Winter Retreat Session 4 - "God is not Finished"

Back in the day (Bible times), when a person was eating at the table, they had 2 choices of what to do with their napkin when they would leave the table. 

Choice 1: They could crumble up their napkin/towel and put it on their plate, signifying that they are done with their meal.

Choice 2: They could fold their napkin and put it back in its place where they were sitting, signifying that they are not done yet with their meal.  Or in other words… they still have work to do.

Which leads us to John 20:7.  Once John and Peter went to the empty tomb, they saw the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in… The scripture says, “The cloth was still lying in its place.”   The next verse it says that John “saw and believed.”  Why did John now believe?

Well, probably because Jesus is no longer dead.

But also, probably because he saw the cloth folded in its place… and realized, “Woah, Jesus is not done with his work yet… He’s not finished, just like He said.”

God is not finished yet.

God is not leaving you where you are. 

You have the choice to say, “God I am yours 100%” or “God I am not yours 100%”

There is no half way.

Winter Retreat Session 3 - "Faith in Adversity"

A simple post this morning...

In adversity, our faith is always tested.  You can go in 2 different directions during those times…

Our mindset goal:

“I don’t get this and I never will, but you are my God.”

Our verse to hold onto:

Romans 8:31, “If our God is for us, then who will ever stop us?”

Winter Retreat Session 2 - "God is Still God"

Session 2 – “God is Still God”

Ryan opened up the session with sharing a little bit about his own story.  There is no way I can retell Ryan’s powerful story in a blog post… so I will just say that life is hard and unfair. Things happen to all of us that hurt… and hurt badly.  None of us are immune to it.  It makes us question God. “What are you thinking?? What kind of plan is this?”

Ps 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” That is really hard to do when we are in the middle of adversity. When we are hurting and angry, I’m supposed to be still? Yeah… okay… how?

That’s kind of what was going on in Habakkuk. A lot is going on and Habakkuk is complaining about it.

And the Lord answers… (Hab. 1:5) “Look around at the nations, look and be amazed. For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.”

The pain we feel is very real. The pain isn’t necessarily eased by these words. But God says that He has a plan and its going to be fulfilled.  Our God is capable to do incredible things.  And an incredible thing is exactly what He has in mind for each one of us.  And in that we can have Hope.

And the Lord answers… (Hab. 2:3) “If it seems slow in coming, wait. Its on its way. It will come right on time.”

Gods timing is way different than ours. And we don’t always hardly ever understand it. But in that we can have Hope.

Instead of blaming God for all these things in life, we need to start saying, “God I know your plan is right.”

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Winter Retreat Session 1 - "Take Notice"

Session 1 – “Take Notice”

After an opening night of great worship, Ryan set the tone for the week with his “Take Notice” talk.  Its crazy to think about what is really going on in this world.  There are about 27,000,000 slaves in the world today… 27,000,000!  That includes sex trafficking, forced labor, etc. The states of Oregon and Washington have a combined totatl of 10.6 million people.   27,000,000… Let that number sync in for a minute. 

On top of that… there are thousands of homeless people in our cities, countless people being physically and verbally abused, kids getting bullied, and people not being noticed. Reality hurts.  We live in a hurting and pain filled world. Things aren’t fair. And, it often seems hopeless.  We catch ourselves questioning God… “Why wont you fix this? Do something!”

QUICK! Can you think of what the main picture on the back of a $1 bill? Don’t look! Try to think…    ….    ….

We see $1 bills so often, we kind of become numb to them and forget what is actually on them.   And it’s the exact same thing with us and the reality of this world.

A lot of times we ask, “God, where are you in all of this?”  Maybe we should start asking, “Why haven’t I noticed?” Or… maybe God is just asking us, “Where are YOU??”

Do you believe God really cares about these things?  What is one step you feel like God is calling you to take? If could be something “Small like just being available to your friend’s hurt, or it could be something “big” like finding an injustice organization and getting behind it. 

MICAH 6:8  "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"