Learning moments at Revive! 2008

[Something of a scrapbook of quotes etc from camp last week. Apologies for the lack of order - just getting them down!]

Jonathan Oloyede
- Luke 4.1 - the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. The Spirit can lead us into difficult and strange places. Jesus fasted for 40 days before going out in the power of the Spirit.
- If you want to follow the Lord he will ask you to drop some things...are you ready for that?

Christen Forster
- Matt 16.13-19. Jesus tells Peter 'on this rock I will build my church'. Jesus was not specifically a carpenter but more likely a builder (Greek: tekton, which is the general term for a builder/craftsman).
- this reminded me of Aslan telling Lucy "I am the master Bridge-Builder" in 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'.

- Proverbs 30.21 "Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a servant who becomes king, ..." It is a dangerous thing for those with the insecurities of a servant to be put in positions of leadership. The primary responsibility of a leader is to be proactive in putting themselves in a position to encounter God and be open for God to change them.
- everything we do is motivated either by fear or love. Fear is born out of our slavery, love of our sonship.
- two fear-based behaviours that hit Christian leaders are competitiveness and striving.

Debbie Laycock
Matt 25.1-13 - the Wise and Foolish Virgins
'This is a Parousian Parable about God's People; Jesus makes it Personal and asks "Are you Prudent, Prepared and at your Post?"'
- do you have enough fuel to be burning hot on the day Jesus arrives? Are you filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit?
- You can't lean on the spiritual lives of others - do you have the Spirit in you?
- Are we being proactive in taking practical steps to fuel our spiritual lives?
- Are we taking our role in the kingdom seriously?

Sarah Fordham
- Need spirituality and religion in balance. Religion gives boundaries to our spirituality. Without structure we are easily swept away into the 'New Age' (no boundaries).
- 'Religion' comes from the Latin religio 'to bind'. As Christians we are to bind Christ - the Word - to ourselves in the same way Jews bind the Torah to themselves (Deut 11.18)
- The truth is to be encountered in Jesus
'Do what I say and then you will know that what I say is true' (Sarah's paraphrase of John 7.31-32)

Jackie Pullinger-To
- look at the world: there must be justice! there is so much pain that must be accounted for, retribution that must be made.
- without justice there is no mercy
- Isaiah 53. Jesus took the pain of those wronged and the punishment for the wrongdoers
- there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood
- The day of Jubilee: 'the slave driver is forgiven and the slave goes free'

- what the Scripture says is true: 'my soul thirsts for you'. We may not feel it but it's our feelings that aren't true.
- a man is a slave to what he worships.

Faith Forster
- 'a seeking soul and a seeking Saviour are sure to meet'
- we shouldn't be running after signs and wonders because signs and wonders should be following us!

John Paul Jackson
- if people don't find answers to spiritual things in the church they'll go elsewhere
- What is true spirituality? You cannot be spiritual by yourself - be filled with the Spirit of the living God
- the Spirit brings true 'enlightenment' while anything else brings only 'endarkenment'. Satan left the light and source of life and is therefore continually deteriorating...joining the dark side literally sucks the life out of you.
- Light always overcomes darkness. Darkness never wins unless there is no light.
- Fear / Faith are two sides of the same thing: a belief in something invisible that has not happened yet. Fear is the belief that something bad will happen, faith is the belief that something good will happen.