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Holy Week Help – Sunday…

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Throughout this week, I will be posting from 2 helpful links to give you good things to think about. One was a post at the Rabbit Room called, Easter Week in Real Time, and the other are the helpful tips for family worship at the Village Church’s Children’s Blog.

Russ Ramsey helps us view Sunday:

In John 10, Jesus said, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I alone have the authority to lay it down, and the authority to take it up again, and this charge I received from my Father.”

This is a statement worth testing. Does the Scriptural narrative tell the story of an inspirational man martyred because He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and simply couldn’t avoid capture? Or do the last days of His life tell the story of someone intentionally offering Himself up, on His own terms, by His own authority? As we approach Easter, have you ever taken the time to really examine what took place on each day of the week from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday? Here’s a daily reading guide for each day of Easter Week.

Palm Sunday
(See Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:9-19.)

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem perched up on a colt on Palm Sunday, it was the first time since raising Lazarus from the dead that He’d shown His face in the city. The story of Lazarus’ resurrection had circulated so that even those who only heard about it later regarded Jesus as a celebrity. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus. They went out to meet Him and received Him like a King, because they heard He had done this. (Jn 12:18)

Jesus said Lazarus’ death would end in the faith of many, and in the “glory of God—that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (Jn 11:4) But the glory He had in mind was even more glorious than His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In fact, He wasn’t referring to the glory these people gave Him at all. Lazarus’ resurrection would steel the resolve of the religious leaders to hand Jesus over to a death He would freely accept—a death He would conquer. That was the glory He meant. As He rode into Jerusalem, the people cried, “Your King is coming!” They praised His victory over Lazarus’ death. But the irony was that He wasn’t coming to claim His crown on account of Lazarus’ death and resurrection, but on account of His own.

And the Village Church urges families to:

Read Matthew 21:1-11 as a family. Ask your kids these questions:
What did the people call Jesus?
Hosanna means “Save us.” What was Jesus going to save His people from?
Did the people like Jesus? How can you tell?
What does it look like for you and your family to worship Jesus?

Hope you have a great Palm Sunday.

Leadership Reno County

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…is a class offered in our community that “focus[es] on leadership skills combined with exposure to the attributes of, and issues in, Reno County.” Our local paper ran a story announcing the group I am in these things with. If you’re interested, check out that story.

The time has been amazing so far. We’ve been given principles that have easily transferred over to my work. On a deeper level, though, we had panels related to social services and education, which have made me more aware of the adaptive challenges we face here in Hutch and Reno County.

Lot’s of smack…little action…

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that’s how I think of humility and leadership in the local church. We all know that it’s important for us to be humble. Many of us (pastors) give ourselves a way too flattering appraisal when it comes to this. This post from Deepak Reju over at 9Marks entitled Humility and Leadership proved helpful for me. Here’s the questions he gave in discerning the nature of our humility:

* Are you willing and open to learning about the Bible from staff or members who don’t have as much preaching or theological training as you do?
* Are you willing to take constructive criticism from staff members, interns, church members, or your wife? (If you are not sure, ask them if they think you are open to constructive critique.)
* In a deacon or elder or committee meeting (or whatever form of leadership you have), are you willing to be voted down by others? Do you hold a grudge against those who would dare vote against you?
* Have you ever considered asking your kids (or your wife) how you are doing at parenting?
* In a deacon or elder or committee meeting (or whatever form of leadership you have), do you always speak early so that everyone follows your direction? Or do you hold your words until the end of your discussions so that other leaders can think through the issues without being quickly swayed by your opinions?
* Have you thought about cultivating humility in your life? If not, consider reading this in 2011.
* Have you thought about cultivating humility in your staff and in your church? What would it mean for your staff to be open to given and receiving godly criticism?

Great stuff, really. So…how about you? Much talk, little action?

Paul Tripp on Parenting

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On Sunday AMs, I’m teaching Paul Tripp’s Getting To the Heart of Parenting (75% off at WTS Books for a season). Yesterday, Tripp posted an article on parenting entitled The Joyful Impossibility. He mentions 2 things he learned one evening that changed the experience of parenting for him:

1. I faced the fact that I had no ability whatsoever to change my children.
2. I faced the fact that in order to be a tool of grace, I desperately needed grace myself.

Read the article and be reminded of these things yourself.

Avoid Vain Repetition in Prayer…

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…from the DG Blog…

In chapter nine of When I Don’t Desire God, John Piper introduces a memorable and helpful acronym for what to pray before reading Scripture: I. O. U. S.

* Incline my heart to you, not to prideful gain or any false motive. (Psalm 119:36)
* Open my eyes to behold wonderful things in your Word. (Psalm 119:18)
* Unite my heart to fear your name. (Psalm 86:11)
* Satisfy me with you steadfast love. (Psalm 90:14)

The article has more. Read and benefit.

Conference Follow Up

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While our group was coming home from T4G, we took advantage of Don Whitney’s 10 Questions to Ask to Benefit from a Conference or Special Event. I had printed this off before we left for the conference, anticipating a need to intentionally apply what we had learned. And, I found it helpful for sparking discussion on the way home. We discussed these questions for probably an hour or two and it gave everyone an opportunity to get down to the precise nature of what they were taking away and, better yet, helped establish some accountability in our group as we took the “next step” after the conference. I would commend it to you, not only if you attended T4G, but anytime you have a special event at your church.

Weekend Recap – Walking

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Had a great morning in worship with the people of God at Crestview. We were in Colossians 2:6-7 for a sermon entitled Walking In Christ. This sermon really highlighted how our walk in Christ is based on our past reception, that Christ is the focus of our walk in Him (obviously) and walking in Christ will cause us to explode in gratitude to God.

I hope you had a great Lord’s Day as well. There was much to apply here, especially being grateful and seeing my complaining demeanor as a revealer of my ingratitude.

I Wish My Pastor Were More Like…

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Like me, you’ve probably been to a conference or heard someone preach on radio or on the internet and wished you could sit under the ministry of that person consistently. I was really edified, then, when I read this post from Steve Burchett on When Your Preacher is NOT John Piper. This encouraged me in two ways…1) It encourages and exhorts me to be a better pastor, specifically in the ministry of the Word. 2) It encourages and exhorts me to listen better to preaching. Here’s the five tips Burchett gives:

1) Rejoice that your pastor preaches the Gospel.
2) Recognize that certain men are uniquely gifted by the Lord to have an international ministry and appeal, but this is not the norm.
3) If your pastor is (honestly) dull, but he preaches the truth faithfully, a little statement I once heard might be helpful for you to remember: “The mature worshipper is easily edified.”
4) Listen “outwardly” to the preaching.
5) Verbally encourage the preacher(s) in your church.

Read the full post for the expansion of these ideas and, better yet, put these things into practice this coming Lord’s Day.

Weekend Recap – 4/24-26

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My last post summarized the final day of the Gospel Coalition. Once I returned, I was off and running here for a Men’s Retreat held in our church. Our guest speaker was Mike Hubbard from Genesis Church in Eureka, MO.

I commented Sunday morning to the church how stuffed I felt after all my week (spiritually speaking).

The Men’s Retreat was a great time. Thanks to the men who helped pull so many details together including: Bob G, Benjamin, Elrond, and Mark Trotman (who graciously hosted all the men at his farm for this event).

Friday night, the 24th, we began with some good old grilling and a stiff southern wind pounding us in the chin (it is Kansas after all). Mike spoke on the Man and the Gospel from Genesis 1:1 – Genesis 3:15. It was a great way to begin, showing all the men present how we fail to live up to God’s glory and really need Christ’s life, death and resurrection in our lives.

Saturday morning, the 25th, the coffee was flowing and after breakfast, Mike got practical speaking about the Man and His Roles from Ephesians 5:25 and following. He really encouraged us to love our wives in very active ways. The final session that morning (and for the Men’s Retreat as a whole) was entitled the Man and the Church. It really sought to instill Paul’s message in Titus to us as men.

The Men’s Retreat was a spiritual high for me. What a blessing to fellowship with men and be encouraged through God’s Word.

After this, Sunday included Mike speaking again Sunday morning to our entire church on how God has called us to be a sent people to our community. He brought encouragement through what Genesis Church has been able to do by God’s grace.

Sunday evening small groups looked at several practical means of grace God uses to make us holy, again another spiritual feast for the taking.

Now comes time for application of all these things, though. Are there any application or thoughts from my readers who attended these things that they would like to share?