I came up with a 3 session/week series for the winter retreat that I just spoke for, here are the main points or thoughts for each of the sessions. I may put everything up on the resource sharing site for PDYM, but I am not good at providing outlines for other speakers…I have my own note style, but here is the main thoughts:Session/Week 1 – Life: Stories (** This was created around a situation where the students from this group live in a small community and just faced the murder of one of their school mates **)
I. Life Stories are not Perfect:
* Main thought focuses on life’s struggles…pain…hurt…wounds, etc.
(Psalm 31:9, 10, 12) David lays out his true feelings to God…he feels shattered, forgotten, left for dead, etc. (1 Corinthians 11:23-27) Paul points out his struggles in his life and ministry)
I created this picture as a Power Point Slide as I pointed out how the game of LIFE tries to simulate the real thing on a board and that it is the “perfect world” we all make plans in our lives,
a lot of times it looks like the picture: graduate, make a lot of money, become famous, find that hot babe or gorgeous dude, buy a hue fancy house, a sports car, and live happily ever after…but since Life is not perfect its not like the game.
II. Life Stories are not Predictable:
* Main Thought: We get caught off guard with Life’s struggles. At times we do not see them coming and they have an effect on our lives. (I.E. Death)
III. Life Stories Can Have Alternate Endings:
* Main Thought – We can allow the issues of life to control us or we can do like David did and put our full trust in God (Psalm 31:14)
Session/Week 2 – Life: Connections *Main Thought: We were created to Connect- Its a natural desire and instinct.
Connection Point 1: Connection to Christ
(James 1:18; Ephesians 1:5; Galatians 4:7)
* Main Thought: We are connected by love – Its what holds us.
Connection Point 2: Connection to Community
(Romans 12:5; 1 John 1:3; 1 John 3:18-19; Acts 2:44)
* Main Thought: We are connected to love – Its what reveals us.
** Video Suggestion: Together Team Hoyt or Other
Session/Week 3 – Life: Passions
I. Exchange Passions
*Main Thought: Christ exchanges our old passions for new passions
Psalm 37:4, Galatians 2:19-20, Ezekiel 36:26
II. Clarity in Passions
* Main Thought: God created us to be passionate, and he desires that we live a life of passion after him…this can be done in various different ways. Buddhism teaches to live a life absent of all passion, but Christ came to make us passionate.
I did a run through of Jeremiah and showed how God prepared Jeremiah for a mission, something he could be passionate about (Jeremiah 1:4-5), how Jeremiah doubted the gifts and talents God gave him (vs 6) and how God clarified to Jeremiah what he had prepared him for and that he was with him…and then he equipped him (vs. 7-9) I then showed how despite oppression and opposition (Jeremiah 20:1-2) Jeremiah had become so passionate and so on fire for the mission God had prepared him for, he could not help but to live out that passion (Jeremiah 20:8-9); (Hebrew 12:29 – God consumes our lives with his passion). The final thought was that it took Jeremiah obeying and trusting for him to fully live out his life of passion, once he did that God consumed him with the new passion he gave him.
** Video Suggestion: He Is – used this to set up the thought that we cannot be passionate for a God that we do not understand who he is in our lives.
**Note: Like I said I am not great at sharing my personal notes and thought on messages, I have no problem communicating them, but providing them for others is tough, I hope you are not confused! 🙂
My email is on the side bar if you would like any further information on the series or if you want the graphics, etc.