Youth Group Winter Retreat 2009
Youth Winter Retreat 2009
January 16-18
by Sophie LaFleur
Our youth group’s winter retreat to Kansas City, KS was a blast! Of course we had a great time
goofing off and fellowshipping with one another, but undoubtedly the best part was the sessions. In a
culture where we are all so busy, it was wonderful to spend a weekend devoting our time to what really
matters—the Word of God!
The topic of the three Bible sessions was Love—how appropriate as we enter February, the love month.
But the “love” the world celebrates, displayed by red hearts and rich chocolates, is not the love that we
studied or the love that is taught in the Bible.
Chris Cox, the youth pastor at Oak Grove Baptist, our host church, taught the first session, which was
focused on the love of God. The key text was Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrated His love toward us in
that while we were first sinners, Christ died for us.” He led us through history, showing how God displayed
His love to us, and how we as mankind chose not to accept it.
Man is the only thing that God created in His image—as a reflection of Himself. When we sin (miss the
mark), we no longer reflect Him, for He is holy. This infinite offense deserves an infinite punishment, that is,
an eternity spent in hell. “But God”—whenever that phrase appears, pay attention, something BIG is about
to happen—loved us so much that He didn’t want us to be separated from Him forever. He wanted us to
spend eternity in heaven with Him because He loved us!
Now, in order to understand and appreciate this love we have to understand how sinful we are. It is not
that we are so lovable and sweet and good that God says, “Oh, they’re so wonderful! They may have a few
faults, but I think I will love them and make a way for them to live in heaven with Me!” Not at all! We, the
masterpieces of God, the creation on which He chose to bestow His image, sinned against Him, reviled
Him, chose to try and live our own way.
But even though we decided that His image wasn’t worth reflecting, He gave us another chance in His
Son, Jesus. Jesus came to earth as a baby, born of a virgin so that the human sin nature was not passed
on from an earthly father, and from His infancy, was a perfect, holy reflection of God. But men couldn’t
stand this carpenter from Nazareth, whose only “fault” was that He claimed to be God, which He was! So
they tortured and killed Him in the most gruesome and agonizing way possible—crucifixion. But we cannot
blame that generation for His death, for we are at fault as well. Every man and woman that ever was and
ever will be born is guilty of His death, for everyone has sinned, and it was our sin that nailed Him to the
cross. He bore our sins on His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24) and our sin was so awful that God
Himself turned away from His own sin, unable to look upon it.
Dr. Paul Hartog, our youth pastor, shared this quote with us, “We are more infinitely sinful than we have
ever recognized, but God is more infinitely loving than we could ever imagine.” The key to understanding
God’s love is to see how sinful we are. That He would even dare to love us—in all our depravity—shouts of
His Awesomeness! “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
What an incredible deal! All we have to do, though we have lived all our lives in sin, is to believe in Jesus,
that He died and rose again, and repent from our sinfulness, and we can have everlasting life—eternity in
heaven with God! Once we are saved, the reflection of His Holiness is restored because of Christ’s death
for us, covering our sins and causing us to stand before God!
Now that’s love, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins” (1 John 4:10)!
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows
God” (1 John 4:7). The second session was also taught by Pastor Chris, and was on the topic of our love
for other believers. “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not
practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:10). Our love for
other believers is the evidence of being a child of God. Selfless love isn’t natural. We love one another
because God showed us how to love when He gave His Son.
Lay down your life and selfish preferences. Don’t just love in speech—love in deed! Don’t be a ‘clanging
cymbal Christian’ (I Corinthians 13:1). This was a shorter session so I don’t have as many notes on the
session, but I remember Dr. Paul’s follow-up very clearly, because it was distinctly challenging. If we really
love everyone in our youth group with the love Christ showed to us…why don’t we reach out to them?
Each of us had a piece of paper and on it we wrote down what it was that was keeping us from reaching
out to those we don’t know very well. Then we wrote down what would encourage us to reach out. Dr. Paul
collected the papers and read to us the results. It was very interesting to see what kinds of things keep us
from going out of our comfort zone; things such as pride, fear of rejection, social differences, etc. But all
these things are covered by love, aren’t they? Jesus ate with known sinners (Matt. 9:10) despite the injuries
to his own reputation, and we can’t even go talk to someone with a different background than ours?
It was a very convicting discussion, and we are each trying to make the changes necessary in order to
reflect the love of God in our own lives, our youth group, and, ultimately, our whole church.
“Does love impact evangelism?” That’s how Pastor Aaron Patton started the third and final session. He
used the 1 John 4:7-10 passage to apply to the way we reach out to unbelievers. God is the source of love
(see 1st session). If we are trying to imitate God as “little Christs,” then there are five components of this
love that demands evangelism.
1. Love is Sacrificial – True love gives that which you love or value, not your extras, leftovers, or
garbage. It’s got to cost you something to be a sacrifice. Don’t let business keep you from
sacrificing; you have to sacrifice your time.
2. Love is Limitless – God gave the best, His only Son. Loving will probably cost you more than
you want to give. You need to come to the point that there is nothing that you would not give up.
3. Love is Relevant – He came where I was and did something that was meaningful, that would
actually help. You have to step out of your comfort zone and go into their world.
4. Love is Provisionary – It’s done something for us. Don’t be too busy to love.
5. Love is the Hope for Transformation – Love changes lives! There is no other change you can
really believe in!
We partner with God (how cool is that?!) in the ministry of evangelism; He is the One who opens the eyes
of their hearts. Pastor Patton shared a couple practical tips on how to evangelize. 1. Listen to people—find
them interesting. 2. Learn from them—how the world thinks, why they do what they do. When you show
them genuine, unconditional love, then they will be willing to listen to you tell them about God’s love for
them.
Love is one of the most powerful motivators. When we really understand what love looks like, it will change
our lives, if we let it. But that’s the issue isn’t it?
Will we let the love of God, demonstrated through His Son, change us and give us the ability to love
others—believers and unbelievers—with the same, unconditional, limitless, sacrificial, selfless love? We
were faced with that choice on winter retreat, and now that choice is up to you.
