Peyton Hill said when he was in college, an event like Pursue altered his life plans in a big way.
“It was at a weekend like this one that God totally changed the direction of my life,” Hill, pastor of First Baptist Church Prattville, told the students gathered at Pursue on Feb. 9.
The two-day event, held this year at Taylor Road Baptist Church in Montgomery, encourages high school seniors and college students to grow as disciples and disciple makers, according to Ben Edfeldt, director of the office of collegiate and student ministries at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
“Pursue essentially exists to be an equipping weekend for students,” he said.
Relevant topics
During breakout sessions, students dug deeper into topics from having a quiet time to finding God’s will for their life. They also heard insights on finding freedom from porn, discipling others, preparing for life after graduation and talking with LGBTQ friends and family.
In the main sessions, Hill walked through the entire storyline of the Bible and how all the stories of Scripture point to Jesus.
“The Bible isn’t a book with a bunch of random stories put together,” he said during the Friday evening session. “I want to show you from the Bible that the Bible is actually one book sharing one story that centers on Jesus Christ, God’s Son.”
Hill framed it up with the story of Jesus talking with Cleopas in Luke 24. While they walked on the road to Emmaus, Jesus took Cleopas and his companion on a journey through the Old Testament and taught them how every part of it points to Him.
Jesus on every page of Scripture
While Hill said there’s no way to know for certain what Jesus said, he imagined it might start with how Jesus was present at creation. From there, the animal sacrifice God used to cover Adam and Eve’s shame pointed to Jesus, and God revealed that He as Eve’s offspring was the plan to one day defeat the serpent and offer redemption.
Hill continued to walk students through the Old Testament — the ark, the sacrifice of Isaac, the Passover lamb, the rams in Leviticus and the Messiah the prophets promised — all the way to Christ.
“Are you ever reading the Bible and you walk away totally unaffected? Sometimes the Bible doesn’t affect us, but I think sometimes the reason is because when we read the Bible and forget Jesus, we’re not going to be changed,” Hill said. “The Bible exalts and lifts up the One who can transform and change us from one degree of glory to the next.”
Jesus at the center of our lives
On Saturday, Hill continued with the story of David and Goliath, sharing that David’s purpose in the Bible isn’t to give Christians a hero to emulate — David ultimately points to Jesus.
From there, Hill talked about how Jesus — who sits at the center of the big story of the Bible — also wants to sit at the center of students’ lives.
“Not only does Jesus show you that the whole Bible centers on Him, but also Jesus does not give us the option to have Him as an add-on to our already comfortable lives,” Hill said. “Instead Jesus calls us to follow Him as the center focus of our life, as the only real priority in our life.”
Looking at Luke 9 and other passages, Hill showed students that Jesus told His followers from the beginning that they had to give up their whole life for Him.
Taking Jesus seriously
“We don’t take Jesus seriously when He says, ‘You’ve got to give up everything for Me,’” Hill said. “I think too often the Christianity we’re pushing is a Christianity that says, ‘Make Jesus first among others,’ whereas Jesus says, ‘Make Me everything.’”
Hill said Jesus doesn’t want to be the top of lots of priorities — He wants to be the one and only priority.
“He said, ‘Renounce everything if you want to follow after Me,’” Hill said. “This sounds pretty intense. But if Jesus really did come, He really did live the perfect life that you and I were supposed to live but haven’t, if He really did die under the wrath of God in our place, if He really did overcome the grave on the third day, then shouldn’t we be willing to give up everything to follow Him?”
Hill challenged students to see the beauty and glory of Jesus and go all in with their lives.
Next steps of obedience
Edfeldt said he thought it was a great message for the students to hear and that he had heard great feedback from students and campus ministers about the main sessions and the breakout topics. He said Iron City Worship also led the music in a powerful way.
Chris Mills, SBOM student missions mobilizer, said during the weekend he heard stories of students who felt led to go on missions after Pursue, or who felt led to go for longer than they’d originally planned. He heard of others who had a renewed passion to go back and share the gospel with students on their campus.
“While Pursue is always a highlight, this year especially was one where I was just really encouraged specifically with conversations I had with students afterward and how the Lord spoke to them about considering those next steps of obedience,” he said.
Mills said he often sees God use the breakouts, main sessions and testimonies from other students to continue the work He’s already been doing in students’ lives on their campuses.
“Sometimes we need to hear it from someone else,” he said. “Pursue provides a unique avenue to have some of those conversations.”
For more information about Pursue, visit pursueal.org.
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