passion @ uwa

Hey guys, how's it going again? It's half past midnight as i'm typing this. Just wanna share a little of what i have learnt, or so to say, "caught" from hillsongs this year.

Before i came for hillsongs, i really wasn't expecting much. I thought it would be like a movie, if i expected too much from it, i might get disappointed. But you know what? I wasn't so much of impressed with the conference itself, but i was blown away indeed. No, not by the conference, but by God. I really don't know how to begin what i want to tell you guys here, except that God is indeed indescribable. And on that note i'm really happy that i cannot put into words what i wanna say to you about God. Only that YOU, yes you reading this, have to experience it first hand and not from someone else.

However, i'm still gonna share "the main thing" of what i got. The past few days were awesome, and there were many good points that challenged and inspired my mind. I really expected the last message of the conference to "the best". And yes it was! You know what? It was the best not because it was inspiring or the preaching was marvelous (Louie Giglio did indeed give an awesome message). But more than that it was the best for me because it was SIMPLE.

It was so simple. JESUS LOVES YOU. That was the title of the message. I can almost read your minds as you read the title. Yeah Jesus loves me... ok. JESUS LOVES YOU. Yup Jesus loves me... I got it. JESUS LOVES YOU. The third time it struck me. Do i really know that? Or do i just know that in my mind, and not in my HEART. You see if Jesus were indeed IN my heart, why am i still such a mediocre "Christian". Am i just a full time student, and a part time Christian?

As Christians, we need to understand that it is NOT about us. It is ALL about God, People, and Prayer. We also need to know this: Humanity is waiting for you. There are 1.4 billion people suffering from extreme poverty, and every 3 seconds a child dies of hunger. I won't go too much into that, but the main thing is, what are WE, as believers, going to do about it? It made me feel so helpless that i am here, enjoying comfort, while someone has to die because of some unfair reason of humanity. And at that moment i realised that Jesus has not really been manifested in my heart. That i only knew Him in my head, and not my heart. The problem is that we do not have a problem with GIVING. We give tithes and offering, we give of out time to church and its service. The problem we have is RECEIVING. That we really haven't received Jesus into our hearts.

We need to show the "face" of the church of Jesus Christ. What do i mean? That we need to show the community or marketplace or wherever we are sent that the church cares, and it is a place of safety, a place of refuge, and a place of hope. Sure there may be criticisms, because if there are no criticisms, then we are not preaching the gospel. If there is no pain, then we are not leading. The church is not peripheral to the world, the world is peripheral to the church. The head of the church is Christ, and we are the body. Because God is UNSHAKABLE, the body is unshakable.

To end off, i know its easy to say what's on our minds, but its difficult to do what the heart says. What would i like the church to know? We need to do something, we need to do something now. Because humanity is waiting for us.

Ah Lau