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If you missed Mike Bullmore’s seminar on Saturday about spiritual life entitled: Train Yourself for Godliness, you can now download and listen to the messages. Even if you were there, I would recommend reviewing these messages again. They are outstanding! You can get them here:

I particularly liked the brief prayers that Mike gave us to begin our quiet times by asking for God’s help. Here they are:

• God, as I read your Word, would you please make yourself known to me. Amen.
• God, as I come to your Word, would you please form your mind and your heart in me. I want to think about things the way you think about things. I want to feel about things the way you feel about things. And I want to respond to things the way you would have me respond to things. So God, I ask for your help now through your Word. Amen.
• God, as I read your Word, please “open my eyes, that I may see wonderful things out of your law.” (Ps. 119:18)
• God, my heart is not inclined to your Word this morning. Oh, God please “incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain.” (Ps. 119:36)
• “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” (Ps. 25:4-5)
• God, “please show me now your ways, that I may know you.” (Ex. 33:13) [very helpful in OT narrative sections.]
• “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me, and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps. 139:23-24)
• Oh Father, would you out of the riches of your glory strengthen me with power by your Spirit in my inner man so that, as I read your Word, Christ might dwell in my heart by faith and I might be rooted and grounded in his love, and, in fact, know His love for me today. (cf. Eph. 3:16-19)
• Oh God, “satisfy me again this morning with your steadfast love, that I may rejoice and be glad all day long.” (Ps. 90:14)

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Thirty years ago today Elvis Presley died of heart attack, bringing to an end an iconic figure in American pop culture.

What is curious about Elvis’ death is not that he died (everyone does sooner or later) or even how he died (tragic, but not terribly unusual). What I find odd is how many people seem to claim to have seen Elvis alive after his death. I chalk this up to the many (bad) Elvis impersonators out there. Devoted fans see a rhinestone-laden jumpsuit and a jet-black mane drive by in a vintage Chevy and they are certain they just saw “the King.”

People find it hard to believe their heroes are dead, whether it’s Elvis, Jerry Garcia, Kurt Cobain, or Princess Diana. Music and culture devotees aren’t the only ones. I’ve been studying Mark’s account of the crucifixion for a sermon, and this small verse stood out to me, just after Jesus’ dead body was placed in the tomb:

“Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.” Mark 15:47

These women couldn’t believe the Teacher was dead. Rightly so. No doubt the taunting words of the crowds rang in their ears: “He saved others; he cannot save himself.” They had see him die with their own eyes, possibly assisted in the preparation for burial, and now watched as his tomb was sealed with a massive stone. In a few days, they and many others would see a very alive Jesus walking, breathing, and teaching.

Theirs was not the misguided hope of a delusional fan who can’t come to terms with a hero’s death. Theirs was the true joy in the knowledge that death was defeated, that the tomb could not contain the true King, that Savior was lives again with an indestructible life.

If you happen to run across some form of Elvis tribute today, commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death, let these words remind you that our Savior lives on, not just in pictures and old movie clips, but in life:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

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There are 168 hours in a week. So in about 173.5 hours, the five15 Retreat begins. Please pray.

It is possible that each of us could arrive at the retreat unprepared. We might hastily pack and leave our Northern Virginia homes full of excitement for the retreat, but not really ready to benefit from all we will hear and experience. I think prayer is the key. It bends our hearts toward the Lord, and postures us to hear fro Him, to submit our wills to Him, and the receive from Him. Here are some key ways you can be praying for the retreat:

• Pray that God will reveal himself to you. I like the prayer Eli gives Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:9, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”
• Pray that God will reveal himself to your friends. Pray along the lines of Ezekiel 40:4, that your friends would “look with their eyes, hear with their ears, and set their hearts on all that God shows them.”
• Pray for Seita, Vince, and me as we prepare to speak. Ask God that he would grant the words of Isaiah 50:4, that he would give us “the tongue of those who are taught, that we may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.”
• Pray that God would visit us powerfully by His Spirit. Pray with Ephesians 5:18-21 that everyone person there would “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

I’m sure we could go on. How are you praying for the retreat?

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If you’re like me, you won’t start packing until next Wednesday morning. But if you like to plan ahead, here is a suggested packing list for the retreat.

• Bible, notebook, pen
• Flip-flops or sandals for the shower
• Bug repellent
• Sleeping bag or bed linens, and a pillow (some rooms provide them, but be safe: bring your own)
• Towel, soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste/brush, dental floss, etc.
• Sunglasses, sunscreen, hat
• Modest clothing (please plan on serving)
• Grungy clothes & sneakers (for outdoor fun & games)
• Flashlight + fresh batteries
• Alarm Clock (don’t be late!)
• Small bills/change for the snack bar
• Breath mints
• Snipe bait

What NOT to bring:

• iPods, MP3 Players, CD players, etc… YES, I AM SERIOUS. Sort of. You can bring them, just don’t bring them out. I know that some people will want to listen to their iPod during their quiet time or as they fall asleep (to drown out the snoring). That is fine. But our retreat is a unique time to reach out and serve others. Remember the five15 Challenge. So other than your quiet time and falling asleep, leave your iPod in your suitcase. If I see it out, I will ask you to put it away.
  
• Immodest clothes, or anything with a logo or graphic that wouldn’t reflect well on the Savior or on our church.

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Two weeks from today we leave for the retreat. You’ll be getting a letter from me soon with directions, a packing list, and some other stuff, but there’s no reason I can’t give you that stuff here right now. Here are directions directly to Massanetta Springs Conference Center in Harrisonburg:

And here is another set of directions, with a small diversion into downtown Harrisonburg for a stop at Kline’s Dairy Bar:

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Don’t forget that we are hosting Mike Bullmore on Saturday for a seminar about Biblical meditation. Coffee at 8:30am, first session begins at 9am. It’s not too late to sign up! Call the church office; your $5 registration cost will cover materials and lunch! Mike Bullmore is the Senior Pastor of Crossway Community Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and a regular instructor at the Sovereign Grace Ministries Pastors College. He is one of my favorite teachers!

Not sure what biblical meditation is? No problem. It’s probably best to think of it as thinking slowly and carefully in God’s word, soaking in it, trying to see how it points to Christ and explains him. I’m sure Mike will share this quote, but it is classic. This long quote (though worth it!) by George Mueller (1805-1898) explains his approach to meditation:

While I was staying at Nailworth, it pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost, though now…more than forty years have since passed away.

The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing, to give myself to prayer, after having dressed the morning. Now I saw, that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditation, my heart might be brought into experimental, communion with the Lord. I began therefore, to meditate on the New Testament, from the beginning, early in the morning.

The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God; searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word; not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon; but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that though I did not, as it were, give to prayer but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less to prayer.

When thus I have been for awhile making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it; but still continually keeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of meditation. The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me that which, very soon after, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word that I have myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.

The difference between my former practice and my present one is this. Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer…. But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray.

I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father, and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it!) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.

It often now astonished me that I did not sooner see this. In no book did I ever read about it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private intercourse with a brother stirred me up to this matter. And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning-by-morning is to obtain food for his inner man.

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time, except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow. Now what is the food for the inner man; not prayer, but the Word of God; and here again not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts….

I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow-believers to ponder this matter. By the blessing of God I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials in various ways than I had ever had before; and after having now above forty years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it. How different when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials and the temptations of the day come upon one!

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Reviewing Bible memory verses this morning, with Jack, I heard this—slightly modified—version of Genesis 1:1,

“In the beginning, God cremated the heavens and the earth.”

We’ll keep working on that one.

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Just a reminder: there is a picnic this Sunday at Mason Neck State Park. Directions are below.

Remember: this event is BYOS/C/M/OOPF (Bring Your Own Subway/Chipotle/McDonalds/Or other picnic food). Bring your volleyball, soccer ball, frisbee, and baseball & glove, too. Don’t forget to bring $4 cash per car for the park entrance fee.

Here are directions from the building:

• Turn RIGHT onto 123. Go about 7 miles.
• Turn LEFT onto Silverbrook Road. Go 4 mile.
• Turn LEFT onto Lorton Road. Go about 1.3 miles.
• Turn RIGHT onto US-1/Richmond Hwy.
• Turn LEFT onto Gunston Road.
• Turn RIGHT onto High Point Road.
• Go through the entrance, look for the picnic area on the left.

Learn more about the park here.

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