(Slide) SESSION 1: (SLIDE) THE

IMPORTANCE OF HAVING AN
ENCOUNTER
Before anything else, I want us all to know that
this is not just any other ‘event’. This is not just
another ‘prayer meeting’ or ‘bible study
session’ or ‘vacation’. This Weekend Retreat
is a 2-nights, 2-days date with someone more
beautiful, more amazing, more powerful, more
important, more deserving… than whoever
person you can ever think of tonight.
In this Weekend Retreat, we will encounter
God and explore the many facets of His love
and plans for us. We can await in eager
expectation for God’s directions and re-
directions; and formulate the right responses
to God’s unrelenting love. With the right heart
and attitude, this encounter will definitely
impact our lives in a way that is beyond the
expectations we have tonight.
(Slide) In simpler words: EVERYTHING IN
THIS RETREAT IS ALL ABOUT JESUS AND
THE CROSS.
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WHAT IS AN ENCOUNTER?
(Slide) By definition, ENCOUNTER means to
meet face to face, unexpectedly. An
encounter involves an element of surprise, of
suddenness. It means, to meet someone or
someone in a way that you have not expected
it to be.
So, to ENCOUNTER GOD means to meet
Him face-to-face and expect that something
unexpected will happen as a result of that
encounter!
Now, because an ENCOUNTER promises
something that is unexpected, nobody can
actually say that one will have superior or
inferior experience over another. It doesn’t
matter where you are now in your walk with
Jesus; it doesn’t matter if you’ve been
religious or not; it doesn’t even matter if you’re
born in a Christian household or if you’ve just
heard about Jesus yesterday. We all need this
Encounter. And, God will use this Encounter
to do something for us and on us.
But because we don’t have a dictator for a
God, because of this massive and generous
gift called “free will,” God will not force us to
do anything unless our hearts and our
attitudes are at tuned with Him.
(slide) Have you had a conversation with a
child lately? What did you notice? (Allow
exchanges. Show a picture.)
Maybe this is the reason why Jesus said that
we need to be like little children before we can
enter the Kingdom of heaven. We need to
have CHILDLIKE FAITH. Not CHILDISH ha,
but the good qualities associated with a child,
especially in the way they trust and believe.
We need to be like children who, when
promised something, believes with all their
hearts that the promise will be fulfilled, without
care of whatever external factors that may
happen around them.
Of course, it is not easy to cultivate childlike
faith. You and I may have been in very difficult
situations in the past, situations that made us
mistrust people. We have been repeatedly
disappointed, betrayed and abandoned. In a
world that teaches us to toughen up in order
to survive and not get trampled down by
others, to have childlike faith seems silly, even
to the point of being dangerous.
What if God delays, what if God denies, what
if God rejects. Does He even listen to me?
Does He even notice me? Does He even
care? I’m a hopeless case. I’ve sinned to
many times, God is surely tired of me.
Do you know that there is nothing you can do
that will make God love you less? Paul had it
right in Romans 8:39 when he wrote:
“neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
all creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
In the same way, there is nothing you can do
that can make Him love you more.
Here’s what we need to know. The God who
created the heaven, the earth, the one
decided what color the sunset gets, you best
friend, your toughest rival, that beautiful girl,
that unschooled beggar, your heart… the God
who is the author of life and of everything,
(Slide) He already loves you 100%, right here,
right now.
So, let us lay aside all arguments, wrong
concepts, and prejudices we have about God
– everything that will hinder us from receiving
everything that God wants us to receive – be
it blessings, be it trials, be it loss, be it gain.
Remember that the enemy wants you to
misunderstand God. He wants to divert your
 attention to the cares of this world – away from
Jesus and from the truth of what has already
been achieved through the Cross.
If you will just allow this Encounter to do so, it
will be able to transform your life
extraordinarily. All the meaningless strides
you once had will finally make sense now that
those steps brought you to where you are
seated right now.
---
Are we excited about our own personal
encounter with God? To arouse that
excitement some more, (Slide) Let’s look into
some of the popular Encounters with God
recounted in the Bible. These examples will
help us understand more the importance of
having an encounter.
Let’s begin with the:
I. ENCOUNTER OF THE PEOPLE OF
ISRAEL.
In this example, we will examine the two most
common tactics that the enemy use to make
us forget and set aside the importance of
having an encounter with God. Let’s begin
with:

(Slide)Tactic 1: I AM TOO BUSY.

In Exodus 5, Moses was asking permission

from Pharaoh to let them go to a 3 day journey
to be able to meet with God in the wilderness.
But, as we know, the Pharaoh did not allow
them. Instead, in verse 4, the Pharaoh said:

“Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the

people away from their labor? Get back to
your work!”

He even added burden to them by making

them supply their own straw to make bricks!
The Pharaoh accused them of laziness and
gave them more work to do so they won’t have
time to even think of God.

You see, that’s one tactic the enemy always

tries to employ. (Slide)The enemy will
always try to make you think that you are
just too busy to come to God. Do you know
why the enemy always use this tactic?
Because, it is so effective! (site examples:
cancelled leave, sudden official business trip,
sudden exam schedule, etc.)

After the Pharaoh ordered the add burden to

their labor, Moses appealed to God and in
turn, God reiterated to him what He has
already promised before. In Exodus 5:7, God
said “I will take you as my own people, and I
will be your God. Then you will know that I am
the Lord your God, who brought you out from
under the yoke of the Egyptians.” But do you
know what happened? In Verse 9 it goes:
(Slide)“Moses reported this to the Israelites,
but they did not listen to him because of their
discouragement and harsh labor.”

Some of you, may have been pressured to not

attend this Encounter because of various
workloads, academic requirements and other
things that would require our time and
attention. Some of us may be here physically,
but our minds are wondering far beyond the
walls of this room. (Cellphones and Gadgets)

BUT, the moment that we realize that this is

but the enemy’s tactic to distract us, then the
enemy will not be able to use it to discourage
us from having our personal Encounter with
God. All the worries dissipate and we will
begin to look at it in a different light, that the
enemy is getting scared because we are now
in the right tract. Being in the right track, we
don’t need to worry about the workload that
needs to take second priority, because we
know that God will take care of it. Of course
He will, remember He sent plagues to the
People of Egypt just to make a point: He is
God and everything is under His control.

Tactic 2: (slide) BUT NOT VERY FAR

AWAY

As we know, God then used Moses to cast

plagues to the People of Egypt. It took four
different plagues (Plague of Blood, Plague of
Frogs, Plague of Gnats (flies resembling
mosquitos) and Plague of Flies) to finally
convince the Pharaoh to let the People of
Israel offer sacrifices to God. But, notice what
the Pharaoh said in Exodus 8:28:

“I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord

your God in the wilderness, but you must not
go very far.”
Somehow, by now the enemy is already
scheming to apply Tactic 2, since the “I am
very Busy” tactic didn’t work and you still
opted to join this retreat despite your busy
schedule. OK, (name), you can be there, you
can join the retreat, but don’t listen attentively
ha, don’t follow everything that’s said. Don’t
give in. Harden your heart, don’t allow the
teachings to penetrate your soul. If you must,
you can go, but you must not go very far!

But you see, this too is a mere tactic of the

enemy. He wants us to think that we are
already “doing our part” by simply coming
here, seemingly participating but not
wholeheartedly submitting. If we want to truly
Encounter God, we must go where He asks
as to go, and that is FAR. Kung sa kanta pa
“Spirit take me where my faith is without
borders”… that far, a state of being where we
are completely vulnerable to God’s leading.
That will not happen if we suppress ourselves.
That will not happen if we obey the Pharaoh
to “not go very far.”

(slide) God wants us to go to Him and bring

everything that we have, our issues, our
family, our relationships, our sexuality, our
fears, our dreams, our past, our future.

But the enemy is afraid of that. The enemy

knew that the moment we go to God is
complete surrender, we will turn out as victors
and he will no longer power over us. Pharaoh
knew that when the people of Israel comes to
meet with God, he will lose control over them
and they will be free and will not obey him
anymore. Just like Pharaoh, the enemy will
also do everything to stop us from
Encountering God!

We all know how this story ends, right? The

Israelites actually made it into the wilderness,
somewhere far and unfamiliar. They went
where God told them to go, and finally, they
settled in God’s Promised Land. Expect the
same thing with this Encounter. Abandon
yourself unto God, go as far as He asks you
to and at the end of this 3-day retreat, you will
be amazed by the things He has, can and will
do for and on you.

Other Tactics:
Of course, the enemy will do everything to
stop us from experiencing the fullness of this
Encounter. During the course of this 3-day
retreat, we might also meet hindrances and
distractions. Example,
• Katulgon
• Walay gana
• Igang
• Tugnaw
• Puro mga bata… puro mga
dagko/tigulang – dili ko ka relate!
 • Reputation (naa dari ako igsuon, ako
anak, ako classmate…)
• Being critical….ay unsa na pod kaha
ni??? Ay kabalo na ko ana. Remenber
that there's always new things to discover
about God.
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II. (Slide) ENCOUNTER OF
NICODEMUS

In this example, we will learn the right attitude

towards the importance of having an
Encounter with God. We will look into the
encounter of Nicodemus. The story is found in
John Chapter 3, Nicodemus approached
Jesus, at night, and asked how to enter the
Kingdom of heaven.

Are we all familiar of the story? Well, as

background, Nicodemus is a Pharisee. A
Pharisee is somebody who knows and
memorize the first five books of the Bible, we
call this the Torah. They memorize the laws of
Moses… literally! But the moment he heard
about Jesus and what he has been doing, he
sneaked out, and escaped during night time to
talk to Jesus. He did this because he doesn’t
want his “colleagues” and “friends” to see him.
This opens many other questions but let’s just
leave that for another time. What we will look
at here in the heart of Nicodemus, especially
in his desire to have a personal encounter with
Jesus.

You see, being a Pharisee and a learned

man, society already affirms Nicodemus’
knowledge when it comes to God and his
Laws. And still, he opted to approach Jesus
to learn some more!

Even as leaders/Old Christians/even Pastors,

we still need to learn more about Jesus and
to meet with God in a personal way. The
importance of having an encounter with God
 does not change depending on our human
standards. It will always be and will
perpetually be important, whoever you are
and no matter how many times you have
done this retreat.

We need to have an attitude like that of

Nicodemus. Somebody who still wants to
learn more and receive more from the Lord!
He knows that an encounter with Jesus will
allow him to have the best answer to his
question.
(slide) Let’s CHANGE our ATTITUDE to
that of NICODEMUS.

III. (Slide) ENCOUNTER OF PAUL

This example will help us look at this 3-day
retreat as a time for God to do a deep work of
transformation in us. This is not just to stir up
our emotions, to make us sorry for being the
sinners that we really are, or to make us happy
knowing that we’re loved despite our sins. It is
all about allowing God to work in us!
Who is Paul?
 Devout Jew, religious, persecutor of the
Christians because he saw Christianity as
a threat to Judaism
 He persecuted, killed and imprisoned
many Christians. But even though he was
that bad, God still wanted Paul to have an
encounter with Him.

Act 8:3 (NIV) But Saul began to destroy the

church. Going from house to house, he
dragged off men and women and put them in
prison.

Act 9:1-2 (NIV) Meanwhile, Saul was still

breathing out murderous threats against the
Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest
and asked him for letters to the synagogues
in Damascus, so that if he found any there
who belonged to the Way, whether men or
women, he might take them as prisoners to
Jerusalem.

 His very breath, his very life, is

dedicated to destroy Christians.
 Til God interrupted him…
 Just like us, God interrupts everything
that we are doing… to meet Him.
Saul had an encounter with God, became
blind for 3 days, and became a changed
man, from Saul to Paul the Apostle of God!
What changed him? The revelation of Jesus
and the cross.
Gal 6:14 (NIV) May I never boast except in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world.
Before the Encounter, what is important to
Saul was his position, degree and reputation.
But after the Encounter, the cross became
his most treasured possession. He realized
that the cross is all he needs for life.

Paul had a revelation of what the cross really

means and this is what changed his life.

(slide) Gal 2:20 (NIV) I have been crucified

with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ
lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave himself for me.
 It is this revelation that gave Paul a new
life. It is the revelation of the cross that
gave him a new life, new start, new
direction… JUST LIKE WHAT
EVERYONE OF US NEEDS.
 And the Encounter is about the revelation
of the cross.

In 2 Cor 5:17 in says, “Therefore, if anyone is

in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has
gone, the new has come!”
 Be expectant of God. When He says the old
has gone, and the new has come, he is not
talking a ‘renovation’ job. Dili na pareho sa
nagpalit kag old na balay dayon imo rang
gipa-gwapa. No, when God bought you with
the price of Jesus’ blood, he tears down the
old you, he tears down the old house and in
its place he builds something brand new!
(slide)This Encounter is a place of
transformation. God has called us to a quiet
time, isolated from our regular activities, far
from distractions, in order to hear God and
be with God.

IV. TRUTHS YOU WILL

EXPERIENCE AT THE ENCOUNTER

Act 26:13 (NIV) About noon, O king, as I was

on the road, I saw a light from heaven,
brighter than the sun, blazing around me and
my companions.
Act 26:14 We all fell to the ground, and I
heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[fn1]
‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is
hard for you to kick against the goads.’
Act 26:15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you,
Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting,’ the Lord replied.
Act 26:16 ‘Now get up and stand on your
feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you
as a servant and as a witness of what you
have seen of me and what I will show you.
Act 26:17 I will rescue you from your own
people and from the Gentiles. I am sending
you to them
Act 26:18 to open their eyes and turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan to God, so that they may receive
forgiveness of sins and a place among those
who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Saul had companions when he

encountered God, but the experience is
so personal. Just like in the Encounter,
there are people around you, but it will be
so personal as if it is only you and God in
this room.

(SLIDE) 1. You will receive vision – (SLIDE)

YOUR EYES WILL BE OPEN!!
• Without vision, we perish. We lack direction
and sense of purpose.
• Eyes are open and you will begin to see
clearly…
• Paul was doing all those crazy things
because he was blind to the truth. And his
Encounter with God caused him to see
things clearly. He realized what is wrong and
what is right.

2. You will receive a genuine conversion.

 “from darkness to light”
 This leads to a change of lifestyle.
 From UNBELIEVER to a BELIEVER.
3. You will understand the Lordship of Jesus
- that you have gone from Satan’s control
“from the power of Satan to God…”

4. You will understand & receive

FORGIVENESS - that through faith in Jesus,
you will receive forgiveness of sins.
 (v.18b) “so that they may receive
forgiveness of sins…”
 You will be free from guilt and shame.
 Sometimes the devil lie to us… we know
that we are forgiven, but the devil
deceives us by reminding us of the guilt
and shame of our sins. Because through
that, he can still control our life.
 But in the Encounter, we will receive the
complete forgiveness of Jesus. That all
the guilt and shame are washed away by
Jesus.
5. You will understand your privilege in God.
– (v.18c) You have a place among those
WHO ARE SANCTIFIED BY FAITH IN
CHRIST.
 Become a New Creation in Christ.
 Set free from then Bondage of Sin.
 You are APPOINTED as SERVANT and
WITNESS of Christ Jesus.

(slide)CONCLUSION
Will you surrender just part of you? Or will
you surrender everything?
Do not let the limitations and hindrances to
hinder you from receiving everything that
God wants you to receive as you encounter
Him. Give all your worries to God right now.
Make a decision that you will not allow
anything to hinder you from encountering the
Lord face to face.