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Resources for Men, Mothers With Young Children, and Small Groups

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Ray Ortlund spoke at the Church at Brook Hills Men’s Conference recently.  Here’s a link to audio/video of those sessions.

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GoThereFor had an encouraging article on Leading a (very) small group and I found it encouraging for those who have small groups with a smaller number of people.

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And, GoThereFor also had a nice read encouraging mothers of young children to persist in attending that women’s Bible study they often dread.  Good thoughts.

 

Abiding and Crestview’s Women’s Prayer Retreat

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For a past few weeks in 1 John, over and over again the theme of abiding has emerged.  I asked Monica Warren to journal some thoughts in her mind around this idea (Monica is one of the coordinators for the Women’s Prayer Retreat this Fall which has chosen the theme “Abide” for their time together).  Here’s her musings these days…








Come and Rest
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus calls us and pulls us into Him with those gentle words: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  This verse may tend to be too familiar to us.  Jesus has made a way of salvation, a way for His disciples to rest eternally with Him. We know this. I know this.  But what I believe Jesus knew of His first disciples such as the Apostle John, and what He knows of us in this day is that we would soon forget this truth, that we wouldn’t stay there in that restful state with Him while on this earth.  We would again and again become weary – again and again try to find rest in the world and its allures.  When I muse on what it really means to abide in Jesus (something our pastor and elders have been exhorting us to do for months now), I can’t help but think of John and his personal relationship, his friendship with Jesus.  We have such convincing evidence in John’s gospel and epistles that he knew and wanted us to know how to rest and truly abide in Jesus. 
The One Whom Jesus Loved
Many times in John’s gospel he calls himself “the one whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 21:7; 21:20). John knew Jesus’ face, the emotion in his eyes, the looks of love, mercy and even holy frustration He may have given him.  John saw and was convinced that Jesus’ every action was motivated perfectly, expressed with sinless emotion.  Wouldn’t you want to be with, abide in someone with perfect emotional expression, someone whom you knew perfectly loved you? John felt His physical presence as evidenced through his recollection of reclining next to Jesus at the dinner table in John 13:23.  Just imagine that intimate moment, and notice it is recorded so close to the Abide language used in John 15.  John was not only hearing the exhortations from Jesus to abide, John saw Jesus abide in His Father as they walked on this earth together on mission. I also think of Jesus’ supernatural Revelation to John and how the abiding theme can even be seen in John’s last book (which Dawn Rhoades will show us). There is no one better in all of history, in all of scripture, I believe, to teach us and plead with us to abide in Jesus’ presence than the Apostle John.  
Stay and Abide 
I don’t think we will fully know and experience Jesus’ abiding presence as John did, but what I pray is that I, that we in this day, would reach the place where we are not thinking of ourselves anymore.  When sin threatens to invade our mind and affections, we stay in His rest considering Jesus’ power over sin, Satan, and remember His work of forgiveness.  When we are tempted to be sorrowfully self-absorbed, we abide in Jesus and think of others instead, seeking how we may fulfill their needs Jesus wants met. After all, how will they see and know Jesus if not through our service to them and by our proclamation of Him? God the Holy Spirit chose and empowered John to be a vessel of this good news to us, and Jesus has chosen us to walk as vessels delivering this gospel to our community and beyond. The only way we will know where Jesus wants us to go next, what He wants us to do tomorrow, is if we abide in Him.  It is a person we cling to, not a set of rules, not simply a message of good news, but a living, perfectly loving person who empowers us. Jesus is His name…the same person John walked with on this earth hundreds of years ago is the same person we are called to abide in now. While we are in this place that is not our home, I pray John 15:5 echos in our hearts. May we never forget that if we are apart from Christ while on this earth we can do nothing…nothing that lasts for eternity.

At our annual 2015 Women’s Prayer Retreat, several women of Crestview who have shown to be not only women of prayer, but women who truly abide in Jesus will be encouraging us with content on this very subject.  I look forward to their wisdom and invite all women who are weary and heavy laden to come find rest…and abide with us in His loving presence.  (Here’s a link to the event on Crestview’s website)

Young Mothers: Discouraged?

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The latest 9Marks EJournal is online and deals with Pastoring Women, equipping local church pastors with good, practical tools for shepherding women in the church with whom they’ve been entrusted. I let me wife read an article in this issue entitled: For the Young Mother: Ministry, Guilt and the Seasons of Life. Here’s her thoughts on the article:

Jani Ortlund challenges young mothers to evaluate the guilt we so often feel. She reminds us that we shape the souls of our children. What a high calling and difficult challenge that is! She says, “It is not godly guilt that would call you away from a wholehearted investment in your little ones for his sake. Don’t feel guilty over making your children your primary ministry investment when they are young.” Wow. That really sums up what we should encourage our young mothers to desire in their hearts and train them to be.

Another great perspective I am reminded of from her is that I am called to cultivate a love for the home. She says, “God has called us to love our children from home base (Tit. 2:4-5). We can’t improve upon God’s design! This means more than staying at home. It means fixing your heart on your home. Women can leave their homes through more avenues than work or outside ministry. Cell phones, emails, and chat rooms can take a mother away from her primary ministry, too.” Home is where I should desire to be, especially in this season of my children’s young lives. There are so many things, as good intentioned as they might be, that pull at us to give our time and energy and passion other than to our children and husbands. This should be an encouragement to spur us on!

Finally, she reminds us that this season is just a season. I love her words when she says, “And each season is a divine calling from our Creator and King. Organizing a new church event is important. Teaching your little boy to be kind to his sister is also important. But which one can best be done by you during this season? Serve God well by ministering to your children first. Very soon they will be grown and gone and all those uniquely teachable moments will be gone. And you will have ample opportunity to serve Christ outside your home in the seasons ahead.”

“But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:7).

Ok, so I don’t have much more to say than what Jani has already said. I thank the Lord for her wisdom in writing this to challenge and encourage the young mothers today.

So…check out this issue and be encouraged yourself.

BBC Women’s Conference – You Are Mine!

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The Spring Women’s Conference at Bethlehem Baptist Church is an event that is being attended by my wife (and our women’s leadership team). [Side note: I miss you lots, love; the boys and I are fine.] I noticed this afternoon that they put notes from Session 1 online at Desiring God (Session 2 and Session 3 notes are available, too). Sounds like a good time with speaker Andree Seu (here’s Noel Piper’s take). Let’s pray that God’s purposes continue to unfold in the lives of women present.