Around 5,600 women gathered in Athens, Georgia, from churches across the United States for Going Beyond Live at the largest live event Lifeway has hosted since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The event and simulcast on Aug. 24, 2024, featuring Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer with music led by Anthony Evans, drew 206 churches, 149 small groups, and 1,003 individuals with an estimated 50,000 joining live or registered for the simulcast. Participants from 49 states and eight countries represented a broad range of evangelical denominations.
Joining in Jesus’ journey to the cross
In the first and the third sessions on Saturday, Shirer focused attendees on Jesus’ journey to the cross and the six specific trials He encountered. Diving deeper into John 18 and other passages, she encouraged them to use the text to put themselves on trial as well.
“Each trial is an opportunity for us to put our own selves on trial today, to allow the Holy Spirit to ask us some hard questions about how we relate to Jesus, whether or not we take Jesus seriously in our own lives, or whether or not we have become casual or indifferent in our relationship with Him,” she challenged.
Shirer asked the audience, “If you were brought up on charges for being a Christian is there enough evidence to convict you?”
The first trial Jesus walked through begins in John 18. Annas, the high priest, questioned Jesus about His disciples and His teaching. In response to Annas, Jesus said He hadn’t spoken anything in secret. Shirer noted that if Annas didn’t know what Jesus had taught, that was by his own choice. She put Jesus’ words into her own: “If you don’t know, you don’t want to know.”
Shirer said this passage leads the reader to hear the Holy Spirit ask, “Why don’t you know what Jesus has said?”
Shirer continued, “It’s not because He hasn’t said it openly. It’s because we haven’t inclined our ears to hear it.” She encouraged attendees to examine where they’ve become “lazy in our listening,” and “lethargic in our learning.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Myriah Snyder and originally published by Lifeway.
