Well everyone, as you know the season of Easter is upon us!

My colleagues and I over at Calvary Global Network were, talking about ways we could serve the pastors in our network during this busy time, and we had a thought: there is so much pressure on preachers to come up with an Easter sermon every year that is both fresh and also impactful / evangelistic. Combine that with the busyness of Easter and it can create quite a challenging season for leaders.

With that in mind I sat down to have a conversation with Mike Neglia and Nick Cady, two pastors in our church family, and some of the leaders of The Expositors Collective, a fantastic ministry/movement all about helping preachers do their absolute best with their calling and craft.

We had a great discussion about Easter, and we’ve decided to release is as several small video clips for you to check out. We hope this helps you as you lean into the Easter season and seek after Jesus for what He has for your Church this year!

1.How do you approach your easter sermons?

2. How do you keep Easter fresh?

Mike and Nick also discuss their differences on the topic of lent in this one!

3. What are some unique ways to approach Good Friday?

4. What gets you excited about Easter?

5. What’s the worst Easter sermon you’ve ever preached?

Editor’s note: Nick Cady has a story in this one that simply can’t be missed… haha.

6. How do you help kids appreciate Easter?

Great question, especially for pastors with children.

7. How do you help your church staff enjoy easter when they are so busy planning it?

The world as we know it is always changing. We have all experienced that recently with the COVID-19 crisis. In order for us to preach and teach God’s Word faithfully in an ever-changing world, we need to be led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Interactive Webinar

As part of their ongoing mission to help equip the next generation of expository Bible teachers, the Expositors Collective is excited to announce their first-ever online event: an interactive webinar on May 9, 9-11 AM Pacific Standard Time.

Schedule
. Brian Brodersen: “The Holy Spirit & Preaching”
. Q&A / Discussion
. David Guzik: “Consistent Message, Changing Styles”
. Q&A / Discussion

How to Join
The webinar will be over Zoom, promptly at 9:00 AM PST, and will be limited to the first 100 people who log in. Make sure to log in on time to ensure your spot.

Click Here

_{Pilgrim Benham is a contributor of the Expositors Collective, a growing network of pastors, leaders and laypeople, which exists to equip, encourage and mentor the next generation of Christ-centered preachers. Our two-day intensive training seminar is designed to give young preachers exposure to both intentional training as well as hands-on experience and feedback in a peer/facilitator setting. Our next seminar is on February 21-22 in Las Vegas. Register at expositorscollective.com.}

Often at church, when we do an Old Testament character study, we compare ourselves to that character, and then the moral of the story or sermon becomes “Dare to be a Daniel,” or “Have faith like Abraham” or “Don’t blow it as Lot did.” Now those aren’t wrong in themselves–they aren’t incorrect, but they are incomplete. We could be tempted to study David’s life (for example), and look at our outline like this:

• Saul Rejected as King (I need to be a better Saul)

• David & Goliath (I need to slay my giants like David)

• David & Saul (I need to respect my elders the way David did)

• David & Jonathan (I need to be a good friend who sticks closer than a brother)

• David & Mephibosheth (I should show kindness to those with disabilities)

• David & Bathsheba (I should be a better Bathsheba and dress modestly)

What ends up happening is that I become the centerpiece of the story: I’m the hero. But is that true? Am I the master of my fate; am I the captain of my soul?

Do I need to be a better Bathsheba, or do I need to realize that I’ve been wooed and violated by the world? Yet Jesus doesn’t cover up sin by shedding others’ blood to cover His guilt; He died and covered my shame and guilt through His own shed blood.

Do I need to show kindness toward disabilities like David does to Mephibosheth, or do I realize that I am crippled in my sin and deserve the full wrath of God? Yet Jesus calls to me, beckons me to come and then carries me to His table to display His grace and kindness to me.

Do I need to be a good friend like Jonathan, or do I need to realize that to be a friend to this world is enmity with God? Yet Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Do I need to slay my giants, or do I realize that I am incapable of defeating sin and death? Yet Jesus came and defeated our impossible foe with a single blow.

A True and Better David

You see, I don’t need to be a better David. There is already a true and better David who is the Son of David–and His name is Jesus Christ.

In John 5:39-40, Jesus said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” Jesus confirms that the Scriptures testify about Him.

Hebrews 10:7 says, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come–In the volume of the book it is written of Me.” The Bible is about Jesus; the Old and New Testaments are the revelation of Jesus Christ. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Verse 14 affirms: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Jesus is the Word (the Bible) made flesh. The Old Testament gives us over 300 prophecies concerning Jesus, both literal and implied. He is to be born to a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem, from the tribe of Judah. He would come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, to heal the brokenhearted and the blind, lame, sick and raise people from the dead. Thousands of years before 33 A.D., we hear that He would be betrayed with a kiss, crucified, take our punishment, His clothing gambled over; He would be crucified with sinners and buried in a rich man’s tomb.

The Scriptures testify of HIM! So when I read the Bible, I need to realize who I am in the grand narrative of the Scriptures. I’m a blind beggar who can’t change my condition by trying to be a better person. I am desperate and thirsty, seeking refreshment and purpose as I draw water from a well that will never satisfy. I am the one who has spiritually committed adultery, and in the midst of my accusers, comes One who brings deliverance and salvation, not by abolishing the law, but fulfilling it.

So that means when I read the narratives of Scripture, I see myself rightly.

Seeing Myself Rightly

I’m not Noah who needs boldness to preach righteousness among a corrupt generation; I’m a doomed sinner facing the sure wrath of God who needs to enter through the Door of the ark and be saved.

I’m not Jonah who needs to be a good missionary and go where God sends me; I’m among the Ninevite people who were certain to be destroyed. God’s plan all along was to send Jesus in the belly of the earth for three days, and yet come, representing God to me!

I’m not Esther who needs to be prepared for such a time as this; I’m among a people who will perish by the threat of death if it weren’t for One who intercedes on our behalf, though it cost His life.

I’m not the Good Samaritan who needs to care for my neighbors; I’m the one who was beaten by this world and left for dead. Yet the One whom I never would have expected has come to heal my wounds and pay the price I owed.

May we understand the Bible the way it was meant to be understood: not from my subjective and customized, personal perspective, but from a Christ-centered, Christ-honoring, Gospel-revealing perspective. May the Word of God reveal the God of the Word in the person of His Son, Jesus.

Interviews and messages designed to help you understand, apply and teach the Bible with power and clarity to this generation. Click on the above graphic to listen to the latest podcast episode.

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The Expositors Collective is a growing network of pastors, leaders, and laypeople which exists to equip, encourage, and mentor the next generation of Christ-centered preachers. We provide resources through our weekly podcast and our two-day intentional training seminars.

Our next training seminar for young preachers (men and women 18-34 years old) will take place on September 20-21, 2019, at Cornerstone Calvary Chapel in Howell, NJ.

When you sign up, you are committing to full involvement in the 24-hour interactive seminar, where attendees will be meeting in groups and building ongoing relationships. Space will be limited, so we encourage you to register today!

We look forward to seeing what the Lord will do through the Expositors Collective.

Upcoming Events

Las Vegas, NV – February 21-22, 2020

Honolulu, HI – October 16-17, 2020

^{The Expositors Collective Seminar will be held on April 5-6 at Maranatha Chapel in San Diego. Visit expositorscollective.com for more information. This seminar seeks to present prospective expositors (18-34 years) the opportunity to experience a hybrid course in gospel-centered preaching/teaching.}

You are a living witness

Your story is just that, it is yours. When this simple truth is owned, something causes your story to have incredible power. You are a living witness of the power and ability of Jesus to transform a life. Your unique perspective sheds light on the glory of Jesus in a way that other people need to hear.

GOSPEL-CENTERED LIVING PRECEDES GOSPEL-CENTERED PREACHING.

As you become comfortable with your redemptive story, the more easily people will be able to see the immense glory of Jesus through your life. While admiring other preachers can be helpful, if you try to become them, you will lose credibility with your hearers. Do not be a different person when you are in and out of a teaching role. Be passionate, but express your personal passion for God. Be sincere, using your own voice and sharing your own thoughts. Be yourself, not someone else. Being comfortable in your own skin is gospel-centered living and gospel-centered leading. The heart of the matter is that gospel-centered living comes before gospel-centered preaching.

GOSPEL-CENTERED LIVING BRINGS BALANCE.

Finding our own identity in the forgiveness and justification we have in Christ enables us to share the two sides of this coin authentically with others. Through the cross of Jesus Christ, you are already made righteous, accepted, approved, beloved and adopted as a child of God. Growing in a strong identity in Christ enables preachers to proclaim the gospel with authority and power. Resting in the full approval of God through Jesus produces freedom from seeking the approval of others, enabling you to become the most authentic version of yourself.

FREEDOM IN PREACHING COMES FROM HAVING YOUR IDENTITY SECURE IN CHRIST.

If your highs are too high and your lows are too low after preaching, it is an indication that you are not finding your identity in Jesus, but in your performance or in the approval of others.

As preachers, we have to be personally experiencing the enjoyment of the gospel in our lives, in our minds and in our hearts. Once that is in place, it allows us to stop trying to be somebody we are not, to stop trying to perform and to be ourselves. Each one of us has been uniquely made by our Creator to be His work of art: His poēma (Ephesians 2:10). He delights in what He has made. He wants us to be who He has made us to be, and not somebody else. The more we grow in that area, the better we become at representing the gospel and truly expositing His Word.

^{Mike Neglia is a leader in the Expositors Collective and will be sharing at the next seminar on April 5-6 at Maranatha Chapel in San Diego. Visit ExpositorsCollective.com for more information and to register!}

When I was in school, I loved English class. I’ve been a bit of a bookworm for as long as I can remember, and the novels, short stories, and poems that we read together in English class were always a highlight. My favorite teacher was my fourth grade English teacher, and her name was (I kid you not) Mrs. Story. Her passion for reading and literature has doubtlessly shaped me in more ways than I know. But as much as I enjoyed the literature, novels and narratives – I never quite understood “How the English language works” part of the class. My eyes would glance over the pages as we began to diagram sentences and talk about the differences between verbs, nouns and participles.

Something I did not comprehend until the past decade is the difference between an indicative statement and an imperative statement.

Most languages allow for different “moods,” which means that there are different ways of communicating information based on what action the sentence is meant to do, once it is heard or read.

If a sentence is imperative, then it is commanding you to do something:

“Get your feet off the table.” “Clean your room” “Change your tone.” “Love one another.”

If a sentence is indicative, then it is telling you a truth:

“It is 2016.” “It rains a lot in Ireland.” “You are staring at a screen right now.” “Jesus loves you.”
Each of those first sentences is telling you to do something, and each of those second sentences is telling you an undeniable truth.

One of the most important principles, when we come to read scripture, is this: The imperatives in scripture are all based on the indicatives.

This is especially true in Paul’s writings. When we are commanded to love one another, we are reminded of Jesus’ steadfast love for us (John 13:34) (1 John 4:11,19). When we are commanded to forgive those that sinned against us, we are reminded that we do so as forgiven sinners (Ephesians 4:32) (Colossians 3:13). When we are commanded to welcome strangers, we are reminded that we were aliens when Jesus welcomed us (Romans 15:7).

As Sinclair Ferguson writes: “Before ever any demand is made, the gift is offered: the announcement of good news precedes the challenge… The great gospel imperatives to holiness are ever rooted in indicatives of grace that are able to sustain the weight of those imperatives.”

Getting this into our heads and hearts will change the way that we look at the Bible.

Instead of seeing scripture as a collection of commands and rules for how we are to live our lives – connecting God’s imperatives to His indicatives will unlock the wonderful truth that the Bible is a record of the mighty acts God has done for us! Just as the Lord first liberated the Israelite slaves from Egyptian captivity before giving them His commandments at Sinai (Exodus 20:2), so Jesus first pays for our sins, justifies us and sends us His Spirit to indwell and empower us before we are expected to obey His imperatives.

I love Chuck Smith’s famous adage, “Where God guides, God provides.” I have found it to be true in my own life and seen it be true in the lives of many of my friends. And what is true in the financial realm is certainly true in the spiritual as well. If God is guiding you into holiness or obedience (which He is), He will also simultaneously provide the means and the ability to walk in the direction He is calling you to.

Recently, I was honored to take part in the Expositors Collective, a seminar designed to train and mentor young preachers in the skill of expository Bible teaching. My dear friend Mike Neglia taught a session on Christ-centered preaching, which he opened by highlighting the difference between a moralistic sermon and a Christ-centered sermon by first teaching a sample moralistic sermonette on Matthew 26:6-16, followed by me giving a sample Christocentric sermon on the same text. What follows is the transcript of my 10-minute Christ-centered sermon; perhaps it will be helpful for our Bible-teaching readers.

…

Matthew 26:6-16:

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

The Text

I would like to invite you to jump in to this story with me. We find ourselves with Jesus on His way to Jerusalem, almost there in Bethany. He is having dinner in the home of Simon the Leper.

Pause for a moment. It is so important as we read through scripture that we do not allow familiarity to rob us of the shock factor. A meal in the home of a leper! Do you remember the Levitical law about lepers? They were unclean; they could not live among anyone other than other lepers, if someone came near them, they would have to shout, “UNCLEAN!”

They were more marginalized than just about anyone in our society. Lepers did not have dinner parties. Yet Jesus and His followers were there at his house, reclining at the table, enjoying dinner. The only way this was possible was if Jesus had already healed Simon and made him clean. Jesus had not only healed Simon, but had brought him from isolation to community once again.

The opening scene of this story is one of redemption! Then we are introduced to an unnamed woman, who we know from John 12 is Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha. Mary comes out while everyone is still at the table holding an alabaster jar. It would have been recognized by those present as the vessel to hold expensive perfume. She walks up to Jesus and the suspicions are confirmed as the overpowering scent of pure nard fills the room when she pours every drop of the oil over Christ’s head.

There is a gasp! That much nard was unfathomably valuable. (Estimated at almost $20K). The response in the room was from shock to outrage with some turning to her in rebuke. “Imagine the poor that could be fed with that much money!” Then Jesus speaks up: “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Jesus affirms her actions, all the while pointing forward to the cross and the Gospel. Then our focus is brought to Judas. Undoubtably, as the treasurer of the group (who we are told was scraping off the top of the purse), Judas was the most offended by the financial foolishness. For him this was the last straw; he had lost faith in this Jesus that he had dedicated the last few years of his life to. He would cut his losses and turn Him over for thirty pieces of silver.

The Application

This is a dramatic story, but what does it teach us? Many things, but today I would like to focus on just three things it shows us about Jesus.

1) Jesus is in the business of redeeming, healing, cleansing and restoring.

As I mentioned, our opening scene sets the tone already for who Jesus is and what HE does. Simon the Leper was brought from isolation to community, from being unclean to being clean, from sick to well, marginalized to accepted. Why? Because He was with Jesus.

This is what Jesus does. We see it in His very mission statement quoting Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This is what He has done in many of our lives, and this is what He will do for many more as they turn to Him.

2) Jesus is more valuable than any earthy thing, and Jesus is worthy of our worship.

It is worth noting that Jesus did not rebuke Mary for pouring out her life savings and her financial security on Him in a moment. He did not rebuke her for this act of worshipful adornment. Rather He affirmed her! Why? Because He is the God of creation that is worthy of all honor and glory and praise. Also, because trusting Him is more valuable than anything that this world has to offer!

As He said back in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

3) And finally, though Mary’s sacrifice and offering to Jesus was great, Jesus’ sacrifice and offering for each of us is infinitely greater!

Mary may have poured out her oil for Jesus, but Jesus poured out His very blood for Mary, and for you, and for me. Jesus, instituting the Lord’s supper, took the cup and said, “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). Mary may have surrendered her earthly riches for Jesus, but Jesus surrendered His heavenly riches for Mary, and for you, and for me.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Mary may have been shamed and rebuked for her apparent foolishness for Jesus, but Jesus was scorned and rejected, mocked, tortured and killed for Mary, for you, and for me. “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

So what should our response to this be?

Should we be like Mary? Yes. But how and why? Because of who Jesus is, and what He has done for you. If Jesus was willing to sacrifice and give so much for you and I, to bring us forgiveness, liberty and hope, it is a small thing to lay down our temporal comfort, possessions or agenda. We love Him because He first loved us.