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.
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