2009 Men’s Retreat @ Ridgecreat

November 6-8

Session 1 – Friday Night 1 – Missionary Speaker Evan Evans

http://www.cmalliance.org/worker/evans-evan-jewel

Evan bought us a report on what amazing things God is doing in Dakkar, Africa and the surrounding area. Dakkar is near the Gold Coast. Much of the ministry work flows out of the Matthew 16:18 statement “…on this Rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.” One of the tools being used in Dakkar with hugely successful results is getting the students and children of missionaries involved in the ministry on the front lines, ministering directly with other youth and their friends. Who better can relate to a young person than another young person? Not only are they bringing the good news of Christ and His salvation to the kids & teens, they are getting them actively involved in building the brick and mortar of the buildings themselves. Their main ministry center was a school building. Due to the civil war in that region, they were actually caught between the cross-fire. French troops actually had to provide cover in order to evacuate the people trapped in the school.

Dakkar and the surrounding area is 98% Muslim. But that is changing as God’s word is penetrating the hearts and lives of the people who live in the region. Some of the aspects of the spread of the gospel include:

· Kids and their hunger to build the church, both literally and spiritually

· Teens are opening doors for African pastors

· Muslim leaders are asking how “they” can be like the Christians because of the effectiveness of the work being done

· One woman who was the wife of a tribal leader was possessed by pagan spirits (Demons); she came to be redeemed in Jesus, and became a witness to her entire village by her changed lifestyle; this change impacted the tribal elders in such a profound way that they gave their lives to Jesus – Her witness sparked what I will call a “New Birth revival” in the area with hundreds of people coming to know Christ personally as a result of the difference I her life; a woman dedicated to pagan gods, to be literally used, abused, and thrown onto the trash heap of life had her chains broken by the power of the Living Word, and the evil spirits no longer could possess her, and the people who knew her and knew this were just in awe of the total change of her life, and she didn’t revert or go back

God is converting all different kinds of people in towns and cities all over the landscape of the Dakkar region. Literally hundreds and hundreds are being converted as the church grows. And they take Jesus into the huts of their communities and share Christ with their families and friends, and bring them into the church, and then the process is repeating itself.

Satan is on the defensive. God wants us to be on the offensive- not in the sense of being repulsive to others, but in the sense that we boldly go and proclaim through our lifestyle and actions the love and truth of Christ and speak to those around us on our personal mission fields. We can take advantage of the opportunities we have every day.

I am reminded of the quote from St. Francis of AssisI….something like “Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.”

Two other examples of the inadequateness of man in trying to stop the spread of the gospel:

1. A man was put in solitary confinement in the prison he was in. He converted 8 people to Christ while he was in solitary. How did he do this? Well, in the prison cell, the only other thing there is a toilet. Normally, there would be water or whatever running through the pipes, but not in this prison, it’s mostly just air or whatever. So think about it, if you speak into it, wherever the air flows, the sound is gonna come out. So this man preached, and 8 others heard the good news and responded.

2. In one other incident, they were getting ready to start a construction project for a new building. The people of the town were not wanting another church to be built on this location. So they got the representatives of the people to go to the judge (or magistrate) in an effort to stop the construction. Of course, you think of Nehemiah and the enemies of Israel trying to stop construction of the city wall and the house of God. But there is only one catch – they weren’t actually going to be building a church there, but the townspeople didn’t know that. So when they (the ministry) were told about the complaints, they stopped the construction and went to see the magistrate, the town elders are saying basically that they didn’t want a church built on the particular location in question. They said look, if you just don’t build a church on that location, we’ll actually give you a piece of property outside the town to build on. Now mind you, the ministry doesn’t have the rights to this property outside the town. So basically, they went ahead and agreed to the request because they were not building a church there. They were building a parsonage, or home for a pastor. So they go to build this pastoral home, and got a free piece of property in the process and now there is a church they would not have had built on that property. Amazing.

Session 2 – Friday Night 2 – Josh McDowell

Http://www.Josh.Org

Josh gave us his personal testimony to the power of God, even working in the heart of a non-Christian. As a young man, he wanted to kill his father because his dad was a drunk, and beat Josh’s mother. His mother died 1 week after his high school graduation of a broken heart (literally, Josh supposes) because of his father.

He was challenged at college to examine the claims of Christ and the Bible. So he accepted the challenge & tried to prove them false. What he ended up proving to himself was that God was who He said He was, and that Jesus was also who He said He was.

God is passionate for us. Exodus 34:14 backs that up. His love is proactive, sacrificial, and all knowing (omniscient). This struck a fear in Josh because of his earthly father, and the inaccurate picture he projected onto the Heavenly Father. But what he learned through the experience was that “HE WHO KNOWS ME BEST, LOVES ME MOST.” This is a truth Josh says the Holy Spirit taught him.

He came to eventually love his father after he became a Christian. And one day he came home from the hospital after a car accident, he father was actually sober. That day his father was won over to the Lord by Josh’s own life conversion.

Josh revealed that he was sexually abused by another male authority figure. This scarred him as a young man, and the scars ran very very deep into his core. This memory was so deeply ingrained that it is triggered if people lay hands on him to pray for him because of the method of how he was abused – it started with a hand being placed on his shoulder. So he refuses this action for those who wish to pray over him because it is too painful a memory. He came eventually to forgive that man because by faith he knew God’s Word commanded it and trusted it would be true that forgiveness would free him.

A more detailed version of Josh’s testimony is available here: http://www.christianstoriesonline.com/josh_mcdowell.html

Session 3 – Saturday Morning 1 – Crawford Loritts

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/resources/author-index/a/Crawford_Loritts

http://www.moodyradio.org/livingalegacy.aspx

Dr. Crawford Loritts is a nationally known Bible speaker, author, and senior pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Ga. Crawford and his weekly 24-minute Bible-teaching program featuring Dr. Crawford Loritts. Each program is full of in-depth teaching, challenging lessons, and practical applications—all grounded firmly in the Bible. The goal of this program is to bring about spiritual awakening and maturity in the body of Christ through a clear message from God’s Word.

Crawford spoke to us about the Four Characteristics of Leadership, specifically Christian Leadership.

Men need to be re-affirmed and reminded of who they are – in contrast, women are reminded every month who they are.

Men have a God-given responsibility to lead in one or multiple areas of their lives. For those who are married, this is non-negotiable – you are a leader whether you want to be or not.

TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP – God ends up here

TRANSFRMATIONAL LEADERSHIP – God starts here

God is in to LEADER development before He is in to LEADERSHIP development.

In the Bible, leadership is an assignment – great men of faith like Gideon, Abraham, Joshua, Noah, David, etc. all had this assignment from God, given specifically to them. There is no commonality to who God chose except that He chose them. But, they are characterized by four things.

1. Brokenness

a. Proactive surrender – for example, Moses, when called, was broken an resisting because he felt he was inadequate

b. Acute awareness of my own sinfulness – David confessed to God , “..against You only have I sinned…” after the prophet Nathan confronted him with his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah

2. Uncommon Communion (with God)

· God uses the assignment we are given to grown our development and dependence on Him. It’s all about the glory of God, hence the weight is too much to bear without Him. We feel like we’re in over our heads. God alone fills the gap of our inadequacy. For example, Moses was overwhelmed with the responsibility of leading Israel, which is why he met with God at the Tent of Meeting on a daily basis.

3. Servanthood as an Identity, Not a Strategy

a. Do not Serve to get stuff back for yourself

b. God’s leaders led (and still lead) from integrity not from power. They led (and still lead) using power sparingly. The less you use, the more you have…

4. Radical Immediate Obedience

· God’s leaders were stewards of the assignments and they had to show up. It was not an option for them. We don’t have to be successful in the eyes of the world, but we do need to be obedient to God.

Session 4 – Saturday Morning 2 – Crawford Loritts

Courage – There is no leadership apart from courage.

Three aspects of leadership are:

1. It’s loneliness

2. It’s lonely at the top…

3. Leaders fear, but that fear drives the in a particular direction (e.g., Abraham was led away from Ur to the land of Israel)

If you look at Joshua chapter 1, you see several times where God speaks directly to Joshua and commands him to be strong and courageous. Remember – he was Moses right hand man, leading the battles they fought against every enemy they faced. Now Moses, his mentor and friend, has died. God places the mantle of leadership upon him.

There is a 4-fold description of courage

1. Clear assignment from God – implementation on the plan is courage

2. Assurance of God’s continual presence

3. Focused determination

4. Resourced by the Word of God

Biblical success is defined in Joshua 1:8

1. Proclaim it

2. Possess it

3. Practice it

Session 5 – Saturday Afternoon – Josh McDowell

Focus of this session was on the reliability of the New Testament

Key questions:

· Is the New Testament the same document today as 2000 years ago?

· Did Jesus really say that?

· Testing the authenticity: is it accurate? (Keep in mind that the original “paper” it was written on would perish or disintegrate over time.

1. What is the timeline from the original manuscript to the closest copy you have?

a. Fewer copies means fewer errors

b. Internal New Testament evidence demonstrates it was written within 50 years of the time the events occurred, and external sources corroborate this

c. External New Testament evidence has uncovered 24,633 copies, which mean if you compare them to the original and to each other, and they agree, there is a high degree, or percentage of what is called “pure text”. In this comparison, the NT is demonstrated to be 99.5% pure test.

2. Did it really happen? There are 4 lines of reasoning

a. Eyewitness accounts

i. Writers of the NT were either eyewitnesses or the scribe of an eyewitness

ii. Eyewitness accounts are the most reliable

iii. Many of the authors died for what they wrote

b. They appealed to their (original) readers own experiences of who Jesus was

i. Errors would have been falsified immediately

ii. Lies would not have been allowed to be perpetuated because the books would never have been accepted into the final cannon of scripture

c. Would you die for a lie?

i. The apostles and disciples of Jesus were tortured and killed for their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ

ii. People believe what they die for (even if it is a lie)

iii. None of the early martyrs ever denied the resurrection, even on penalty of death

d. Would you die for a great cause?

i. The apostles/disciples cause was a man who had already died (on a cross, no less) – He was later resurrected, of course

ii. Jews (incorrectly) believed in 2 Messiahs, each coming one time instead of a single Messiah coming twice

Session 6 – Saturday Evening - Josh McDowell

Focus of this session was on The Making Of An Individual

Scripture List

Psalm 26:3

Psalm 86:11-13

John 13:15

Philippians 3:17

I Thessalonians 2:8

I Thessalonians 1:5

Romans 15:18

Jeremiah 31:3

Speak truth in love

· Truth without relationship leads to rejection

· Rules without relationship leads to rebellion

To impart values, you must:

1. Develop a loving, intimate relationship in love

2. Model that love

The Gospel + Relationship = Souls Won for Christ

Know and pray for your kids and their teachers

Statistical probability of kids turning to drugs/alcohol/destructive behaviors/etc.

· For those who have a good to excellent relationship with their father < 6%

· For those who have a single parent/mother-only relationship 30%

· For those with a poor to fair relationship with their father 68%

INTIMACY – The capacity to be “real” with another person

· Kids don’t want perfection – they want intimacy

HUGH HEFNER – never mentions his father – only once has he mentioned his mother – he knew his mother loved him, but never told him – so he got his [false] ideas about love from movies

The greatest heritage you can leave is for kids & grandkids to see true love modeled between a godly dad & mom, or granddad & grandmom

Session 7 – Saturday Morning – Fort Bragg Chaplain Tim Lever

Spiritual needs can be larger than the physical danger

Pray for chaplains by name

· For strength and safety

· For the soldiers in their charge

· For bonding between brothers

· For leadership, including General Patraeus, who is a Christian man

· For wives of the men who may be deployed (note: there are spousal retreats for women of those deployed)

· For new chapels and new programs to reach the lost

Session 8 – Sunday Morning - Josh McDowell

The 7 A’s - Building Relationships That Transform

· There is no guarantee to parenting

· It’s never too late to start where you are

· Some children are born hard to raise

The Chinese government is teaching the following principles in their schools – except without the scripture references:

1. Affirmation – ROMANS 12:15 – “Build A Bridge” – I am not a victim

2. Acceptance (unconditional) – ROMANS 15:7 – balance this with #3

3. Appreciation – MATTHEW 3:17 – this gives a person a sense of significance – it takes 20 compliments to offset 1 negative comment (just to break even)

4. Availability – MATTHEW 19:13-14 – this is the sense of importance

5. Affection – JOHN 15:12 – this provides a sense of lovability – this can be done verbally, or with appropriate physical expression

6. Approach their world – I CORINTHIANS 13:5 – this shows you care about what they do

7. Accountability – ROMANS 14:12 – “reasonable limits” – this gives a sense of responsibility