National Convention Worship

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
– JOHN PIPER, DESIRING GOD 

Standing in the middle of a sea of faces, I looked up at the words on the screen once again. This time I read them more closely. I stopped singing for a moment and listened. But those around me didn’t stop singing. They were building an anthem out of the truth that was on display in that room. The words were, “And when before the throne I stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat.”

You know that song. You know those words. You have sung it a hundred or even a thousand times. But have you stopped to reflect on the truth of this song? We will stand – STAND – before the throne of God. In Him – in Jesus – we will stand COMPLETE. Why? How? Because 2,000 years ago at a Roman execution, my Jesus bled and died on a cross of wood. Because my Father has accepted Jesus’ death as a substitutionary sacrifice for my life. I’m saved. I’m redeemed. I have been set free. If you are a disciple of Christ, YOU. ARE. FREE.

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Again he answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” – John 8:31-36

National Convention is the climax of the TeenPact year, drawing close to 1,000 people from around the TeenPact Nation. During this time, the most important and significant time of the day is corporate worship every morning and every evening. Imagine that. Students and parents both say that TeenPact worship is unlike any other they have experienced. For us, worship is not something on a schedule. Worship isn’t “singing.” It’s so much more than that. Worship is about the orientation of our hearts; it’s what we do with our lives.  Worship of our Creator is what we were made to do. With sin came a dissatisfaction with God and a worship of lesser things. “We worship comfort, convenience, and security,” says Pastor Matthew Williams. We worship our possessions and our independence. We worship fun. We elevate things to a place that was intended only for our Creator. The only remedy to our brokenness was God himself.

“If you are a Christian, you are not your own. Christ has bought you at the price of his own death. You now belong doubly to God: He made you, and he bought you.” – John Piper, Desiring God

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O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead

Repeat.

O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead

Repeat.

Again. Again. Again. It builds. It’s getting louder, almost as if the truth is finally breaking through to the very core of your being. You aren’t singing because you have to or because it’s the cool thing to do. Something greater is at work here. Suddenly you realize that you are delighting, yes, delighting in the finished work of the Savior. You’re finding satisfaction in Christ. Maybe it’s an experience like nothing you’ve ever felt before. You may be so filled with joy that you’re jumping, laughing. You may be on your knees, weeping. And then it hits you. You are experiencing the greatest thing any human can ever hope to experience – GOD. Communication with the Creator. Relationship with the Redeemer. Faith in the one who is always faithful.

I welcome you to join us at National Convention this year. I truly believe that this experience can be life-changing. I have wept and prayed many prayers with my closest friends and with students who were still strangers to me. As brothers and sisters of Christ, we have shouted at the top of my lungs, “JESUS IS LORD!” Humbly and yet boldly we approach God’s throne of grace in times of corporate worship. We ask God to fill the place with His presence. He has been always faithful to do so. God pours out His grace by drawing our hearts to Redemption Hill, to the cross. Our foundation is His Word. Our faith is rooted in His Work. Our focus is on His Person, on Jesus.