2013 NYC Breakout - What Christians Believe

Breakout Seminar, "What Christians Believe" by Andrew Knight and Paul Poteat on December 29th, 2013 at the Campus Outreach Milwaukee New Year's Conference

 

Are you a new believer, from a completely different background, or investigating the faith? This seminar is designed to give you an overview of what Christianity is and how Christians think about all of life. Don’t assume you know everything and don’t be afraid to ask any question regarding what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

2013 NYC Rally 2 - Bryan Loritts

Bryan Loritts Morning rally on December 29th, 2013 at the Campus Outreach Milwaukee New Year's Conference

 

Aligning with the theme of the Conference, Bryan Loritts explains that if you have an actual encounter with Jesus Christ, your life will never be the same. If we live moral and even selfless lives, but have not truly encountered Christ, we are destined for hell. If we live immorally - even if our lives are marked by evil and horrendous actions - but we have genuinely experienced a life-changing encounter with Jesus, then our destiny is eternal life with God.

Before you were born, God knew you. He created you in your mother’s womb, and says in his word that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14). God created us for himself - to have a relationship with him. Nothing else in this life will satisfy our desires - only God can: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus” (Blaise Pascal).

John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Jesus came to give you life - the kind of life that will turn your life upside-down. But there is something that is blocking us from that abundant life: sin. Sin is not only manifested through our actions, but it is the disposition of our hearts: “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). This shows us that there is no such thing as a “good person”: “None is righteous, no, not one,” (Romans 3:10).

Compared to your neighbor, you may consider yourself “a good person.” But compared to a holy God, you have no shot. Because God is holy, and we are sinful, we have a problem. The solution to this problem is the good news of the Gospel, through Jesus Christ: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). We are saved by grace alone, through faith in the work of Christ on the cross, who took on our sin and gave us his righteousness before God.

When you encounter Christ and say yes to him, you are adopted into the family of God. But this is not second-class citizenship, rather our place in God’s family is completely secure in Christ, and we are sealed with his Spirit. It is only through placing all your hope and faith in Jesus that we are saved and can have abundant life with Christ.

2013 NYC Rally 1 - Bryan Loritts

Bryan Loritts Evening rally on December 28th, 2013 at the Campus Outreach Milwaukee New Years Conference

 

For Bryan Loritts’ first talk, he explores the Gospel in the Old Testament - specifically from the story of David and Goliath. Drawing from the context of 1 Samuel, chapter 16, we see that Saul (the king over Israel during David’s time) finds his identity in his reputation. The reality is that our reputation is merely what others think we are, but our character is who we actually are. Saul is consumed by what others think of him based on his performance, and by doing so he neglects what really matters - the character of his heart. Just like Saul, many of us are in bondage to our reputation and performance - what other people think about us. 1 Sam. 16:7 says, “For the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” What matters most to God is not our performance and reputation - what matters most to God is our hearts.

Bryan goes on to explain how the well-known story of David and Goliath points to the Gospel. Against such a powerful and terrifying soldier like Goliath, the meek and young David is completely helpless and hopeless. David had no hope to defeat Goliath on his own, and so God provided heavenly resources rather than earthly resources for him:

Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. - 1 Sam. 17:38-40

Apart from God, David had no hope to defeat Goliath. In the same way, Jesus took on a greater foe than Goliath by taking on death. God provides our salvation for us through Jesus, who conquered sin and death on the cross. Without Christ we have no shot against death and sin, but with Christ we have real hope. Nothing is impossible if God is the King of our lives.

 

2012 NYC - Infinite Need

Harry Reeder’s second message at the conference centers upon the ultimate need of the world - salvation through Jesus Christ. The gospel message is a royal proclamation that the King has come, and he has given Christians a new record, a new heart, and new life. He calls us to surrender our lives completely to his mission for this world. We are each a mission field before we are saved, and immediately declared missionaries after we are saved through Christ.

Using the gospel account from Mark 5 of a man who had been possessed by a demon and healed by Jesus, Harry teaches us the principles of Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost. There is no place Jesus will not go and no power he cannot overcome to seek and save the lost. Harry ends his message with the reality that there is no person so lost that Jesus cannot save, and no person he’s saved that he will not use to seek and save the lost.

2012 NYC - Infinite Satisfaction

What captures your attention? What do you go to great lengths to pursue in order to be satisfied? Kempton’s final message begins with the premise that we are made for God’s glory; we were born to experience captivation, fascination, and delight. But rather than seeking God for that happiness we were created for, we chase after empty pursuits that always leave us wanting more.

Using the Biblical example of King Solomon, Kempton shows us that even the richest man who ever lived was not satisfied with what he had. Solomon pursued all the same things we do - wealth, accomplishment, pleasure - and yet after he gained everything he wanted, he concluded, “all was vanity.” The only true, lasting satisfaction comes from Jesus Christ - our eternal pleasure. We will never be satisfied until our hearts are satisfied in him alone.

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