HE IS LORD OF THE STORM

IF HE SENDS IT TO HIS CHILD, HIS PURPOSE IS ALWAYS GRACE

IF HE ALLOWS IT FOR HIS MYSTERIOUS PURPOSES,

HE HAS AN ULTIMATE PLAN FOR GOOD

Over the next two weeks let us consider three kinds of storms:

• Daily storms we experience when we cling to idols
• Monster storms we experience when we cling to idols
• Storms we do not understand

EVERY TIME WE CLING TO IDOLS, CLOUDS BLOCK HIS PRESENCE

1. DAILY STORMS WHEN WE CLING TO IDOLS

Last week “Laura-dancer” honestly answered the question: “When do you flee from God?” with:

“Wow — probably daily.”

Rebecca vulnerably shared the jealousy she felt when a new young worship leader was so talented — but quickly, she realized her idol temptation, repented, and was able to enter into worship with this leader.

As we are seeing more clearly into the murky waters of our souls, we are seeing how we are daily tempted by idols, and when we succumb, “forfeit the grace that could be ours.”

For the last two weeks I’ve been helping my grand-daughter Emily prepare her high school senior thesis speech. She is graduating as valedictorian of her Christian classical senior class. She has become passionate about how America has changed its perspective toward immigrants from an open “Golden Door” that proclaimed “Give me your tired, your poor…” to a very closed and cold attitude toward immigrants. Emily’s content was so strong, but not her delivery. Why? She  is naturally reserved, uncomfortable with the spotlight.  (As a toddler, she turned to us before she went to her new potty chair and said, “I’m going to potty — but I don’t want you to cheer and clap.)

But I knew there was something else holding her back. The idol of approval — the fear of man. I told her how Keller used to look at his congregation before he preached and say (silently) “You are not my life — Christ is my life.” Emily nodded, and yet, I still saw her retreat, and fail to connect with me when she spoke, quenching the Spirit. She was forfeiting the power that could be hers. She was also daily, in great angst about her speech. She wanted to do well, but worried she would not.

My quiet grand-daughter Emily

The day before she spoke we practiced again — and I said, “Emily — I know you care about what you are saying. I know you want them to care about this. THINK ABOUT EVERY WORD YOU ARE SAYING WHILE YOU ARE SAYING IT. Not only will that help you feel what God feels, it will help you forget about yourself. DO IT AGAIN — AND THINK THINK THINK ABOUT THE WORDS.”

Suddenly she locked eyes with me and passion rose in her. She began with the words on The Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor…” but it was different. A burst of light breaking through the dark clouds. What happened? Instead of thinking about herself and what others were thinking of her, by thinking about the words, she was setting her affections on God, on what He cared about, and she was transformed. I saw it before my very eyes. And that can happen to each of us moment by moment throughout the day. As we allow ourselves to be passionate about what He is passionate about, our fears and gloomy doubts are expelled.

I wanted to weep.  I was flying to Virginia when she gave the actual speech, but her dad texted me: SHE WAS SO PASSIONATE. IT WAS TREMENDOUS!

And then she e-mailed me afterwards: “Grandma — I want to go into missions this year before college. I know it.” I wept again. Passion rising… the power of God breaking the fears that hold us back…

Many of you shared how letting go of an idol brought the sun out. Chris S. shared a story of her drawer being short on St. Patrick’s Day — fearing suspicion — but then reminded herself her identity was in Christ. She wrote: “My identity is hidden with Christ in God, no matter what misunderstanding or failure might befall me, no power of hell or scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand. What relief there is in that!” Getting our identity from Christ — not from man — and not even from ourselves is huge. Both Renee and Susan had an epiphany of understanding about this last week and articulated it beautifully.

Daily, whenever we are aware of an idol temptation, we must turn and surrender to Him, and we will experience grace. It may be a quick fix, as with Emily and Chris, or it may take time, but it will come.

He is Lord of every storm.

2. MONSTER STORMS WHEN WE CLING TO IDOLS

THE SHIP THREATENED TO BREAK UP

Monster storms threaten to wreck our whole lives. They are especially grievous when we know, as Jonah did, that they are a direct result of our clinging to a worthless idol: that they have, indeed, been sent by God to bring his erring child to his senses.

Four years ago on Mother’s Day I got the surprising news that my nephew, who has always been a favorite of mine, was going to prison in Texas for four years for doing something  “stupid and wrong” (his words). This week marked the end of those four long years and he was released and reunited with his wife and three young children. He knew that it was a storm sent by God and responded immediately in deep repentance. Though we felt his sentence severe, he did not. Though we were deeply grieved by the treatment in Texas prisons, concerned he might be a victim of violence or succumb, as many do, to the 130 degree summer temperatures. But he took it without complaint. When I visited him in prison, I thought, What a godly and humble young man.

This week he was released to his wife and three young children. He wondered if he would ever see them again, if he would survive, if he would ever see his home again, and is tearful and so grateful. Though there are many challenges ahead, he is a transformed man, and is experiencing the power of God, no longer forfeiting the grace that God longs to daily give him.

And as so often happens, a storm sent by God to His child will impact all who love that child. But our amazing God can use that for good. My nephew’s storm hit his whole family and others as well. But  those who have run to God have been changed for the good. I know that before my nephew went to prison, my prison ministry was lacking in passion — and now I am seeing inmates more and more as God does and I have PASSION.

He is Lord of every storm.

3. STORMS WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND (Next Week)

MY NEWS — AND HAPPY HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Before we plunge into our study, I will share my personal news, which also explains why I must do a two week study right now. (The first week has more homework than the second, so if you want to slow down more this first week, go ahead.)

Last week my daughter Sally called me with some concerns the doctors had concerning her pregnancy. They said the baby was very small — at the 11th percentile. The baby was also breech, so they planned to try to turn her. But then Sally’s water broke.

Had we lived a century ago it would have been a fatal scenario. I wept to think of that and thanked God so for modern medicine and the C-section that rescued them. How thankful we are for His mercies. Sadie was a gift after years of infertility. Claire’s life was rescued by modern medicine. Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. I am here with them now and filled with gratitude. Thank you for your prayers and love.

I also have a renewed appreciation for mothers — this brings back so many memories — dealing with sensitive children’s feelings, with the constant clamoring for needs to be met — with the mess and the multitude of tasks — all to be done calmly and with gratitude! I used to get bent out of shape on Mother’s Day because I expected GREAT ACCOLADES and didn’t always get them. The children were too little, and for the first several years Steve didn’t relate because “I wasn’t his mother!” (But he soon realized it was a day he needed to fuss over me!) But whether you are recognized or not, I THINK WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS AMAZING, and God sees and is pleased with even a cup of water given to a little child.

We are also so blessed if we have physical or spiritual children. This is a special day. Happy Mother’s Day to every mother reading this blog. And for those of you who are not mothers, but long to be, I pray God will give you the desires of your heart or change the desires of your heart. I know this is a hard day for you.

Claire and Sally: Thanks be to God.

Sadie and Claire: Loving baby sister

GRANDMA, SADIE, CLAIRE: Delight turning to concern over being displaced...a little storm brewing

WEEK ONE:

SUNDAY/MONDAY ICEBREAKERS

1. What thoughts do you have about the opening and why?

2. Share one reason you are thankful for your mother.

Monday-Wednesday: Bible Study

DAILY STORMS WHEN WE CLING TO IDOLS

Both Emily and Chris had to overcome the approval idol, the “fear of man.” How did each do it and how does either speak to you?

3. Read 1 Peter 3:14-15 in this Good News, or in your own translation:

Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?

But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, how happy you are! Do not be afraid of anyone, and do not worry.

A. What reassurance is there in the first part of this verse?

B. But if we do suffer, what reassurance should still help us overcome the fear of man?

C. Is this fear of man, this need for approval, an idol in your life that daily tempts you? Explain, and then speak the truth to your soul.

4. A second idol that tempts us to forfeit grace is control or power. I myself often want to “fix” people, instead of trusting God. I often think of the example of Christ — who faced so much more. Read 1 Peter 2:21-23 and explain how Christ was able to do this.

5. How could this help you overcome your control/power idol? Be specific.

6. A third idol that daily tempts us is comfort/security. Rebecca’s testimony in regard to food was that she had to stop running to food and start running to God. She read books that helped her grow in intimacy with God. She also had to endure pain, but then experienced peace and freedom. How does Hebrews 12:1-2 speak to this?

Monster Storms When We Cling To Idols

7. Read Jonah 2:1-4 again. Who sent the storm and why, do you think?

8. This week I’ve been reading to Sadie and she has a book about Jonah. I find so many children’s books distort the real story, wanting to make all the Bible characters simplistic heroes. Sadie’s book said, “Jonah loved God but he was afraid of the Ninevites so he ran way.” This makes Jonah sound nobler than he really was. According to Jonah 4:1-2, what was his real reason for fleeing?

9. In the same way, though I love this little girl and her telling of Jonah, in the beginning of the story I see the author of this children’s version made the same error — but the rest is great. Watch and comment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxfo-7mW74g

Thursday-Friday: Keller Sermon

Listen to this in the series: They Greatly Feared. If you are purchasing this individually instead of in the set, then go to this link

10. The stormy sea (What do storms reveal about every human heart?)

11.The religious sailors (Why doesn’t their religion help them?)

12. The willing substitute (How do you deal with fear?)

Saturday:

13. What is your take-away for week 1?

WEEK 2. STORMS WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND

I do not understand why Joyce’s husband left her when her child with so many physical needs was born. I do not understand why Chris’s son was assaulted and died. I do not understand why Elizabeth is plagued with physical pain that feels like fire ants all over her body. Each of you, I know, has experienced a storm you do not understand. Jesus makes it very clear that not every storm is a result of personal sin, but that it can be used to reveal the glory of God.

And so part of trusting God is to accept the mystery of suffering, and to know that in the end, He will do all things well. That even perhaps, as Tolkein says, “Everything sad will be untrue.” These mysterious storms we will consider in this 2nd week of this study. But we know: He is Lord of every storm.

Perhaps the worst storm our country has endured in the last twenty-five years is 9/11.

In God’s providence, Keller began preaching on Jonah two weeks before 9/11. A story that talked about what happens to us when we are overcome by hatred and fear. During that week Redeemer had a special service — and that is part of the Jonah package. It is also a free sermon.

This is the whole service following 9/11: LINK

Also for those who are interested in another message, this is one that ministered to me deeply in the midst of my worst storm — my husband’s death. It is called “Heman’s Cry of Darkness.” We will look at Psalm 88 this week. Here is the link — it is 2.50 so it is optional:

(A funny story with this sermon. One time our own dear Anne, our nurse from Carolina (I think South) was going through a terrible time and I recommended this sermon to her, but she had it in her mind that I wrote Haman instead of Heman. So she listened to a stern sermon about Haman and the sin of pride. (It was as opposite as you can imagine to the soothing message I wanted her to hear.) But vulnerably, and I will always remember this about her, wrote: “I needed to hear that so badly.” Her humble heart is one of the reasons she is so mature.)

SUNDAY/MONDAY ICEBREAKER

1. Find one or two comments that stood out to you from your sisters’ comments last week and explain why.

2. Each of you has no doubt experienced a storm you did not understand. Yet if you look back, you may also be able to see ways God prepared you for that storm. If so, share something about that.

Monday-Wednesday Bible Study

Last week the sermon showed us how religion fails us in the midst of fear, but the “greater Jonah” never does. I want you to begin to contrast the first and second Jonah. Read again, Jonah 1:1-6 and also Matthew 8:23-26.

Rembrandt: The disciples and Jesus on The Sea of Galilee

BUT IT’S ALL OVER THE BOOK:

A BETTER PICTURE FOR MODERN MAN

A PENETRATING DEFINITION FOR YOU AND ME

INSTEAD OF SEEING SIN AS “BREAKING THE RULES”

IT IS A “SELF-SALVATION STRATEGY”

IT IS FINDING YOUR IDENTITY

YOUR MEANING

IN ANYTHING OTHER THAN GOD

Many of you are not viewers of American Idol, and you are certainly free in Christ not to watch. :>) (If anyone should feel the need to explain herself — it’s me! The talent God gives the young amazes me — and I feel free in Christ to tape it and watch the parts I like and discuss the talent and drama with my daughter Sally! After all, it may be my fault she too watches.) Lately I have watched how God  seemingly dealt with Colton Dixon, sending a  storm  (at least Colton was convinced God sent the storm) and at Colton’s humble response. Colton was rising high, expected to make it to the top, when his mentor suggested he sing a Lady Gaga song and he did. The next night he was voted off. (I realize being voted off American Idol isn’t a big deal, but I’m sure it felt like that to Colton.) Colton sensed it coming. He anticipated the storm… Though no one else expected him to be voted off, he nodded — I could almost hear his thoughts: It is because of me that this tempest has come. Immediately he took the mike and said, “I need to apologize. Last night was not who I really am.”

They asked him to sing a final song before leaving American Idol and he fell to his knees and sang Everything by Lifehouse — a prayer to his God in the midst of his storm, a Jonah-like prayer of repentance from the belly of the fish.

Find me here, and speak to me

I want to feel you, I need to hear you

You are the light that’s leading me to the place

Where I find peace again…

I am certainly not saying that every storm is sent by God to discipline us — though I do know we can learn from every storm. But sometimes, as in the case of Jonah — and it seems Colton felt sure too — we do know the storm is from God because we were running from Him. Colton himself said, of singing this song after he got the news he’d been voted off: “I wasn’t singing for the judges at that point, or for the crowd — I needed to hear from God, and I did.” He felt it was God who had the people vote him off — a mercy, indeed. And now that he has repented, his life is back — when asked how he is doing after being voted off, his smile is genuine, and he says enthusiastically, “I’m good!” He found his peace, his identity, his salvation in the belly of the fish.  “Salvation,” he knows, “belongs to the Lord.” He says he is going to sing Christian rock — because that is who he is. Back to his calling. Back to God’s identity for him.

Colton comforting his younger sister

I suspected Colton Dixon was a genuine Christian from fruit that I saw. He wasn’t obvious about it — no pointing to God to garner the evangelical vote. He wasn’t even planning to audition, but came as a support to his younger sister, and the judges asked her to go get him from backstage. (He had auditioned the year before.) The love between these teenage siblings was evident — love that is rare, except when Christ is present. And then, when Colton was voted off — he told everybody why.  He used a definition of sin that penetrates the modern man and our own hearts. He said, “That was not who I am.” He was sorry — and quite willing to be thrown into the sea.

Watch this interview, and hear Colton’s repentance when she asks him what he learned from his American Idol journey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsCpkmFyY8E

In the Keller sermon you will hear this week, Keller uses Bridget Jones as an illustration of Soren Kierkegaard’s definition of sin — which is “trying to build an identity apart from God.” Bridget tries to build an identity from a word from herself — but ends up very confused!

Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones

We have to get our identity from Christ. When we try to get it anywhere else, we are in trouble. I wrestle with this all the time. When I speak or write or interact with people, I have to tell myself, “This is about bringing glory to God, Dee — not about bringing glory to yourself.” It is so tempting to forget my identity, my purpose, and veer… but then, I can almost count on a storm. The perfect storm — designed just for me! These messages I long for you to order will help you (and me) to stay on course, to stay on the narrow path, to build on the rock, to bear fruit — so that God won’t have to send that storm.

I’ve listened to the first one at least five times, and the penny is still dropping. Believe me, this is a good investment.

(MY BIG NEWS WHICH I GOT ONE HOUR AGO IS THAT SALLY HAS HAD HER BABY THREE WEEKS EARLY. HER NAME IS CLAIRE AND SHE’S FINE AND I’M SO THANKFUL. I’VE JUST ARRIVE IN WISCONSIN, NOT EVEN UNPACKED, BUT AM HEADED TO WASHINGTON D.C. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. MAY CLAIRE (MEANS LIGHT) BE A LIGHT IN THIS DARK AND HURTING WORLD!)

ORDERING YOUR SERMONS:

We’re going to be in Jonah for May and most of June. Some of you might like to purchase the sermons all at once, and Redeemer does have a deal that makes it worth it to buy the package instead of individually.These are the sermons we are going to be needing for May and June.

This is the package — Keller’s most recent trip through Jonah — and I’d like everybody to get this: Link

This is an individual sermon on Jonah that is amazing — and I’d like you to get this too: Love Beneath the Waves

Finally, many of you already have this, but if you don’t, when we get to talking about election, you will find this helpful: Love Before the World 1

I will also post them individually each week — but it is cheaper if you get the package at once. This week we’ll be listening to the first in the package: Running from God. If you prefer to order it on an individual basis, here is that link.

Sunday/Monday: Icebreaker

1. What stood out to you from the above and why?

2. What “perfect” storm have you experienced recently that you think may have been sent as a mercy from God?

A perfect storm are when the conditions are just right to create a monster. But I’m using the word theologically — when God designs a perfect storm for the child he loves, to bring him to his senses, to bring him back to his real identity and purpose.

Tuesday-Wednesday: Bible Study

Optional: This is an interpretative dance for Lifehouse’s Song “Everything”  Watch it if you like and comment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA

Comments?

We don’t know a lot about Jonah, but what we do know is very important. If your daddy was an important man, it is so easy to find your identity in him, instead of in God. If your nation is a successful nation, it is so easy to find your identity in national pride instead of in God. These are self-salvation strategies. God had defined Jonah, had given him a “word,” had called him to be a prophet — but he was running… Let’s look at what we do know about Jonah.

3. Read 2 Kings 14:25

He [Amaziah, the king at the time of Jonah] was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

A. Israel was recovering from its enemies. King Amaziah, the king during Jonah’s time, had restored a huge area. Look on your Bible map and find Lebo Hamath and the Dead Sea.  How big an area had been recovered?

B. When your country is victorious, it is easy to begin to find your identity in your country. Patriotism is not bad, but it can become sin. Give an illustration.

C. What did Jonah’s father do? What kind of prestige went with this?

D. Being proud of your parents is not bad, but it can lead you into sin. (Remember our new working definition of sin.) Give an illustration of this.

In “Man Overboard” Sinclair Ferguson culls a great deal out of this single verse. He explains that it shows what a great calling God had on Jonah’s life — for Jonah is described as a servant and a prophet. “A servant” Ferguson explains, has a rich meaning — it means God had set him apart for a unique purpose. Jonah, as a prophet, had a destiny — to speak the very words of God to whomever God sent him. That was his identity, his purpose, his meaning. A “word from the Lord” had defined him — but he veered from it — he had a “self-salvation strategy” — so God had to send a perfect storm.

4. Read Jonah 1:1-3

A. What purpose did God have for Jonah as described in verses 1-2?

B. What calling has God given to your life? (It may be specific, but it is also found in 1 Peter 2:9-10)

C. How did Jonah respond? How is this an illustration of sin?

5. Keller says that Jonah could not flee geographically from God, for God is everywhere. (See Psalm 139) But he was trying to flee relationally from God — from intimacy, for His face. What lie did Jonah have to believe in order to do this?

6. Think about the last time you fled God’s calling for you. Ask Him! Describe it.

7. Read Jonah 1:4 and describe how God responded. Why, do you think?

Thursday-Friday (or sooner) Listen to Keller’s sermon: Running from God

8. What do you learn from:

A. How does Earnest Becker define sin?

B. How does Soren Kierkegaard define sin? (Important!)

C. What point was Keller making with Bridget Jones?

9. Jonah had an “identity implosion,” Keller says, for he no longer knew who he really was. Look at his answers to the sailors’ questions in Jonah 1:8-9 and find the one question he does not answer. What was it — and why didn’t he, do you think?

10. When we find our identity apart from God it is as though we are under an anesthetic! A sleep unto death! Have you experienced this? Explain.

11. What else stood out to you from this sermon and why?

Saturday

12. What is your take-a-way and why?

Away from hope and into despair?

Away from light and into darkness?

Why did Jonah?

And why do we?

We do it when our deepest desire is for something other than God.

What did Jonah want more than God? You don’t really discover the answer until the end of the book, but there was something that was more important to him than serving God, than loving God, than experiencing the presence of God. Did Jonah love God? I can imagine him preparing a defense, saying, “For twenty-five years I’ve gone to Temple…for twenty-five years I’ve kept the rules — for twenty-five years I’ve prophesied your Word…”

But did he love Him? C. S. Lewis used to say of his dog — “He doesn’t really obey me, but sometimes he agrees with me.” That’s how we can be. Obeying God when we agree with Him…but fleeing when He asks us to do something that goes against what we really want. Our real god, our idol, whatever that is.

It is so easy to think we are loving God because we are doing “the Christian things.” Have you ever fixed a meal for your husband or children — but it wasn’t done with love? Anyone looking at you might not know — but you would know…

One of the most penetrating conversations in Scripture occurred between Jesus and Peter after Peter’s betrayal, after the resurrection, when three times Jesus asked him:

DO YOU LOVE ME?

This always reminds me of the three times that Tevya, in Fiddler on the Roof, asked Golde:

DO YOU LOVE ME?

Please watch the first two minutes of this song. After two minutes the parallel stops — for when they then sing ” “It doesn’t change a thing, but after twenty-five years, it’s nice to know…” it doesn’t work. The truth is,  if we really love Jesus and are not just serving Him to get something in return, then it changes EVERYTHING. Morality is serving to put God in your debt. Embracing the Gospel is to comprehend that He did it all, that there is nothing you can do to win His favor or put Him in your debt — in fact, you are completely in His debt. But the first two minutes work perfectly — so watch, for the picture will stay in your heart!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_y9F5St4j0

This week we are still laying the foundation for the book of Jonah — and I want you to go slowly, for the truths expressed are paradigm changers. Tim Keller explains that there are two ways to flee the presence of the Lord: one is by being very very bad (like the younger son in the story of the Prodigal sons) and the other is by being very very good (like the older son in that same story.) The “older brother” and Jonah felt God owed them something because they had served Him. Keller also explains, and I know this is true, that unless you explain that there are two ways to avoid God, that non-Christians will think you are inviting them into morality when you invite them into Christianity. Likewise, we ourselves can begin to think of the Christian life as obeying the rules instead of an intimate relationship in which we are experiencing the presence of God. When Jonah ran away from God it was not spatially (because you can’t — He’s everywhere) but relationally. He didn’t want to be intimate with God, to find His identity anymore as the servant of God — he wanted to be his own god. He didn’t like what God was asking and he was angry — like the older brother was angry. We all carry in our souls some of the older brother/Jonah syndrome.

After I spoke in Georgia last weekend, I took two extra days to be with my friend Sylvia who lives in NE Florida. Our mutual friend Ann joined us. I told them about my new insight into The Sermon on the Mount — and of how, Jesus is preaching about the older brother/Jonah syndrome, about how we find our identity in things other than God, about how we seem to love God, but really, love our own way. We may appear to be “good Christians,” but in reality, we are the house on the sand, the barren fruit tree…

At first they were skeptical, for they had never heard that — but then, as we sat down and looked at the four examples the sermon closes with, they saw it.  As Sylvia and I were changing my bed before I flew out, smoothing the sheets for the next guest, she said, “Dee — why have we walked with the Lord all these years and never seen this [meaning heart idols -- and how we find our identity in things other than Christ] before? Why have we not heard this before?”

I said, “I don’t know. But once you see it, you see it all over the Bible”

“It is!” She said adamently. “EVERYWHERE! That’s why I cannot understand why I was so blind. But seeing it has changed my life.” Then she paused and said, “Do you think this awakening, which is definitely spreading in the body of Christ, is leading to revival?”

“I’ve wondered… it certainly has done that in my heart.”

“And mine.”

Seeing this changes so many things: our approach to evangelism, our own sense of being loved, our freedom, our desires — EVERYTHING. Our own Kim Taylor just wrote me the dearest note on how this has changed everything for her, and set her free. I’d like to quote one of her paragraphs:

How different I am than a year ago. My life is peaceful, no matter what storm comes my way. I feel full of Him and His love, no longer the elder brother looking down at others who are less righteous than me. I know my name is sealed on His great heart and so I no longer fear losing my salvation.

Go slowly. This is a life-changer. It may take some weeks for the penny to drop, but when it drops, you will never be the same.

For those who are new — I suggest doing certain things on certain days — but if you prefer to listen to the sermon first — do. His messages are so rich, you may want to listen more than once. I’ve listened to some of his messages ten times. My penny needs lots of jiggling to drop!

Sunday/Monday: Icebreaker

1. What comments do you have on the above and why?

2. Imagine you are married and asked your husband if he loved you, and he said, “I married you, didn’t I? I give you my paycheck, don’t I? I mow the lawn…”   How would you feel about that response and why?

3. What do you think God longs to see in your heart — and why?

Monday – Wednesday: Bible Study

There are two ways to avoid God: by rebelling and being immoral, or by being very good and trusting in your own righteousness — so you think you don’t need a Savior. Probably the easiest place to see it, and for many of you this will be review, is in the parable of the two sons — so let’s look at that first, if only for review. Neither son, initially, truly loved the father. As Keller says, “They only wanted the father’s stuff.”

4. Read Luke 15:11-18

A. How did the younger brother show that he didn’t love the father?

B. What do you think was his heart idol — the thing that he loved more than his

father?

C. How did he feel when he was away from the presence of the father? What does this illustrate?

5. Read Luke 15:25-30

A. How did the older brother show he didn’t love the father? Find evidences.

B. What do you think his heart idol was — what did he want more than the father?

C. Challenge question: What parallel do you see to Jonah?

D. How did the older brother feel “away from the presence of the Lord?”

Now — a less familiar and surprising place — The Sermon on the Mount. At the conclusion, Jesus keeps giving illustrations of “two ways.”

I want to anticipate a question: “Are you saying someone who has a heart idol is not saved?” I’m not. I’m saying he might not be saved, and think he is because he is “moral,” like the older brother or the Pharisee. But he might have a heart idol and be saved — for we all have them. The younger brother had one — but his struggle and his repentance showed he was like the good tree.

TWO HOUSES

TWO HOUSES: HOUSE ON THE SAND AND HOUSE ON THE ROCK

TWO TREES

TWO TREES: GOOD TREE BEARING FRUIT AND BAD TREE WITH NO FRUIT

TWO WAYS

THE NARROW WAY TO LIFE AND THE BROAD PATH TO DESTRUCTION

Keller said he once preached on this as the way of the godly and the way of the ungodly — which is correct, but later he saw that the ungodly did not represent the person who is like the younger son (being very bad) as he had thought, but rather the older son (being very good — self-righteously moral.) This is sobering. This sermon is, in part, to awaken those who think they know Christ, who say “Lord, Lord,” but in fact, do not love Him, do not trust Him. They love themselves and are trusting in their own righteousness.

We’re going to study this from the conclusion up — looking first at the summary, and then seeing if we can see the truth throughout The Sermon on the Mount.

6. Read Matthew 7:24-27

A. According to verses 24 and 26, the wise man and the foolish man have something in common. Find what

they have in common. How would they appear the same in a church service or Bible study?

B. Now look at those two verses and find what differentiates them.

C. Thinking of the older brother and of Jonah — and of heart idols and answer this. Why is it that we can

know what God asks, and yet still refuse to do it?

7. Read Matthew 7:21-23

A. How are these two groups the same?

B. How are they different?

8. Read Matthew 7:15-20

A. In what season might these two trees appear to be the same?

B. In what season would the difference be apparent? What is the lesson, according to verse 20?

9.  Read Matthew 7:13-14

Two groups are on the path to destruction and one is not. Explain all three as succinctly and clearly as you

can.

10 Share your contemplations on this study.

Thursday-Friday: Listen to this free Keller sermon given in London to pastors and share your notes.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/a/Gospel-Communication

Notes and Thoughts on Message

Saturday

11. What’s your take-a-way and why?

“What are you going to do?”

“How would you feel about driving to their farm with me to visit tomorrow?”

“What about the talkative husband?”

“I’ll ask him to show me his barn, and while we’re out at the barn, you can share the gospel with her.”

“Hmmmm,” I said, feeling some Jonah like reluctance.

Steve smiled.

Slowly, I nodded.

He hugged me and prayed God would give us favor.

And so, in the morning, we headed out in the country to visit Mildred and Mike.

When we arrived, Mildred was in the living room on the sofa, wrapped in blankets. Her husband was talking… but Steve interrupted him: “Mike — I’d love for you to give me a tour of your barn!”

“Nah,” he said. “It’s a mess.”

“Oh — I’d still really like to see it.” Steve stood up — ready to go.

“Nah. Not going to show it to you. Come back in the spring. I’m staying right here with you and Mildred.”

Foiled.

Mike never stopped talking. I sat down on the floor next to his wife, took her hand, and tried to have a private conversation. But that dear farmer plopped down right next to me, cause he had things he wanted to tell me about the farming life. I looked at Steve and pled with my eyes. Now what?

He shrugged. After an hour we left. Failure — or so it seemed.

But God had a plan that would not be thwarted. Though Mildred did die a few days later, after the funeral the daughter told Steve that her mother had put her trust in Christ after we left. “She told me she knew why you and your wife had come. After you left, she prayed and asked Jesus to forgive her for her sins.”

I share this with you to encourage you — that God is sovereign, and if He is drawing someone, that even the worst evangelist will succeed.

Jonah was certainly the worst. His life had none of the fragrance of Christ. He hated the Ninevites, didn’t want to share the good news with them, and when he finally did, gave the worst possible presentation in history. Not a word about the love or grace of God. Not a word about their need to repent and trust Him. Only: “Yet forty days, and Ninevah shall be overthrown!” Or, as The Message puts it, “Forty days and Ninevah will be smashed.” (Jonah 3:4) Not exactly a winsome gospel presentation.

But the people of Ninevah believed God and were saved.

Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. J. I. Packer has a classic book by that title — and it is a subject we will cover in our study. Whether you call it election or predestination — it’s a thorny issue, but one you can’t avoid if you are going to take a good look at Jonah or Scripture. It is also one that has brought me great peace in evangelism. I know God calls me to share the good news, just as He would call me to share a cure for cancer if I knew it. And I know He calls me to be gentle and humble and honest and to live what I speak. But the results? That’s up to Him. And I must trust Him with my loved ones.

Please don’t think that Jonah’s success gives us a license to be lousy evangelists. God commands us to share with “gentleness and respect.” (See I Peter 3:14-16) And then we leave the results to Him, for in Him is “dominion forever and ever.” (1 Peter 5:11)

One of the characteristics that Steve loved in many of the farmers of Nebraska was their respect for God’s sovereignty. They knew they were completely dependent on Him. They would work hard, plowing their fields, planting their seed, caring for their crops — but they also knew that unless He granted favor with the weather, they would not succeed.” That’s what we are called to do — to sow our seed with love, but then leave the results to Him. That has actually taken enormous pressure off of me. Early in my Christian life, I thought it was up to me, and I would get physically ill out of concern for my parents’ salvation. I truly believe you will be blessed when we look at this doctrine in the context of Jonah.

But we aren’t going there yet. I also want to give you a taste of another truth in Jonah. Jonah’s problem was a heart idol that was blocking  the compassionate Spirit of God. So Jonah is about idolatry — I am seeing, in fact, the whole Bible is about idolatry. Whenever we have a problem, we can discover a heart idol at the root.

Even though I grew up in Wisconsin and then lived 25 years in Nebraska, I don’t know a whole lot about farms. I know more than my New Yorker friend Kathy Troccoli. Whenever she’d visit me in Nebraska she’d have a lot of fun with the farmers. She wanted to meet my friend Keith Johnson, because we wrote about him in Falling in Love with Jesus — painting him as a contemporary Boaz, who married a contemporary Ruth (my friend Jill.)  When Steve had cancer, we all made a visit to Keith and Jill’s farm. Here is Kathy on what she kept calling “a concubine.”

Kathy Troccoli on combine with "Boaz" in Nebraska

In the great free message you will listen to this week from Keller on Jonah and Idolatry, he uses a farming metaphor I didn’t understand. I had to write my sister Bonnie’s husband, because he grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm, and I knew he would understand. Keller quoted Martin Luther who was fond of this metaphor, and said that when you talk to someone about sin, they stare at you “like a cow stares at a new gate.” I asked Jim, “What does that mean?”

Like a cow stares at a new gate

Jim explained: A cow’s life is based on certainty–trods the same paths every day. A new gate will stop it in its hoofs.

I get it. When you talk to someone about sin, especially today (and no doubt, especially in New York) they stare at you, not comprehending. “A sinner? The wrath of God?” Where did you come from, they think, Nebraska?

But when you talk to them about idols of the heart, you get a different reaction. They no longer stare at you like a cow stares at a new gate.  As Keller say, “You get traction.” Keller explains that while many New Yorkers don’t think of themselves as sinners, they often can identify what they feel they have to have for life to be meaningful. Keller may not use the word idol right away, but he does show them why that overwhelming desire cannot be their Solid Rock, and is leading to all kinds of misery… He’ll touch on it in this week’s sermon, and come back in future sermons.

I am in a secular book club in Wisconsin with women who the world might think “have it all.” I could never talk to them about sin — they would think I was saying they were sinful and I was not. They would be offended and angry. It would be a train wreck.

But I have had a few conversations with them about my heart idols (and I did use the word) and they did listen. I told them about why seeing these invisible idols is a more effective way to change than to attack the symptom. They listened — even had searching questions.

So this is another topic we will consider when we consider Jonah. A fresh approach to evangelism.

For those of you who might like to do some additional reading, I have a suggestion:

Sinclair Ferguson is a well-known and gifted Presbyterian pastor –

from Scotland, South Carolina, and now Texas. This is a brief but very

readable and insightful commentary on Jonah. I read half it on the

plane yesterday. Optional — but I recommend it.

Ferguson said he thought a good title for Jonah would be

“Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God.”

A couple of personal notes:

Last week when I told you why Rebecca had come to the blog, I then asked: “Why are you here?” Your answers warmed me, surprised me, and showed me why this is such an amazing gathering. Your vulnerability, your honesty, and your longings make me so thankful to have you here and to be privileged to mentor women like you. I thank God for you.

I also want to tell you something so you can share in our joy. My manager, David, is expanding his website business and has wanted to take a piece out of his job with me: the handling of retreats. I felt anxiety, for David has been so good, and I don’t worry about things going wrong technically at a retreat. But God is truly showing me (chip by chip on my control idol) that I can trust Him to be in control. I began to pray, and our own Rebecca came to mind. She lives right here in Kansas City, where I am. Her passion for God and the talents He has given her drew me to her for this position. Last week you watched her testimony. David has been training her and now she is on her own — she has done all the work for my engagement in Augusta tonight (if you are reading this on Sunday — please pray for tonight — quickening, and that the tech part will go well). Rebecca’s not traveling with me, but is making sure everything is set up and running before I get there. Please pray for Rebecca and for the ministry. I thank God for her.

Rebecca Dority

Rebecca is already proving to me such a wonderful help. She found this great link to sermons I was going to make you buy — but here they are free. You will have to buy some sermons during this study — but not yet. Go to this link.

Gospel Realization: http://www.evangelists-conference.org.uk/1F014-01GospelRealisation.mp3

It’s a wonderful message — and just a prelude to the journey we are beginning on Jonah!

Finally, I’m scheduled to speak in Augusta tonight but my plane was cancelled in Charlotte and I am still here. Am scheduled to try again to fly out this morning. Had several mix-ups and a short night. I need God’s quickening more than ever. Thanks so much for praying for that — and for my travel. I am so thankful for your friendship.

Sunday/Monday: Ice-breakers

1. What stands out to you from the above and why?

2. Do you have any comments on the following two topics we will be considerng in our Jonah journey? If so, comment.

A. Election and Evangelism

B. A fresh approach to evangelism, using idols of the heart

Tuesday/Wednesday: Bible Study

Jonah is only four chapters. Read two a day and write down a few things that stand out to you. (Remember, if a verse becomes radioactive, stop, for God is talking to you.) And for those of you who have just studied Jonah, remember you need to read a Scriptural book about one hundred times before you begin to get it. :-) I’m also seeing the fact that several of you have just studied Jonah or are in the midst as God’s sovereignty — for you can bring fresh water to our spring.

Thursday/Friday: Listen to the Keller sermon entitled Gospel Realization — here’s the link again:

Gospel Realization: http://www.evangelists-conference.org.uk/1F014-01GospelRealisation.mp3

Then answer:

1. What was Keller’s experience with talking to New Yorkers about sin — and then — about idolatry? Why, do you think?

2. What is the supreme irony in the book of Jonah?

3. Keller says that before you can be an effective evangelist, you need to deal with the idol in your own heart.

Share your reflections on this.

4. A sign of a heart idol is when you don’t want to go on if it is taken from you. Keller tells a story he’s told before of two women married to difficult husbands. One was able to forgive her husband and the other was not. Why? Do you relate to this in any way?

5. Keller said the Lord has to become your “Rachel.” What did he mean? How are you doing with this?

6. What else stood out to you from this message and why?

Saturday:

7. What’s your take-a-way and why?

When I met with my publisher I was asked if I would be open to another title, and I said I would be if they could find a better one, but I felt an anointing on The Stonecutter. Yet if there is one thing I have learned in this journey on seeing our heart idols, it is that my predominant heart idol is control, and it has caused me, the Lord, and others grief. I really respect this publishing team, know they too are seeking God, and have expertise that I do not have. I didn’t want to be working at cross-purposes with God’s best, so I told them I would be open.

Along with a long and very dear letter of explanation, came this cover. I want you to see it — and then I’ll share some of their thinking.

I don’t know how you feel upon seeing it, but God did a work in my heart, for I loved it. I found it arresting.

Their fears about the title “The Stonecutter” is that people wouldn’t know what it is about, and many people never get to the sub-title. Also, it doesn’t address what publishers call “a felt need.” People want a book that will meet a need in some way — and this does, for people don’t want to be deceived, and want to be set free of those lies.

The Stonecutter imagery is still throughout the book, and the first of the three sections is called The Stonecutter. I have a peace about it, and hope you do too, for you are so a part of this book! I like the play on words (idolize) and we do need to see how we are being lied to, how these soul idols are destroying our lives.

Next January I want to do a study on this book, Idol Lies, and ask people to get the actual book.

Next week we are beginning a new study, which though it will also be on idolatry, will be on it through the lens of the fascinating book of Jonah.  Jonah’s real problem was — guess what! A heart idol.

I also want to share with you another provision God has made for “Idol Lies” and the curriculum. There is a camera man at “our” Rebecca’s church who has a heart for ministry, and was willing to put together a video of her testimony. His name is Tim Mahony, and we’re pretty impressed with what he did. This is a rough video — he’s going to edit it more, re-take her interview in the shade, but I can’t wait for you to see what we are working on!

How God Set Rebecca Free From The Power of Sin

I am going to make the homework lighter for the next two months, for I know April and May can be as busy as Christmas time for women. Next week we’ll do a review of idolatry for those who are new (and I’m counting on the older members to mentor them!) and then we’ll dive into Jonah. I’ll list all the sermons at once, which include some free ones and 10 dollars worth of paid ones — but it will last us into mid June. If you think Jonah is boring, it isn’t with Keller!

This week I want us to look at Rebecca’s “idol lie” and how she found victory over it.

Then I want to practice some soul talk.

It’s going to be a great week!

Sunday/Monday

1. What are your comments on the cover — the title?

2. We’re going to look at Rebecca’s testimony in more detail, but for now, what stood out to you and why?

Monday-Wednesday:  Rebecca’s testimony and Bible Study

3.  Watch the video and answer:

A. Why did Rebecca initially come on the blog? (I think this is key to her success!)

B. Why are you here?

C. When she saw it was on idolatry — what was her initial reaction and why?

D. Where are you in understanding idols of the heart? What do you think they are?

E. Heart idols are an attempt to solve a problem, but, what does Jonah 2:8 say they really do?

F. What was Rebecca’s heart idol and how did it boomerang on her?

G. What is your heart idol (if you know — and you may not yet!) and how has it hurt you?

H. Rebecca compared intimacy with God to a stream. Have you experienced this with the Lord? If so, explain.

I. Can you encourage our new friend Tim Mahoney with comments on this video?

Thursday – Friday: Soul Talk and Sermon

I’m going to give you two scenarios where an idol can lie to you — and I want you to do two things:

A. Find the idol lie so you can run away from the idol that really will destroy you.

B. Combat the lie with the truth so you can move forward in faith toward the real God.

4. Let’s start with the lies Rebecca’s comfort idol was telling her:

Your life is so stressful (that’s the true part :-)  ) you need this time at night to watch the news and eat so you will be less stressed.

A. Find the lies. (Be merciless and specific! Genesis 4:7 might help)

B. Rebecca told us she was afraid if she didn’t do this, that God would let her sit in her pain. She would have to suffer for a time — but find the truth in the following passages:

* Isaiah 40:29-31 (Imagine you are in Rebecca’s place and use this to speak truth to your soul.)

* 1 Peter 4:1-2 (Again, imagine you are Rebecca, and soul talk.)

5. Think of one of your deep idols and name a lie he tells you.

A. What is the lie?  Have you experienced the pain of this idol lie? If so, share.

B. What is the truth that could help you move toward God? Will this involve suffering?

C. Also, take this same lie, and reflect on The Great I AM’s we studied during Lent and

speak again to your soul, refuting the lie that Jesus won’t be enough, can’t really

rescue you from this, with something that quickened you during Lent.

SERMON: This is actually a lighter sermon on The Great I AM from R. C. Sproul (amazing it is light considering the preacher!) — one you can listen to while you work. He’s got one main point, but it is a good one, and one that has stayed with me from his humorous illustration. Listen and articulate it.

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/attributes_of_god/ice-cream-cones-and-the-study-of-god/

6. What thoughts to you have on the above message from R. C. Sproul?

Saturday:

7. What’s your take-a-way for the week and why?

THE BRIGHTEST DAY

CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE THE JOY?

I know how I would feel if Steve came back to me — or how Chris would feel if her son came back — how so many of you would feel to have one you so loved and lost walk through the door…

I even dreamed it would happen — before each daughter’s wedding. But for me it was the fruit of denial, for I will not see Steve until that great day — but I will see him, because as Jesus said, “I AM the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) And I love that He also said, “If it were not so, I would have told you…” (John 14:2)

I think my favorite account in the whole Bible is in Luke 24 where the two disciples are in tremendous grief and Jesus walks up alongside them. They do not recognize him until later when He breaks bread — but they listen to this “stranger” explain the Scriptures to them — how every prophet, every priest, every slain lamb, every suffering servant…all pointed to Jesus. Christ had to suffer He explained. But later, when they recognized Him — OH!

Tim Keller said, “The disciples weren’t thinking: I cannot tell anyone because this might not be in line with their beliefs and might offend them…THEY SIMPLY COULD NOT HOLD BACK THIS EXPLOSION OF JOY!!!

How I pray you are singing today — you serve a risen Savior! Death could not hold its prey! He lives! He lives! Hallelujah — what a Savior!

I’ll keep the homework light this week because I know many of you are away or with family — but let us rejoice together, let us talk about the One who said, “I AM the resurrection and the life!” If you read this today, I have some discussion questions for your Easter dinner — but they could be asked anytime this glorious week of celebration.

Sunday/Monday

1. Do you have any comment on the above?

2. Christianity overturned the world. Never has there been a movement like this. And the only people who have claimed to be God, other than Jesus, had a small band of followers who ended up killing themselves. Christianity, J. B. Phillips said, “Has the ring of truth.” Can you come up with an answer to some of the following objections to the account of the resurrection?

A. This is a story that was made up so that the disciples could start a movement.

B. This is a beautiful fable — but it is not true. (Experts say that a fable would not have embarrassing details that would make the lead characters unheroic — nor would it have unnecessary details similar to nonfiction.) Can you find an example of a detail that is not congruent with the nature of a fable? (Marcus Borg, who has influenced people I love, is one who says this is a fable. Keller quotes him and refutes him beautifully. There are false shepherds out there who do not love the sheep — and we need to be ready to show the intellectual reasons for the resurrection.)

3. There are many reasons that the resurrection was an explosion of joy for the early disciples — but is it for you? If so, explain why.

One of my husband’s partners was Mark Pinkerton, who now practices in Olethe, Kansas. Two years after Steve died, Mark and Tess’s teenage son was killed in a motorcyle accident. Last week I drove down to Olethe to see them. We loved each other before, but now we share a bond of grief. We know what it is like to lose one to whom you are knit. We talked about how we both read Randy Alcorn’s book on Heaven and Joni Eareckson’s book on Heaven the week after the funerals…  (We talked about the books on heaven we didn’t like too!) We talked about how thankful we are that Jesus is The Resurrection and the Life — that heaven is real — that we will see the ones we love again.

Mark and Tess also decided to adopt after their son’s death. Three wonderful boys from Haiti! Oh — such fine sons — and I can only imagine what God is going to do with their lives. Here I am with Mark and with Zee — who is such a fine young fifteen-year-old!

Mark, Dee, and Zee

How do we go on after the darkest night?

Only by speaking the truth to our souls.

How did Martha of Bethany go on after Lazarus died?

Only by the truth that Jesus spoke to her.

Bible Study: Monday – Wednesday

Though the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying “The one you love is sick,” He intentionally stayed where He was. He can be such a mystery. Now He arrives.

4. Read John 11:17-27

A. How long had Lazarus been dead, and who is the first to confront Him. From what you know about her, how is this consistent with her character?

B. What is the first thing Jesus promises Martha in verse 23? What does this mean to you?

C. Martha sees this as happening in the future, but look carefully at what Jesus says in verses 25 and 26 and find evidence for resurrection life happening the moment a person believes.

D. How does Martha respond in verse 27?

5. Reflecting:

A. This was a huge claim — and yet He made it to a woman. Women were not considered reliable witnesses. So why — do you think, Jesus spoke this first to Martha?

B. Do you think it was hard for Martha to respond as she did in verse 27? Why or why not?

C. In the next passage, Mary says the same words to Jesus — but Jesus responds to her very differently than He did to Martha. Why, do you think?

Thursday-Friday

This sermon is a free sermon preached the week of 9/11 to grieving New Yorkers. This link will look like you have to buy it, but if you choose the MP-3 you will see the cost as 00.00

I also recommend this sermon for 2.50 if you like: Link

6. Share your notes and what you learned.

Before we leave The Great I AM’s, I’d like to have you contemplate, next week, how they relate to helping you overcome the idols of your heart. I’ll also show you the book cover to this book we’ve been studying on and working together on forever. I am so pleased with it and am eager to show it to you — but don’t want to distract from this great day — the best of the year.

You’ve been a wonderful group to journey with through Lent of 2012!

A WEEK TO TRY TO COMPREHEND THE LOVE HE HAS FOR US

HE IS THE GOOD SHEPHERD

WHO WILLINGLY LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS LAMBS

IN ONE OF THE MOST MYSTERIOUS VERSES OF SCRIPTURE

WE ARE TOLD:

HE IS THE LAMB OF GOD SLAIN

BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD

(Revelation 13:8)

THE INNOCENT LAMB OF GOD

THE HOURS JESUS SUFFERED ON THE CROSS (9 to 3)

WERE THE SAME HOURS THAT THE PASSOVER LAMBS WERE

SLAIN

IT ALL COMES TOGETHER

Because this is holy week, we will do the lesson slightly differently. I want you to abide each day, and I’ll give you small pieces so you can. Good Friday will have more, and I encourage you to give Him good time that time. You may want to fast the hours He was on the cross. I’d really like you to listen the sermon twice — once early in the week — and just listen — and then more carefully on Good Friday.

Here’s the link — my son J. R. found this for me — and I knew it was the one for us this week. It’s free:

http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=17365&ParentCat=6

All week, try to comprehend the love He has for you. As Cyndi said last week, if we get that, “everything else pales in comparison.” It’s the last week of Lent, before our Celebratory Easter week, so let us finish well.

SUNDAY:

1. What stands out to you from the above and why?

2. Try to wrap your mind around this: Revelation 13:8 tells us the Jesus is the Lamb who was slain “before the foundation of the world.” What? What do you think this means?

3. I’m going to suggest you keep pace with us this holy week for your Lenten discipline — but feel free to add another. What will you do?

Monday: FOR A GOOD MAN, ONE MIGHT DIE…

It so happens I’m going to be on Moody Radio today from noon to one central time. (I’d love your prayers!)  If you have a Moody station in your area, you can listen live — or online — or tomorrow they will have the podcast up. Click here:

http://www.moodyradio.org/brd_programarchive.aspx?id=78882

Today I want you to contemplate Romans 5:7

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person,

though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.

This is a theme in many stories that have stirred our hearts, pointing to the truer story.

Last Sunday my grand-daughter Jessa rode to church with me.  She’s a reader, a writer, a contemplative, a kindred spirit with her grandmother. This is a picture of her with her mother Julie as a storm rolled into our cabin at the lake.

Jessamyn Eve and Julie Brestin in 2009

She had her copy of the first in the series of The Hunger Games with her. “Would you like to read this, Grandma?”

I paused, not feeling too enthusiastic.

She had her debate ready. “Grandma — you know J. R. Tolkein says that the very best story theme, because it points to the gospel, shows someone who is in safety coming forward and risking their life for someone who is not in safety. That’s the story of The Hunger Games.”

I smiled. Her little sister Analise piped up from the back seat: “Jessa! You said you had a bunch of friends waiting for that — so I had to buy my own. Grandma doesn’t even want to read it.”

“Actually, Ana,” I winked at Jessa, “your sister has persuaded me. I’m going to read it. And sometimes Grandmothers get special ranking.”

Silence from the back seat. Big smile from Jessa.

So, I have read the first book and, indeed, found it compelling, even if it isn’t great literature. And yes, it is the noble theme and helps me understand why it is stirring  the hearts of young and adults alike. (I also appreciated hearing the author interviewed, saying part of her purpose was to help teens not romanticize war.) In The Hunger Games, Katniss sacrifices herself for her little sister, Prim.

It’s is true — both the true stories, like Bonhoeffer and Jim Elliot, and the fictional stories, like Tale of Two Cities and Life is Beautiful tap into the beauty of the Gospel love. Of love so great the one lays down his life for his friend.

Each of us wants to be loved like this — enough that one would sacrifice himself for us. We have one, The Good Shepherd, who loved us so much he both suffered and died for us.

4. Read Romans 5:6-8.

A. Name a story that stirs your heart because it portrays one giving his or her life for another.

B. For whom would you give your life?

C. Would you give life for someone who hurt you?

D. Describe what Christ did and give Him praise.

Does anyone know the source of this painting -- I'll put it in if you do!

5. What does Jesus say in John 10:11-12 about Himself? Do some research on how true shepherds risked their

lives for their sheep.

Tuesday: THREE CRIES IN THE DARK

This holy week we are going to contemplate “three cries in the dark.” Even though Jesus was on the cross from 9:00 A. M. until 3:00 A. M. when it is usually light, it became DARK by the sixth hour. Have you ever wondered how the prophecy Jesus made was fulfilled, that like Jonah, he would be three days and three nights in the belly of the whale? I could find pieces of three days — but three nights? Yes — one was a supernatural night when God darkened the sky as His only Son hung on the cross. Then there were the natural Friday and Saturday nights.

5. Read Matthew 27:45 — why do you think it became dark?

Beginning tonight, and each night this week, when it gets dark, I want you to go outside and cry out these three cries. As Keller said, it was dark — hard to see — but you could hear. Jesus spoke three times between nine and noon, and three times just before he died. Keller doesn’t deal with the cry, “I thirst,” but deals with two others, and the cry of the centurion after Jesus died. These are the three cries we will consider.

My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

It is finished.

Truly this was the Son of God.

CRY THESE OUT — SEAL THEM IN YOUR MIND TO TRY TO COMPREHEND WHAT HIS DEATH MEANS. I WOULD LIKE YOU TO LISTEN TO THE KELLER MESSAGE TWICE — FIRST — JUST LISTEN — THEN, ON GOOD FRIDAY, TAKE NOTES.

HERE’S THE LINK AGAIN:

http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=17365&ParentCat=6

WEDNESDAY: WHY JESUS SCREAMED

Keller said if the Gospel writers were making this up, as some have claimed, they would not have had the founder of their religion scream as he was dying. Why did Jesus scream? There’s so much here.

Think about the people you are the closest to in all the world. My hunch is it is someone you’ve been with a long time — a mother, a husband, a child…  time to be knit, time to build memories, time to weep and time to rejoice…someone, if you lost, would cause you to scream from the depths of your soul…

Now — here’s a mysterious truth that sets Christianity apart from all the other religions. The early church fathers had a name for it: Perichoresis — The Father, The Son, and The Spirit in community, in a dance, from all of eternity. C. S. Lewis and J. R. Tolkein have described this…such a mystery.

How can you portray the Spirit and the Father? I don't know -- but this pictures the perichoresis to me -- the dance of the Trinity.

Other religions either have warring gods or a monolithic god. If there is love at all, it came later. Christianity has a fellowshiping community.  Love from the beginning.

6. Find the community of Jesus with the Father and the Spirit — love from the beginning:

A. Genesis 1:26

B. Proverbs 8:27-31

C. John 1:1-2

D. John 5:19-21

E. John 10:30

7. Jesus had never been separated from fellowship with the Father until now. Why was He now, according Habbakuk 1:13?

8. He didn’t have to do it — He could have called upon 10,000 angels. Why does Peter tell us He did?

A. 1 Peter 1:18-19

B. 1 Peter 3:18

9. Why did Jesus scream in the dark? Give Him praise here.

THURSDAY: WHEN THEY CUT JESUS, HE BLED SCRIPTURE

This is one of the most mysterious psalms in Scripture — for in every other psalm of lament, it is a picture of something the psalmist actually suffered, but then, behind, you can see a reflect of The Man of Sorrows. But this psalm depicts an execution — a crucifixion — and we know David did not endure that. So what is the answer? Tim Keller says Acts 2:30 explains that David was also a prophet — so he foresaw and spoke about the death and resurrection of Christ.

You may want to listen to Keller’s sermon on this — which is called The Doctrine of Salvation. It is not a free sermon, but it is excellent. Remember how we have said that beholding the gospel transforms us? This sermon certainly does that, and I think is a particular comfort to those who are suffering.

10 Read Psalm 22

A.  The way psalms were identified in biblical times was not by number, but by first lines. Keller says Jesus most important moment was when he was dying — and spoke these words — so this, therefore, may be the most important psalm. What are these words in verse 1, and what do they mean to you?

B. Name the verses that are clearly prophetic of the actual crucifixion.

C. Keller said this psalm has been a source of debate in Judaism. The explanation given is that this must be Israel

who suffered. But Keller said, in our free sermon, this has a flaw — do you remember what it is?

D. How did Christ fulfill verse 24?

Good Friday

Listen to the Keller sermon and share your notes. Share what particularly quickened you and why?

Here’s the link again:

http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=17365&ParentCat=6

Saturday

10. What is your take-a-way and why?

But oh — I did! To this day I still remember two things: the absolute warmth of the teacher (she hugged me right away!) and the little plant we each got to pot and take home as our very own.

She told us to put them in the sun, water them, and watch! From this little plant would spring little branches, and more leaves, because it was ALIVE, just like Jesus.

I took my plant home, and each morning jumped out of bed  to see what new growth was there, my heart filled with wonder. It grew and grew and grew!

When Jesus proclaims “I AM the true vine,” so “abide in me,” He was making the point that the only way we can be alive is if we are in Him and He in us. That’s the only way we can bear fruit, because an unattached branch will never be able to do it. You can hang things on a dead branch — but the branch has not produced them.

Tim Keller often contrasts morality  with true Christianity. Morality is something you do yourself — hanging things on a dead branch.

You can be moral, and not connected to the vine. You can obey the rules and be quite self-righteous about it. There can even be a certain beauty and order to your life. Keller says you are like a snowflake: perfect, beautiful, symmetrical, and FREEZING. There is no true life there.

an actual snowflake magnified

In contrast, Christianity is organic. Because you are rooted in One who is ALIVE, The True Vine, as you abide in Him and He in you, you will bear much fruit. If you don’t bear fruit, then you are dead, and you will be cut off and thrown into the fire.

Photograph by Mark Paul Bishop, M.D. from Wisconsin

What I see in this wonderful group, and I was particularly impressed last week, is how you are abiding, how you are responding to pruning, and how you are bearing fruit, fruit that will last. I loved seeing the excitement — as in Laura-dancer — of gazing on Jesus as THE GREAT I AM and being in awe. Beholding Him for who He truly is is abiding, is connecting to the vine, and that inevitably leads to fruit.

Real fruit has enemies — “little foxes” that spoil the vines. We’ll consider that.

Catch for us the little foxes that spoil the vineyards (Song of Songs 2:15)

Real fruit needs pruning — and it is our Father who tends the vine. All that He cuts is for good. But pruning is painful. (It’s the Stonecutter, or Vine Tender at work!)

To hearken back to Elizabeth’s story of learning to forgive — it was a revelation to her that true forgiveness always involves suffering. Someone has to pay the debt — it doesn’t seem fair that the perpetrator isn’t the one, but often it is the one wronged who must pay. It hurts to let someone off the hook who doesn’t deserve it. And yet that is what Christ did for us. When Elizabeth suffered in order to forgive, she was allowing God to prune, and oh — what beautiful fruit has come from that!

It always hurts to die to our idols — but then LIFE comes. There is never a death without a resurrection.

Last week was important — but oh, this week is too. It’s not as lengthy, because I so want you to keep up.

Sunday/Monday

1. What stands out to you from the above and why?

2. How is the Lord wanting to prune you? Are you yielding or fighting? Explain.

3. Last week several of you commented, after listening to the sermon, about how easy it is to slip from abiding to morality. Do you think your abiding has increased during Lent? If so, do you sense any more of the fruit of His Spirit?

4. Choose a Lenten discipline for the week — this study or something else.

Monday-Wednesday: Bible Study (John 15:1-17)

5. What statement does Jesus make in John 15:1 and what are the implications? (There are several.)

PRUNING

Pruning grape vines

6. Read John 15:2-10

A. Which branches, according to verses 2 and 6, are thrown into the fire? What does this mean?

B. Which branches are pruned, according to verse 2, and why?

Last week my friend Rachel said, “I am beginning to welcome trials as friends for they really do help me grow if I have the right attitude. I don’t want idols in my life. I also realize the pruning may never stop, but that’s okay.”

C. Think about the last time you may have been pruned (or you may be going through it now.) Honestly, how do you see it and why? What do you think of my friend Rachel’s comment?

D. What do you learn about abiding from verses 4-5? What are some ways you truly can abide in Jesus? (Include insights from John 15:9-10.)

E. What do you learn about how Jesus is a friend, and also, what He longs for from us as His friends? (v. 12-17) If a verse quickens you, stop there, meditate, and share your thoughts here.

7. Read Song of Songs 2:13-17 (Challenge passage — do your best) Often today Song of Songs is applied only to earthly marriage, but it must also be applied to our relationship with our heavenly bridegroom.) Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission, comments on this passage, and I’ll paraphrase him at the end. But do your best before you read his interpretation — and apply this to you and Jesus.

A. What does the bridegroom ask of the bride in verse 13? What might this cost in your life?

B. Where is she, according to verse 14, and what does he want of her? What does this mean?

C. What enemy lurks if she does not respond to him and come higher with him according to verse 15?

D. What does she tell him to do according to verse 17?

Hudson Taylor, who knew what is was to take risks (google him and find out about his life) says that this time she refuses him (later she grows and goes higher). He writes: “How many foxes there are in our lives…disobedience to the voice in small things…and the fruitfulness of the vine is sacrificed! … She dismisses him to go to the mountain alone (verse 17) Poor foolish bride! She will find that the things that once satisfied her can satisfy her no longer. (Hudson Taylor, Intimacy with Jesus, Understanding the Song of Solomon OMF)

E. Comments on Taylor?

Thursday-Friday

Choose one of these sermons — the first is 2.50 and is entitled I AM THE VINE –

Click here: http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=17294&ParentCat=6

“Click on the link, then click the arrow next to”‘format”, then click on “MP3 $2.50″, then click “Add to cart”, then click “checkout”. Follow the rest of the directions to download onto your computer.

The second free, and is on the fruit of the Spirit and covers some of the same principles

Click here: http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/how-change

8. Share your notes from the sermon

Saturday:

9. What is your take-a-way for the week and why?

One of three.

I’ve asked leading questions of all of them

while I was working the machines.

But it was “Sandi” in whom I sensed a little spark.

So it seemed time to have a real conversation about what matters most.

I asked her to lunch.

And so we went — last Wednesday.

TABLE FOR TWO BY VICKI WARNER

Before we were even out of the Curves parking lot, she initiated things, telling me she had really been thinking about one of my questions — and so I asked her if I could tell her my story. She said, “Yes.” And so, before we even arrived at the restaurant, I told her how I had come to believe Jesus was God, and what He meant to me.

When we sat down I told her I sensed a hunger in her. That I wondered if God was wooing her.

She said, “I don’t mean to make you feel badly — but I don’t think you can fix the emptiness in me over lunch.”

I nodded. We ordered our salads. She was quiet, and I waited, wanting to hear whatever it was that was keeping her from Christ.

She had some of the usual objections. I had them once too. I don’t think you can live in this world and not have these questions because you hear them all the time. She said:

• I don’t like it when people think they know the way to heaven or imply that the other religions are wrong.
• What about the people who never hear about Jesus?

I listened. I shared some of the things that Keller says in the wonderful message you will hear this week. Good truths I’ve heard before but expressed in fresh ways. Things we need to have in our hearts so we will be ready, as Peter says, to explain the hope that is within us. Oh — we’ll feel awkward — and we’ll stumble — especially if we care deeply about the person to whom we are speaking. When I’m with my sister Bonnie I get as quivery as jello — it’s just so important to me that she hear and understand — even though I know that is not up to me ultimately.

One of my all time favorite CD’s is Sara Grove’s Conversations, and the leading song describes exactly how tongue-tied I can get when I talk about what matters most. This is a good You-tube version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QVykEC1VIs

This is the chorus of “Conversations:”

I would like to share with you what makes me complete.

I don’t claim to have found the Truth, but I know it has found me. . .

the only thing that isn’t meaningless to me is Jesus Christ and and way he set me free.

This is all that I have. This is all that I am

I love the line: “I don’t claim to have found the Truth, but I know it has found me…”

That’s how it is. I didn’t know if Jesus was wooing Sandi or not, but I thought He might be.

I do know that without Him we are SO blind. One of her objections shocked me, and I knew she had it because the blindfold was still in place. She said:

It doesn’t seem right to me that, at the end of my life,

if I have refused to be forgiven by Jesus, that I go to hell.

I asked,

But wouldn’t you be so thankful that there is a way to be forgiven?

When I dropped her off, back at Curves, she said “I’m sorry to have this time end.” I thought You are not shutting down. He must be wooing you. And Saturday, when I went in, she had a gift for me.

Somehow I think I’m not the only one sowing seeds — somehow I think that beneath the dark soil, a little seed might be germinating. Life might be coming…

I hope you’ll take copious notes on the Keller message to prepare you for “conversations.” A few of the things I remember are:

NO OTHER FOUNDER OF ANY RELIGION

MAKES THE CLAIMS JESUS MADE

WHO DOES HE SAY THAT HE IS?

THE GREAT I AM

HE DIDN’T HAVE A BEGINNING

HE WAS WITH GOD, CREATING THE WORLD

HE MADE THE SEAS

AND ALL THAT SWIM WITHIN

HE SAYS OUTLANDISH THINGS SUCH AS

I KEEP SENDING PROPHETS AND WISE MEN TO YOU

AND YOU KEEP KILLING THEM

HIS CLAIMS ARE ASTOUNDING

AS R. C. SPROUL THUNDERS:

HE COMES AS THE DOOR

Photograph by Mark Paul Bishop, M.D. from Wisconsin

He comes as the Resurrection.

He comes as the Light.

He comes as the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.

He comes as the Good Shepherd.

He comes as the Vine.

He is the One who before Abraham was, is.

The passage we are studying this week is one of the richest in all of Scripture. It’s so rich that I long for you to take extra time. One reason people fast a meal during Lent is to give themselves extra time with the Lord. Consider that if you are pressed for time.

Not only does it explore the fascinating question, “Who does Jesus say He is?” but the frightening but important truth that so many who think they have found the way may, indeed, not have found the way.

I’ll share more about this in the Bible study lesson — a thought that is swirling and swirling around in me — and which I long to have a conversation with you, my dear sisters who are seeking the truth.

SUNDAY/MONDAY: ICE-BREAKERS

1. What stands out to you from the above, and why?

2. Can you think of a moment in your life when you began to realize that Jesus might be God — not just a prophet — but God? If so, what do you remember?

3. Report on your Lenten discipline. I am going to suggest that this week your discipline be doing all of this lesson! But walk in His Spirit.

Bible Study: Monday – Wednesday

This is the fierce argument the Pharisees have with Jesus and it is dense truth — so go slowly during this holy Lenten week. I’m suggesting two Keller sermons: one for 2.50 and one free sermon. Hopefully you can listen to both, for I would hate to have you miss the one that is entitled I Am The I Am. The second one supplements, but goes into a bit more detail about the question swirling about in my mind, and which I had when I talked to Sandi. The Pharisees were in bondage, but they couldn’t see it. They thought they were saved, but they weren’t. How many people who think they are Christians, are even in Bible teaching churches, are deceived, and are not really saved? Here are the big questions: If you are religious to feel good about yourself — if you are doing Bible study, giving to the poor, and going to church — all to feel good about yourself, but not loving God — is it possible you are not saved, even if you can explain the gospel? That question has been swirling about in me, and continues as I read this passage and listen to these sermons. And here’s another one. Is there a danger in issuing an invitation that is more on the basis of what you will get from God than on who He is? Keller has said that we should confront idols right off the bat. These are the questions swirling in my mind.We’ll take them up at the end — so please get to the end!

I am so thankful for this group. The very fact that you are doing the lessons and listening to the sermons without getting a lot of praise for doing so is evidence to me that we have true seekers of God here. How you bless me!

Let’s do the lesson — and then contemplate these hard questions. Ask God to help us all!

Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights

It’s the Festival of Lights. Jesus is in the Temple surrounded by candles, and He astounds them all as He claims:

I AM the Light of the World.

Background for sermon passage

1. Read the dynamite of John 8:12-20.

A. Describe the debate.

B. Who does Jesus think He is? Find several astounding statements and comment on them. (Go slowly.)

2. Read John 8:21-30

A. Find evidence for blindfolds on the Pharisees.

B. What does He tell them they have to do to be saved and how do they respond? (vs. 24-25)

C. What do you think He means by verse 28? (I’m asking because I am puzzled. Does He mean some of them will believe?)

3. Read John 8:31-38

They are trusting in the fact that they are “offspring” of Abraham. Yet what evidence does Jesus give that they are not saved?

4. Read John 8:39-47

A. Our father is either Satan or God. Find characteristics of each family.

B. Why does Jesus say they do not believe? (vs. 43) What does this mean?

C. Keller says the real hesitancy to Christ is moral rather than intellectual. People don’t want to give up what they think is  freedom. Do you agree with Keller?

D. Give an example of how a surrender to God in any area of your life led to real freedom. Several of you last week: Chris, Rebecca, Anne, Elizabeth, Pollyanna — more — commented on your increasing awareness of God’s goodness. This, I believe, is what helps us surrender. Eager for testimonies!

5.  Read John 8:48-59

A. Trace the debate — the accusations of the Pharisees and the responses of Jesus.

48: accusation

49-51  response

52-53 accusation

54-56 response

57 accusation

58 response

B. What are the implications of “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

C. How did the Pharisees respond? Why, do you think?

Thursday/Friday (The sermon, or if possible sermons)

The main sermon is 2.50 (I think I promised no more than 10 this Lent, so may have reached my promise limit. But this one is so key I’d hate to have you miss it. However, if you really can’t afford it, the supplemental one covers some of the same issues, but is on a different passage. )

The first link is to the 2.50 sermon entitled I AM the I AM.

http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=17296&ParentCat=6

6. Give us your notes, and as you write them, think of how you might make these statements when you have “conversations” with unbelievers.

7. He also addresses how it is so easy to trust in religion instead of God. What notes do you have?

Supplemental Sermon: How To Find The Way http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/how-find-way

8. If you listened to this, write down key points.

9. Would love your input on the questions swirling in my head:

A. If you are religious to feel good about yourself — if you are doing Bible study, giving to the poor, and going to church — all to feel good about yourself, but not loving God — is it possible you are not saved, even if you can explain the gospel?

B. Is there a danger in issuing an invitation that is more on the basis of what you will get from God than on who He is? If so, how would that impact your evangelistic conversations?

Saturday:

10. What’s your take-a-way for the week and why?

BUT JESUS DIDN’T COME TO DAZZLE

US WITH HIS SUPER-POWERS

OR TO BE A STAR

Keller says that miracles are not meant primarily to convince people of the Deity of Christ because people will always find a way to explain it in some natural way. No doubt you have seen many of the explanations given for the biblical miracles. Some explanations may be plausible, for God may choose to work with the natural forces He created. Though every time I hear one of these explanations, I also know that the world is eager to have another explanation than God intervening. You may have seen, for example, this report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt-9ihZsV2Y

When my husband was dying of cancer, I had some tell me that if God healed him, that it would be a great sign and many would put their faith in Christ. I wasn’t so sure. For I have seen how people so often explain things away so that they do not have to believe. Sometimes their explanations are pretty far-fetched!

When I lived in Nebraska I was part of the leadership team of “Sonrise Bible Studies.” (Kim and Joyce are involved in that ministry.) In the beginning years, we had so many unbelievers coming, and we wanted them to keep coming, so we had some guidelines to keep them from being discouraged.

James Tissot Feeding of the Five Thousand

One was that if a new member said something nearing on blasphemy, that instead of the main leader correcting her, she should wait for someone in the group to do it, or she should gently lead back to Scripture, or, as a last resort, signal her co-leader for help. Our philosophy, which is also that of Alpha’s (a tremendously successful evangelistic curriculum which God has indeed quickened) is that the unbeliever who is not humiliated is more likely to keep coming and come to faith)

One week we were studying the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand from one little boy’s lunch, and one of the members said, “Do you know what the real miracle was?”

I wasn’t sure what was coming, but it was worse than I could have imagined. She said, “The real miracle was hospitality. Our minister explained that everyone had bread and fish under their robes, and brought it out when it was needed.”

There was silence — and some were nodding in agreement! I tried Plan A. “What does someone else think?” Silence. Trying not to panic, I went for Plan B. “Let’s look at the passage again and see if we can find support for that.” Again, silence. Finally, Plan C.  I said to my co-leader and dear friend Shell — “Shell — what do you think?” Shell was so stunned she couldn’t speak. I can still picture her, frozen in her chair. (I don’t even remember how we got out of it — but I’ll never forget how astonished I was that this was taught from a pulpit in town. But I know now it is a common explanation in many churches for that miracle.)

Do you remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16? The rich man did not believe in God and had neglected the beggar Lazarus at his door. Both died, and Lazarus was carried by an angel to Abraham’s side, but the rich man was in torment in Hades.

Rich Man Led To Hell by David Teniers (1647)

The rich man pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his five brothers that hell was true. Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them.”

The rich man said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”

Abraham said, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced is someone should rise from the dead.”

And we know that is true, for Jesus rose from the dead, and yet there is unbelief everywhere.

Miracles seldom change hard hearts. That doesn’t mean they can’t or don’t or that they have ceased. (Please don’t think I am saying that!) So if the miracles of Christ were not so much to convince people of His Deity, then what was the primary purpose of His miracles?

Every miracle Jesus did was to restore the world to the way it was meant to be. There was not meant to be sickness, hunger, hurricanes, and death. These are all part of the fall. But every miracle, and this is what I want you to ponder, also teaches us something about Jesus and our relationship with Him.

So when He fed the multitudes and then followed it up with His claim: I AM the Bread of Life, what was He teaching us?

This is what we will consider this week — and I am eager, during the Bible study section, to share a way the Lord spoke to me as I studied this passage this week, for it is truly helping me and I believe it may help you too.

Sunday/Monday: Icebreaker

1. What stands out to you from the above and why?

2. Report on your last week’s Lenten discipline. Will you continue with the same or do a new discipline this week?

Monday-Wednesday: Bible Study

I’d been pondering the words of Jesus that follow this miracle: “Don’t labor for the bread that spoils, but labor for the bread that endures.” (John 6:27) This is what He was teaching through this miracle, so I wanted to understand it!

I know that it is easy to put so much time and money into things that will pass away, and very little into those things that will not. I know this is the heart of what Jesus was showing, saying, and wanting us to understand.

But the Lord took me deeper when I had dinner this week with dear friends, Ed and Cynthia Longabaugh. We were talking, as we have been so much this year, about idols of the heart. Ed said something which caused me to pause, which gave me a slight tremor of “The Mysterium Tremendum.”(If you have just joined us for Lent, some of this may be hard to understand — but do the best you can and don’t worry if you don’t get it now.)

He said, “Idols always demand a propitiation.”

“What do you mean?”

In the Old Testament, the pagans and the Israelites would sacrifice to other gods to appease them. Those gods demanded a sacrifice — sometimes even a human sacrifice.”

I thought about that — how sometimes they would even put their children on the fire to Molech.

“And would you say that our heart idols also demand a sacrifice?”

“Yes. For example, a woman might desperately want the approval of her mother, and live her whole life trying to get it. She sacrifices years, peace, contentment…”

I drove home that night pondering. I came home, curled up in my chair, and turned to a passage the Lord brought to mind. It’s from Jeremiah and he is telling them that their lives have been wasted because of their idol worship:

…the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters… Jeremiah 3:24)

I had sobering thoughts — of how my idols have demanded a sacrifice — from me and from my family. I have regrets — about not being more diligent in training my children when they were young, about not being more diligent with my health (I have to battle reflux from poor eating habits and watch carefully for skin cancer because of years of working to get tan), about not being with my husband as much as I could have his last year. I have confessed and the Lord has forgiven me for all this — but my idols of comfort, security, and approval all extracted a sacrifice while I was serving them. If my eyes had only been on Jesus, and the bread that endures, I would not have these regrets. I and my family would have been spared the sacrifice that was demanded.

But I also thought — I don’t want to sacrifice anything else to idols. Help me, O Lord, to turn from them and to You.

3. Comment on the above.

4. Read John 6:1-15 and describe the miracle. If a verse quickens you, slow down and tell us what you see.

(We studied John 6:16-21 two weeks ago on the post called: Life is a Sea Voyage)

5. Read John 6:22-35

A. According to John 6:26, why did Jesus say they were seeking Him?

B. This should always cause us to ponder — do we find Him useful or beautiful? How are you doing in this area?

C. What does he tell them in verse 27, and what does this mean?

D. Keller says that in verses 30-31, they are asking Jesus to do the miracle again! Do you agree?

E. What does He repeat to them in another way in verses 32-35?

F. What stood out to you from this passage and why?

Thursday-Friday: Listen to this Keller message (It’s $2.50): Link

6. What did you learn from his first point “Bread for the Mind?” (This is his longest point — he contrasts watertight case with watertight Person)

7. What did you learn about “Bread for the Body?” (This was brief, and you might miss it — but he talks about how hunger is not God’s plan — and how this miracle not only shows that, but how we are to be a part of alleviating the physical hunger of others.)

8. What did you learn about “Bread for the Heart?”

Saturday:

9. What is your take-a-way this week?