What to Bring List

BIBLE

Note book

Pen

Boots or shoes suitable for snow

Several pair of Warm socks (double up while skiing)

We are staying in a nice cabins there is no need for you to bring sheets or towels

Toiletries- (bath stuff, chap-stick toothbrush)

Head and ear warmer (toboggan)

Insulated Jacket that is water resistant

WATERPROOF ski pants or ski bibsFace protection *(a rubberized ski face-mask called a Gator is popular on the mountain. [Optional])

Money for a meal on the way up and back

Clothes for 3 nights 4 days

suitable clothes for evening worship service

Watch (so you will be on time)

Waterproof Gloves

GOOD ATTITUDE

Cell phones (will be taken up before we leave and will only be used to contact parents)

What not to Bring List

Cigarettes

Dip

Chew

Alcohol

Electronic equipment ( i-pod, psp, Mp3, and all other abbreviated electronic devices)

CDs

Beepers

Weapons

Matches

Drugs

Secular entertainment

This is a retreat where we will be separating ourselves from any such influences

On Superbowl Sunday, my dad was burning leaves and boxes behind our pool and along the fence line of our yard and our neighbor’s. Later, he decided he needed to go to the store to buy food for the Superbowl party. He drove around and made sure the fire was out before he left. Well, a few minutes after he was gone, my stepmom and I heard our neighbor scream “Help!” We ran outside to find her yard, front and back, on fire and it was getting close to her house. It wasn’t an “out of control” fire or anything, but there was one problem, her water hose caught on fire with her yard and our hose wouldn’t reach. The fire department got there and everything was fine minus some rattled nerves. It turned out that the one corner my dad didn’t check was the one that started the fire in our neighbor’s yard. This goes to show that the things we do wrong in our lives not only hurt us when we don’t get rid of them, but they also effect those around us. Is there one little thing in your life that you forgot to check because you figured it would leave on its own when you got rid of everything else? Examine your life and don’t cut corners, because what started out as a small problem will grow and it will not only burn up your life, but possibly the lives of the people you are close to as well.

Not too long ago the Power Team came to Douglasville. They went to 29 schools and gave inspirational speeches. At night they performed at another local church and then they could include God in their act unlike at the schools. I was there one night and with my 5 year old cousin, I watched as they tore through phone books and bent steel and broke bricks with their heads. He was in awe of everything they could do and told his mom that he wanted to grow up and be a member of the Power Team. Well, this got me thinking. You know they have to work really hard to develop the muscles they have. Probably hours and hours at the gym, eating the right things, and with the motivation from other members around them,they are able to do all of this. Well what if we as children in Christ tried this with our spiritual life? What if we let Christ into our lives and spent time in His Word? Or listened to the right kind of music? Or even tried to encourage those in our youth group who are going through a tough time? If we would put Christ into our lives, then we will be able to do all things and overcome our problems through Him.

John 4: 28-29, 39-42

Previously in John chapter 4, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well and asked her for a drink. He began to share with her about living water, and then confronted her about her sin issue of adultery. However, at the end of their conversation, the Samaritan woman knows she met the Messiah and immediately she left her water jar and ran to tell her Samaritan friends about Jesus.

The woman’s friends left with her to find Jesus and asked Him to stay with them for two days. After the two days, they told the Samaritan woman the most amazing thing,

“We no longer believe because of what you have said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is really the Savior of the world.” John 4: 42

When are we going to be able to say that? My faith in God should not be because Bro. Ric says He is real or because Mom and Dad or Grandma says He is real or because someone else spiritual says God is real. I should have faith in God because I know that He has spoken to me and saved me, and because I have heard His calling on my life. Taking our faith to the NEXT LEVEL is believing God because HE SAYS HE IS REAL and because HE SAYS HIS WORD IS TRUE.

It’s just like the old hymn says, “I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.”

We should need no other opinion; it should be enough for us that God says He is real and that He died for me!

Another Challenge: Take your faith to the next level by trusting Jesus with an issue that only God and you know about. He will show you the way. Make Jesus real to you because HE says He is Real!

John 4: 1-26

Wow, I wonder what I would say if I met Jesus at the water fountain one day at school, especially if He asked me to give Him a drink and I didn’t have a cup! Such a thought makes me wonder, would I recognize Jesus, or would I be like the Samaritan woman that had no clue it was the Messiah?

Hopefully I would be able to recognize Jesus, and I would do whatever I could to give Him a drink of water. However, that leads me to think about all of the times that people cannot recognize Jesus in me. We make Jesus unrecognizable in our lives when we let Satan get a hold of our hearts and deceive us into sin.

I can’t imagine how embarrassed I would be if a man at the water fountain began telling me about all of my sin that I thought I had hid secret in the depths of my heart. But the hard truth is, Jesus is not just a man and we cannot hide anything from Him, no matter how much we think we can. Just like the Samaritan woman had a personal encounter with Jesus, every time we open our Bibles, go to church, sing worship songs, or have a prayer time, we can also have a personal encounter with Jesus. We have to be willing to accept His living water and let Him penetrate our hearts so we can get rid of the sin we hold “hidden”.

Therefore, I pose a challenge. Every time you take a drink of something, go to the water fountain, open your Bible, take a shower, or do whatever you do, ask yourself: “Would someone be able to recognize Jesus in me and what would Jesus have to say to me at the water fountain?”

I got to thinking about practice other day and what hard work is. What does practice mean?1. to do something customarily 2. carry out, apply 3. to perform or work at repeatedly so as to become proficient

When I was in school I ran track. I want to tell you a little secret ….I hated running…HATED it. Oh, how I loved the competition though. I loved the day of competition and knew that all that running during the week had prepared me for that meet. I spent countless hours on the track …for one race, one jump, one throw. Why did I do all of that practice you ask? Because I wanted to be the best. I wanted to be the best long jumper, triple jumper, hurdler, and runner that had ever walked through the gate of that track. Was I? Nope…but I strived to be the best that I could be.

How does this relate to my Christian life? If I want to be the best Christian I can be…I gotta work hard. I have to put in long hours of “practice” and do things that I may not want to do. You may have to give up some things…like habits, friends, places you go, boyfriends/girlfriends, attitudes…well the list could go on. The bottom line is this; the Christian life is hard work, practice, dedication and persistence.

Even though I didn’t like to run…I did, because I wanted to be the best. If I went a week without running, I could tell and so could my competitors. I found this quote and so could relate with it on a sports level, but even more on a spiritual level:

Rubenstein, the great musician said, “If I omit practice one day, I notice it, if two days, my friends notice it, if three days, the public notices it.”

If we omit our quiet times and spending time in prayer one day it shows. That is why it is so important to spend time with the Lord. That is how you build your relationship with him.

If we want to live for Christ in a bold way and walk with Him like we never have before, it is going to take some hard work and practice. No one naturally just walks with God…they have to work at it and spend time developing their walk. Ted Williams, baseball superstar of 40′s & 50′s was known as a “natural hitter.” Once was asked about this natural ability and replied, “There is no such thing as a natural born hitter. I became a good hitter because I paid the price of constant practice, constant practice.”

Pray this week that you would do the hard work that is involved in growing your Christian faith and “practice” constantly!

Would you even Try?Matthew 14:22-33Key verse Matthew 14:29²⁹And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. A lot of people say well peter had very little faith and that they can’t believe that he would doubt when Jesus was right in front of him. At least he went onto the water. None of the others even tried. In my last devotion I talked about faith as a grain of mustard seed. I like to talk about faith because I think it is what we struggle with most, I know I do. My question for you is would you even try? Even though Jesus was right in front of them Peter was the only one that had enough faith to step out of the boat. Would you have enough faith to step out of the boat [out of your comfort zone] or would you be like the other disciples?

Faith AS a Grain of Mustard SeedMatthew17:20, Matthew 17:23, Mark 11:23, and Luke17:5-6Key VerseLuke 17-6 And the Lord said, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea; and it should obey you. When you get saved you start out with a little tiny bit of faith and as you read and study God’s word it gets bigger and stronger. You can’t start out with faith that can move mountains you start out small and grow into that kind of faith, if you stay in the word of God and study it. We start out on milk and then we get to the meat of the word we can’t start on the meat just like a baby can’t start out on solid food there body can’t handle it. As they grow they move on to solid food just like we start out on the milk of the word because our spiritual body can’t handle the meat of the word. As we grow we have to move on to the meat or we can’t grow. If you have been saved for a while but haven’t been studying the word of God you have to start out like someone that has just gotten saved, just because you have been saved for a while but haven’t been in God’s word you can’t jump right into the meat of the word you have to start out with the milk and then move on to the meat. You don’t want to be spoon fed like a baby all your life. Don’t you want to have faith that can move mountains, I know I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get rid of it

Matthew 5:29-30 ²⁹And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
³⁰And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

These verses say to pluck out your eye and to cut off your hand. Now if you ask me that sounds painful! That is not what it is really talking about. That does not mean it will not be painful, it means if you got something keeping you from serving God get rid of it! That could be anything from friends to popularity or even possessions; anything that takes time away from God is the “eye” that needs to be plucked out or the “hand” that needs to be cut off. God wants you to get rid of the things that hinder you from serving Him and to be honest I think you do to because as the Bible says “it is profitable for them that one member should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell.” I don’t think any of us want to go to Hell and God doesn’t want us to either. I want to challenge you to find out if there is anything keeping you from God and if there is get rid of it (for good).

1 Cor 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Whatever we do. That does not leave anything out. You may say I studied really hard for my grades, who created your mind? You may say I practiced for hours on the piano, guitar, drums, who gave you the talent? You may say your singing, your job, your basketball skills, your football skills, ect. who gave you the money, the time, the talent. Who created the world to do all of these in? Sometime we get things so easy we don’t think about how we got them or where they came from. Some of you are saying I got them from my parents, but who gave it to them. God forms us in the womb. He provides you an education. He gave you the talent. He gave you the money. He gave you the time. It was all him. So when we think I am better at _________ than anyone else remember it is God not you. When is the last time you thanked God for a drink of water? When is the last time you complained about the only thing to drink at your house was water? Do all to the glory of God. We need to stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on God. The first part of the devotion the whole focus was you. You probably did not notice because it is what we hear all the time. I did this or I did that. We need to change our thinking to God allowed me to do this or God allowed me to be a part of that. Let’s start today giving God the glory for everything, big or small. Why don’t you start by thanking God for your ability to read this devotion? Thank God for giving you eyes to see this devotion. Even thank him for providing the pen to write what this devotion means to you. It is hard to get proud or boastful when you realize it is all about God.Does this mean you need to stop studying or stop practicing? NO, We need to be the best that we can be. We just don’t need to do it for ourselves or our parents or our teachers or our coaches we need to do it for God.