Running after who???

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd share a thought that has bugged me all week.

After all the hype of Fusion, its made me reflect on the event that just past.
No doubt it was a fantastic day of just gathering to worship the Lord and seeking God. No doubt we saw the lives of many youths being transformed. And no doubt that the presence of the Lord was indeed there during those sessions.

But another thing that has bugged me were some comments made prior to the event.
I had youths call up and ask me what time were Planetshakers performing, so that they could come for that session.
At that point, I hadn't know Planetshakers were going for all 4 sessions, so i told them all that the band will be there probably for the last session, but encouraged them to attend the other speaker sessions.
The reply I got was "Oh, I only want to attend their session."
It irked me then, but i chose to keep quiet about it.
Now that it's over, I can say that it's made me rethink the whole purpose and focus of this event.

Like I mentioned above, I have no qualms about how powerful the potential of Fusion can be in transforming lives.
Yet, we need to rediscover why we're really going for it.
Are we going to watch some international band play, or are we going to seek God?
It's a question that only we can answer in our hearts.
We sing we're 'Running after you', but who are we running after? God or the band?


Which leads me to my next observation.
I admit, I do a lot of blog hopping when I have the time. (Everyone watch out =) )
And after Fusion, it was great to see comments like 'My life was changed' and 'I want to live a more holy life from now on' and yadda yadda...
But then a few days later, we see the same authors of these blogs and nicknames curse vulgarities and swear on their blogs. Whatever happened to this promise they had made before?
Somehow, the event was a great way to kickstart the youths to live passionate lives for Jesus.
But we need to somehow maintain it.
The same message can be said with the way we worship.
I know that God did not empower the Planetshakers band any different from the empowerment and annointing He has placed on our own worship team.
Apart from our skills, I think we need to have the same passion as this band to worship the Lord wholeheartedly.
It all ends up in our hearts and the hearts of the youths.
We, as a band, need to continue to encourage our youths to be 'passionate people' in whatever they do.
Because once they feel the passion to live for God, they start honouring God with their lives.
And it starts with the way we worship.
Worship is the best form of theological teaching in church.
Ask a person to remember a sermon and he'd vaguely remember parts of it.
Ask a person to remember songs, and he can probably sing a whole song that will get stuck in his head.

Brothers and sisters, I encourage you the next time you worship the Lord, just let the Spirit fill you and guide you.
Whatever the Lord guides you to do, do it.
If you feel the prompting to lift your hands, do it without a care in the world of what the people around you think.
if you think you need to kneel before the Lord, do it.
And if you feel like dancing before the Lord, then do it.
Because once everyone sees how passionate we are as fellow christians, our passion and enthusiasm will be so contagious that we can't contain it to ourselves.

Like what Ps Matt said in his sermon, we have a God who is soooo BIG, and if he lives in us, we should be bursting with His love and presence!
So everyone around you should feel it and see it too.

Let's be a contagious community and an infectious community!
Let's keep this fire burning for God!

Peace, Faith, Hope, Love,
hernshung