On Saturday, I had a lot of fun over at Simpson Park Camp helping out with their fall high school retreat. Curt is leading the charge in bringing SPC into the present and looking towards the future. Katie, the young adult person at SPC who runs the retreat, did a great job creating a comfortable environment for students. Solid worship, great attitudes, it was very cool.
To see my talk notes from the afternoon breakout session and my Saturday night talk, click the read more link.
Saturday night:
A Call to Suffer
1 Peter 3:13-17
Hook:
[Hostage story]
Big Idea:
People are messy, if you want to make a difference… be
prepared to get dirty.
Book:
[Peter’s story]
– Where did Peter get it right?
– Where did Peter get it wrong?
[Personal story: Steve’s dad gets it right]
Big idea:
Sometimes to get it right in life, you have to do something
that makes no sense. You have to expect to suffer for doing the right thing.
Peter had the chance to walk away from Martyrdom but chose
to suffer. Steve’s dad had the chance to get rid of me, but he chose to get
dirty to make a difference.
1 Peter 3:13
–Who is going to harm
you?
+ Lots of
people!
+ People
love to pick on people doing the right thing!
– While it shouldn’t
be this way… even in doing something good can get you in trouble.
v. 14
– If you live for Jesus 24/7, you will take some abuse.
– You will learn that when things are going the best in
walking with Jesus… Satan is most active.
+ Where we
live, this will rarely be physical
+
Discouragement, Gossip, Betrayal, etc
– Learn to know that when you are close… that the
difficulties are attacks from an enemy… attacks mean you should keep doing what
you are doing.
v. 15
– This is very important in the world we live in.
– Setting apart Christ as Lord of your life is different
from saying “God is important.”
+ A Lord of
your life… He’s in charge.
+ You do
what He wants over what YOU want to do.
– But do this with great respect for others.
[Personal story: Adam and Vivian’s mutual respect has
results]
Why should we be
gentle and have respect?
v. 16
– keep a clear conscience!
– Those who accuse you of stuff look stupid
v. 17
– Suffering is good?
– How so?
+ Suffering
makes people stronger in what they believe in!
+ Suffering
is meant to harm us, but instead it makes people stronger!
+ Suffering
makes it clear that there is good and evil!
+ Suffering reveals who is standing
for God and who is standing for something else…
Look:
Big idea restated:
Are you willing to get it right in life? Even if it means
that you might suffer along the way?
What limits will you
put? When will you “give up” and say that you’ve suffered enough? When the
going gets tough… will you stand up to the challenge or will you check out?
Took:
Are you ready to look at the world differently?
Are you ready to stop looking at the world like a survivor
and start looking at it the way God wants us to look at it… as more than
conquerors? As a revolution that won’t be stopped?
Jesus’ final
instructions to his disciples…
Acts 1:6
If you’ve read the gospels, you know this is a common theme.
There was always someone in Jesus’ entourage that asked this question. “Yo, Jesus… when are we going to take over
the world?” They were still expecting Jesus to come and take over
Jerusalem
.
v. 7-8
This is where the plan of action starts to get laid out to
the early disciples.
– We’re not going to do a hostile takeover of the world.
– There will be no army.
– We’re not out to conquer people’s bodies… that’s easy…
we want to conquer their hearts.
– Instead the plan is much more “under the table.”
o This
is where the virus plan comes in…
o Instead
of conquering the world with an army… we’re going to do it with a virus.
§ We’re going to infect the world with something
they can’t defeat.
§ Because once they get infected with it… they
can’t help but spread it.
Will you let a little
suffering stop the spread of the virus? Or will you spread this virus to rock
the planet?
PRAY
Saturday afternoon:
What’s in your way? Why can’t I live for Christ 24/7?
Hook:
[Personal story: What’s
holding you back?]
A. I didn’t really know Him… (I needed God to wake up)
B. Fear of rejection (I didn’t want to get labeled)
C. My friends really knew me (I thought that would prevent them from knowing God)
My mistake… what held me back…
I misunderstood what my role was…
I thought it was my job to convince people that God
existed and that God wanted to live and act a certain way. And I was wrong… that wasn’t my job.
Big Idea:
Our job isn’t to convince
anyone of anything… it’s to tell the world that their God loves them no matter
what.
Book:
1. God is known to
every person on the planet. (Romans 1:20)
a. Warning: This is heavy stuff. Every generation
thinks they’ve really gone far with some new kind of sin… but you haven’t.
People have fallen into the same sins forever.
b. Read: Romans
1:20
This applies to
everyone
i. Eternal power =
Nature
ii. Divine Nature =
Conscience
c. Why did God do
this?
i. So that men are
without excuse
ii. Every person in
our lives knows that there is a God who created everything and that they have
done something wrong.
1. Nature reveals it
and the conscience confirms it.
Big Idea restated: Why does God reveal Himself to everyone? Why does God give everyone a
conscience? He does that so that they can discover that God passionately loves
them. That’s our role.
2. Nothing separates
us (Romans
8:38
-39)
a. Because our
friends know they aren’t perfect.
i. And because they
know there is a God…
ii. They need to know
that they are loveable.
b. Read Romans 8:38-39
i. What’s the point
here?
ii. What can separate
us from God? Nothing!
[Personal story] God can’t possibly love me anymore!
Big idea:
No matter what you’ve, no
matter what your friends have done… NOTHING can separate them from the love of
God found in a relationship with Jesus. NOTHING.
Still not convinced?
I will not let my son die for
you doing something wrong. But God did that. NOTHING will separate anyone from
the love of God. NOTHING.
Look:
*****What is you role?*****
GC2 (Greatest commandment
& Great Commission)
Matthew 22:34-40
*****What is holding you back?*****
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