Dew Crew Retreat 30/4 to 2/5

Over the Labour Day holidays... the Dew Crew had it's annual trip/retreat... we had loads of fun and a reflective time..

I'll blog more with pictures about what happened here and there.. but more importantly.. we had Pastor Mike to share with us from His heart specifically what we as a Service oriented ministry should consider as we continue to serve.. We had altogether 3 sessions.. these were the notes I gathered from the 1st Session.

Do read and drink deep..

Session 1 : Value Systems

Opening prayer:
God has enlisted us, adopted us
And God in your love u brought us in.
Let us consider what is revealed to us. Speak clearly to us.
Let us hear the voice of a loving father. Change our filters and see Him for whom He truly is.

Luke 15 - Prodigal Son
Investigate this parable
We might miss the point about this parable.
We might have worn out the "grass" on this passage. Read from the beginning the passage


There is a structure to chapter 15, pick it out.

My own observation:
Lost Sheep
- what if he lost the 99. what would happen if he came back and 1 more got lost? Never ending story
- how did he ask them to rejoice with him? Extravagantly? Did he have roasted lamb? :P
- did he count the self righteous, unrepentatnt unworthy to be saved

Lost Coin
- How much did she spend on "rejoicing"?
- Does rejoicing require spending?

Lost Son
- Father was equally prodigal/extravagant in his rejoicing

The Sharing:

This was in response to the muttering of the Pharisees
'This man' - making a distinction between themselves and sinners.
What were they saying about Jesus? They could have been implying that Jesus being one of the sinners. As only sinners associate with sinners.

Jesus' response. 3 parables in succession.
What JC was doing in reflection of the Father.
Pharisee's missed what was being shared.

Out of 100, 1 was lost -1% loss
Out of 10, 1 was lost - 10% loss
Out of 2, 1 was lost -50% loss
All rejoicing the rejoicing was done for over the 1 that was found

100 - 10 - 2
Sheep - Coin - Person (Sons)

Rhetorical questions...

Sheep - "Does he not leave the 99" - Implies a condition "Isn't it obvious?"
Coin - "Does she not" - the value is so great that you would expend a great amount of energy


However in the 3rd parable there is No rhetorical question..
Son - BUT JC does not say "Does he not" - JC sets up a twist in the story to setup the Pharisees.

You can recognise the value of sheeps and coins,
But don't you think that the Father can recognise the value of lives.

Paraphrasing it "See you can all rejoice when sheep and coin are found, but you can't rejoice when a person is found"

We forget the value of the individual, the thing/object over the person
We're prone to this due to fallen nature.
We devalue the human things over the material things.
People are still more important.
You rejoice over things, but not over people?

*End of the 1st Lesson * - It has to do with a wrong value system.

Consider the 3rd parable, the Father did not walk to search for the Son.

What are the Differences between these parables.

- Shepherd & woman owns sheep and coin
- Sheep can't find it's way back
- Coin unable to act on it's own to come back


Father has 2 sons, did not own the sons.
Son acted on it's own to come back, because he has ability to come back.
Father was looking out for his son, anticipation for his return, did not go out to search.
Father saw him and ran towards him. The son owned himself, he had to come home on his own.

The Father didn't stop when the son came back, he had MORE!

The elder brother became jealous, compared, refused to celebrate, bitter, evident when he said "This son"

Father's response
- my son, not servant
- you are with me
- all i have is yours, didn't have to be given, it's yours
- let's celebrate

what was the original motivation, the story to the pharisees
?

To reveal the perspective of the pharisees
and correct it to show them who God cared about.

The elder son, like the Pharisees.. needed a correction in their perspective of who they are.
It is
not that the Pharisees were bad guys, they just tried to OBEY the law.
They wanted to obey the law so much they created stricter laws in order not to exceed God's laws. They wanted God to be on their side. So they obey the laws they created so that they could have the good things.

As Christians, we have the possibility to become the elder brother.

Something wrong about the elder brother
- he didn't have the commendable attitude to the younger brother
- didn't have a correct perspective of the father
- while he was there, he never enjoyed any of it.
- so who was sadder?
- "I did all the right things.. now you owe me!
"

Elder bro - not enjoying his RIGHT-ness
Younger bro - enjoying his WRONG-ness

Scarcity Mentality - Even if you less or more.. still a threat to themselves.
Abdundancy Mentality - it's ok no matter what.

Those in service mentality can have this elder bro mentality
"Do more so my father will be pleased with me"

Your standing & position before God has nothing to do with what you do. It's because of who you are.
Do more does not equate to being Loved more


When the pressure is on.. know where your value lies.
YOur value lies in WHO YOU ARE!!!


What would happen if we lost our value by the value of our contribution.
If I were not able to do anything for you Lord, what would you think of me, what would i think of me?
What is my VALUE?

Closing Prayer:

Strive to please Him more than ever, with who I am and not for what I am.
He still loves me more no matter what.
Do not consider our son-ship something to be earned.

Do more out of love.
Don't do more out of commitment to please.
Your value lies in you.
Parable is not for the lost, but also for those who stay.

**END of Session 1*