Pastor Brad Powell Shares Message of Humility at Convocation

Brad Powell encouraged students at Convocation April 23 to humble themselves before God.

He started by admitting his inner struggle to appear influential in front of the students.

“One (side of) me stands believing that by God’s power and by God’s grace, I can share something that will genuinely make an eternal difference in your life,” Powell said. “But the other (side of) me stands in front of you wanting to impress the heck out of you. One side of me wants to prove to you what I have always thought about myself — I’m awesome.”

Powell then introduced the concept of each person having two selves. Powell explained that one version of yourself focuses on the temporary world, which is seen. However, the second version focuses on eternal things, which are unseen.

“Whether you recognize it or not, we live in a world of two realities: the natural and the spiritual; the temporary and the eternal,” Powell said. “Think about it as the internal — what’s really rotating around inside of us right now — and the external — what’s on the outside of us right now.”

Powell used examples from times he had failed in his own life, emphasizing the point that failure is not final. He said whether failure makes or breaks someone depends on how they choose to react.

“The (self) we’re most conscious of in any given moment determines how we live in that moment,” Powell said. “The (self) we’re focused on is the (side) that determines our choices and the outcome of our lives.”

Powell said that Christians should focus on the version of oneself that is not focused on temporary things.

“The (self) that is by faith, always seeing the reality of God and the truth of his promises, will be experiencing God’s presence and hope,” Powell said. “(This is) the reality of the two (selves).’”

He pointed out the fact that social media can tear down other people’s self-esteem while putting the original user in a good light.

“We’re really good at making sure people see the narrative of the outside ‘me,’ and really good at hiding, except when it escapes from us,” Powell said.

Powell then explained something that he said had made the Bible even clearer for him.

“When our lives are falling apart, as I’m sure some of you are experiencing right now, nothing has really changed with God,” Powell said.

Powell said that when he understood this, the Bible came to life to him, even after years of teaching it.

“The key to knowing and experiencing God and his blessings like the Psalmist and like Paul is to come to grips with this unbelievable reality of the two (selves),” Powell said.

After Convocation, Powell tweeted that it had been an honor to speak to Liberty.

“My prayer is that God will use my talk for impact,” Powell wrote.

According to Powell’s website, he has been the senior pastor of NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Michigan, since 1990. He and his wife, Roxann, live in the Detroit area, and they have three adult children.

Powell is the author of the book “Change Your Church for Good,” which encourages readers to rekindle a passion for Christ in their churches. The book is available from Amazon.

Powell can be found on Twitter as @bradpowell or on Facebook as @pastorbradpowell. His website is http://bradpowellonline.com/.