Jesus Christ often found the need to spend alone time with God.
Before He selects His 12 Disciples, Luke 6:12–13 (ESV) — 12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
To keep His ministry focused, Mark 1:35–39 (ESV) — 35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
And when His workload became overwhelming, Mark 6:30–32 (ESV) — 30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
At the start of our retreat we shared the stresses going on in our lives. Some of our stresses are a result of allowing ourselves to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of our world. Some were stressed because their lives had fallen into a purposeless and empty rut.
Yet, when I look at Jesus, I see Him calmly walking – with purpose. Our retreat was designed to reignite that purpose.
We were challenged to become people movers. It is our great privilege to challenge all to move from earth to heaven.
We were challenged to identify our gifts and then offer them as resources by: 1) Teaching all the whole counsel of God; 2) Working hard; 3) Kneeling down and praying with all; 4) Walking in humility before all.
We were challenged to identify our limitations – as Jethro pointed out Moses’ limitations. For instance, at Summit we are limiting our growth by having too few Elders, Deacons, and staff. We should equip ourselves to be a church of 350 or we will never break through the “glass ceiling”.
And finally, we were challenged to end well.
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Resources: David Shannon’s talk on leadership at Bear Valley and Acts 20.
