by Tim Nieh
Every winter quarter College Life has their biggest event of the year: college retreat. “The one weekend at College Life retreat is equal to over a year’s worth of fellowship,” says Pastor Patrick, and many can testify to the truthfulness of the statement.
College retreat is without a doubt the highlight of College Life with its crazy games, competitions, and team skits. However, the best part of every Lighthouse retreat has to be the messages. This year we had the privilege of having Pastor Mark Lim of Berean Community Church in Irvine as our speaker, and many collegians can testify to the overwhelming encouragement and challenge that each message delivered. The theme for retreat this year was “Worth It All,” a study and survey through the book of Hebrews (yes, we went through the entire book in four messages!). Though the book of Hebrews was originally written to Jews that were wavering in their faith, it is packed full of relevant and important theology as well as pressing exhortations for all believers.
Though every message was crammed and jammed with goodness I realize that typing up a summary of key points would amount to an article half the length of one of Pastor John’s sermons (maybe). So instead I’d like to share on the sermon that challenged me most during the retreat. The final message pastor Mark delivered was based on Hebrews 11-13 titled, “Show Up to the Race.” He began by reminding us that the life we live now is founded upon future promises. Too many of us believe that life is all about the here and now and we forget that the life of discipleship is also a life of faithful patience. Take Abraham and his wife Sarah for example. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a nation as numerous as the stars in the sky, but he and Sarah waited twenty-five years to receive their son Isaac. We as Christians need to develop endurance and faithfulness that have been tested through many seasons. We need a patience that is beyond this life. In addition to a steadfast spirit we are to strip away the things in our lives that weigh down the pursuit of Christ in our lives. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race set before us.”
Blatantly immoral things or direct disobedience to the commands of God may not completely destroy a life of following Christ. More subtly, the neutral things become the encumbrances that eventually weigh us down and disqualify us in our race. For example, ask a marathon runner to run a mile in sweats and he or she would have no problem doing so, but ask them to show up to a marathon race wearing sweats and they would look at you as if you were crazy. The small sins and small “weights” of our lives are those that will kill us. We are to cut away all that hinders us from Christ but not without the tender mercy and help from His Spirit. Also, we must be specific in our Christian faith. We must be specific when we confess our sins, in our fight against sin, and in our pursuit of Christ. We cannot afford to hide behind generalities. In addition we must always remember that God is not some distant Father but rather He is a personal and intimate Savior that desires to commune with us. He is after our hearts.
As for the rest of the retreat activities like the skits, competitions, and games, I’m sure any collegian wouldn’t mind elaborating on them and at the same time you can ask them about the other messages as well. Hopefully this article was able to give you a little taste of retreat as well as the book of Hebrews. Studying the book of Hebrews will bring great comfort, strength, and encouragement to any believer, so if you’re looking for your next book to study, dive into the book of Hebrews!