FCWC12: Monday Evening

Tonight is the first night of Flower City Work Camp 2012! This year's theme is THRIVE. Cory is giving the messages each night, and tonight he talks about surviving vs. thriving.

God, like all parents, wants the best for their children. He wants them to thrive in their lives. God wants to give us the best.

God's dream for our lives: That we would THRIVE.

We need to strive to have a vibrant relationship with God, as Adam and Eve had with God. They were in a thriving garden, speaking with God daily. Jesus has even told us that He wants us to thrive:

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
~John 10:10b (NIV)

But, the first half of the verse reminds us of anti-thriving, that most people's reality is that they are just trying to survive, or get by:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy
~John 10:10a (NIV)

We need to remember God's dream: that we would thrive.

Cory showed us some examples in the bible where some people are thriving, and where some are surviving:

Thriving:
If you follow God, He promises to provide for you. He wants us to walk with our heads held high, to thrive.  He's telling them that He is going to fight for them. But, since there was no lasting repentence, he had to discipline them.

Surviving:
 Daniel is just trying to survive, learning and working in the king's palace. You're not alone if you're just surviving, but we need to work on thriving!

¹ In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia^[a] and put in the treasure house of his god.
 ³ Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— ⁴ young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.
~Daniel 1 (NIV)

Cory asked three questions for us to think about:

1. Can my last 6 months be best described as thriving or surviving?
2. How open am I to truly pursuing God's dream for my life?
3. If I were to tune God's voice out this week, what could I lose?

As we look back, most of us can see that things need to change. Who you were does NOT have to be who you will be. You don't have to stay surviving. You need to tell God, "I wanna THRIVE, not just SURVIVE" and he'll help you.

³ “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, ⁴ I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
 ⁶ “‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷ You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
 ⁹ “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. ¹⁰ You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. ¹¹ I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. ¹³ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
~Leviticus 26 (NIV)