DGLT 2K12 Session 3 (2/2)

A Culture of Honour

One of the first things I shared at DGLT this year is that leadership is not about titles, and that you do not at all need a title or even a ministry to contribute greatly to this fellowship. So to wrap up our semester together, I want to restate this again: whether we have an official position or not, we are all responsible for the atmosphere, progress, and health of this community.

We are all in this together

I am not saying that we all need to find some ministry task to do at CCF, but I am saying that with our love we can all contribute to an atmosphere of faith and joy, and help take care of any concerns out of a place of peace and hope rather than anxiety, impatience, and frustration.

Acts 6:1-6 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

So the Hellenist (greek) widows were being overlooked, and who were the ones who ended up taking charge in remedying the situation? Greeks! This was not anything glamourous, they were compared to waiters after all, but they were willing to give of themselves to a need that they saw, a need that others could not or should not cover.

Now of course not everything will wrap up quite as neatly as that. New needs will arise that will require us to figure out the appropriate adjustments from time to time as God moves CCF forward, and point leaders must decide on such changes with discernment and prayer. Ultimately, however, any positive change that we wish to see will require the support and dedication of many (dare I say all) of us to realize, far more than what the titled folks can alone bring.

No one is allowed to come and tell the leaders that "I need this this and this to grow, feed me" (well, I would say first years, newcomers, and non-believers get a bye). We are all expected to contribute our love to the concerns that we see, regardless of whether the point leaders have the resources to make those concerns a priority. You all have grown far too much to be telling yourselves that your powerful love can change nothing!

Honouring each other

On that note, one of the primary ways we can foster the health of this community is to practice a culture of honour, where we recognize and appreciate, privately and publicly, the contribution and significance of everyone around us. In my experience, the people who receive that least, but would benefit us all if they had more of it, are your titled leaders.

Many of you will find out sooner or later that it is not so easy standing in that spotlight, becoming the lightening rod and scapegoat when people get frustrated over whatever it is that bothers them. So as I noted in part 1, be proactive in encouraging leaders, or any helping hand for that matter. Celebrate each other's strengths, give recognition to each other's care and love, however small. Though our asian parents likely never taught us or showed us, learn to give praise publicly, frequently, for the fingerprints of God on each other. Learn to do it beyond the warm fuzzies at retreat.

Steer people away from griping about the fellowship (about leaders or anyone else), protect each other from that. This does not mean you have to pretend that everything is always going great, but be always, firstly, appreciative of everyone's servanthood. Bring your concerns to leaders as a partner with a fresh point of view, not as an armchair quarterback with accusations of negligence. Be faithful and hopeful of what God can do with you all. I can say with certainty that God is, and always will be, with Mac CCF. Seeing the good will allow you to address the bad from a position of faith.

This verse is pretty over the top and I am pretty much preaching to the choir, but still worth remembering:

Galatians 5:14-15 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

I charge each of you, whether titled now or future or not, to maintain that sort of hopeful and honouring culture here at CCF. It is just so much better that way than otherwise.

DGLT 2K12 Session 3 (1/2)

Winds of Change

A lot of you have been talking to me about all the growth you have had with your brothers and sisters here at CCF, and asking about how do I bring some of that back home, or to the schools you are going to next. Some of you have tried to help out before, only to be met with a lot of frustration, even resistance, and you are wondering if you did something wrong or that positive change is just impossible.

I just want to say that I have seen very few places that were beyond changing for the better. God is big, and His goodness transforms people and places.

I of course have to follow those sentiments by saying that there is no magic bullet. Change, especially if we are talking about some of the Chinese churches we grew up in, is often going to be painfully slow, requiring the utmost patience, and sometimes a realization comes that we are not the ones chosen to usher in what we wanted to see, all of which comes on top of the possibility that life will take us elsewhere long before we see the fruit of any labour.

Though there may be no definitive answers for changing the whole culture of a place, I wish to at least share with you how you can be a positive force on the people around you while honouring those (especially in leadership) who might for whatever reason not see the goodness you've received at CCF, all while avoiding pulling your hair out. Change might not be for certain, but I am entirely sure that we can be a force for the better wherever we go.

Home is where God says it is

Often, especially for graduates, I hear one of 2 sentiments: that their old church sucks and they have to find a one that is better, or that they must go back and help their home church.

I will talk about being encouraging later, but I do want to say right now that neither of those directives are necessarily true. Over the years I have seen no correlation between the health of your home church and whether God will have you go back or not.

So just because your home church "sucks" does not mean you should be leaving, and just because your home church is awesome does not mean you are staying, or vice versa.

Having said that, the prevalent trouble is when people insist that they must go and make their home church better. Even if God impresses on us to do so, we must patiently wait on God as to when do I go back. We talked about seasons in session 2. Quite often before going any place there is a season of preparation elsewhere, as Moses had leaving Egypt, and your years at CCF are not guaranteed to be the only years that God needed to prepare you.

Be careful that you do not begin to put on your own shoulders the spiritual well-being of your home fellowship. Let us be reminded that you can not grow them, you can not transform them, you can not be God to them. You are only there to spill over what is flowing into you; to welcome Him, to usher in His presence through what you are (present tense) continually receiving.

Hence the following points if you want to be a positive force back home:

Change starts with your joy, your hope, your peace

Are you wanting change because you want others to encounter God at least as much as you have and continue to have? Or are you wanting change because you want to be more comfortable there?

You do not want to come out of a place where you are trying to change them so they can feed you and cater to you better. An attitude that expects a return simply will not work.

Remember, you are not going home empty-handed. All of you whom I have had a chance to talk to, you have grown so much, received so much. What God has planted in you are not things that will only exist at CCF. I believe that God has planted seeds, gifts, talents in all of you that will continue to flow even when you are away. Now that a lot of you have tasted a greater portion of His presence through your time at Mac, I want to tell you that He is always available!

Do not let a heavy or frustrating spiritual environment make you feel like you have nothing. Do not let it take you out of that place of joy and peace with the Lord. Maybe home really is full of gossip, negativity, and views you as an ignorant child, but God's presence will shield us, and melt that around us, should we take the time to soak in Him. (Hopefully in one of next year's DGLT's I'll spend some time talking about some personal practices that help keep us in that place of joy, hope, and peace with the Lord when we're away from community)

On a practical note, if things are really really tough back home, do discover some alternate communities to connect to and receive encouragement from. I meet up with an old friend of mine to run a workshop at Campus Challenge every year in May. We are at difference places now, but it is always refreshing and encouraging to gather and bless others who are hungry. Perhaps some of you in the future will patron your local CCF. I know Ontario CCF's are likely the fellowships with the least help, and I myself find a ton of joy from watching you guys grow.

Take the time to cherish your relationships with your Mac friends during the summer and after graduating. Maybe with all the musical and prayer warrior talents I have seen, you guys can work together and do things like run P&P's at each other's churches. Or do training stuff together like I am doing with prophecy and Samuel's Mantle. Or simply just meet up to pray and encourage one another. Do not assume that just because you are back home that you should only connect with them and you ought not step out or that your Mac friends can not join or help you.

Give of the abundant love that you are continually receiving, not so that they could fill your dry well in return.

Change needs to come to people, not events

Yes, the service might be archaic, yes, the church/fellowship leaders may be stifling, and yes it is ridiculous that they think Jesus Culture is too emo and leads to depression (you may laugh, but true story), but do not let that suck you into pouring your energy over events and how they are ran.

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 55:16-17

All through out scripture we see that God ultimately cares about the heart; in the end what God wishes to transform are the hearts and desires of His people (I already mentioned James 1:15 at retreat, and the second half of Romans 12:2 points to the same thing)

By your love, usher in a new way of being, a new way of seeing, and their doing (with perhaps just a light prodding past old fears) will naturally be open to adjustment. If you instead start by demanding them to change what they are doing, before they really see and desire God's goodness as demonstrated in your walk, I guarantee you confusion and conflict that is edifying to no one.

Story: "Kelvin back home"

That is not to say you can not try events like P&P should the opportunity present itself, but the aim is always to help people receive more of God's love personally. So even if we may have the opportunity to change everything, I would suggest taking it easy and focus on building deeper relationships that lead to openness, vulnerability, and trust. As much as we want to turn the light on full blast from the get-go, we all know people's eyes hurt a lot less if you turn it up slowly.

Practically, I would caution against taking on a leadership responsibility until you feel that people (including leadership) trust you and are open to you. I can assure you that leadership opportunities would arise rather quickly. In my experience, graduates who come back to their home churches with sustained joy and peace (and attendance) are few and far between, and existing leadership is usually quick to try to make use of their passion.

Jumping into a position right away usually puts you in a hard place where you might be expected to dedicate your time and energy into things that will divert you from loving people on a personal level, or worse, be asked to execute things that you cannot be wholehearted about anymore. I think it best to avoid that turmoil and simply dedicate yourself to loving people every meeting, bringing a new depth of sharing to those relationships, and genuinely valuing other's lives. I have never seen that cause a problem and it leads naturally to healthier influence via trust rather than position.

Also, be an encouragement to the existing leadership. If you are thinking about change then there is probably already a half dozen people who are at non-nonchalant or disgruntled. Do not become one of them. While it might be true that there are things you do not like about what they are doing, I am sure that God's goodness is working through them in some way. Practice seeing that. Honour that. Encourage that. Let them know that they are not being judged by their performance, and that you love them as brothers and sisters.

A biblical community, a culture of love, is only truly represented by the hearts behind its relationships. A greater love is what you bring home, far more than a greater way.

Change, transformation, speaks for itself

Of course we all want to see more people transformed and hate to see that get knocked on, but do not spend your energy on persuading people who are skeptical, critical, or negative.

I used to think that we needed to fight the establishment; that we needed to confront the old wineskins who refuse to let the new wine be new. Of course that tends to breed a lot of what I now know to be unnecessary conflict and sets up many roadblocks to healthy community that would take years to mend.

But I have realized now that the most persuasive thing you can demonstrate is when you walk lovingly with people and you grow together. Nothing speaks more of God than a group of people who love God and love each other extraordinarily. No amount of negativity or criticism can silence the sound of people flying with God.

Even the pharisees knew that. Have a read through Acts 5:33-39.

Feed the flame, not the trolls. People's desires and passions will not change because you have managed to argue them into submission. They will change when they see you and others fly.

DGLT 2K12 Session 2

Seasons

Ecclesiastes 3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

Solomon then proceeds to list a bunch of contrasting seasons. The reality is, there are a billion things that we're going to walk with God through, not all of it will happen at the same time, nor will we all experience it in the same order. The path to spiritual maturity is not generic, or successive; we don't receive for x number of years and then never be in a receiving season again.

Us having many different seasons in our lives will result in some bits where we'll focus on receiving and other bits where we'll focus on giving. We'll go back and forth between those and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Jesus himself alludes to seasons:

Mark 2:18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Luke 10:38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Mary and Martha is probably the clearer example of the two. Notice that Jesus doesn't say that what Martha was doing was wrong, or bad, but in His presence Mary has chosen what is better. So there will be seasons where we will be doing, serving, giving, and there will be seasons where God will wish us to drop it all to sit at His feet for a while.

I'm going to walk you guys through the 4-5 years after my testimony from retreat, where I needed to have taken a step back and focus on me and God rather than other people and God. Looking back, the next level in your calling in the kingdom is almost always precluded by a deep off season, where God is preparing you inside and out. It took a few years for me to get worked over and transformed to the point where I can sit in front of all of you and give out of joy, hope, and peace.

Seasons of Revelation

Story "Flipping tables"

If you're burning with zeal, burning white hot for something in God's kingdom, but you notice there's not much peace, joy, hope in that, just lots of criticism and negativity, then perhaps (not always, sometimes people are just plain negative and critical) God is revealing something to you that you don't know what to do with yet.

It would be a good idea to step back from leading (especially if you're leading the thing you're getting revelation on) and take the time to sort out not just what God is saying to you, but what He wants you to do about it right here right now, and what attitude you are to carry while doing so. Don't just take the first revelation and run flailing and screaming with it. Often times God has much more to say to you beyond that first "rock your world" moment.

Seasons of Healing

Story "If you could do it better the first time why didn't you?"

Of course healing could be about recent trauma, like someone's passing, or romantic relationships ending badly, etc. A deeper need for healing in all of us is how we were parented and brought up, which often times significant skews how we view God and what we think He wishes of us, as we project our earthly parents, with all their flaws and imperfections, onto our heavenly Father.

We are certainly not going to blame our parents. Most of our parents did the best they could given their own hurts and struggles. They were never going to be able to parent us like our heavenly Father would. And in our seasons of inner healing we'll recognize how our view of God has been tinted by our parents and our childhood in general, and we will begin walking into a fuller view of our relationship Him.

This is a season that we'll return to again and again in our lifetime, as God peels back the layers to reveal to us the roots of our inner desires, and it's important for us to take the time to let God get as deep as He needs to in any given season of healing.

Seasons in the Desert

Story "The year and a half before being sent back to CCF"

Sometimes, you really have no idea why you're having the down time that you're having. Sometimes you'll feel like you really really want to do something or have something, and that you're so ready for it, but God's giving you like zero, zilch, nothing. Not only that, He probably won't even tell you what's going on or why that is.

Quite often during these times God is allowing His revelation and His healing to stew and coalesce into new desires; to refine, sometimes even redefine what you hunger after. James 1 says from desire comes sin comes death, so ultimately God is going to have us take the time to let all those new perspectives and convictions transform our wants and perceived needs. Only when your desires change would changes in your behaviour be permanent and be out of joy.


When you start noticing these seasons, don't view it as some obstacle and try to rush and power through it so you can get back to doing stuff. Even if you've had a bunch of receiving seasons before, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with having another one. That's just how God has charted your journey and you ought to focus on sitting at His feet rather than giving and serving, being Mary rather than Martha.

God is trying to get our attention and our gaze, to get us to sit down with him, and it'll be up to Him how much of that He wants in your season. There isn't anything we can do to make it shorter, but I guarantee you if you struggle against it and dismiss it or rush through it it'll take a heck of a lot longer than God needed it to. The longer it takes for you to surrender whatever Martha thing you wanted to do and receive from Him, the longer it's going to take before God can move you forward with Him.

Season of Giving

So what does a season for giving look and feel like?

There is of course no single definitive answer here; it'll look a little different for everyone. A key word I like to use is overflow, operating out of an abundance of joy, love, hope, and peace. It certainly doesn't mean you need to be absolutely healed of everything before you can give, so it's good idea to seek out and trust the discernment of the people that love you and are walking with you. Sometimes we get so caught up in our season that we can't see it, and frequently inviting our close brothers or sisters to observe what God is doing with us is a great way to help everyone along in our journeys with God.

DGLT 2K12 Session 1

Intro

This is probably a good place to say that this is definitely not some sort of pre-req course for CCF DGL. I am not in a position to make those sorts of decisions at CCF, nor do I ever wish to be. Everything I do here is to support the committee and to build up your kingdom leadership, on this campus and beyond.

So just because you've been invited to this doesn't mean you're going to be a DGL next year, and just because someone isn't here doesn't mean they won't be. I wasn't trying to be exclusive or elitist when I went on invitations to gather this group. I just wanted a smaller group lol.

Yet still there's almost 40 of you, and if you each had a group of 5, that'd mean 200 people will be committed to DGs next year, which would be cool, but not a realistic projection at this point. So even by simple math not all of you will be DGL next year.

But I know a lot of you had a great time going deeper Sunday morn at retreat, so I will be trying to equip you guys in that some more, wherever you end up taking this to: home church, the next school you're going to be at, maybe one on one with an old friend of yours.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The vision I have for all of you is that a new generation of young kingdom leaders be raised to represent not simply some programs or some ideas, but the radical, powerful love of Christ.

Agenda for DGLT this term:

• This session we're doing a Q&A on the DG message on a more conceptual level, and I'll be going over the necessary character of someone who wants to go deeper with brothers or sisters
• In February, we'll have another Q&A discussion on the practicalities of DG relationships, and I'll be going over group formation and talking about DGL selection (which isn't just for committee, because we really ought to examine ourselves to see whether we're in the right season to be a leader)
• March we're going to have the current leaders talk about their joys and their struggles as a DGL, and have the younger folks share about their fears, and I'll talk a little bit about bringing biblical community to places where it hasn't been at that depth before
• I'm hoping to speak less and less each meeting this year, and have you guys work with each other more and more to wrestle through issues

(Group Work) Feedback on retreat DG message

• Before we get to questions, how did you feel about the DG message?
• Was it something you guys were already doing? Was it new?
• How did your group react to this challenge of going deeper and what were some common concerns or questions?

Importance of DGs

DGs change lives. I don't say it as if that's a burden you all need to carry, but I say it in hope, in faith, knowing the biblical community is vital to transformation. This isn't just any gathering where you just come together, bond, be good friends and learn a few things. DGs are a place where people face their demons and are transformed by God.

That requires of you not knowledge, or even leadership, the #1 requirement for a DGL is a character of deep love.

I hope this is a relief to a lot of you, who thought you had to be this marvelously knowledgeable teacher or leader to walk with others or be a DGL, you don't. This should also serve as a reminder to others of you that being a DGL is just as much about your transformation, as it is about the transformation of those with you.

That aside, there will be some of you whose personalities and love languages just don't fit this group format. Actually I find a lot of very loving people would rather not be DGL because they find that the title actually detracts from how they love people. Weirdly over the years I've also found that the people who are super gung-ho about leading people are usually the ones who shouldn't, and the ones who hesitate and instinctively exercise a good amount of self-examination, who approach it in weakness, are usually the ones who should.

Some of you will be way better one on one, or maybe with a larger group like yearly meetings. Some of you will feel way freer as someone who's bringing that openness, bringing that authenticity, pushing forward with the DGL while not having to carry that title yourself.

I haven't even talked about seasons of receiving, seasons of healing, seasons of revelation, things that God will do with you that you should really focus on rather than be a leader, all of which we'll go over in Feb.

So not everyone should be a DGL when they hit upper year, and that's not saying anything negative about you. You have to put your insecurity issues aside and commit to walking with people, whether you end up being DGL or not. I don't want to hear anyone saying next year I was in DGLT so why wasn't I chosen as a DGL and that person was instead. None of that please. The title only matters if your pride or your insecurity cares about it. We'll talk more about all that in Feb.

Character for Going Deeper

Humility-Servanthood

Being a DGL isn't a badge of honor. It isn't some measure that says you're mature enough or stronger than other people who aren't DGL.

Matt 20:25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matt 23:8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.

I might sound a little harsh here, and I don't mean to do that, but this point is just really really important. You must get this right. If I could have you get anything at all out of these 3 sessions, this would be it.

The question you need to ask yourself is, are you aiming to be a leader because you deeply desire to love on others and walk alongside them and give of yourself to do so? Or are you in it because you think you're mature enough or capable enough to do this or you feel like you ought to be leading people by now?

Please be brutally honest with yourself and truly wrestle with that question. Please don't trick yourself when you answer that, because the truth will show in the fruit soon enough. I guarantee that in no time at all everyone will see exactly why you wanted to be DGL.

You're not making disciples of you, you're helping people become disciples of Jesus. Therefore I always say that DGLs bring the culture to a group, not the substance. You're not there to bring growth or bring teaching. You will soon find out that you can't grow people past their hurts or teach people out of their struggles. The Holy Spirit will bring the substance, John 16 says that He will lead us into all the truth. Rather, you're there to bring the tone, the attitude, setting a safe environment, calling on Christ's victory always, cheering people on.

At the end of the day, it really isn't about you as some awesome leader and how you'll manage to lead people and grow people because you're older or more mature or stronger or whatever. It's about what God will do when you walk life towards Him together.

Openness-Authenticity

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

We talked about this one already at retreat. The thing to remember is that all of this is aiming towards healing, towards restoration by God. You're not aiming at the dark stuff so you can guilt and shame and scare people into earning their own victory. We're calling on the victory of Christ, and helping others see that what God has for them is so much better.

The other thing to remember is that the first one to go deep has to be you. The group will only go as deep as you do. Therefore if you're still not comfortable, still need to hide some significant, blinding piece of junk in your soul, then this is probably not a good time to be DGL.

Safety-Confidentiality

Hopefully I don't have to explain this to you. If you know you struggle with gossip, or you're way more comfortable talking about others than you are going deep about yourself, please don't be a DGL.

Not only will you ruin your own group, I've seen entire DG ministries be ruined that way, because once there's a leak in one group, every group will shut up.

That's not to say we won't be graceful and just boot people out of groups when mistakes happen, but leaky mouths must be confronted, first by the leader, then by the group. What happens if there is no remorse or repentance after that I leave to a case by case basis.

I know DGLs a lot of time are asking other people outside the group to pray for someone, or give advice about how to handle certain situations. The simplest practical rule to save yourself messes here is of course to keep names out of it, and learn to abstract situations into ideas and concepts that other leaders can also wrestle with you on. More importantly, however trivial you think something is, always ask permission first.

Perseverance-Hope

Luke 18:1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

One thing you'll notice quickly is that when people go deeper, when people start facing their demons, is that it can get messy, sticky, and ugly, but that doesn't necessarily mean that something's wrong.

People are remembering and reliving and facing hurts, anger, jealousy, unforgiveness. A lot of people don't know how to deal with stuff like that, especially deeper things like parents/childhood, past romantic relationships, past hurts dealt by brothers and sisters.

They might lash out and instinctively defend themselves when those areas are brought up; hurting people hurt people. I want you DGLs to know that that's normal, it isn't personal. As much as people will be prickly at times, please persevere with people in hope.

Don't give up, sometimes even if they do. We know that Christ wishes to restore us, but has called us to persevere in that pursuit. Let people know it's OK to struggle and wrestle, OK to fail repeatedly, no one is expecting magic bullets that fix things by next meeting. Remind people, we're here to grind this out with each other as long as we're in this group together.

(Group Work) Q&A Discusson

Talk about some common comments and questions, and have everyone try to answer them.

Session 3: Being His People (4/4)

A quick aside about genders here. This level of sharing creates emotional attachments, and I've seen so many romantic relationships that are initiated via that just crash and burn. So single gendered groups please. You can have co-ed prayer meetings, co-ed bible studies, just not co-ed DG level sharing. The co-ed groups I've seen either really struggle to be open or authentic, or get so close and so attached and so misunderstood that people really get hurt. So you have been warned. If you value your heart, just don't do it.

5) Accountability

Being open to being caught.

And they devoted themselves.......

Devotion is more than a once a day event, it's a constant habit of yielding to God's love, yielding to God's hand, yielding to God's will. Accountability is when the reminder of that comes not only from the God-head, but also from the body, your brothers and sisters.

A very wise elder once told me a phrase that really sums up accountable living: “being open to being caught”

Now the word "open" has a double meaning here:

1. to be open about your life, laying out your life 100% for others to examine (the openness and authenticity that we already takled about)
2. to be open to the truth that your group speaks into your life when you might not recognize you're aiming off a cliff

If you are just going to be offended and defensive every time someone connects the God's voice to something awful you're planting in your life, and you don't accept or consider anything your brothers and sisters say to you, soon people will stop saying anything to you, and what's the point then? Again, if you want to keep your darkness, what's the point of walking with people?

This is the important bit, often sparks fly in accountable relationships because people feel judged, so I have to warn all of you, this isn't a license to go around shouting at other people’s junk. I repeat, this is not a license to go around shaming people, which somehow has become the popular theological thing to do. All of us have a lot to learn and practice in terms of being quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, to become a safe person to share with, to speak in the love of our Abba Father.

Story: "A brother walked into another brother"

Sorry girls that a lot of my stories are about porn. When I was younger to honor the hearts of the girls I used to mainly deal with guys and this is pretty prevalent with them. Working with girls more nowadays and I'm realizing unforgiveness is their #1 destroyer, eating disorders way more prevalent than I thought, and that girls aren't exempt from sexual temptation, so I hope you girls can appreciate this story as much as the guys.

Accountability is not about the more spiritual person helping the less spiritual one or stronger person fixing the weaker one. We're all in the same boat, but we're all rooting for each other towards our destinies in Christ. We are all calling on Jesus' victory for each other.

We want each other to grow to be whole, for each other to become all that God destined us to be, and walking together towards that will require us to learn to gently ask the hard questions when we see someone aiming towards a pit, and for us to trust that those walking with us speak for our own good.

What now?

Meet, pray, read, share, walk. Not rocket science right? Who thinks you can find some brothers, or some sisters and do this once a week?

What I've shared is the root of biblical community, and only from here does everything else spring out in due time: missions, social justice, evangelism, etc.

I'm sure you guys have some questions, and again this term I'll be running some DG leaders training sessions to help you current and prospective DG leaders walk in this and give you guys a place to take up those questions, get more equipped in people leadership, and get help with specific situations.

Right now I'm going to break you guys off into your DGs to start practicing this. Challenge yourself to be more open about the dark spots, be quick to listen slow to speak, and pray over one another.

Session 3: Being His People (3/4)

3) Reading the bible

Read the bible, don't just listen to someone else talk about it.

They devoted themselves...to the apostles teaching...

When it comes to interacting with scripture I have another whole workshop series on it but I'm just going to say this today: don't simply rely on listening to other people talk about the bible, actually read it for yourself. Read it voluminously, repeatedly, persistently.

When the perspectives of our faith are inevitably tested by the thorns of Satan, you're going to have a hard time standing strong if what you fall back on is the authority of a John Piper youtube video or a Wayne Grudem textbook. Trust me, Satan is smart enough to talk circles around those guys when he attacks you.

Christian media is, for the most part, well intentioned, and many of them are really edifying, but something you might not have realized is that often you're actually making it harder for God to speak to you and reveal things to you if you continually fill your mind with other people's impressions of God. You start internalizing their biases, divisions, hurts, and fears and it ultimately skews, unbalances and filters your relationship with God.

So the question isn't to find the right one to listen to, none of them are totally right all of the time, very few of them represent the whole picture, but let’s pursue hearing God ourselves, and get to know our good shepherd's voice.

The best way to do that, the best way to hear God through the scriptures, is to read through it prayerfully yourself.

I have a lot more the share with you on this but for now I challenge all of the DGs to read through the bible in a year. Which sounds daunting, but if you let go of this very asian, and quite frankly presumptuous and prideful idea that you should understand every verse along the way the first time you read it, it then only takes 40 minutes a day.

Remember, this habit we're building for a lifetime is way more important than the novelty of learning new things at this point.

OK, so far, meet together, pray together, read together. Not rocket science right? I did say this was in order of easiest to hardest. So here comes the harder bits. Not that they're complicated, but they do require more boldness and gentleness.

4) Sharing life

Go deep about you, not abstract scriptural theories.

Acts 4:32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.....

Walking with God, being His disciple is not some third person theological idea that you can attend classes for and study up on. It isn't about information, it’s about transformation.

It's not about what you know or what you say or even what you manage do on the outside, it's about you, who you truly are on the inside, often when you think no one is looking.

Let me illustrate, what percentage of your life's triumphs and struggles do you share with your closest confidant? 60%? 80%? How many have someone they're at 100% with?

What I've learnt working with people over the years is that the last 15, 10, 5% that doesn't get shared is usually the part of one's life that needs God the most.

Whether intentionally covered up, or subconsciously hidden, the ideas, agendas, and motivations that don't see the light of day are usually the ones that really needs God's light. Regardless of how Godly a life you manage to piece together around it, that little chunk of habitual darkness or that little piece of your past that you can't bear to face will eventually consume you if left festering.

Story: "a brother in Dan's DG practice group"

Real transformation, real discipleship, requires authenticity, that what you say is truthful, and openness, that you don't hide anything.

If you want to keep your darkness to yourself, why bother walking with people? Why try to pretend to grow if you are not willing to open your dark spots to God's redeeming light? DGs are to be a place free of gossip, that confidential and safe place, where we help each other start unpacking and letting God’s light face our demons.

Session 3: Being His People (2/4)

1) Being together

Show up! You can't walk together without being together.

And all who believed were together....And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes......

(duh, remember I did say that these are ordered from easiest to hardest)

Emergencies are understandable, but no excuses. Here are some examples of things that are not emergencies: "I am so behind for this exam/assignment", "I need to go see friend/bf/gf", "I am double booked with this other meeting", etc.

I encourage all the groups to set a consistent time early in the semester that everyone is expected to work their schedule around. DG isn't something you can do in your spare time. If you are only willing to give a little spare time for it, please do everyone else a favour, don't join a group.

Story: "my first DG, 5:30am"

Story: "the eager, consistent father of 3"

Be there!

2) Prayer

No one is allowed to say I'll pray for you, and not actually do it everyday.

They devoted themselves...to prayer....

I have to admit, I put this as the second point, but this is actually pretty hard, because prayer is usually one of the first things to go when we get busy. You'll keep at your ministries and your obligations because of other people's expectations, but no one notices (at least right away) when you stop praying.

In my walk over the years, one of the best things to wake up to is to know that I had brothers praying for me, that a bell will resound in heaven for me multiple times a day. Even just the thought of that already strengthens me.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Prayer is not to be a secondary option to our consoling, counselling, or advice, we are not wrestling with just emotions or decisions. We will not gain victory on our own, we must call on Jesus' victory.

Therefore spend a good chunk of your meeting in prayer, don't worry so much that you're not "learning" anything. In all my years in DGs and watching them, prayer has always been the root of change.

Prayer is the simplest act of support for one another in Christ, so if you can't even commit 5 minutes a day to doing that for your group, what are you willing to do?

Session 3: Being His People (1/4)

So yesterday we walked through where God is with us today, and hopefully many of you joined me on that journey; that many of you encountered Him, were affirmed by Him, were touched by Him. This morning I want us to deal with the question of, well, what now? This weekend was great, but where do I go from here?

“What now?” isn't just a question about this retreat time, or even your time at CCF. Some of you might be graduating, in 4 months time you might be in a different town, for school, for home, for work. You're thinking about how much you've grown in your walk with God these past years and wondering, well how am I going to keep that going when I no longer have this wonderful community around?

Others of you would've noticed that CCF has no staff workers that will hold you by the hand and feed you, so when you become seniors and end up being the ones being looked up to, how do you grow? We're not called just to be disciples, but also to be disciple makers, so how do we help others walk with God when we often times feel so inadequate?

Me and the bunch of us alumni wrestled with these questions a few years ago, and it was out of that struggle that we discovered discipleship groups, that it is actually a tremendously powerful thing to gather with a few brothers, or a few sisters, and walk, grow and encounter God intimately together. That we didn't need someone with a seminary degree, or get a well-published curriculum to grow, heck the first people to do this were noted to be uneducated fishermen and the outcasts of the Jewish community.

I know CCF already has DGs, and from what I hear that things are going pretty good. But what I realized being here last semester is that no one has laid out to everyone what DGs actually are. So what I want to do this morning is talk what a DG is and does, bring together into one message what doing life together is all about. I hope that this encourages and empowers those of you who want to grow to come together and go after it together this next semester and onward, because DGs, and growing for that matter, really isn't rocket science.

In Acts 2 we saw the lives of people who repented, believed, got baptised, received the Holy Spirit, and began this life filled with awe and wonder with God. In that passage we will find the roots of walking with God together as family, the roots of biblical community:

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

I know that most of you are probably half asleep, so I've really shortened this message, which is the one I normally do at the DG workshop at Campus Challenge. This term I'm hoping to run a couple DG leaders training session and share the whole thing with you, but here are the 5 root values of a DG, in increasing order of difficulty:

Session 2: The Final Covenant (4/4)

The reality is, for those of us who are saved, we are always in the loving presence of God. The question is no longer God please be near me, God please come, no longer this cry of fear and abandonment, but a cry of sonship and adoption. Abba, Father, I am your child, as I grow, would you open my eyes to see and hear of where you already are all around me.

It goes from you come close to me and you die, to I come into you and you truly live.

That is the final covenant. This is the covenant that Hebrews 8 speaks of as having made the previous one obsolete. Those lives that we saw in Acts 2, so filled with the wonder of God, so thick with His presence that even unbelievers favoured and revered them. We’ll talk more about Acts 2 and being His people tomorrow, but that is the full invitation from God today, that's our destiny as His children. His spirit in us, flowing through us, so that we may see that His presence, His hand, His love is already all around us.

Some of you, you've experienced all of this. As the psalmist said you've tasted and seen that the Lord is good! Testify! Encourage! Walk along side! Don't keep it to yourself, that's the reason us alumni are here.

Some of you have stood in front of that torn curtain for a while now. You've been feeling unworthy and undeserving, busy trying and trying to beg and qualify for His presence. Well, let me share with you a little secret, trying to open an already opened door doesn't do a whole lot. Seriously, try it. Perhaps you've already noticed that for all your efforts and ministry and learning you seem to be at the same plateau with God. He is inviting you tonight to stop striving after what has already been gifted to you. You didn't earn your salvation, you certainly aren't going to earn your intimacy with Him. Pray that cry of sonship, receive what He's been wanting to give you if you'd just stop trying to pay for it.

Let Him love you, let yourself be undeserving of it, that was always His point.

Some of you see that torn curtain and you don't really know whether you want what's inside. You're thinking, what if in there my desires die, what if my dreams die, what if my plans die. So you keep God at a distance. You go to church meetings, learn all the ideas about Him, serve a little bit maybe, but never letting Him move you beyond mere churchiness. I could say all sorts of things to try to persuade you and what not but I'm just going to say this, it is simply not possible to follow God at a distance. The Israelites tried that already, and look at the OT, look at what happened to them.

More importantly is this which I can say with 100% certainty, that your old self will die. Your old self will drain away, your new self will begin to pour in. As the apostle Paul said, I consider all the things that I had garbage in light of Christ. What's behind that curtain might be so different but yet so much better than what you could possibly plan on your own.

Some of you have no experience of what I'm talking about at all, that torn curtain might as well be a brick wall. You know some stuff about God that other people have told you, or that you've read or listened to somewhere, for years even, but you've never interacted with God, He's never really acted in your life, and even if you prayed it feels like it vanishes into thin air. If the spirit of the God of the universe entered into you, well you really didn't know when it happened or even if it happened.

For you guys I encourage you to ask God tonight where am I with you? Don't rely on affirmation from yourself or from other people, think about it, your yes’ their yes', they don't mean anything! I don't care if you're Calvinist or Arminian, predestination or free will, even atheist or agnostic for that matter, but I think we all agree that no one else's affirmation of eternity matters except God's. Maybe you were too scared or too distracted to say anything before but tonight, ask Him!

Every time I prayed over retreat, I just hear God saying, I would love to meet them, I've been waiting to touch them. As we enter into a time of worship and prayer, I really hope this will be a time where you let your guard down in God's presence, whether this is your first or the hundredth time.

The alumni are going to come around, ask for you name, lay hands, and pray over you. You don't have to share deeply or pray extra hard or anything like that, just sit and receive. If you do have something specific you want to share with them, give them a tap.

As you worship, I encourage to be a child, free to dance, free to love, free to shout Abba, Dad. Pour out your heart to Him, welcome Him, and ask Him to open your senses to my God, my lord, my saviour, my father.

Where are you with God? Are you willing to receive and walk in the fullness of His invitation, His final covenant with us?

Session 2: The Final Covenant (3/4)

The significance of all of that, of this change in how God interacted with people, is best summarized by the tearing, from top to bottom, of the curtain separating the holy of holies when Jesus died.

Now for those of you not familiar with the structure of the temple of God, this wasn't any ordinary room or curtain, this was the innermost sanctum of the temple (after women, gentiles, ordinary men, and non-high priests were excluded), the place where God's presence resided, where high priests still died if they didn't perfect the purification procedures. That curtain was destroyed, the way to where God dwelled, the way to God's presence was opened.

Yet history does not end here does it?

Jesus resurrects in 3 days, giving eternal life and adopting and loving as His own children those who would welcome Him and confess His name. Huge deal, it’s the reason most of us are here this weekend, absolutely the greatest thing to happen to humankind, a gift of grace and forgiveness for all of those trespasses that once got their due in the OT.

But history doesn't end here either.

Jesus died and rose again, bringing us believers with Him into eternity, but God wasn't nearly done. Jesus and God didn't just tear the curtain and leave us to wonder whether we could, or how we would, walk in to where He was. So what happens next? (Acts 1:4-5)

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So you see something else happens after Jesus! Something that Jesus Himself spoke of. And watch what happens when that Holy Spirit shows up, not just on the apostles, but on ordinary believers! Here the Holy Spirit had already been released on to the apostles, whom people took as drunk, but Peter explains to them that they had just killed the saviour they've been waiting for, and the crowd asks Peter what to do (Acts 2:38-47):

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

So here’s the progression we see: they repented, and were baptised and received the Holy Spirit and then they began experiencing and walking a new life, a supernatural life! That didn't stop with just the apostles or the crazy people following them in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit was released to people everywhere:

There was a Roman military official by the name of Cornelius. He was a worshiper of the God of Israel, which the Jews never recognized because he wasn't Jewish. One day he gets a dream to go get Simon, also named Peter, who was living with Simon the tanner by the sea, and listen to him. Meanwhile, Peter, who, what do ya know, was living with Simon the tanner by the sea, gets a vision that unclean things have been made clean by God. When Peter meets Cornelius, he finally puts one and one together and realizes that God is bringing non-Jews into the family of God, and started to share the gospel with Cornelius’ household. Here’s what happens next (Acts 10:44-47):

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

So you notice now that every people group that was previously excluded by the temple receives salvation, receives the Holy Spirit, receives the presence of God. Hence in the rest of the NT, in the letters of Apostle Paul he would often write that when you believed and were saved, the Holy Spirit entered into you.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:13)

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

Look at this, He whose name couldn't even be spoken in OT we may now call Father, Abba, Dad in greek.

We don't walk in through that torn curtain, God comes out. All that separation, all that distance that people needed to keep in the OT vanishes, as the Spirit of God comes out of the Holy of Holies and makes His dwelling in our very being as believers.

Think about that for a moment, think about that in light of all that you saw in the OT and what being near God was like.

Session 2: The Final Covenant (2/4)

So throughout Israel's history, God spoke through those whom He appoints as judges, the prophets. Actually by the time we get to Samuel, one of the first prophets, the voice of God was already rare (1 Sam 3). Moving on through the OT, into the major and minor prophets, not only was scarcity of God’s voice often an issue, clarity was also a problem. As Israel continually turned away from God, repeatedly forgetting that their success as a nation is not about their own strength, real prophets began to be persecuted and killed off.

Here is Elijah, a prophet of God, just kicked the butts of the 400 priests of Baal, which was the pagan god sponsored by Ahab and Jezebel, king and queen of Israel at the time. Of course, Jezebel beings hunting Elijah down, and Elijah flees to a cave (1 Kings 19:13-14):

When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

So as the OT comes to a close, we arrive at what theologians would call the silent years, this 400 year gap between the old and new testament. There were no more prophets, and certainly no kings since Israel was in exile first in Assyria, then Babylon, then Persia, which was then swallowed up by the Greek and Roman empires. The voice of God ceased to exist apart from the previously written down law.

So is it any wonder that the Jewish religious establishment in the NT viewed the law so tightly, that's all they had for 400 years. It also makes perfect sense that John the Baptist was regarded highly, because here is a prophet once again, the direct word of the Lord was proclaimed again, some Israelites even saw him as the saviour. When Jesus asked His disciples who the crowd thought He was, one disciple replied that they think He’s John the Baptist come back to life.

But look at what John the Baptist says about himself (John 3:28-30):

You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

So John the Baptist, essentially seen by everyone as the return of the jedi, return of the prophet, return of the voice of God, this big deal, proclaims that He is only there to pave the way for someone far greater, not just a prophet, a saviour. We see John paving the way for this transition to Jesus. Here is John the Baptist, whom most theologians would consider the last of the OT prophets, essentially proclaiming that a whole new era is coming.

We see that Jesus was indeed different. He was God in the flesh but yet He had a radically different relationship with the people around Him than what people had with God in the OT. He forgave people, not just for the things He witnessed, but for all the trespasses in their lives, which threw the jewish religious elite into fits. He healed people. When He came close to people they didn't die, they were healed. He had compassion for people, he stepped into people's lives and situations rather than command them at a distance, He invited people to dine with Him. A short little tax collector that has been extorting people all his life got to dine with God himself.

Session 2: The Final Covenant (1/4)

I hope you had a good talk with God this afternoon. I hope many of you are starting to get a sense of His presence over you.

Even that didn't quite happen, even if you struggled just to quiet your thoughts, even if there are still things that you couldn't bear to face, again I plead with you, do not give up. You have the rest of tonight, you have tomorrow, you have next week, you have next month, God willing. Do not be satisfied with just words from people’s mouths, glimpses from a distance.

That's what I want to talk about tonight, distance. Now that we've begun dealing with the fact that yes, God is real to me, the next question we need to dare ask is, well, where am I with Him really?

There are so many examples that describe where people are with God in the scriptures, OT and NT. And we've heard so many sermons on each of those instances, but have we seen the completed picture? Are we walking in the full invitation that God has for us today?

We're going through the whole bible pretty much, looking at the different relationships that God had with people, and perhaps somewhere along the way you might recognize that's where your relationship with God has somehow gotten stuck, and I hope He will reveal to you that there's so much more And as we conclude the night in praise and worship, I really pray that we might begin stepping into and operating on a whole new level of the fullness of what God has planted in us

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)

Of course we start with Adam and Eve. Let’s notice for a moment that God walked in the garden. He wasn't just some vapour that floated about, He had legs, He literally walked beside those 2. That’s originally how it was supposed to be, Adam and Eve get to have a stroll on the beach with God. But as this verse already alludes to, something had gone horribly wrong.

So the end result of that trespass was that God kicks them out of the garden, and if you notice it's not like Adam and Eve could bear being there anyways. The fruit, the trespass had changed them forever and before God they felt nothing but fear and shame. So God removes them from the garden, removes them from his now terrifying presence.

And mankind pretty much goes straight to hell from here (no pun intended). The next chapter Cain kills Abel, not because they were in conflict over anything, but just because Cain was jealous. It got so bad that God reboots the whole thing with Noah and the flood. When that too went south, God creates a nation for himself in Israel, with a set of laws, the ten commandments, that when you think about it seem easy enough. When you come home, can your sheep still be your sheep? When you come home, can your husband/wife still be your husband/wife? Not exactly the world's highest moral ground is it?

In this era of the law you see a really clear description of what God's relationship with people had become. Here Moses had been speaking to God, face to face as with a friend, and he was trying to get the rest of Israel to come with him to the mountain to meet with God, and this is what they say to him:

Deuteronomy 5:25-28 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

“And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.

So here we have it, enter into God's presence, and unless you're really really special like Moses, you die. This wasn't even an irrational fear by the Israelites, God affirms that it is indeed the case.

In fact, the Jew today still don’t dare say yahweh, which is the correct pronunciation of God in Hebrew. They have to intentionally mess with the vowels and accents and say adonai or elohim as substitutes.

Session 1: God is Real (2/2)

This is where I want us to begin. I can share the scriptures with you, the gospel with you, guilt you, scare you, preach to you till I'm blue in the face, but if God isn't real to you, none of it will matter, none of it will stick, none of it will make any difference. I'm not saying there needs to be drama and trauma, God reveals Himself in so many marvelous ways. I'm just saying that He can’t be your awesome God until He’s more than just some principles and ideas or some literary figure or tradition and ritual you grew up with. Only if God were real to you would He be your savior and Lord, only if God were real to you would you ever live like the princes and princesses that you are, only if God were real to you would He be your God. He's not some teacher or a leader or a good example, He's God!

I said yesterday we’re going to go through some questions this weekend. I am not asking them because I am belittling you and think you don't have the answers. I know full well that most of you have been taught a lot of answers, you probably know them so well you could write it down on paper for an exam if you had to. No, I ask these questions because I know these are questions that lead you into an encounter with God, that lead you to step into his presence, that you may know, that you may experience, that you may taste, that He is God. He's alive and well and speaking and acting and loving today, in ways that you can't even begin to imagine.

After this morning message there’s a good chunk of alone time scheduled for you. Dorothy's going to keep worshiping after this, and you're free to stay a little while if you want, but my hope is that each of you will start filing out of this room to spend some alone time with God and begin praying and seeking to encounter Him in ever more real way. Maybe even put on your jacket and head out for a walk in those quiet fields, those walks helped me a lot.

Over the last couple of months in prayer, one thing I've always heard from God is that He’s been looking forward to meeting each of you, and touching each of you, and that He treasures each of you so so much. I mean, He’s someone who counts the hairs on your head! Who does that?!?! Who does that if they didn't love you and want to be with you?

For some of you, that prayer for encounter will be answered quickly, an encounter that’s undeniably God will come this weekend. The moment you step into a space with just you and Him His presence will come flooding over you in new and even mysterious ways. For some of you, as you seek Him that encounter might not happen this weekend, or next week, or next month. Maybe some of you will have things to to face in your past, things to wrestle through, things to finally lay down before God, just like I did.

I want to assure you that there's nothing wrong with taking much time to seek God out. And I plead with you, do not give up. Persevere in seeking out the person of God, however long that takes. An encounter with Him is the beginning of a whole new life, life and life to the full at that. Don't settle with glimpses from a distance. Accept no substitutes.

Is God real to you? Is He alive to you? Don't ask your pastor, don't ask your friends, don't ask me. In the next hour and some, in a time when it's just you and God, ask yourself, then ask Him.

Session 1: God is Real (1/2)

Again, for those of you I haven't met yet my name is Ken, and man there’s a lot more of you now than when I last sat where you sat. Looking back through the years it's been such a long time since I last stood in front of HCCF. I started in this very fellowship in 2002, and spent the last 4 or so years working with fellowships across the province, mainly connecting through Campus Challenge (the annual summer conference for Ontario CCF's).

I guess you could say I have a tendency to work with Chinese Christian students. One of the big reasons is because I was one, and whether you're born here or not, our culture and ethnicity has shaped us, or often times misshaped us, in such a unique way and I've definitely been in those shoes. By day I'm a full time project engineer with Environment Canada, so not only have I been where you sit today, chances are in a couple years time you're going be where I am. Maybe even a couple months time for some of you graduates, but I know you’d rather not think about that right now.

This morning for our first meeting together I want to share my story with you. I always find it weird that some dude stands in front of a crowd of young Christians, and as long as he's middle aged and Caucasian, they'd pay attention to him. Well I'm neither of those so I figured I'll spend this first session having you get to know me a bit, get to know what I've been through, the messes I've made, and for me to share with you an encounter of God presence, grace, and love in a life that 6 years ago wasn't all that much different from yours.

Story: "Ken's testimony"

It's been 5 years, 5 Months, 16 days since that night. I would be lying if I said that it's been all peaches and cream from that moment on. Maybe some other time I'll share with you how I became the director of maturity for an entire church at age 25, and an elder of a church of nearly a thousand 2 years later, and how big of a mess that was, but those stories will have to wait for another day.

There are a lot of things I don't understand about all the theological stuff that people love to talk about nowadays, there are lots of mysteries that God still has yet to make clear to me, but this much I know, not just to be true, but this much I know to be real. God is real, he is alive, and He saved me from me. To this day I still can’t fully comprehend why He welcomed me home, and as cliched as it sounds, I've never been the same.

Session 0: Intro

Hi, for those of you whom I haven't met my name is Ken and I’m your speaker this weekend. I’ll give you more of a biography tomorrow but when I was first asked to speak this weekend, I decided to go to one of the retreat planning meetings and share some of the things that God had placed on my heart for this fellowship. Someone asked me what's the theme verse for the retreat messages. I was thinking to myself, man, I’m not sure I have one! But the more I prayed about this time we're going to spend with God together, the more Psalm 46:10 comes to mind:

Be still, and know that I am God.

This is going to shock some of you, but I'm turning 30 this year. As more and more stuff starts being added to my life like working full time and planning a wedding and walking with you guys here, I'm realizing that being still is not really about being quiet and solemn, though sometimes that helps. But I know full well that I could be perfectly physically silent and still, and yet have a million voices roaring in my head, a thousand things that is tugging at my mental attention.

I never used to value retreats. I thought to myself, if all I wanted to do was to find a quiet place, I could just go to my room and shut the door, except that now I would see the bills that came in the mail, my phone would ring with new messages, reminders popping up in my head to take the car for an oil change, or to book the next small group meeting. And it dawned on me that even though I have quiet time with God every day at home, going away to a place where you literally can't do anything about that stuff and no one can blame you for it is really awesome.

I know most of you now have smartphones, and maybe some of you brought a laptop in what I will now say is a futile, futile attempt to do work. Just turn them off. Turn off your cellphones, laptops, turn off the outside world, let it go. Trust me, the world will be fine without you for 3 days, and you certainly will be fine without them. You don't get that many chances a year to disconnect completely guilt and obligation-free, this is one of them, make good use of it.

Over the next couple of days we're going to go through some questions about us and God. The reason we'll go through those isn't to figure out the right answers ourselves, or to be reminded of things that you've been taught, or to debate with the people around you what the answers are, or even for me to tell you what God is saying, though I do ask you to pray for me. The point of the questions this weekend is that you you will ask God, He will meet you, and you will receive not just his ways or his instructions or his knowledge, but be welcomed into His presence.

Be still, and know that He is God.

I also welcome those of you who might relatively new or completely foreign to this whole Jesus deal, and I invite you to feel free to play along, I know some of the stuff we do must seem a little weird to you, but really, you're here already right, so why not give it a go? Try singing to God in praise, try praying and speaking with Him. The only exception to that is the communion tonight, but otherwise, what's the worse that could happen right? Chat about Jesus with the people you’re rooming with, but know that they are people just like you. We don't have all the answers, just the delight that God has called us His own.

With that note, as we start off with praise and prayer tonight, let's pray together right now, and commit to venturing out of our comfort zones, and pour ourselves out anew in worship, in prayer, in joyous noise, welcoming the Spirit of God over the next 2 days. I'm not going to ask you for some lofty prayer right now about giving your life to Him forever and ever, but let's intentionally dedicate the next 48 hours to God and God alone.