HMYG Winter Retreat Notes

Recently I went to a retreat with a new church of mine. The experience was like nothing I had felt before. The following are the notes that I took during this time. I hope helps, encourages, reminds or just affects you in any way. God Bless <3

Night Worship 1

How does God view us? In Genesis chapter one, it’s clearly stated that man was made in God’s image. The image we perceive/attempt to attain is very self-centered and derives directly from the society in which we live in. Instead of our image being centered around us, we need to centralize our identity around Jesus Christ.

So how do we introduce ourselves? Simply put, we are children of god.

Bible Verses:

Genesis 1:27 à ²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:37 à ³¹God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Morning Sermon 1

Exodus 3:11-15 à ¹¹But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" ¹²And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." ¹³Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" ¹⁴God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" ¹⁵God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

Verses 11 and 13 are very important. These verses reflect our questions in life. What can I do for God? And Can I do this for God? Any job that we have, we can have a calling. As Christians, our job is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we do this, and give our lives to Christ, he’ll take care of the rest.

Matthew 6:19-34 à ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²²"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ²⁴"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. ²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

In order to remind us of this true calling, God sent Jesus Christ as a living embodiment of his grace.

My Own QT Notes, Based on 2DIE4- Most of this is out of context, and might not make sense. But, take from it what you will.

We will always face persecution and death for God’s namesake.

Do Whatever it takes to let him draw near to you. ß This is very imp!

1^st John 2:16 à ¹⁶For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.

We need to separate ourselves from the world.

Jesus already won the battle w/Satan,

Jesus won the battle with the world,

And with Jesus’ help you can win the battle with yourself.

Read this on your own if your so inclined:

Hebrews 2:14, John 16:11, 1^st John 3:8, James 4:7

We need to crucify our own flesh. Galatians 5:24 à ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

More on this: Romans 8:13, Galatians 5:16-18

It’s about him not me me me. Don’t submit nor be forceful with others. Don’t wimp out from duties. Don’t beat yourself up because God gets all the glory. Don’t reject his blessings either. Don’t follow negative rules (of the world) but rather strive to keep the relationship with God. (Remember, out of context this sounds a bit weird, ask me if you want to know more about what I just said here)

Surrender your flesh to God. This means keeping your life-focus on Jesus. You need to come clean to him about how needed you are (we are). Look out for others, let someone else go first, speak up for what is right, forgive, and be patient. Ignore dirty jokes, change the channel, or avert your eyes. Above all, Live with Integrity.

Night Sermon 2

Live life in the name of the living God. The story of this sermon was David and Goliath. What this was used to represent was that we cannot get discouraged. Even our biggest phobias (of chickens) can be overcome with God backing us up.

1^st Samuel 17:45 à ⁴⁵David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

Here, the living God was with David. Even if all odds are against us, we must be strong and courageous. In Samuel 17:26, and 36, the words “in the name of the lord” are repeated.

Joshua 1:9 à ⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Mark 1:9-10 à ⁹At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

Morning Sermon 2

God doesn’t save our pasts, but instead redeems it. He also walks with us at 3mph. 3mph is the average walking speed at which humans walk. One day, a lady who was bleeding for 12 years saw Jesus walking down the road with all of his followers. She had heard of his great works and crawled over and touched his robe. In that instant, her bleeding stopped. Here Jesus said “Your faith has healed you.” It’s this faith in Jesus that cleans us from the dirtiness that we all have. Not one of us is the perfect Christian. We’re all in the same boat. This is why you shouldn’t judge. It’s all about Jesus. Remember, he bench pressed all of our sins.

Last Night Sermon

Be fruitful and multiply by being a light.

People love to share stories. Holgie JDSN went to Denny’s with the X-Men. They all prayed together and even got on of the guys to preach in the middle of that Denny’s. At the end, only one person got up and asked them about it. This one person is worth it for what they did.

Genesis 1:28 à ²⁸God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

This is a redemptive history. In Genesis 9:7 (⁷As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.") God assigned this task to other people. Adam and Eve failed to do this. Noah failed to do this. Even the Israelites failed to do this. But Christ on the other hand, fulfilled this. It’s our duty to tell the world. Do not be afraid to tell.

Last Morning Sermon

“You have little faith.”

We need water-walking faith. Jesus wants us to walk on water. All we need to do is have faith and not look down. Water-walking faith.

My Short Testimony

I came to the retreat wanting to do whatever it took to get closer to God. This first night, I had a lot of reservations, and was just so unemotional about it all. During the second day, I fasted. I fasted because I wanted to really rely on God and intensify my prayers. During the Labyrinth however, I became angry because I felt that there were so many contradictions and dead ends in Christianity, and that God was not helping me one bit in my endeavor. I entered worship with a cold heart. But when the sermon ended, I felt God’s voice speaking to me. I remember what I had gone to the retreat for, and began to pray. It was this night God spoke to me and said that you are a child of mine. His answer didn’t come to me in a deep voice, but through sermons and the word. He told me that I was his son and I had really nothing to worry about if I trusted in him. It was this night that I realized that it wasn’t God not talking to me, but my own fault for not attempting to listen to him. I wanted to just sit there and wait for God to come to me. This whole time though, I should have been chasing after him like I did for this retreat. P.U.S.H. man, push. The next day was so much nicer. I felt like a giant weight had been lifted, and I decided then that I really wanted to make the biggest effort to start a new life over. That night was the last night of the retreat. At first when I prayed I cried, for what I had done wrong in the past. Soon after though, I began to laugh. And I couldn’t control it whatsoever. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I even went to pray for a friend, and she eventually laughed with me too. I had never felt this happy in my life before. I was laughing because of God’s amazing grace. He has given us so much and it was just so joyful to me to have everything click. God just filled me up with Joy and it came out as laughter. My main testimony is that, if you really want something to happen, God will exceed those expectations, and break you down. You try to stand tall, and say that you don’t need him, that you don’t want to listen to what he has to say, but he’ll get to you one way or another. It was the best retreat of my life. God has chosen me to be a soldier in his army, and he’s chosen you too. He doesn’t call the equipped, but equips the called.

Well now.

So. This is my first post.
Hrmm...
I'll put up something i scribbled down recently.

I wonder if Anyone will actually find my blog xD Hahahah~

Being the nice guy sucks sometimes. It means sacrificing some things you can’t afford to do, otherwise u wouldn’t be the nice guy. Being the nice guy means being dependable, means being the one who’s going to listen to your problems. It means being just nice. It means being able to empathize with people, and move with their ebb and flow of emotions. And I choose to do this, to be someone who can do all of this. But sometimes, people take advantage of that. And that’s what pisses me off.
Do Not, take advantage of me. Do not take me for granted. Because you don’t realize that I’m doing this out of the kindness and compassion in my heart. What’s more is that there is always a choice for me to be there, or not be there for you. There is honestly no reason for me to listen to your fucking sob story. Why should I care about you? Give me a good reason. Do It, come on. Right. There’s no reason for me to care whatsoever. Don’t you dare ever take me for granted.

I don’t necessarily like it when people ask about my personal life. I’ll let you know if I feel like it, but I’m not necessarily going to tell you when you just ask me. This little except, anecdote, whatever, is enough opening up as it is. If I want to speak to you, I will. Please, don’t think that I’m mad at you in particular, because I’m not necessarily mad at you, but maybe at you. I am much more thankful, and I appreciate the fact that you are there for me to talk to. I will use this. Don’t think that I’m just going to shut myself off from the world around me. I’m not. But When I’m ready, I’ll talk. Don’t try to beat it out of me. I appreciate that you are there for me, but I don’t appreciate when you are attempting to beat out what you don’t like in me.
And when I do talk, I want you to understand that like you have connected with me, I’m trying to do the same. Don’t hit my hand away. Because it might be the last time I offer it. Fucking idiot. I will punch your teeth down your throat for this one day.

You used to be superman to me. Did you know that? But you really really proved me wrong. I used to think you were open minded. That you really appreciated what I liked, and took it at face value. Bullshit. You hypocrite. Your just as close-minded as the people you hate. Your jealous, and bitter because other people have more than you do. If you wanted to be like them, why didn’t, no, why don’t you do something? Idiot.

You. I care about you, and I worry about you. And you, we don’t talk much, but I remember you. Don’t beat yourself up please. And you, I’m praying for you, really I am. It’s just hard for me sometimes to keep in touch with you, you, you, and you. Yaknow? I hope you understand, I’m sorry I can’t always be there. I’ll try harder.

I wish I could be there with the girl that I’m in love with. Just to keep her warm. Just to share all the things that she goes though. But it’s hard, and I can’t because of the fact that I’m just shackled up here in North Jersey. You’re so far away, and words can’t express how helpless I feel sometimes. It’s hard to believe all the stuff that you read and see, and about how Love will find a way. But I’m still believing. It’s hard, but I am. Trust me.

It’s hard. Yaknow? Yeah. You do know don’t you. We’ll get through this together, won’t we? You’ll carry me, wont you? You’ll drag me, kicking and screaming, But we’ll make it through. Right? Right. You’re always right. Always.