Encounter at Illinois State University / ISU

Fall Retreat-Session 3-Saturday PM

The Story of the Kingdom and the Realities of Heaven

(Rm 12:2, Mk 1:15, Lk 4:18-19, Mt 20:25-28, Gal 5:22-23)

Fall Retreat-Session 2- Saturday AM

The Story of Sin and the Realities of Hell

(Col 2:13-15, Ps 8:5, Gen 2:7)

Fall Retreat-Session 1- Friday PM

The Stories we Believe and the Realities they Create

(Rm 10:10-13; 1 Jn 2:28, Philip 4:6-7, Eph 4:31-32)

Before Jesus ascends, he promises his closest disciples that they will become his witnesses.  What does it mean to be a witness for Christ?

(Acts 1:4-11, Luke 12:32, Jn 12:46, Jn 10:10, Matt 20:28, Lk 19:10, Rom 10:9-10, Acts 2:38-39, Jn 13:34-35, Matt 5:14-16, Gal 5:22+, I Peter 2:9)

Going back further into the teachings of Jesus we find a lesson on trust. “Your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom” is a little phrase that the disciples don’t understand in real time, but will be played out throughout the book of Acts.

What happens in our lives when resurrection goes from being an idea to a lived reality?

(Luke 24:13-50, Lk 11:1-4, Acts 1:1-3, Jn 20:19, I Cor 15:6, Jn 11:17-26, I Cor 15:4, Rom 6:5, Rom 6:8, 2 Tim 2:11-12, Col 2:12, Rom 6:4, Gal 2:20, Col 3:3, I Jn 5:12, Eph 2:1-7, Rom 8:11a)

God is writing a beautiful story in our lives, but sometimes our desire to be the author of our own story cuts God out of the equation.  Nicodemus points us toward the importance of having a hunger and curiosity to seek out that better Author.

(John 3:1-17, 2 Cor 5:17, Jn 7:51, Matt 16:24-25, Matt 7:7-8)

Practice 3: Wonder – What does it mean for us to regularly be taken aback by God’s glory? How can we continue to be held in wonder at the sheer scope and size of who He is? 

(Psalm 33)

God makes it very clear that He cares deeply about lost people.  This was Jesus’ mission statement, and should certainly shape our own.

(Lk 15:4-7, Jn 10:10-15, Lk 19:10, Lk 7:34, Psalm 23, 2 Peter 3:9, John 10:11, John 21, I Peter 5:1-4, Ezekiel 34, Gen 4:1-16)

We are the receivers of God’s deep blessing and grace, and yet feel slighted when we sense that others get more than their fair share of the very same thing.

(Matt 20:1-16, Gen 1-3, Rom 7:18-22, Matt 19:29-30, Ps 103:10-13, Rom 8:1, Luke 15:11-32, Heb 12:2)