so this past week, the Lord floored me. i showed up to Hillcrest on wednesday expecting to attend chapel, grab the track team, and go to our track meet. but boy was i ever wrong. i wasnt ready for what the Lord was about to do. and i was so humbled.
adrian duspres came and led out for the Lord during spiritual emphasis week at school and i was so privileged to be a apart of his work on this day. this man is so hyped up for Jesus it is ridiculous. he is ADD, loud, emotional, and quite hilarious. and all these things matched together make for an amazing vessel to be used. he began speaking, and i was immediately engaged into what he was talking about. he set out four chairs in the middle of the gym floor and told us all that everyone in the room was in one of the four chairs. each chair was defined as follows:
chair #1-the person who sits in this chair is passionately in love with Jesus Christ. they are engaged in what the Lord is doing and wants to be a apart of His amazing purposes. this person struggles today with the others in the remaining chairs (which will be described in a second and hopefully the connection will be made) and so its very hard to sit in the chair. but those that do stand out like a sore thumb (i just now realized that this visual of a sore thumb is an odd one....)
chair #2-people who sit in this chair are those that have become comfortable with God. meaning that they are ok with the things that God is doing and arent being challenged in their faith. there are a lot of these people today. here, there is not much room for growth because this person will not allow it. the person who sits in this chair passes judgement on the person sitting in the 1st seat because they cant comprehend the passion that is consuming that persons life. Jesus describes this person in Revelation 3:16 stating, "So because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth." and if this doesnt make you cringe, ive read and heard this verse claiming that these individuals are hypocrites. and hypocrites sicken Christ.
chair #4: (yes i know i skipped) the person in this chair is the person who knows without a doubt that they do not have a relationship with the Lord. they are lost. they are dead. Romans 3:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death..." they have not received the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus. people in this chair are turned off to Jesus because of the people that they see in chair #2. they see the way they live and feel that there is no difference between the way their lives are lived. they dont see the people in the first seat because there are so few....
chair #3: these are those individuals who think that they are in seat #2 but really arent. they are blinded and so easily deceived. they too look at the people in seat #1 and pass judgement, yet there faces are veiled from the harsh reality of the truth. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
so he laid it out plain and simple. and the response was phenominal. i began praying in the middle of his talk for the Lord to grab some kids hearts, and he sure did. when he asked for those who feel like they are in seats #3 and #4, kids all across the gym began to stand up. immediately i began to sob at the fact that God was moving, and you could feel His presence in that place. i ended up getting to pray with about 15 boys and the decisions that they were making. it was so powerful.
that night, all of the churches in the area met up at CWBC for some worship and to continue the week with adrian. worship was great and you could see the hearts crying out to God, but what startled me most was what one of the worship leaders said afterwards. he said that some kids just stood there with there arms folded or in their pockets and they didnt even once open their mouths. i was astonished due to the simple truth that God was evident in that place. but i know, and was quickly reminded what Jesus said in John 6:65 , "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them." but that can be unpacked on a different day....
so the night continues on and God speaks so strongly to some of these kids. adrian spoke about Christmas and Jesus' birthday. he wanted all of us to bring some gift to the Lord that night, and then went in to detail about the gifts that God gave us: 1. He gave us the gift of His Son being born and knowing that He was going to be born before He was born. (yeah, a little complicated. read it again.) Jesus knew that He had to be fully man to take our punishment 2. He gave us the gift of us. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God created beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 ; we were all created for a purpose, and there are NO accidents. 3. He gave us the gift of imputation. God has imputed us. He has made us right before God. "The words 'it was credited to him' were not written for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in Him, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." Romans 4:23-24 4. He gave us the gift of propitiation. the wrath of God was satisfied through Christ. "By His wounds you are healed." 1 Peter 2:24
after all this was laid out in great detail, he told us a story of his daughter. he described a time when he was at his daughter's school and he had to entertain the students for a while. he ran out of games and instead used candy as a con to waste time. he through all the candy out on the gym floor and told the kids to go and get it. everyone got candy except this one little girl. his daughter ran over to her and she gave all of her candy away to her. she was upset that her dad was going to be mad at her because she did that, and adrian assured her that it was the complete opposite. he looked at her in the face and told her that its ok that you gave up your candy, because he had the whole bag of candy. immediately, i began to think about the candy, the things that i was holding on to selfishly, and what i needed to give over to Him. he asked us again what we wanted to bring before God. and i knew without a doubt what i wanted to bring Him. i got down on my knees beside the Christmas tree (a random tree that was found on our stage) and prayed. i gave my feet, hands, and mouth to the Lord. meaning that he has entrusted me with the gospel and i must speak it, hold it, and carry it to whomever i must.
so what are you holding on to? what do you need to give up to move seats? i dont know whats on your hearts, but what i do know is that you need to give up your candy, because He has the whole bag. He has given you everything.
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