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What's the most courageous thing you've ever done?

Men, it is time to dig deeper into what it means to step up and live a courageous life as we gather together for the Stepping Up Video Series. Based on his book by the same title, Dennis Rainey, along with Matt Chandler, Voddie Baucham, James MacDonald, Joshua Harris and other ministry leaders unpack what biblical manhood looks like and what it means to be a godly, courageous man in today's world. Through engaging stories, expert teaching, humorous vignettes, man-on-the-street interviews, and personal insights, these men's ministry leaders call every man to become courageous leaders in their own lives, marriages, churches, and communities. Accompanied by small-group discussion and individual follow-up exercises, men of every age will learn action tools for gospel-centered living to empower them to be true heroes in their families and communities.

We will meet every other weekend beginning Sat Feb 28 and Sun Mar 1, with Sat sessions at 9 am and Sunday sessions at 4 pm.  Men can choose which day/time works best for them. Each session is designed to take about one hour to complete. Video sessions average 25 to 30 minutes and small-group discussion times average around 30 minutes. We will close our sessions with a few minutes to pray for one another. Men, we're going to have fun and be challenged and do some growing in Christ together!  The workbook is recommended, buy it Here.

 Below is a quick introduction and preview to the video series study.

In our journey through manhood, we must step up and be courageous again and again. Every man must: Be intentional, Rely on God & Count on other men.

I have to be intentional. There’s just too much turbulence out there to rely on autopilot. I can’t afford to drift from one day to the next, one decision to the next, one assignment to the next, and expect to be successful. I will fail, or at the very least under-deliver—as a husband, dad, and friend—if I’m always in reactive mode. If my life is to have a purpose, then I must live it purposefully.

I must rely on God. Though second, this is the most important truth. I must never treat God as an add-on. With Him at the center, at the core, I have constant access to His grace, mercy, help, and wisdom. Without Him, I have nothing and I am nothing.

I need other men. This is really an extension of relying on God. I need the encouragement, training, and even the correction that God sends my way through other men. This is the great truth of Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Other men sharpen me; they make me a better man.

The Stepping Up video series feature renowned ministry leaders that will challenge you to dig deep into what it means to be a godly, courageous man. Join with us!

Earlier this week one of the Elders I serve with mentioned Psalm 101:3 as a "fighter verse."  It is a verse he used and uses to help believers learn how to do battle against sin.

"I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me."

A fighter verse indeed!  As Brother Eric was explaining how he'd been applying that verse in a current counseling situation, I raced to open my Bible and read the rest of the Psalm.  At some point I just interrupted Eric and said, "This whole Psalm is amazing for fighting sin!"  I wondered why I'd never seen it before.  (Eric, sorry for the rude interruption too, by the way).

So, I'm grateful to my fellow Elder, Eric, for sharing this with me and for the way God used it to open my eyes to yet another strong word on how God's people, enabled by His Spirit, are to make war against sin.

"I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, to You, O Lord, I will sing praises" (v. 1).

The spiritual warrior must always begin by putting on the armor of worship!  

"I will give heed to the blameless way.  When will You come to me?  I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart" (v. 2).  

Pay attention to God's Word and Ways.  Long for His presence.  And never forget that the war against sin always begins in your own heart and home.  What a man is at home, a man is.  

"I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me.  A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil" (vv. 3-4).

Raw spiritual grit.  Spiritual spine.  Holy guts.  That's what God requires of His warriors.  That's what God gives His warriors who love His Way and hate everything that sets itself up against God.  Walking away from the Lord, worthless things, giving up - these things "shall not fasten" their grip on me.  I will rebuke my own heart when evil arises in it.  I will not cozy up to sin in my life.

"Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him will I destroy; No one who has haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure" (v. 5).

Sin must be dealt with violently!  Keeping company with prideful slanderers will drag us into the miry pit of godlessness.  This we must not endure or put up with!  Rebuke sin where ever it is found.

"My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.  He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me" (vv. 6-7).

More gritty determination.  Make up your mind to live with God's people and submit yourselves only to godly counsel and ministry from godly people.  Throw any and all evil influences out of your house and out of your face, and remember the ways evil intrudes into your home and life are many and often "private."

"Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, so as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity."

While King David is likely thinking in more national / political or "kingdom" terms here, the application to spiritual warfare is obvious and direct.  Our war against our flesh, the worldly way, and the devil is non-stop.  We must wake each morning and begin the fight again.  To let down our guard is to lose, to fall, to dishonor our Sovereign King who says, "Without holiness no one shall see God" (Heb 12:14).

So, maybe we need to try the P101 workout more often.  A little less time with P90X, and more time in P101, will do our hearts, minds, souls, homes and churches a whole lot of eternal good.

 

 

"For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7).

Does God call people to follow Him in "blind faith?"  Does Christianity demand a "blind faith?"  At first glance, this verse might seem to imply so.

The matter of "blind faith" has much to do with the creation v. evolution debate.  After all, most Darwinians accuse Christians of having a blind faith, while they claim to be the sole possessors of evidence-based science.  Simply put, evolution is based on reason, they say, while religion is based on faith.

To fully examine this topic, however, we need to do two things.  First, we need to define "blind faith."

Typically what we mean when we use the term "blind faith" is a dumb faith, or a belief that rests on something that simply is unreasonable, illogical, and non-evidentiary.  This kind of dumb faith is clearly not what Paul had in mind, nor does any other Bible writer.

The Apostle Peter wrote in his letter, "But set apart Christ the Lord in your hearts, always being prepared to make a defense [a reasoned argument or logical defense] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15).

No dumb faith here.

The Apostle Paul also employed well-reasoned, logical arguments when he presented the gospel to people (Acts 17).  Luke made it a point to tell his reader that he carefully investigated all the truth claims of which he wrote in his Gospel (Luke 1:3).

So, it is obvious 2 Cor 5:7 is not a call for a dumb, blind faith in something that has no evidence or logic to it at all.  If that were the case, we would not expect the New Testament writers to go to such pains to offer eye-witness proofs of Jesus' resurrection from the dead (1 Cor 15).  As Paul argued before King Agrippa, "for this [Jesus' life, death and resurrection] has not been done in a corner" (Acts 26:26).  Faith in the Risen Lord Jesus is anything but dumb.  Nor is Christian faith blind.  Quite the contrary, Christians of all people have been graciously given "eyes to see" who Jesus really is (Matt 16:17).

Second, then, we need to think carefully through what Paul did mean by 2 Cor 5:7.  To that task we now turn:

• Context, context, context!  Paul is addressing the issue of persecution and suffering among the saints at Corinth (4:16-18).  He says the motivation  to endure physical hardship is the hope of heaven, eternity, which cannot be physically seen.  (It is worth noting how at odds this is with the "health and wealth" false gospel so popular in some circles.)
• Paul continued the line of thought into chapter 5, verses 1-5, and shifted his focus specifically to the contrast between our present physical flesh and our promised resurrection body.  He says here God actually designed us for eternal life in an incorruptible body (v. 5).  God always begins with the end in mind, doesn't He?
• In verses 6-8, Paul discussed the conflicting emotions of a Christian that arise from knowing so long as we remain in our physical bodies, we simply cannot be with our Lord.  This makes us long (in a weird, non-suicidal way) for death.  That is, we long for removal from this corrupted, sin-scarred life because we understand it's the only way we'll get to live with and "see" the Lord!
• This, then, is what the phrase "we walk by faith, not by sight" directly refers to in this passage.  Right now, we cannot physically see God.  But one day, by grace, we will see Him.  Until then, we press on with a burning desire to please this God who we cannot presently see with our fleshly eyes.  But we do now see Him with our spiritual eyes given to us by grace through faith. 
• Our hope is one day we will see Him just as He is, which is both a joyful and fearful thought (vv. 9-11).

So, it is clear Paul's point is not that Christians have no good reasons to believe in God and His Christ.  Rather, his point is things that are not seen are actually more real than temporal things we can now see.

And this truth, dear friends, flies in the face of the materialism and naturalism of evolution. 

I contend it is the Darwinist that has blind faith.  Stay tuned for more reasons why I simply do not have enough faith to be a Darwinist!