K2 Day One

The annual PIU student retreat, “K2 or “koinonia squared,” began on Thursday night with an after-class session at 9.30 PM. After seeing the enthusiasm and great response from the students to the first session I am thinking that we may want to change chapels and classes to late-night start times. This would not be good for me, who goes to bed every night between 9 and 10 and wakes up at 5am, but it would appear to better fit our dorm students’ schedule. I began my series of 3 messages with a comparison of Peter and Judas from Matthew 26. Both Peter (desertion) and Judas (treason) committed “capital crimes” in the kingdom battle. Both were in despair on Friday and Saturday. The main difference was that Peter went to his fellow-disciples while Judas tried to deal with the guilt and remorse on his own. Thus, Peter was still around for the resurrection and was able to come to Christ for forgiveness. The first point is that we only come into the presence of God based on the forgiveness Christ provides. The second is that, also, we only continue in Christ, serve, and live based on that same forgiveness. It is never based on what we have done, only what Christ has done.