retreat booklet

Growing in Discipleship Growing in Discipleship Growing in Discipleship

YELLOW ROSE CENTER

YELLOW ROSE CENTER

YELLOW ROSE CENTER/OUTDOOR

LOCATION

INDIVIDUAL CHOICE

HILLSIDE DINING ROOM

YELLOW ROSE CENTER

HILLSIDE DINING ROOM

YELLOW ROSE CENTER/OUTDOOR

BLUEBONNET/YELLOW ROSE

YELLOW ROSE CENTER

HILLSIDE DINING ROOM OUTSIDE OF CONFERENCE CENTER

LOCATION

INDIVIDUAL CHOICE

HILLSIDE DINING ROOM

BLUEBONNET/YELLOW ROSE/BIG BIRD

YELLOW ROSE CENTER

YELLOW ROSE CENTER

HILLSIDE DINING ROOM

HYDE

Matthew 16:24

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Theme Song Theme Song Theme Song

Singspiration by Philo Fung

More Deeply

Music & Lyric by Jocelyn Huang

Oh Lord, I long to know You so completely

Experience Your pow’r and glory deeply

Reveal to me Your Purpose and open my eyes

Day by day, Lord, please make my life new

Oh shine your light and faithfulness upon me

Please lead me, Lord, into Your holy presence

For You my heart is longing, I seek You alone

I will follow wherever You lead

Tune my life to Your heartbeat

Let each breath speak Your word to me

Deeper, deeper in love with you

Oh to know Your intimately

Love and follow all my days

My heart belongs to You alone

Speaker Speaker Speaker

Brother Chuck Kwok is a Distinguished Business Partnership Foundation Fellow and Professor of International Business at the University of South Carolina. Since 1990, the International Business department at South Carolina has been consistently ranked by the U.S. News and Report among the top three International Business programs in the United States. He received his undergraduate and master degrees in Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He came to the United States in 1981 to study the doctoral program in International Business at the University of Texas at Austin. He has been teaching at the University of South Carolina since Fall 1984. He was given the International Professional Award by the South Carolina Governor, David Beasley, at the Governor’s International Gala in 1998. In December 1999, he was awarded the honor of Guest Professorship by the Peking University, PRC.

Brother Kwok and his wife Shirley Kwok are active on campus ministry, outreaching to Chinese students and scholars. They have a son, Ethan Kwok. The whole family attends the Chinese Christian Church of Columbia (CCCC), an evangelical church of about 200 people. Besides serving in various capacities at the CCCC, Brother Kwok is frequently invited to lead discipleship training, evangelistic and revival meetings, and mission conferences at various Chinese churches around the world. From 2009-2015, he served on the Board of Directors of the Ambassadors for Christ, an important Christian organization in the U.S. outreaching to Chinese intellectuals. He is currently serving as Vice President of Ambassadors for Christ. He has published a series of Discipleship DVDs: “Life Influencing Life Discipleship Training”, “How to Share Gospel Effectively?”, “How to Lead Bible Study Effectively?” and “4S: Leadership Training”. It is intended to help churches equip believers to be God-loving disciples, carrying out the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr. Chuck C.Y. Kwok

Sermon Sermon Sermon

Friday 7:30pm-8:30pm

Balanced and Joyful Life (John 15:1-5)

I. Introduction

Testimony: Dryness and Powerlessness (John 15:1-5)

II. Biblical Examples of Morning Prayer

Why did Jesus rise early to pray? (Mark 1: 35)

III. Keys to Morning Prayer

Avoid long List of Prayer Requests (Matthew 6:8)

Focus on Worship, Praise, and Desire for Love (Matthew 26:10)

IV. Benefits of Morning Prayer

Character Building (Exodus 34:29-30)

Powerful Intercession (John 15:7)

Spiritual Fulfillment (Philippians 3:8)

V. Conclusions

Testimony of an old brother (Psalms 103:1)

Matthew 16:24-27

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

1. How was the teacher-student relationship different in Jesus’ day than it is today?

2. Was Jesus asking too much?

3. What is self-denial?

4. What is the difference between being a disciple of Jesus and what you get from the world?

5. Who is your teacher?

Drawing the Strength from God (Ephesians 4:20-24)

I. Why is daily devotion important?

It is the food for the spirit. (1 Peter 2:2, Matthew 4:4)

II. Three kinds of devotion? (Parable of buffet)

1) Speed-reading

2) Studying

3) Devotion

III. By reading the Word, renew the spirit of one’s mind?

- Ephesians 4:20-24 put away your former way of life, clothe with the new self.

- Change oneself is not to deny oneself in one’s own strength, but to displace.

- Conscious vs. subconscious (the parable of psychology experiment)

IV. The process and method of devotion?

V. Good methods of devotion?

- Memorize

- Visualize

- Personalize

A doration

C onfession

T hanksgiving

S upplication (petition or intercession)

3Q Method

Pyramid method (how to talk to God using one verse)?

(Psalm 16:2)

Marriage and Parenting with Sharon & Eric Leong

Genesis 2:24

24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Ephesians 5:22-33

22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30because we are members of his body. 31“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Definition of Marriage:

Dictionary: the state of being united to a person as spouse in a legal, consensual, and contractual relationship recognized and sanctioned by and dissolvable only by law

Biblical: As first described in Genesis and later affirmed by Jesus, marriage is a God-ordained, covenant relationship between a man and a woman

Expectations of marriage

Challenges of marriage

A. Two shall become one

B. Kids

C. People change

D. Empty Nest

Covenant Relationship vs. Consumer Relationship

It takes three

Marriage is horizontal and vertical

Three key words for a marriage: “PLEASE, THANKS, SORRY!”

Proverbs 22:6

6“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”

Psalms 127:3

3Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

All kids are different – no one size fits all

Bringing up God-fearing kids – a tall order

Bringing up boys; Bringing up girls

The Art of Quarreling (Ephesians 4:25-32)

I. Communicate openly and respect each other (Ephesians 4:25)

- No “cold war”, don’t hide

- Don’t scold each other in public

II. Be angry but do not sin (Ephesians 4:26a)

- Self-control (Ephesians 4:31; Proverbs 19:19)

- Obscenities (Ephesians 4:29)

- Bodily harm

III. Do not let the sun go down on your anger (Ephesians 4:26-27)

- Resolve it before going to bed

- Do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27)

IV. Try to confront and solve the problem (Ephesians 4:32)

- Find a positive and constructive way out

- Kindness, mercy, forgiveness

V. Conclusion

Sermon Sermon Sermon

Saturday 5:00pm-6:00pm

Passing the Baton (Acts 18:1-28)

I. Life influencing life (vv. 1-5)

- Spiritual partners

- Tent-making

- Living by example

- Killing two birds with one stone

- Urgency for the Word

- Good coworkers

II. Leading the Ministry and Entrusting it Gradually (vv. 18-23)

- Leading the ministry

- Entrusting gradually

- Keep caring

III. Passing on the Baton (vv. 24-28)

- Being open-minded and teachable

- Exhorting courageously

- Passing on the Baton to the Right Person

IV. Concluding Remarks

John 13:1-17

1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. 2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” 9“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. 12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

1. Why did Jesus wash the disciples’ feet?

2. Did the disciples understand why Jesus washed their feet?

3. What example did Jesus give His disciples?

4. In reality, will people with high status wash the feet of people with low status?

5. What kind of people would do this?

Sermon Sermon Sermon

Sunday 11:00am-12:30pm

The Four Attitudes of Ministry (I Samuel 20:30-32)

I. Introduction

II. Four Kinds of Attitudes

1) Rarely Serving

- Lack of joy (John 4:14)

- Spiritual stagnation

2) Self-centered ministry

- Selective ministry

- Focus on self, ignoring the overall situation

- Comparison and Jealousy (1 Samuel 18:6-8)

3) People-centered ministry

- Easily annoyed (Luke 10:38-42)

- Focus on people’s reactions

- Complaining and calculating

4) God-centered ministry

- The ultimate goal is to glorify God (Matthew 25:39-40)

- To be persecuted for a godly life (2 Timothy 3:12)

III. Conclusion

BLUEBONNET LODGE

CHAPEL

GYM/

BIG

BASEBALL FIELD