Passion Week: Plot

Friday Morning: Plot – The Plans of God and Men
Read Mark 14:1-2, 14:10-11, 14:43-65, 15:1-15

Prayer: Father, how shamefully they treated your Son.  Judas plotted against him and betrayed his friend.  The religious leaders plotted against him and made a mockery of justice to have their own way.  Pilate gave in to the crowds.  And yet all their plots were part of your bigger plot to save me.  Thank you for my Savior.  Amen.

Reflect/Discuss: In what current situations do you need to trust in God’s greater plan?

Praise: Sing “All The Way My Savior Leads Me”

Passion Week: Prayer

Thursday Evening: Prayer – God’s Will, Not Mine
Read Mark 14:32-42

Prayer: Father, like the disciples I too am weak, and I need your help to overcome temptation.  Awaken me from my spiritual slumber that I might pray.  Let me join my Savior in seeking your will.  Too often my way is not your way.  Help me to submit to your way no matter what the cost.  Dear Father, not my will, but yours be done.  Amen.

Reflect/Discuss: In what current situations do you need to submit to his will?

Praise: Sing “Have Thine Own Way Lord”

Passion Week: Passover

Thursday Morning: Passover – The New Covenant
Read Mark 14:12-25

Prayer: Father, thank you for the new covenant you have made with me through Jesus Christ.  Thank you that his body was broken and his blood poured out to pay for my sins that I might walk with you.  Thank you for the regular reminder given to us in the Lord’s Supper.  Let me never spurn your gift as Judas did.  Amen.

Reflect/Discuss: Jesus died so you might have a relationship with God.  In what ways should you respond to his gift?

Praise: Sing “I Am Thine, O Lord”

Passion Week Collection

Here are some good posts related to the final week of Jesus (prior to the resurrection!):

Easter Week in Real Time – Russ Ramsey (TGC)

That Dreadful Cup and Our Faithful Savior – Erik Raymond

A Guide to the Entire Cast of Characters During Jesus’s Final Week – Justin Taylor

Are We Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing? – Kevin DeYoung

Passion Week: Prophecy

Wednesday: Prophecy – Be Alert
Read Luke Mark 13:1-37

Prayer: Father, your Son predicted the Fall of Jerusalem, and it happened.  Your Son predicted his return – help me to be ready.  Help me to be alert.  While I wait, help me to be ready and watchful for opportunities to bear witness for Christ.  Help me not to get so weighed down with the cares of this life that I fail to be alert to your opportunities and your return.  Even so, come Lord Jesus!  Amen.

Reflect/Discuss: What keeps us from being more alert to his coming?

Praise: Sing “Christ Returneth!”

Passion Week: Priority

Tuesday: Priority – Love God and People
Read Mark 12:28-34, 14:3-9

Prayer: Father, help me to love you with all of my life.  Help me to love you with my wealth, even offering extravagant gifts to you, like this woman did, out of love for you.  Help me to love you with my desires and my thoughts and my actions.  Help me to love the people you place in my life, sacrificing myself for them.  Help me to treat others with patience, kindness, and gentleness.  Help me to get over myself and love as Jesus loves me.

Reflect/Discuss: How do you need to get over yourself?  How can you express your love for God today?  Another person in your life?

Praise: Sing “My Jesus, I Love Thee”

Sermon Songs: Mark 10:46-11:10

MusicNotes

Consider blind Bartimaeus
As he cries out for mercy
Watch him as he comes to Jesus
And now the blind man can see
In your struggle, sin, and sorrow
With faith to Jesus cry out
Draw near to Him now and follow
With joyful hope – sing and shout
Tell me the story of Jesus
Write on my heart ev’ry word
Tell me the story most precious
That I might live what I’ve heard

(Some words in the chorus by Fanny Crosby,
to the tune of “Tell Me the Story of Jesus”)

Passion Week: Possessions

Monday: Possessions – Give all to Him
Read Mark 11:15-19, 12:13-17, 12:41-44

Prayer: Father, they dragged buying and selling even into your house.  How easy it is for me to get caught up in the buying and selling of our culture.  Help me be like the widow who willingly gave all to you.  All that I have is from you; it is yours – do with it as you please.  Even my life is from you, and you made me in your likeness, so help me give myself to you – even as your Son gave himself for me.  Amen.

Reflect/Discuss: What would it look like to live according to this prayer?

Praise: Sing “Take My Life”

Passion Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend and beyond:

Why Devotional Bible Reading Is Good Bible Reading – Dane Ortlund (Crossway)
That’s reading the Bible devotionally—when you come to the Bible and say, “Okay, what is here that needs to change me and mess with me, to tweak me and to correct me, to lead me more clearly and more deeply into communing with God?”

How to Mortify Sin – Sinclair Ferguson (Ligonier)
Like Olympic long jumpers, we will not succeed unless we go back from the point of action to a point from which we can gain energy for the strenuous effort of dealing with sin.

5.5 Hours of Teaching through the Letter to the Galatians – via Justin Taylor
Here are the videos from the expository plenaries at the Gospel Coalition National Conference (April 3-5, 2017) in Indianapolis, with the theme of “No Other Gospel.”

‘One Anothers’ I Can’t Find in the New Testament – Ray Ortlund
It is also striking to notice the “one anothers” that do not appear there.  For example, sanctify one another, humble one another, scrutinize one another, pressure one another, embarrass one another, corner one another, interrupt one another, defeat one another, sacrifice one another, shame one another, marginalize one another, exclude one another, judge one another, run one another’s lives, confess one another’s sins . . . .

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day practicing the real “one anothers” and communing together with our great God!