You Can Do It, We Can Help

Hello men,

On January 6^th Pastor Troy gave a great message on diagnosing our spiritual health. It was a very encouraging message of hope, that in Christ we have access to the greatest love, forgiveness, and personal transformation imaginable. If you’re like me, it brought to mind certain things I need to begin doing to build or maintain spiritual health in my life. I know I can do them, but I also know I can’t do them alone.

The men’s ministry has some great options for you as you seek to make 2013 a year of increased spiritual health. I’d like to recommend these…

On Friday mornings we have two men’s classes, Men’s Fraternity and The Man Up Journey. The former is aimed at helping men understand biblical manhood, in other words, what does the Bible say men are to be and do? It also helps men work through critical issues that prevent us from reaching spiritual health. Issues like the Father Wound, the Wounded Heart, and how to effectively work through these in order to reach complete healing. It meets Friday mornings, 6:15, room 152, (enter door 4, walk through the Commons). Just show up, all materials are provided.

The latter, is an introductory class on what the Bible says about the man, Christ Jesus, and how that informs our lives as men. If you’ve always struggled with understanding the Bible, and therefore struggled with applying its message to your life, then this would be a great place for you! It meets Friday mornings, 6:15, room 209 (just above door 4). Just show up, all materials are provided.

If you know that your next step needs to be finding accountability and encouragement from other men you’re not alone! “The man without a small group is a moral disaster waiting to happen.” We have men’s groups meeting all throughout the week, mornings, evenings, and weekends. Apply online – atgrace.com/men look for the application under ministry downloads.

Lastly, if you sense the need for a mentor in your life, someone who has more life experience and a longer walk with the Lord you’re not alone. Many men yearn to have a ‘spiritual father’ who can speak into their lives, especially when life gets difficult and we feel directionless. We have men available, with a heart to walk alongside the next generation of men.  You can find an application to be mentored on the men’s website. Many of these relationships already exist within our men’s ministry and we look forward to creating many more!

Make 2013 a year of significant spiritual growth, you can do it! We can help!

Pastor Mac

Loving and Leading your wife…

Hello Husbands,

It can be difficult to keep up with all of the demands on our lives. But if you’re married, and especially if you’re married with children you definitely need to keep your wife at the top of your priority list. As men, we can usually push through the wall of business easier than our wives, and unfortunately forget that they are doing their best to stay at our sides while covered with debris. If we forget to love them in the midst of leading them they can begin to feel like just another thing that we manage and their emotional fuel gauges eventually hit empty.

Leading and loving our wives means WE take the responsibility to carve out time for us to hear from them. We need to protect them from the demands on their lives by lovingly checking in and making sure that they are saying no to things they need to say no to. We to check in and acknowledge and affirm all that they are doing in the home alone while we’re at work with co-workers to relate to and lean on. Here are five great questions that Pastor, Perry Noble, recommends we ask our wives during the time we have carved out to connect with and listen to them.

1.       What is the most romantic thing I have ever done for you?

2.       What is something fun we can do together?

3.       What is one thing I can do this week that will relieve stress from your life?

4.       How can I pray for you?

5.       If you could change one thing about our marriage, what would it be?

Together in the battle,

Pastor Mac 

A Long Obedience… In the Same Direction

                Pastor and professor, Eugene Peterson, has a book by the same title. As much as my Body was built for speed (at least I tell myself that) over short distances rather than endurance over long distances, the Christian life is certainly a marathon. Our senior pastor, Troy Dobbs, recently shared at one of our men’s classes on the process of salvation, and it reminded me of the need to be training our minds on what we believe. He referenced Hebrews 2:3, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation…” A great salvation indeed, but do I truly appreciate what God has done because I am growing to understand it better, or simply because I have my get out of hell free card?

                As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I like to reflect on how I’m doing in three areas of my spiritual walk; the head, the heart, and the hands. My heart, in the sense that I know I need to acknowledge my brokenness daily and allow God to continue to transform my will to his. But the head is different and critical to transforming my heart. If I’m not gaining in knowledge and understanding of what God has done for me and what I as a Christian believe, then my heart is more likely to remain stagnant as well.  

                But as I read theology (I recommend Reform Theology), attend seminars, conferences, or men’s classes I challenge my head, which in turn informs my heart. You can look at it as going on the offensive of taking every thought captive by giving your mind great truths of the faith to think and reflect on. For those who find it a challenge to read, there are great pod-casts and audio books on great theology. Use these to expand and deepen your understanding of what God through his Son Jesus Christ has done for you.

                As you do this, you will not only find yourself being more devoted to this God of love, grace, and mercy, but also wanting to put your hands to work in advancing the kingdom. We need men to man up and willing to get their hands dirty for the cause of Christ. Ironically, a great understanding of the core tenets of the Faith offers great motivation to put our hands to work. When men have all three, the head, the heart, and hands active in following and serving God, the long obedience doesn’t seem quite so long. Blessings to you with staying in the same direction of the call God has on your life.

Recommended authors

                John Piper

                Mark Driscoll

                R.C. Sproul

Recommended websites

                theresurgence.com

                nicenecouncil.com

For the Cause,

Pastor Mac

THE CORE OF THE MATRIX…

I was in seminary when the first Matrix movie came out and I enjoyed it for all kinds of theological and philosophical reasons; the fighting wasn’t bad either. The core issue for the main character Neo, was that if he was living in a world created by machines, he couldn’t stand the thought that he wasn’t in control of his life. Neo had to have the ability to choose in order for life to have meaning. In the real world, God certainly grants us the ability to makes choices, but ultimately we are followers of something or someone, and therefore slaves to that person or thing.

The word slave can be a tough descriptor to fall under. But anyone who has been a follower of Christ for any length of time knows that in order to live for God requires dependence on the power of the Spirit to get it done. Hence, we are dependent on His guidance and work in our lives. Did you catch that word, dependent? The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” (ESV) Did you catch that word, slave?

Non-believers are also slaves… to whatever they give themselves to. The end of naturalism is determinism. Every action within secular humanist philosophy is determined by the cause and effect relationship. The atheist living by the laws of nature has to acknowledge that if there is no God everything that happens is dependent on previous occurrences. Even the philosopher of human freedom Jean-Paul Sartre had to acknowledge later in life that we are “conditioned” beings. Human beings have no control over our place and date of birth, who our parents and siblings are, or if we grow up wealthy or poor. The atheist is also a slave to that which he or she claims ultimate allegiance to in order to live in the context handed to him or her.

Rather than surrendering our lives to Christ, Men often succumb to religion because it gives us a feeling that we are in control of our lives. What I mean by Religion is the belief that we can do enough good things or at least not do enough bad things to merit heaven when we die. We want ultimate control or our lives, but as I stated above, every human being who has ever lived on this little planet is dependent and ultimately a slave to something.

Therefore, freedom really only comes when we surrender our will to the eternal and infinite God of the universe. Only through the One, True God can we exist in world without boundaries if we’re living by the Spirit of God. “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18). That one little verse says more about the freedom offered in God through Jesus Christ then much of the rest of the Word. And it is a welcome reminder to me when struggling with temptation that to follow the Spirit of God is the only real freedom there is.

Have you surrendered?

On the offensive

Dads, if we are to be obedient to Ephesians 6:4 and train up our children in the knowledge of the Lord it will take intentionality and creativity, mixed with a lot of dependence on the Lord. With life moving at the speed of light it’s hard just to find time, let alone create an environment in which our children will actually pay attention, to say nothing of what to cover.

My situation is that I have two sons, 10 and 8 and my girls are 5 and 3. I first attempted to do family devotions after dinner with the whole family, but almost went insane because I encouraged them to ask questions and my 5 year old Kada kept asking, “why is the grass green,” and “how did God make trees”.

After doing some praying and brainstorming with my wife we decided to divide and conquer due to the differences in age, I would spend most of the time with the boys in the evening between 3 to 4 nights a week.
My wife spends most nights with our daughters reading children’s books and children’s Bibles.

Last year I read through Genesis and most of Exodus with my sons, we dipped out after it began listing the measurements for the tent of meeting. We’ve since moved onto Matthew. However, back while I was working through Genesis with them one night I went to my bed and felt convicted that reading and memorizing the Word wasn’t enough. So I prayed and reflected a bit and wrote out three phases of discipleship that I am currently implementing with my sons. It goes like this…

Phase 1 - In the Word: I read a chapter with them and I pick out one or two verses a week for memorization. The great thing about kids is their ability to memorize is far better than ours, so don’t be afraid to push them. This gets the Word firmly established in their young impressionable minds.

Phase 2 – Theology & Great Books: I know theology sounds academic. But it is the study of God and how He interacts with us. Therefore, phase two is helping my children understand what God is saying to us through the verses they are memorizing. In other words, it’s helping them get the Word from their heads to their hearts. It is especially effective to share personal stories of how God has worked in our lives. This helps make God, and His Word real for our kids at an early age. Also, don’t underestimate great books, and their ability to work as an ally in sharing biblical truth. The Chronicles of Narnia, and the Lord of the Rings are but a couple of great series that kids love.

Phase 3 – Putting it into Practice: Lastly, now that we have the text in our children’s minds, and are working at getting it to sink into their hearts. We can devise a strategy to help our kids live out the truth that they are internalizing. Brainstorm with them how you can put what you’ve taught and they’ve learned into action, as James says, “faith without deeds is dead.” Kinda like a screen door on a submarine. Dads, may God richly bless you as you bring your children up in the knowledge and instruction of the Lord!

Stuck on the Sidelines???

I kept the TV on well into the evening a couple Sunday’s ago as I had a QB/WR tandem going for my fantasy football team.  When I first turned to the game the score was already 14 – 0 and my QB had thrown both TD’s to my WR, needless to say I was a happy camper. When the second half ensued so did a wholesale slaughter of the Indianapolis Colts. By the end of the 3^rd quarter the score was Saints 48, Colts 7. My QB had 5 TD passes and I had a considerable lead.  But as the 4^th quarter progressed and things continued to spiral out of control for the Colts the TV commentators began to focus on a different QB… the one stuck on the sidelines. Peyton Manning, out indefinitely after having neck surgery last summer, could only stand by helplessly on the sidelines and watch his team be dismantled on prime time TV.

The final score was Saints 62 – Colts 7. The result of having Manning on the sidelines instead of in the game made me reflect on the impact on families and children when fathers or mentors are stuck on the sidelines in relation to the next generation’s spiritual direction. There are three main areas that keep us men on the PUP(physically unable to perform) list in this area;

• Lack of knowledge
• No accountability / encouragement
• Lack of understanding your potential impact. 

Let’s face it, when we feel like we don’t know what to do or how to do it, we just don’t do it. We may know the what’s and the how’s, but allow the ‘stuff’ of life to lead us rather leading the stuff. Men often become prisoners to the tyranny of the urgent. This is where a group of close friends, or band of brothers is great. We may look across the table and think, “that guy can’t relate to me” until we take the time to hear his story and realize he’s walking in our shoes.

The impact you have as a father/mentor is immeasurable! When a father takes the time to point his son or daughter towards Jesus, the ramifications can have an impact for generations to come. Or when a mentor steps into a young man’s life, the difference can be either a future devoted husband and father, or if left alone… a lifetime of brokenness and wandering.

Father’s and (potential) mentors, understand this, the ability to impact doesn’t happen overnight. Peyton Manning threw a lot of interceptions his first couple years in the league. But he didn’t let the INT’s deter him from becoming the impact player he is today. Start impacting your son or daughter now by pointing him or her to Christ and reading the Word with them. Find your band of brothers for accountability and encouragement. Mentors know that young men and boys are ultimately looking to you to show them Jesus... in word and deed. Below are some  opportunities we have at Grace Church to help you get started and/or better equip you in the fathering and mentoring journey.

Opportunities:

       Courageous Fathers Class | Men’s Small Groups

Resource List:
       FutureMen | Raising a Modern Day Knight | Strong Fathers Strong Daughters | Mentor Like Jesus | Going Deep | Point Man