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Great 2 days at REFUGE 2010. This is my travel week this fall and I am headed back out of town in the morning to go to the Story Conference in Chicago. With more tiem on the road coming in the morning I wanted to get these thoughts out tonight from REFUGE. Thanks Student Life for the experience and the time to focus on what matters most.

David Platt (you can follow him at www.twitter.com/plattdavid) spoke on Monday night. David took some time to help us refocus on this God we serve. What an amazing night. Check out these thoughts from the night…

1. We have an uncomprehendingly great God. /  leaders, rulers, and churches come and go but God still reigns Don’t mess with God. He is still reigning.

2. We are a sinful people. / when we see God for who He is we see our brokenness, our need, our place in this world. We have a man centered perspective on sin. We compare, when there are no comparisons. Sin against a infinitely holy god means we are in infinite need of grace and forgiveness.

3. We have a merciful savior. His love is scandalous. / Our God loved us in a way that is not comprehendible. Sin is not outside of us, it is at the core of us. Jesus is scandalous!

4. We now have an urgent mission. / this scandal calls us to live the mission. Why serve, love, give, go , and share? God. He is all the motivation we need. A high view of God and a humble view of our salvation leads to an urgent sense of mission.

Tony Merida (you can follow him at www.twitter.com/tonymerida) spoke Tuesday morning and helped us think though what it means to do ministry when we are centered on and passionate about the Gospel. Check out these thoughts Tony shared this morning…
 

Our students will not renamed everything we teach but they will remember what we are most passionate about.  Let’s make the gospel the center of what we do. The gospel is everything about Christianity. It never gets old and everything should flow through it.

What does Gospel centered ministry look like?
1. Be encouraged by the gospel daily / 2 Tim 4:17 Our strength comes only from Jesus.

2. Invest in others. / The gospel is meant to be multiplied through people. Everyone needs a mentor so be a mentor! Individual investment in other people is just as important as our public ministry responsibility

3. Suffer for the gospel faithfully / there are always hard times in ministry. Suffer with confidence in God. When we face struggle we have to FOCUS

4. Hope in the gospel. / our vision of Christ, our hope in God sustains us. We hope and live continuously. Jesus is alive and that has amazing impact on today!