Pulled out of their seats and onto the stage, students got some laughs with a quick game of reverse charades that set off this morning’s Momentum 2016 session. That and a video of their friends eating rotten-flavored jelly beans at breakfast! After the laughs came cheers as Jeff Bogue announced that over $20,000 was raised in last night’s offering and participants of Operation Barnabas shared their experience in the ministry this summer.
Afshin Ziafat was welcomed back onto the stage, following his Wednesday night sermon with I AM SET APART. He gave the illustration of the age-old game MASH, where you would let a piece of paper and a Magic Marker determine the goals in your life. But Ziafat pointed out that these are the goals of the world. We run along with the rest of the world, but as Christians we have a different pursuit; we run after what God wants, NOT what everybody else wants.
Ziafat then turned his attention on knowing God’s will. “What if we spent less time obsessed about the parts unknown and more time on the parts known?” stressing that we should focus our energy and talents and passions on God’s will. There were four main elements Ziafat brought up and it was that God’s will is that we would know Him intimately, be spirit-filled, be sanctified, and finally be willing to walk through suffering. For each element, there was a New Testament verse to back up its challenge to the students. Ultimately, his message was for Christians to live their life in pursuit of God’s goals, and not the world’s.
Ziafat pitted the question of truly following God’s goals to the audience… and stayed and prayed with the small collection of students that came up to the stage, answering that question in surrender to Jesus! As the week of Momentum 2016 progresses, so do the numbers of God’s family!