Shepherds’ Conference 2017
Session 3
Michael Reeves
John 1:1-3
Familiar sentences are familiar because of how defining they are.
These are revolutionary words.
They set Christianity apart from every other belief system
John is exegeting Genesis 1.
Why was the Spirit of God hovering over the waters?
He was there to anoint the word as he went out to do his work.
God speaks, and on his divine breath, his word goes out.
Light and life and all creation are brought into being.
It is not that in the beginning, the word came into existence.
The word was with God and was God.
We are not hearing here that God just happens to speak.
Other religions have their deity speaking.
But, it is of the very nature of this God to have a word to speak.
This God cannot b wordless.
For the word is God.
God could not ever be anything but communicative.
God cannot be without his word.
He cannot be reclusive.
God cannot be contained.
He is overflowing.
He is not needy but supremely full.
He is a glorious God of grace.
He loves to give himself.
Clearly, Genesis 1 was dominant in John’s mind as he wrote.
In the beginning.
The light shines in the darkness.
John has a Hebrew, Scriptural idea of what the word means.
This is not a Hellenistic import.
What else might have been on John’s mind?
John 1:14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
John used an unusual verb here.
The word tented among us.
Tent and glory are connected here.
John is thinking of the tabernacle.
It was the tent where God was with his people and where his glory was seen.
As the Israelites saw the bright glory cloud over the tabernacle, so the word shows us his glory.
In the inner part of the tabernacle, the Lord is enthroned above the mercy seat on the ark of the Covenant.
1 Samuel 4:4; Lev 16:2
The Ten Commandments were in the ark, the throne of God.
The Ten Commandments are the word of God.
The word belongs as near to God as possible.
The word displays the inner most reality of who God is.
He is the radiance of God’s glory.
He is the exact representation of his being.
He is God himself.
He is God’s Amen, the faithful and true witness.
Early church had to defend the humanity of Christ.
But the biggest battle was to display that Jesus truly is God, the Lord God of Israel.
God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father.
Those words are pastoral dynamite.
Owen, Communion with God, explained how many Christians labor under the misapprehension that behind gracious Jesus, the friend of sinners, is a more sinister being.
Is God the Father thinner on compassion and grace, beauty and goodness.?
Is he one we would less like to know?
Since Jesus is God, you can be rid of that horrible idea.
Jesus shows us what the Father is like.
Jesus is the perfect radiance of God.
There is no god in heaven who is unlike Jesus.
One with his Father, the word, the expression, the radiance, the glory of who his Father is.
If you have seen him, you have seen the Father.
Through Christ, I can know what God is truly like.
That upsets all my idols.
Through Christ, we see how much God detests sin.
And through Christ, I see that, like the sinful dying thief, a sinner like me can cry, “Remember me,” for I know how he will react.
I have seen how he has treated such as I.
I know what he is like towards people like me.
He is righteous and gracious.
Stephen Charnock quote
Light without darkness, purity without filth, all excellency to please
True knowledge of the living God is found in and through Christ.
This is deep and transforming.
It can make the dead spring to life.
Nothing of God looks terrible in Christ to a believer.
The sun has risen, shadows have vanished, God walks on the battlements of love.
Justice has left its sting in the Savior’s side.
In Jesus Christ, you exchange darkness for light when you think of God.
He shows us an unsurpassably full and desirable God.
He is a righteous and a Kind God.
God who makes us tremble in awe and rejoice in wonder.
All things were made through him.
Without him was not anything made that was made.
Christ the eternal word is the one through whom all things were made.
But, secular thinking in the west has eaten away at belief in this like acid in the church.
We think he is a Savior.
But, we deny him as Creator of all.
We sing his praises on a Sunday, and believe it.
But, walking home through the streets, past the people, past real life, we do not feel this is all Christ’s world.
It is as if the universe is a neutral place, a secular place essentially.
We act as if Christianity is something you can simply smear on top of secular, real life.
The result is that Jesus is nothing more than a comforting nibble of spiritual chocolate.
He is a nice option alongside other hobbies.
He is an imaginary friend.
The Bible knows of no such laughable little christlet.
But all things were made through him.
Therefore Christians are not playing with a hobby that we can put on one side when we walk out into the world.
He is the agent of creation.
All things bear his stamp.
The heavens cannot but declare his glory in his craftsmanship when they continue to exist and continue to move.
The glory of Jesus is intimately written into the very grain of the universe.
He continues each moment to uphold and sustain the creation he brought into being.
To think against Christ the logos is to think against logic.
To do so is to descend into folly.
In his world, all our faculties work better the more they are harnessed to faith in him.
Trusting in him, we are working with a map of the universe as he intended it.
That makes us able to think, be creative, and to reason rightly.
John 1:14
He is not just God’s eternal word, he is God’s eternal Son.
There is a difference.
Word speaks of his oneness with God.
Son brings out the other element, that he has a relationship with the Father.
This goes against every other belief system in the world.
This is an infinitely superior belief system.
No human mind has ever dreamed of such a thing.
John is saying that God is eternally a Father who has and loves his Son.
John 17:24, you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Every other system has nothingness before the world.
Or they have gods existing who hated each other.
Pagan gods are mean, like to throw their weight around, want slaves and so they create.
Here, at bottom, before anything, we do not see nothingness or chaos or gods exercising arbitrary power; here we see Almighty God who is love.
This God would not be who he is if he didn’t love.
‘To be the Father, he must love the Son.
To be the Father means to love, to beget the Son.
This is why the eternal Sonship is so precious to Christians.
Arius declared that there once was a time when the Son was not.
He had choirs sing his false theology.
Arius thought that God did not want to dirty his hands with creation, so he created the son to do his dirty work for him.
How unbiblical.
If Arius is correct, God is not eternally a father.
In fact, since he just created this thing, he is not a father at all.
And, Arius does not have the Father truly loving the Son.
The Son is just a workman for the Father.
The only way that the Son pleased the Father was by doing good works.
Thus, the way to get to the Father is earning it through good works.
No gospel of grace is available in this system.
Arius also had to miss Philippians 2
If the Son had never sat upon the throne as God, he was motivated to gain a position that he had never had before.
Thus, the motivation for the incarnation and sacrifice would have been for his own gain, not love.
Only with an eternal Son can this not be.
Jesus is eternally beloved and eternally at the Father’s side.
His motivation was not to get a glory he never had before.
He wanted to share with us what he had always enjoyed, sonship.
Who Jesus is entirely shapes what he offers in the gospel.
The person of Christ shapes the work of Christ and the nature of the gospel of Christ.
For the eternally beloved Son comes to share with us the very love that the Father has lavished on him.
He comes to us to bring us into the life that is his.
We are not just forgiven and not just righteous, he shares with us sonship, family, eternal love.
John 1:18, the Son is eternally in the bosom or lap of the Father.
In John 14, he wants believers to be with him where he is.
John 13:23, John was reclining in the bosom of Jesus.
John 17:23, you have loved them as you have loved me.
The Son sharing with us his sonship caps off every aspect of our salvation and sanctification.
The Son shares with us his own sonship.
Without the eternal Son, we don’t get that gospel.
If God is not a Father, he cannot make us his children.
If he does not have eternal fellowship with his Son, does he have fellowship to offer us?
If the Son had not been with the Father eternally, in the bosom of the Father, how could he share closeness with us?
If the Son had never been close, he could not bring us to that children of God relationship.
This would make salvation sound completely different.
John 17:23, love them as you have loved me.
No other deity could do this other than the God of the Bible.
No other deity could bring us so close.
Only this God could teach us to pray, “Our Father.”
The Most High delights to hear us as his children.
The eternal Son enables a hearty, delighted prayer life.
With this God, prayer can be a privilege.
Salvation is about grace from first to last.
If salvation is not about being adopted into the family of God, it is not clear that it is entirely of grace.
If our only problem is sin, we might try to work that out.
But sonship cannot be won by actions.
Effort can have nothing to do with your salvation.
Efforts can make you a slave. No amount of effort can make you a son.
All efforts to produce salvation will only produce slaves.
Sonship is free.
500 years ago, the neglect of the eternal Son and how his person and being shapes the gospel was at the very heart of the problem in the church.
At that time, the identity of Christ did not drive the gospel as people heard it.
Medieval views of grace were like spiritual Red Bull for the lazy.
Grace was there to give you the energy to do what you have to do to earn heaven.
The prize became heaven, not Christ.
Jesus was reduced to being one little brick in the wall in the system.
And, in fact, Jesus was not even necessary to be the one to give you the strength.
The other saints could do it for you.
But in the reformation, a profound truth was rediscovered.
God does not give you a thing called grace to strengthen you to earn heaven.
The eternal Son is the gift from heaven.
You receive him, not a separate thing called grace, and you receive the right to be called children of God.
In him you are adopted as the children of God.
In him you are saved.
In him you are kept to the uttermost.
When the church lost the vision of the sonship of Christ, when Christ became only the deliverer, the church lost the gospel.
Suddenly, merit became the center of the life of the church.
Heaven became the prize, not Christ.
Jesus was reduced to being one little element, one little brick in the wall, of the system.
God does not give us some thing called grace to energize us to do things to earn salvation.
No, we receive Jesus and have the right to become children of God.
It is in him, the Son, we are adopted.
In Him, we are saved and kept.
The reformation helped us to see that Christ is the treasure.
Solas Christos is the center of the solas.
It shapes what the reformers meant when they talked about grace and faith.
Grace alone, not that we are given a thing called grace, but we are given Christ by the grace of God.
Faith is not a thing we do, it is the empty hand that receives Christ.
Scripture, our supreme authority, is about him.
You cannot give God alone the glory without exalting Jesus Christ.
Only through Christ is the living God glorified.
Preach Christ.
There is no gospel without him.
There is no gospel if you do not preach Christ alone.
This is the center we must hold fast to and pledge ourselves to.
We see in him the radiance of the glory of God, so what better center is there to pledge ourselves to.
We preach Christ alone.
We preach him to ourselves, to our people, to the world.
We preach his glorious person and his all-sufficient work.
That is the beginning of all reformation.
This is what will reform lives and reform the church in our day.
When Christ alone is faithfully preached, the world will see his glory, and that is the only light that will drive out and overcome all darkness.
Shepherds’ Conference 2017 Session 2 Notes
Shepherds Conference 2017
Session 2
Phil Johnson
No Other Gospel
Galatians 1:6-7
Galatia was a region, not a single city.
Paul went through there in Acts 13-14.
Lystra, Derbe, other places were Galatian cities.
False teachers liked to follow Paul and tell the gentile converts that, if they wanted to become real Christians, they must be first converted to Judaism.
Paul showed in Romans that Abram was saved long before he was circumcised.
Acts 15 describes the false doctrine Paul had to battle in Galatians.
Two different words for another gospel in this passage.
Heteros, another of a different kind.
Allos another of the same kind.
They bring another gospel that is not another.
There is no other gospel.
Paul presents a harsh, double curse for those who would offer a different gospel.
You must not miss the significance of the language Paul used here.
Paul does not invite these people to debate with him on the false gospel.
He just calls them heretics and tells the Galatians to have nothing at all to do with them.
The point of not listening to an angel is hypothetical,
Such would never happen.
It is clearly not always right to be warm and welcoming.
Sometimes a curse is required.
That does not mean you should be a full time contrarian.
1 Pet 3:9, no repaying evil for evil.
Bless those who persecute you.
But the problem here is not Paul’s personal honor.
This was an attack on the gospel.
Him who called you is the Lord, not Paul.
These false teachers were turning people against Christ.
That is why Paul fought hard.
He was defending the message, not the messenger.
Many protestants have forgotten the problem with the Roman Catholic gospel.
The prosperity preachers of TBN are offering earthly blessing for money. They are selling indulgences as much as were sold in the 16th century.
We need a generation of men with the spirit of Luther and Calvin.
We need to wage war against false gospels.
The best scholars throughout church history have always been passionate polemicists.
We need clear and uncompromising voices.
V6
First verse after the introduction.
Intro usually has words of praise after Paul’s name.
He even had praise for the believers in Corinth.
Paul thanked God for the Corinthians and for God’s grace on them.
Every one of Paul’s letters has kind things to say to the church except the book of Galatians.
But there is no commendation in Galatians, all through the book.
Paul’s rebuke is passionate.
This book is a strong reprimand.
Paul remains stern and never blunts his voice of rebuke in this letter.
Paul’s opening words in a letter always contain some sort of gospel words.
V4 has the gospel and substitutionary atonement.
In Scripture, people are surprised at how rapidly heresy infected and damaged the churches.
Revelation and Galatians show us this.
This is one reason why we cannot assume that, just because something became a practice, even in the early church, it is what should be our practice today.
Part of being fallen is to desire a different gospel than the one God presents.
The gospel offends our sinful hearts.
An R. C. Sproul story.
A person told him the gospel was primitive and obscene.
Primitive is proper.
God is making the gospel accessible to ordinary, primitive people.
It is obscene.
How else could we deal with the ugliness of the accumulated sin that God will forgive?
Most gospel corrupters do not set out to be heretics.
Most are deceived before they become deceivers.
They are self-deceived.
They think they can fix what is distasteful about the message of the cross.
The desire to fix the gospel and make it not offensive is a sinful desire.
People who think we can be so radically contextualized so as to be cool and popular in our world will always end up compromising the gospel somewhere.
2 Cor 11:3, a main strategy of Satan is to draw us away from the simplicity of the gospel.
Outline
Point 1: An itch for something new.
Why do evangelicals move from fad to fad with such ease?
The people we minister to are far too easily corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
People say we need to follow the styles of popular culture to reach the culture.
Today’s fads will be the brunt of tomorrow’s jokes.
Consider that no person of influence in evangelicalism today is talking about The Prayer of jabez.
That which is true is not new, and that which is new is not true.
Paul was astonished at their jumping for the new stuff.
While he was with them, in person, he already warned them not to buy into a new message.
Acts 17:21, spending your time only talking about and listening for what is new.
That is like the Internet.
There is only one gospel, and it cannot be improved upon.
Some people would rather talk about anything other than the simple content of the gospel.
Sin, righteousness, and judgment are omitted from the pulpits of today in the name of being relevant.
But that is what the Spirit will teach us.
Point 2: An urge to modify.
V7, some want to distort the gospel.
They probably thought they were improving the gospel.
It is not always a love of the new.
The circumcision party wanted to preserve the old.
They wanted to modify the gospel.
The urge to modify is the Bain of many who work in the academic realm
Novelty is required in many dissertations.
Scholars spin out new perspectives and other modified doctrines.
The circumcision party wanted to make a little tweak, a slight change in the ordo solutis.
They wanted to put a good work before justification.
A minimal expression of obedience was something they thought should come before justification.
In many of our worlds, people would not find this enough to disagree about.
Just think of all they agreed on.
Deity of Christ, imputation, faith, resurrection, etc.
But Paul would not compromise.
The circumcision party made justification hinge on a work done by the sinner.
That was enough to lose the gospel completely.
To make any kind of human work instrumental in justification is to destroy the doctrine completely.
When it comes to the gospel, the urge to modify is damnably sinful.
Point 3: A craving for the applause of men.
V10
Paul could have pleased a lot of people had he went along with the circumcision or just ignored them.
Paul knew what it was like to crave the applause of men.
He did that in his former life.
There is no greater impediment to genuine faith than seeking the praise of men.
You cannot faithfully proclaim the gospel if you mince words.
Sheperds’ Conference 2017 Session 1 Notes
February 28, 2017
Session 1
John MacArthur
2 Corinthians 4:5
We do not preach ourselves…
2 Timothy 4
Paul anticipated a heavenly reward.
There were no earthly crowds to give Paul praise for his achievements.
Timothy was away.
He was afraid, and perhaps considering bailing out of the ministry.
Everybody has deserted Paul.
There is a loneliness in Paul’s last words.
How do you go through what Paul went through and stay steadfast?
How do you get there?
2 Corinthians 4
V1 and 16
We do not lose heart brackets the section
Weak translation of the phrase.
Paul may be saying that we do not give in to evil.
It is not so much about being cowardly or slipping.
It is about not giving in to evil or acting badly.
We do not sinfully defect.
Paul’s experience at Corinth would drive someone toward defection.
Look at their sin and cruelty, even toward Paul.
Apollos would not stay there.
It was the church nobody wanted to pastor.
Paul wrote them 4 letters.
Somehow, after Letter 1, they opened themselves to false teachers.
Paul visited, felt worse than before, wrote a very strong letter, and went away.
He may not have wanted to return again.
He was attacked and slandered.
Paul was depressed.
Paul was reluctant to write 2 Cor.
He defended his apostleship against the attacks of false teachers.
Chapter 1, Paul talks about comforts
Chapter 2, Paul talks about sorrow.
Paul regularly talks about his pain in this book.
Paul hurt, but he did not give into evil.
He remained faithful right there.
Here, in chapter 4, we see convictions that kept Paul faithful.
Verse 1, An unwavering conviction
Conviction 1: A conviction about the superiority and glory of the New Covenant over the Old one.
The therefore transitions after the last chapter comparing old and new.
Paul did not watch this change from afar.
He was a zealous Jew.
Acts 9 has Paul’s physical conversion.
Philippians 3 has Paul’s spiritual mindset.
All that old zeal became manure.
2 Cor 3:6
New Covenant gives life.
Law kills.
3:7 Old is a ministry of death.
New is a ministry of life.
3:9 New is a ministry of righteousness.
Old was temporary.
New covenant is permanent.
Old had no hope.
3:12 New has hope
New is clear
Old is dark, vailed.
New is Christ-centered v14.
New covenant is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
New moves us from glory to glory.
Paul came out of the Old Covenant.
He came into the New.
He never lost the wonder over the reality of the New Covenant.
We must never forget the privilege of being called into the New Covenant.
If nobody ever believed under Paul’s ministry, if he was mostly an aroma of death to death, it was still the highest of all honors and the greatest of all joys to proclaim salvation in Christ.
Conviction 2: Paul was certain that ministry was a mercy.
Again, v1.
Your ministry is a mercy.
You did not earn it.
You do not keep it because you are qualified.
Paul was amazed to be given this mercy.
You are in ministry, not because you are better than others, but because you demonstrate God’s grace and mercy.
All our ministries are mercy.
You did not earn your ministry.
Conviction 3: The conviction that he needed to have a pure heart
V2 We have renounced the things hidden because of shame.
The enemies in Corinth accused Paul of much corruption: sexual, financial, etc.
Paul does not have a hidden life.
He was not perfect.
But he was open.
Paul renounced hidden things of shame.
This was a continual thing.
Paul’s reputation as a perfect Pharisee showed he was good at hiding his shame.
He renounced that kind of hypocrisy.
In 1:12, Paul declared he had a clear conscience.
He knew he was not perfect.
But he did not cling to his sin and hide it.
We want a clear conscience.
It doesn’t matter what comes at you if your conscience is clear.
How do you keep your conscience clear?
You do so by winning the battle against sin on the inside.
Charles Wesley hymn on the conscience.
Conviction 4: He was certain of the responsibility to accurately preach the word of God.
V2, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God
Paul knows not to adulterate the word of God.
His job is to communicate truth, genuine truth.
No sneaky means used.
Quote
“It is criminal to take the word of God and manipulate it to achieve your ends.”
If you tamper with the word of God, you may make a friend, but you will not change a heart.
You do not have to defend the word of God.
It has a glory all its own.
Changing the word will not work and will not honor God.
Conviction 5: Paul was certain that the results did not depend on him.
The results did not depend on Paul at all.
Altering the message is a declaration that success depends on you.
If the gospel is vailed, it is not the minister’s fault or failing.
They are blinded, really, totally blinded.
Welcome to the ministry.
If the gospel is vailed, then the people are in the category of those who are perishing.
The perishing cannot respond.
When they do respond, it is because of the wondrous work of God.
Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.
The doctrine of depravity is both discouraging and encouraging.
It encourages me that I can’t do anything to awaken the dead sinner. So, let me just be faithful to the manifestation of the truth in the word of God.
All the results come from God.
V6 God said light shall shine out of darkness.
God showed the light of the knowledge and glory of Christ in our hearts.
When God does a miracle like the miracle of “Let there be light” in Genesis 1, then we see the light.
Only God can say into the darkness of a human soul, “Let there be light.”
I’m happy to give up all of the credit for changing lives so that I can also give up the responsibility.
I preach the word and leave the results to the Creator.
Conviction 6: Paul was certain about his own insignificance.
V7, this treasure is in jars of clay.
What treasure?
The treasure of the gospel.
We have that in clay pots.
They said Paul was unskilled.
That was no problem.
That was not amazing.
What was amazing is that God would put the gospel in a container like Paul.
Clay pots are not special.
They may be chamber pots.
Paul saw himself as the least of the apostles.
1 Cor 4:9
Paul says he and the others are a spectacle.
They are the scum of the earth, the dregs of all things.
We are the bottom of the garbage container.
The power of the glorious gospel has nothing to do with us.
We have that treasure in clay pots. We are fragile and ordinary.
But such has nothing to do with the success of the gospel.
How does Paul sustain his faithfulness in the face of hardship?
The convictions.
Conviction 7: He was convinced of the benefit of suffering. V8
2 cor 12:7-ff
Paul had a messenger from Satan attacking.
A person, angolos, is not an illness.
Some of the persons in our church may be there to humble us.
Power is perfected in weakness.
Was that person possessed?
Paul asks for God to stop this person.
God tells Paul no, because Paul must see that his strength is in weakness.
If you don’t embrace your suffering, you are more likely to defect from ministry.
Paul could never be the explanation for his impact.
They saw that he seemed to be nothing.
They tormented him, attacking every way they could.
The power of God came through his weakness.
Conviction 8: He was certain of the need for courage.. v13.
I believe. I spoke.
If I believe it, I say it.
I only think of one thing: Is this what is true?
What would the church be like today if Pastors did this?
I can’t believe something and not say it.
Aren’t’ you afraid you might die?
No, v14.
So what if they kill you.
You will be resurrected.
V15, I do this for your sake so you will be converted and give God thanks.
Conviction 9: Paul was certain that future glory was better than anything this world could offer.
Vv16-18.
Even in the midst of being battered by the struggle, Paul had confidence in an eternal weight of glory.
No human on earth gave him a trophy at the end.
But the reward of the Savior is coming.
You will not lose heart, defect, if you live by these convictions.
Exponential 2014 – Finishing Well Together
** The following are my notes from a workshop session at Exponential 2014 **
Finishing Well Together
Brian and Amy Bloye
Wrote a book called It’s Personal which might be useful.
Out of all the leaders in the Bible, only one third finish well.
We want to finish well.
9 things we have learned along the way to finish well together.
1. This journey must involve 3people: you, your spouse, and God.
The devil attacks this.
They have to pray together.
Need to share our spiritual journey together.
She needs to know what I am learning.
They read books together.
He includes her in the books they read together with their team.
We need to continue to encourage each other along the way.
We need to be each other’s cheerleader.
I cannot find my significance in her.
2. Learn to create margin.
God often shows up in the margins of our lives.
We cannot leave things totally full.
We need time to relax and breathe.
Plan on your calendar to leave margin.
We have to put rest into our calendar.
3. Cheat in the right places.
Provocative statement: Never cheat your family, cheat the ministry.
The point is not that you try to cheat the ministry, but that you are going to cheat something, not giving it 100% of yourself, and it is better that this be the ministry than your family.
God never promises to make up for misplaced priorities.
Focus on your family, and God will fill in the gaps in ministry.
Much of the work I did after 45 hours a week was done out of guilt, and it was not actually productive.
4. Learn to say no.
Do what is important, not what is urgent.
Nobody can do it all.
The word no can be your best friend.
You cannot please everyone.
You can’t be great at everything.
Focus on what you are good at.
Turn off the voices that don’t matter.
If you can’t say no to people, hire someone who can.
Who are the voices that matter?
The voice of my wife matters.
The voices of my kids matter.
The voices of my elders matter.
Voices on Facebook do not matter in the same way.
Some seasons of ministry, you just have to take it on the chin.
God will straighten things out.
5. Put some solid boundaries around your marriage.
He does not travel alone.
He does not meet alone with the opposite sex.
They must have a clear window or an open door in a meeting with the opposite sex.
He does not counsel the opposite sex.
He says he is not a great counselor anyway.
Let’s get people to the people they need to help them.
He does not go places alone with other women.
No riding in a car alone with another woman.
No lunches with a woman.
6. Set healthy expectations for you and for your children.
It seems that we are always disappointing people.
Do we paint a picture that God is impossible to please.
They read One Way Love by Tullian Tchividjian.
Kids will catch expectations that we do not try to put on them.
Kids can feel the weight and pressure of ministry.
7. Learn what fills your emotional tanks, and keep them full.
From the book Leading on Empty
What fills you up?
What drains you?
How can I help my wife fill her tank?
Do not be afraid of engaging a counselor.
8. Focus on a few good friendships.
Naturally occurring friendships seem to work the best.
Forced friendships are strained.
Ask God for good friends.
9. Create a healthy rhythm for doing life together.
Is Sunday night movie night?
Be strategic with your weekly schedule.
Do you take a walk with your wife on Monday mornings?
They shut their building down on Friday to help staff have a day off.
That saved thousands of dollars.
Divert daily.
Withdraw weekly
Escape quarterly
Abandon annually
He takes a month off every year.
That has been great for the family.
Make health a part of your lifestyle.
Stay in shape together.
What will it look like to finish well?
I want to be old, love God, love my spouse, love my kids, love people, and love ministry.
Exponential 2014 – Matt Chandler
** The Following is a section of my notes from Exponential 2014 **
Matt chandler
Luke 15
This was a grimy crowd.
Tax collector’s collected the money to pay for the army that kept the people under the thumb of Rome.
Tax collector’s sponsored murder in the minds of the people.
It is not a surprise that the religious leaders cannot understand how Jesus could hang out with tax collector’s.
Sinners was a big category.
Sinners were dirty.
These were considered unacceptable people.
Jesus, in one moment, will deconstruct the world views of both groups, both religious leaders on the one hand and tax collector’s and sinners on the other.
Parable of the lost sheep.
The sinner sees hope.
The religious is convicted by not caring like God.
Jesus is not after moral aptitude.
Jesus is after sinners.
Same thing with the lost coin.
Parable of the prodigal son
God was and is not just after the prodigal, he was after the religious.
Do not hate and put down the older brother’s among you. God offers them repentance.
The father invites the older brother in too.
The tearing apart of the world views and rebuilding happened
This is what preaching is about.
Do not live vicariously through other preachers.
Do not tell other people’s hanging out with lost people stories.
Trust the Bible.
What we are doing is unbelievably mysterious.
I cannot transform people.
Do not waiver from two thousand years of God’s plan.
Trust the Holy Spirit.
Be desperate for God’s help.
Preaching is logic on fire.
Martin Lloyd Jones said that.
Exponential 2014 – Michael Frost 5 Habits
** The following are my notes from a breakout session from Exponential 2014. **
Workshop 3
Michael Frost
5 habits of a missional Christian
Bless 3people every week
One must be a non Christian, one from the church, and one from either.
It can be any sort of kindness, gift giving, or even well placed word.
Eat with 3people every week.
Illustration of the art show.
Story is too fascinating for me to try to write down.
You become a spiritual introduction agency.
Third, learn to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Go to a silent space.
Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
You really need discernment about where to go, what to laugh at, where the line is.
It is easy to be in church with other Christians.
It is easy to just become worldly.
Aiming for proper balance is hard.
(This is the point that I would find most difficult to learn to apply from my theological direction. However, being filled with the Spirit or led by the Spirit is certainly biblical, and thus is a topic I need to respond to.)
Fourth, learn Jesus.
Spend at least one meaningful length of time focusing specifically on Jesus.
Read the gospels over and over.
Do not give a weak picture of Jesus.
Become an expert on Jesus.
People are not asking about the gospel, they are asking about Jesus.
Can you tell about Jesus in an easy and common way?
Illustration of talking to surfers.
They all could tell facts about their favorites.
We need to be able to talk about Jesus like these folks can talk about their favorite athlete’s.
Most people cannot tell you much of anything about Jesus.
As the businessman said to Frost, “You’ve got a bloody good product, but your delivery system is screwed.”
Can you tell about Jesus in 2 minutes?
Fifth, how are you sent?
Journal about all the ways that you can see that God has sent you to do his work this week.
B.E.L.L.S.
Bless
Eat
Listen
learn
Sent
Abolish the laity in your church.
(I know what he means here, but I’m not sure I like that terminology. Every member is a minister, and that is the point to emphasize.)
As you do the 5 things, you change.
If you bless, you become generous.
If you eat, you become hospitable.
You become spirit led.
You conform to Christ.
You see yourself as a missionary.
Habits can unleash values.
We need to form an alternate set of habits that unleash the values of the reign of God.
Exponential 2014 – Michael Frost Main Session
** The following are my notes from Michael Frost’s presentation during a main session of Exponential 2014 **
Michael Frost
Missional
It is not missional to do only unexplained acts.
Colossians 4:2-6
Paul seems to believe that we should take a two pronged approach.
Paul talks about the gifted evangelist.
some of those travel.
Some are in a town.
We should pray for those guys.
Paul does not say that he will pray the same thing for all the regular folks.
Paul then says to them to be wise in the way that they deal with outsiders.
Paul does not think we are all evangelists.
Paul knows some people are gifted in this.
But the primary way we will speak about Jesus is in response to people’s questions.
So, what do we do?
Live a questionable life.
If your life looks just like theirs, why would they ask you any questions?
Live a life that arouses curiosity.
We are not all called to be the gifted evangelists.
We are called to live differently and to answer questions.
We did not subvert and conquer the Roman empire by door knocking and literature distribution.
Told stories of Roman emperors who saw the different lifestyles of Christians.
Quote from Julian the Apostate.
He feared the empire was losing control because of the love of the Christians.
Being a decent, middle class American is not living a questionable life.
“If you live this way, you will make attractive the gospel.” (That came from Titus 2:10.)
Verse ten follows a list of rules to make us live differently.
Evangelists have peculiar rules.
But for the rest of us, if nobody is asking you any questions, something is wrong.
Illustration of the shoe salesman in San Francisco.
Salesman listens to people’s life stories.
Is this what you are looking for?
They ask who are you?
Since I became a shoe store guy who listens, I am invited to more parties, etc, than ever before.
I share the gospel with far more people than I ever could as a Southern Baptist minister.
Story of the Southern Baptist minister who went to the margarita and poker party.
Listen
Make people ask.
If nobody is asking, all you have left is fake surveys.
If you are an evangelist, be bold.
If not, live a questionable life.
Exponential 2014 Larry Osborne
** The following are my notes from Larry Osborne’s portion of the second breakout session at Exponential 2014. This session included 3 perspectives on rethinking evangelism. **
Larry Osborne
Years ago, Larry became harshly critical of those who were not wired like him.
His concept of evangelism perfectly fit who he is.
We call it gift projection.
We assume the gifts, calling, and personalities of others should be like ours.
Larry’s wife, Nancy, will not confront anyone. She is not wired that way.
Tom was a born salesman.
He had tons of intentional relationships.
He was always ready to share the gospel.
Nancy had a greater impact in the church than did Tom.
She invited people to church, lived simply, and people came.
Often the most assertive people do not actually have the best results.
Larry is not opposed to come and see evangelism.
The primary way that people come to Jesus and grow to maturity throughout history has been come and see evangelism.
Come and see is not about special programs.
Come and see as we follow Jesus together.
Why it works.
It gives people time to consider what it will cost to follow Jesus.
People who make decisions on the spur of the moment seldom make decisions that stick.
In every case where Jesus called people to follow him, there was a background in place.
It takes 5 to 7 encounters to help someone decide.
It provides a system for instant follow up.
If people are bringing friends, they follow them up.
Friends follow up friends.
It is something everyone can do.
You can be any kind of person, and you can invite.
North coast church
No marketing or advertising or special programs Everything we do is aimed at Christians.
We never aim anything at the one not yet following Jesus.
We do make sure that everything is understandable.
Everything is about Christians, to Christians, but clear for all.
The retention rate at the 3 year mark is 75 %.
The people who come are given time to know what they are getting into.
3 assumptions about our people:
1. Our people know non Christians
2. They want their friends to know Jesus.
3. So, if they are not bringing their friends to our churches, it is our fault, not theirs.
He illustrated with sushi.
If people do not like sushi, you do not invite them to a sushi restaurant.
If you think they will not like something about your church, you will not invite them to your church.
You cannot expect come and see evangelism to work for someone who drives over 20 minutes.
When we assume Bible knowledge on the part of all who listen, we have made the lost unwelcome.
We need to be very clear.
Sometimes our special events and special series scream out to our people that they should wait for the big event until people come and visit.
When you talk about inviting people to a special service, you train your people not to invite people to regular life.
It makes people very uncomfortable if they hear it.
Exponential 2013 Notes: Jim Puttman – disciple-Making Church
Disciple-Making Church
Jim Puttman
The following are my notes from a breakout session from Exponential 2013:
Every Christian is a disciple-maker
Not everyone has the gift of leadership.
Not everyone is a small group leader.
Not everyone is a teacher.
But every person is supposed to be a disciple-maker.
Every parent is supposed to disciple their children.
If we do not make disciples who can disciple, we hinder the process of spiritual growth.
If a church targets leadership development, everyone there who is not gifted to be a leader is left out, just watching to help leaders develop.
That is not biblical.
Everybody is to be a disciple and a disciple-maker.
The only people who can create disciple-making churches are disciple-making pastors.
You cannot give what you don’t have.
The job of a good teacher is not to figure out how to use his gift, but to figure out how to help people actually learn and do something with what you taught them.
Keys to a Disciple-Making Church
5 things
Key 1: define what a disciple is.
Have a definition.
It needs to be agreed upon.
Tower of Babel illustration: unified language matters.
Puttman’s church definition
Matthew 4:19
Follow Jesus.
Be changed by Jesus.
Be committed to the mission of Jesus.
We need a clear, unified definition.
Yes, we are to make disciples.
But we are to lead a church that makes disciples.
You also need a biblical methodology
Jesus told people to come and be with him.
He did not invite them to a 5 part sermon series.
We will make disciples when we ask them to be with us in life.
Leader
Coach
Small group leader
Regular people under the leader
Each one coaches someone from the level under them.
How do people move up the list?
They do the work and show that they can.
Regular people are on the front lines, not pastors.
We want to equip them to storm the gates of hell.
Key 2: we need a maturing, more mature, spiritual leader.
If 90% of the people who call themselves Christians are immature, what happens when you put them all in the same room?
People get hurt.
You need a more mature person in the room who understands what it looks like to make disciples.
You cannot focus on making the masses of the people happy.
Children are selfish.
If you do not make disciples, you will have people who want to be fed instead of learning to feed themselves.
If 90% of your people are spiritual infants and brats, why would the world want to be a part.
Why unleash an army of spiritual brats on the world?
Jesus invested in his leaders.
Of course he cared about the masses.
But Jesus’ method of reaching the masses was to train up and unleash his disciples.
Bird hunting illustration
One bird, one shot
Key 3: You need a relational environment.
A relational environment is not a program or small group structure.
A relational environment is not a means to an end, it is the end itself.
You start loving people because you change.
They share with you and you share with them.
Knowing the truth and doing stuff is not enough.
It is not real Christianity.
Yes, real Christians learn and do.
But there is more.
A relationship-less Christianity is not Christianity.
The most lonely people in the church are pastors.
They have been taught not to let anybody get too close.
This paints a false picture.
You have to do life with your people.
You should be confessing your sins and holding others accountable.
Bear one another’s burdens.
As we do things together, even hard things, we build life.
It is not possible to abide in Christ without abiding in the body of Christ, the church.
We only bear fruit when we abide in Christ.
We do not bear fruit apart from the church.
Key 4: a reproducible process
A pastor’s job is to help people understand the process so that they love me but do not need me.
Can your ego handle that?
A leader understands the game, sees the process, identifies where a person is in the process, and can develop a plan to help that person get better.
How do you make people who understand the faith, understand growth, know how to see where people are, and who know how to help them grow?
Puttman and his group created the SCMD process.
Jesus
S – Shared who he was
C – Connected with them.
M – Trained them for ministry
D Sent them out to make disciples
Go out, preach, come back, and let’s talk.
Share
Connect
Minister
Disciple
We want people to know this process.
Share who Jesus is.
Those who come to know him are invited to connect.
When we connect, we are part of a family.
You know and care about your family.
In connection, we learn to be a family and to be a minister.
We are created anew by Christ for good works which God planned beforehand (Eph 2:10).
So, as the people who are connected learn what their gifts and abilities are, we help them to minister to others.
This is all how we train them.
Then, as they are trained up, they will go make disciples.
They will disciple their own children.
Youth ministers will be there to support parents, not the other way around.
Plus they will share the gospel with others and help make others into disciples.
We can help people to suffer through life with Jesus as we connect and minister.
If we are really doing this, we do not paint a falsely easy picture of the faith.
One more thing
We want people to understand the stages of spiritual growth they will go through.
Everyone starts out dead.
Those who hear the message are born again and become infants in Christ.
They move into childhood, 1 John talks about little children.
Young adulthood
Parenthood
When an infant fills its diaper, I am not offended.
When a child acts like a child, I expect that.
When a young adult acts like a teenager, thinking they know everything, I am not stunned.
Help people recognize what they are looking at.
Share with the dead
What do dead people say?
What do they do?
What do I do with them?
Find out if they are open to talking.
Find out if they will hear you.
Find ways to show them love.
Share your life with and connect with infants.
What do infants do and say?
They need to be connected with somebody who can help.
They need to be connected with somebody who can teach them.
They need love.
You need to help them find spiritual parents.
Children
Very self-centered
Feed me.
I didn’t like that music
I had to park a long way off.
I am irritated by having to wait to check my kids in.
Childish language, it is all about me
What do I need to do?
They need some parenting.
Be careful, just because a person serves does not make them a grown-up.
Ask why they are serving.
What motivates their service.
They need to be parented.
Young adults
They want to try it now.
They want to do it themselves.
They are very zealous.
But they are not parents yet.
Parents are different than young adults.
Parents are intentional.
Young adults are
Independent
They want to minister
Young adults do not reproduce.
They get focused on taking care of a small group of people, but they will not think of discipleship and reproduction.
Parents are intentional leaders
They think about how to help people to solve their own problems.
If you have 10 people in the church who are parents, you would have a movement.
If you only put on a good show at every level, you will not have parents.
Last thing: you need an organizational system to put these things in the process.
You cannot rely on a structure and systems alone.
You need to be personally connected.
Teach people to know the Bible so they can teach people to know the Bible.
Jesus’ Method of Discipleship – Robert Coleman from Exponential 2013
Robert Coleman
Jesus’ Method of Discipleship
Breakout Session
The following are my notes from Robert Coleman’s breakout session at Exponential 2013:
Matthew 28:17-20
Jesus has all power and all authority.
Romans 10:9, Jesus is Lord.
Therefore, because he has all authority, go and make disciples.
No distinction between home and foreign missions/
One big world that needs a Savior.
We win the world by making disciples.
Disciple means apprentice or learner.
Disciples do not stop with conversion.
They follow Jesus.
Jesus assumes an ever-enlarging work force that, through multiplication, will reach the world.
Methods are variable, conditioned by our time and situation, but principles inherent in Jesus’ ministry always apply.
9 principles which flow together.
Principle 1
Incarnation – Become a servant.
Jesus made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.
He did not come to be served, but to serve.
Jesus went about doing good.
HE showed that God loved the world.
People could see that Jesus cared.
He fed, healed, cleansed, etc.
The multitudes saw that Jesus taught as one with authority.
To reach the world, we must be servants.
When people know that they are loved, they will listen to us.
For our generation, which has lost any sense of objective truth, it may be the only way that they will hear us.
What can you do in your generation and in your situation?
Identify felt needs around you and do what you can to help.
This helps your witness become credible.
Communication begins often at the affection level.
One who is known as a servant will never lack opportunities for evangelism.
Principle 2
Selection – Look for disciples
Appreciation can be deceptive.
The crowds did not understand who Jesus was, even as they shouted “Hosanna!”
The masses were like lost sheep with no one to lead them.
Jesus helped the people.
But, in the limits of human incarnation, Jesus could not give attention to every person who wanted attention.
Unless he raised up coworkers, men and women with shepherds’ hearts, there was no way that the world would be redeemed and discipled.
How do we find those to join us?
Pray.
While ministering to the multitudes, Jesus looked for others to train.
Jesus found men who had things in common culturally, socially, and educationally.
These men were teachable.
Such people can be molded.
Discipleship is best accomplished with a few people providentially drawn into your life.
When we make evangelism about one short-term event without discipleship, we harm the mission of making disciples.
People with whom you have something in common are people you have the greatest opportunity to change the world with.
Principle 3
Association – Build a relationship
Jesus chose 12 to be with him in a special way.
He gave a diminishing priority to those outside the 12.
He gave even greater priority to the 3.
The smaller the size of the group being taught, the greater the opportunity for learning.
For 3 years, Jesus and his friend stayed together.
How strange, Jesus spent more time with a handful of disciples than with the rest of the world.
This is not really weird.
God started his plan to build the world through one married couple.
Making disciples is like raising kids.
Close personal relationships are crucial in discipleship.
New converts especially need your attention.
Developing mature leaders will increasingly occupy your ministry.
Dinner, going to a ballgame, golf, all can help you fulfill the Great Commission.
Casual activities do not take the place of church services.
Both are needed.
But learning comes more naturally in more relaxed, family-like settings.
Small groups that are devoted to prayer and Bible teaching can be great.
Principle 4
Consecration – Teach them to obey
What made Jesus’ relationship to the disciples work was their obedience.
Faith in Christ is evidenced by following him.
The disciples obeyed Jesus more than they understood right doctrine.
Jesus was patient with them as they were willing to walk in obedience to what they knew.
The disciples wanted to obey Jesus as they learned to love Jesus..
John ends his gospel with the story of Jesus asking Peter if he loves him.
Illustration of the 5-year-old son bringing him a drink while he was gardening.
The kid could have done it better, but his love was apparent.
This generation is not blind to sacrificial love.
We should make genuine discipleship a part of the nature of the church.
Principle 5
Demonstration – Lead by example
Following Christ, the disciples were always in school.
Jesus’ life demonstrated what he wanted his disciples to do.
Jesus showed them prayer.
Eventually, they asked him to teach them to pray.
Then Jesus demonstrated for them an example of prayer.
Jesus showed them:
· the importance of Scripture
· caring for the needy
· worship
· etc
We become the illustration of our teaching.
Learners will do what they see and hear in us.
They will see our shortcomings.
Let them also see our willingness to apologize, repent, seek forgiveness.
Our weaknesses need not hinder disciple-making.
If they see us being genuine, they will learn from us.
Principle 6
Delegation – Involve them in ministry
Jesus was always preparing his disciples to carry on his work.
Jesus gave them things to do.
They distributed food.
They baptized.
They were sent out to do ministry like what Jesus had been doing.
The disciples were even called to go and find leaders to train.
This may be why they were called to stay in the same home when they were sent out
They developed a relationship with a few promising learners.
If no potential leaders could be found in a community, they were to shake off the dust from their feet and move on.
We do not have the luxury of going through the motions of ministry if no one is being discipled.
Every member can do some sort of ministry.
We need to help them grow into those areas of ministry.
As they grow, they can take new forms and areas of service.
Nothing falls outside the mission of helping a few learners fulfill their role in the Great Commission.
Principle 7
Supervision – Monitor their progress.
Jesus checked on the disciples after he gave them a ministry to do.
He built into their lives a sense of accountability.
Their experiences became object lessons for teaching even further truth.
Problems were dealt with when they came up.
Remember James and John wanting to call down fire on a city?
Jesus both rebuked them and taught them.
The disciples learned of the redemptive purpose of Jesus’ mission.
Jesus did not ask more from them than they were capable of giving.
He also did not let them give less than their best.
Notice that John 17 is Jesus praying for those he was sending out for work.
He prayed to watch over those men he was sending.
Through their word, the world will come to believe in him.
We need to pray for our disciples.
We need to encourage them.
We need to help them not get side-tracked.
We need to help them not to be defeated.
We need to help them with ego problems like pride and bitterness.
Rebuke will not be resented when offered in love if they also see us build in them the love and encouragement of acknowledging when they do well.
Avoid the authoritarian role of the master or guru over a student.
The disciple and the discipler learn together.
The ultimate goal is not our own piety, but it is discipling all nations.
Principle 8
Multiplication – Expect disciples to reproduce.
Living things reproduce their own kind.
If we live in conformity to Christ, we will produce disciples who learn to do the same.
Jesus is the vine. We are the branches.
If we are connected with him, we will produce fruit.
We want to produce Christ-likeness in ourselves and our disciples.
We want to send our disciples to produce Christ-likeness in others.
It does not matter how many laborers we have in the beginning provided we teach them to reproduce.
Every believer can follow.
Making disciples is not a special calling or gift of the Spirit.
Making disciples is a lifestyle.
It is a lifestyle that Jesus commands us to follow.
Scripture points out that, at Jesus’ second coming, people from all nations will know Jesus.
This only happens as we build the Kingdom by making disciples.
The Kingdom is not complete until the gospel has been preached in all the world.
Principle 9
Impartation – Trust the Holy Spirit
Jesus gave the disciples his last command, and then said he would be with them forever.
This is the promise of the Great Commission.
This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
God accomplishes the building of the kingdom through discipleship by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit brings people to Jesus, and he brings people back to Jesus.
We could never make disciples.
Only Jesus can make disciples of Jesus.
Only Jesus filling us with his Spirit can help us to do his work.
Only the Spirit can make others into disciples.
The Spirit changes us.
The Spirit makes us live as servants.
The Spirit draws out disciples.
We just need to respond to what the Spirit is doing.
The Spirit forms the fellowship of believers.
The Spirit helps us obey.
The Spirit helps us become demonstrations of what we teach.
The Spirit supervises our growth in grace.
The Spirit brings forth the harvest.
From beginning to end, the work of making disciples of Christ is the work of Almighty God.
We need the power from the Spirit just as the disciples needed that power.
We need that power daily.
We cannot rely on old experiences.
We need present experiences of the presence of God in our lives.
Discipling requires that we live in a state of constant spiritual mobilization.
If we take the Great Commission to heart, it will require daring faith.
It will look fanatical to the world.
Pastor Travis Peterson 