Men’s Retreat

Pastor Dave White

What does it mean to be a Christian? How should our faith impact our daily lives? What does it mean to follow Jesus as our Lord, not just Savior? How is the gospel transforming you today?

These are just some of the questions answered by our speaker, Shelby Abbott, at the 2nd Annual Men’s Retreat. On March 10-11, 48 SLPC men headed to the Traber Center for 24 hours away from home to seek the Lord and have fellowship with each other. Given the short duration, I prayed that Jesus would do a “loaves and fishes” miracle in the time that we had together. Given some of the conversations I’ve had since the retreat, I believe God answered that prayer!

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On Friday night, Shelby taught from Psalm 51, challenging us with the importance of repentance. He pointed out the difference between grace: a gift given that we don’t deserve, and mercy: judgment withheld that we do deserve.  He helped us identify idols in our lives. Fill in the blank: I can’t live without _______!  He called us to cultivate humility because “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). And we all know that we need more grace! The good news for all of us is that God never rejects a broken heart (Psalm 51:17). He doesn’t want us to try harder, but to humble ourselves asking for the grace and mercy we desperately need. After small group discussions, we ended the evening with wings from chef Amanda and snacks (thanks, Randy!). Some guys stayed up late to play games while others headed to bed. Those who heeded the warning to avail themselves of the provided ear plugs had a good night’s sleep.

After a delicious breakfast Saturday morning (stuffed French toast casserole, eggs, sausage and yogurt bar), Shelby led the second session from Jesus’s stark teaching in Luke 14:25-33. True dedication to Jesus is a call to renounce everything else, making him the Lord of not just “our stuff” -- but also: our opportunities, gifts, career, free time, smart phone use, and relationships. In fact, compared to utter dedication to Jesus, all our other binding relationships (parents, children, and even our spouse) should look like hate! If this sounds too hard, it means we just don’t know Jesus well enough yet. He invites all of us to something better.

Shelby pointed out that self-focused people are the most miserable in the world. Because of all Jesus endured for us (see Philippians 2:5-8), He will not call you to go somewhere that He hasn’t already gone. Although as American Christians we are often focused on “our rights,” Shelby challenged us that this leads to an arrogant entitlement mindset when the Bible calls us to see that we’ve been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). –  God owns us! And He is loving, trustworthy, and good -- so we are safe to relinquish “our rights” to Him. In doing so, we discover the Christian life is not comfortable, but transformational! After another small group time and great meal (burrito bar and homemade cookies), we spent a couple of hours roaming the camp, playing in the new gym, and getting to know each other better.

In our final session, Shelby challenged us with the importance of God’s justice. Without the cross, God’s love cost Him nothing! Tying this together with the themes of the previous talks, Jesus needs to be both Savior and Lord. Drawing on the contrast between the obstinate thief (along with the religious leaders), and the penitent thief (Luke 23:32-43), Shelby asked, “Which thief are you?!” He pointed to the glorious hope that even in our worst moments -- like the thief on the cross -- Jesus looks at us and says, “Yes! I’ll take him!”

In response, we’re invited to make the singular goal of our lives to please our loving, heavenly Father. Shelby left us with three things to pray for every day:

  1. Help me to know that I am a man of intense, desperate need.
  2. Please bring avenues of grace into my life to help in my need today.
  3. Humble me to receive an avenue of grace when it comes along.

Final word: In Christ, we are invited to be transformed and to be agents of transformation in the lives of others!

We concluded our time together with another small group session and dinner before we headed home. – MEN: If you couldn’t make it – plan to join us next year!  If you are interested in planning for the retreat, and other men’s activities – let me know: dwhite@slpca.org

Special thanks to Dave Calamaro, Scott Hegman, Sam DiBernardo, Scott Orthey, Russ Mehrtens, Brendan Hodkinson, and Mike Martin for leading us in worship!

 

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