Here are some good posts for Pastor Appreciation Month:
The Cheap Way to Bless Your Pastor – Kevin DeYoung
3 Reasons Your Pastor Desperately Needs Prayer And Encouragement – Stephen Altrogge
How to Pray for Your Pastor – Melton Duncan (Ligonier)
8 Prayers You Should Regularly Pray For Your Pastor – Stephen Altrogge
Q: What is our primary purpose in life?
A: Our primary purpose in life is to love God and people, in response to His love for us, for the glory of God.
Verses To Reflect on Loving People for His Glory
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
– I Corinthians 13:4-7
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
– John 13:34-35
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
– I John 3:16-18
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
– I Corinthians 10:31
Questions To Ponder
What do these passages teach us about loving people?
How do you need to grow in your love for others?
God has been allowing crimes and injustices and blasphemies and abominations for so long, and he has been tolerating such lies and calumnies to be spoken about him all these years. Revelation 6 promises that one day the wrath will begin to fall. The debt finally comes due. Justice will be done. The wicked will give account. The righteous will be avenged. God will be glorified in his justice.
– James M. Hamilton, Jr. on Revelation 6 in Revelation (PTW)
Elihu begins to speak of God’s power and wisdom in creation, and then God himself takes up the refrain.
Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.
– William Temple
(36) How would you describe Elihu’s attitude (v1-4)? What warning is there for us?
What is his argument (v5-23)?
(36-37) How would you summarize his words about God in relation to his creation?
(38-41) Finally God speaks. From where does he speak (38:1)?
How would you describe his words? What is he doing?
What do God’s words convey about Himself? About us?
(38-41) Does God explain Job’s suffering? Does God recount his discussion with Satan from chapters 1-2?
Do God’s words address the issue of suffering at all? How?
How might his response be helpful for us as we suffer?
(40, 42) How does Job respond?
How should we respond as we read this?
(40, 42) What was Job’s fault in this book (40:6-9)?
How might we share his fault? Will we repent like he did?
And yet, what does God call him four times in 42:7-8? How might that encourage you?
(42) What must Job do for his friends?
Who do you know that has been living in folly or that has wronged you that you need to intercede for?
(42) How does the story end? How will our story end? How can that encourage us in our suffering?
Behold the Lamb as He opens, Each of the seals – one through four
Now unleashing the four horsemen, Set to conquer and make war
Bringing famine, Disease, and death
As the Lamb jud-ges the earth
The Lamb reigns now let us trust Him, And endure real suffering
Limits judgment – let us praise Him, Repent and obey the King
He reigns today, And forever
Come and behold: the Lamb reigns
To the tune of “Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending”
The progression of the four seals is from lust to conquest (the first seal) to civil war (the second seal) to famine (the third seal) to pestilence and death (the fourth seal). This is the natural progression of man’s inhumanity to man. In other words, God simply allows human sin to come full circle, turn in upon itself, and self-destruct.
– Grant Osborne on Revelation 6 in Revelation (BEC)
Elihu begins his speeches. Elihu’s arguments overlap Job’s three friends, but his focus seems to be more on Job’s words against God rather than any prior sin.
Here are some good posts on small town church ministry:
Why I Love the Rural Church – Brandon Pearce (FTC)
3 Challenges of Small-Town Ministry – Donnie Griggs (TGC)
Are Small Churches Less Fruitful? – John Piper (DG)
Brian J. Mikul 