An Alabaster Encounter: 
The Heart’s Response to
the Lord Jesus Christ

© 2007 A retreat by Mary Beth McGreevy

 
What do you think is the one thing necessary in life?  Where do you go in a crisis?  Why would you joyfully give something worth your entire year’s salary to someone?  Jesus taught Mary of Bethany the answers to those questions.  Come explore those answers for yourself at the retreat entitled, “An Alabaster Encounter:  The Heart’s Response to the Lord Jesus Christ,” as we look at the three encounters between Jesus and Mary of Bethany in the Scriptures.

Session #1

Sitting at Jesus’ Feet—Luke 10:38-42 
            *The one thing necessary    

Session #2

Falling at Jesus’ Feet—John 11:1-46

            *The best response in a crisis

Session #3

Worshiping at Jesus’ Feet—John 12:1-8

            *The grateful response of the redeemed heart

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  Giving Encouragement

  to Refresh Hearts

         
   © 2009 A retreat by Mary Beth McGreevy 

 

Discouragement is something we all face from time to time as we suffer the effects of this bad economy, or bad health, or a failed business, or a rebellious child, or a troubled marriage, or being just plain weary.  Sometimes we are discouraged not by something that has happened to us or to someone we love, but by something that we have done—or failed to do—some habitual sin, some weakness of character, some disappointing behavior or attitude we have seen in ourselves.

The apostle Paul knew the joy of being encouraged by other believers as well as the privilege of encouraging others.    He wrote to his friend and fellow worker, Philemon, “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints” (Philemon 7).  This retreat is about encouragement to refresh hearts, so that we might learn about the joys and means of giving and receiving that kind of encouragement with its source in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Session #1

     The Source of True Encouragement (The gospel) Romans 15:1-13

Session #2
     Encouragement in Deed:  Building Up in Love (Living the gospel)  Acts 18:1-8
Session #3
     Encouragement in Word:  Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver
(Speaking the gospel)  Acts 18:9-11
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As we navigate through difficult as well as ordinary circumstances, is there unmistakable evidence of God’s sovereign, saving hand at work?  How can we trust Him when times are tough?  The hero of Ruth's story is God--the faithful God who with great covenant love (hesed) cares for his own and provides what they need.  Come and discover how in Ruth’s story we see our own, as those who were “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).  Like Ruth, we too need a Kinsman-Redeemer who alone has the will and ability to do what is necessary to remedy our helpless condition.

Session #1
Because our circumstances will disappoint us, we must trust in God’s covenant love.
—Ruth  1:1-22.  
Session #2
Because He deals with us in sovereign grace, we must trust in God’s covenant love.
—Ruth 2:1-23.
Session #3
Because He has provided a Kinsman-Redeemer, we must trust in God’s covenant love.
—Ruth 3:1-4:22.
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       In But not of the World
 
           Mary Beth McGreevy    © 2011





“The world,” as the Apostle John uses the term, is the sum of the created order which has been shattered by the fall, is in rebellion against its Maker, stands under the judgment of God, and in which Jesus Christ appears as the Redeemer.  So what does it mean to be “in” but not “of” it?  In Jesus’ prayer for his own in John 17, he asks God to protect his people from the world and also says he is sending them into it.  This material explores what that means for Jesus’ followers today.

Session #1
The world: a foreign field—John 17:1-11a.

Session #2
The world: a battle field—John 17:11b-16.

Session #3
The world: a mission field—John 17:17-26.

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       Love So Amazing:  
   Sanctification by Grace

     © 2008 A retreat by Mary Beth McGreevy

 

Where are you on the road of sanctification?  What does that road look like in the Christian’s life?  Trace that road in the life of the Apostle Paul from his first encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus to the end of his life when he considers himself “the chief of sinners.”  Along the way learn how God forges us in the furnace of suffering and the part we play in the process of sanctification.  By the end of this retreat you will see how the believer can rejoice in God’s “Love So Amazing:  Sanctification by Grace.”

Session #1

Confidence in the Flesh—Acts 9:1-25
          *How the sanctimonious becomes the sanctified*

Session #2

Forged in the Furnace of Suffering—Romans 5:1-5         
            *How God uses suffering for our sanctification*

Session #3

Dependence and Discipline—Colossians 1:27-29

            *Our part in the sanctification process*

Session #4 (Optional)

The Chief of Sinners—1 Timothy 1:1-17

            *The greater the sanctification, the greater awareness of grace*
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  The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

  (against what God knows she needs)

     © 2008 Mary Beth McGreevy

The disciple Peter is famous for his disagreements with the Lord Jesus.  We relate all too well with Peter in his protestations, because we would have reacted the same way.  This retreat looks at scenes from the life of Peter from all four Gospels in which he protests to Jesus in ways that, whether we are consciously aware of it or not, we also protest.  We also can rejoice that Jesus holds firm against Peter every time, giving him a “no” answer but exactly the kind of Savior that Peter—and we—must have.