christ in the Least of These: Serving in Practical Ministry

43m

Plenary

Choice, Thoughts

41m

Morning Devotional

The First and Final Forerunners

1h 3m

Sound Doctrine