Sunday, February 5, 2012    

Band of Brothers & Daniel

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

I need to brag a little on my Band of Brothers today. Tuesday nights is the night a bunch of us guys (lately 10-12) get together in a local fire station to hassle one another, share what’s going on in our lives, pray for one another, and open up God’s Word together. I absolutely love every Tuesday as I learn and am encouraged by this group of men. I’m not sure what I did before I had this group supporting and teaching me every week.

Last night was especially good. We have been walking through the book of Daniel for the past two months and I have learned a lot. Daniel is full of great stories and visions. Sometimes the application is simple and sometimes it makes your head hurt, but it’s a great book to study.

Last night our focus was on Daniel Chapter 9…probably my favorite chapter in the book. It has nothing to do with a lion’s den or a fiery furnace. It’s much more mundane than that, but just as powerful. Daniel is at the end of his life (around 65 years old) around the time he got thrown into the lion’s den and he is reading Zechariah’s prophesy about Israel’s 70 year captivity in Babylon (which started when Daniel was a boy and was still going on). A light bulb goes on in Daniel’s head and realizes that he and all of Israel have sinned against God so he prays…hard…for God to forgive them. Then Gabriel shows up to tell Daniel that his prayers have moved heaven (and then he gives Daniel a prophesy about the Messiah). That’s a lot on one chapter and we came up with the following three lessons (submitted for your consideration): 

  1. We need to be praying for our nation (Daniel 9:1-19): Daniel recognized very quickly that Israel had sinned against God and was paying the price. He immediately started paying for his nation and we should follow his example.
  2. Our prayers have impact (Daniel 9:23): Gabriel tells Daniel that as soon as his prayer start that a command was issued in heaven regarding the Messiah! Now that’s a powerful prayer (and it wasn’t even what Daniel was praying about). Daniel’s heart, words, and actions had an effect…God responded. Our prayers are promised to have the same effect.
  3. Our hearts should be in heaven, not on earth (Daniel 9:20): This one isn’t so obvious, but you’ll notice in this verse that Daniel is praying for the sins of Israel and for his own sins. What did Daniel do wrong? He was a man of integrity and passed every test put before him. It wasn’t his fault they were in captivity. BUT…as an Israelite his heart was supposed to be set on Jerusalem, on God’s temple, where God’s presence was. Daniel had become comfortable in Babylon. That is what Daniel repents of. And we have the same danger. We are supposed to store up treasures in heaven, where our heart is, but too often our hearts are comfortable right where it is…in the here and now.

It was another great night with a great group of men. They inspire me. They encourage me. I thank God for every one an pray for them often! Thanks men! :cool:

04.06.2008 Band of Brothers, Fellowship, Spiritual Musings No Comments

Unlimited Resources

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

Our Men’s Group (Bravo Platoon) is going through the book Ephesians. This upcoming Tuesday we will be reading and discussing chapter 3–which is turning into one of my favorite chapters in the book (if not the Bible as a whole). So I’ve been using Ephesians in my devotionals and this morning I came across this verse (which is interesting since I’ve read this chapter who knows how many times and only now did this particular verse jump out at me):

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources
he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 3:16

Wow, for anyone who has ever needed “inner strength” this is a promise like none other (and I think we all qualify). And this is my prayer for you and for myself–that the Holy Spirit will give us all of the inner strength we need to face our daily struggles.

And the best news? He has “glorious, unlimited resources” for us to tap into. All we need to do is take advantage of those resources! How? Well, have you been spending time with Him like you should? (Don’t worry, I’m really asking myself more than you).

11.11.2007 Band of Brothers, Devotional, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

What’s Next?

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

I’ve been a little reflective the past few days, especially regarding my spiritual journey and the ministries I’m involved in. This past year I have grown spiritually by leaps and bounds (don’t get me wrong, I still have a loooong way to go…but God has truly taken me on a journey closer to Him). Not only have I grown spiritually, but God has given me some pretty incredible ministries…and done some incredible work in each one of them.

But as I reflect on the past, it has me thinking about the future. And I’ve been asking one question during my prayer and meditation time specifically: What’s Next?

What’s Next…
                         for Men’s Ministry?
                         for LifeGroup?
                         for the men I’m accountable to?
                         for my Spiritual Journey?
                         for my Family (and my role as husband and father)?

The thing is, I’ve enjoyed the journey so far and I’ve learned and grown…but I’m not sure what God has in store next. I do know that He will continue to challenge and teach and grown me…just not sure how or in what arenas. I also know that I don’t want any of the list above (and those I didn’t even include) to stagnate. As Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14, I want to “focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

I’m looking to Him and the spiritual leaders around me for guidance, direction, and leading. I know He has my best (and yours) at heart, no matter where He takes me or what He asks me to do.

The journey continues…

05.09.2007 Band of Brothers, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

A Little Humility

Monday, July 23rd, 2007

The vacation is over…and I’m back to blogging on other topics besides vacations.

As I’ve mentioned before, my Platoon (Men’s Group) is reading Dream by Kenny Luck. This week the topic is about humility. I know, about as exciting a topic as you can imagine! Almost begs for a cliche “Webster’s Dictionary Definition” (if you really want one you can click here). I must admit that I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospects of digging into the concept of humility (insert your own joke about needing some here).

As you might expect, I was pleasantly surprised…and challenged. The Scriptural basis for the chapter is found in Philippians 2:5-11. This is no wimpy passage…this is a “man sized challenge”. And I’ve read the passage many times…even preached on it once. Kenny unpacks the concept of having “Christ-like humility” in a way that was new to me (and no less challenging).

Too often we think about humility as me getting rid of my pride. But how do we do that? Jesus’ recipe was actually pretty simple…we change our perspective from being “self-focused” to “other-focused”. It’s about being so confident in our status with God (the fact that we are important to Him) that we don’t worry about that anymore and instead are free to focus on helping those around us. On page 49 Kenny puts it this way:

The axis of humility is internal. It is an emotional posture that makes people in your presence feel unburdened, light, and connected to you the same time…In a personal encounter, the possessor of humility disappears as an emotional obstacle to the other person and leaves two powerful forces in their place: God’s presence and the other person’s importance.

That’s the kind of man I want to be…but I am so far from it. A man that worries more about how I impact others rather than how they impact me. It’s an area God has been working on with me for some time now. It’s about being a true servant. Looking first to the needs of others. Lightening the burden others are carrying. It’s my heart’s desire…the passion deep within (I often wonder can you want humility and still get it?). 

I want to use my position as Dad, Husband, friend, co-worker, and man to serve others rather than demanding others meet my needs. This just might be one of the toughest callings of all. And I think the start is to admit that I am totally incapable of being humble on my own (now there’s an earth-shattering revelation).

I need to daily give myself to Christ and submit to His power and direction in my life. As I Peter 5:6 says, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God…”

That’s my prayer for today.

23.07.2007 Band of Brothers, Devotional, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

Vacation

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007

As my previous post makes obvious, our family went on a little vacation over the weekend. But that wasn’t the end of my vacation time…I’ve taken this week off as well. The best part? We’ve got nothing big planned! An entire week to do…well…whatever!

And I highly recommend it. Just time away from work and the normal routine of life. Time to recharge and refresh. Time to do stuff I haven’t had the time to do. Time to just hang with the wife and kids. This doesn’t mean we have nothing planned or haven’t done anything fun…just nothing big.

So far, the highlight of this week has been going Indoor Skydiving. Anita got me a certificate for my birthday (my 2006 birthday). I hadn’t gone until now because the weight limit was 250 lbs…and I was right at that limit until I lost my 60 lbs. I held it out as a reward for when I lost the weight and kept it off. Man was it worth it!! One of the coolest experiences I’ve had in a long time. Ready for the real thing now!

Also had a great Platoon meeting last night. God is truly moving among us guys…and I look forward to every week. We even had two new guys show up last night. We’re going through Kenny Luck’s Dream and it has been challenging so far (and we’re only two chapters in). If you’re not involved in a men’s group (and you’re a man) I highly recommend it…you’ll never be the same!

So what’s the plan for the rest of the week? Just finished our Boy Scout website design so I’ll probably put some finishing touches on that. A movie or two? We’re heading to Wyoming to see the In-Laws (no worries, I actually like them…what’s not to like about a Father-in-Law that builds guns for a living?).

I think a few more vacations just like this one are in my future…hopefully yours too.

18.07.2007 Band of Brothers, Misc Ramblings, Recreation No Comments

Discipling Dads (Part 1)

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

Discipling Dads Logo 

As part of my role as Men’s Ministry Director, I’ve been working on a Seminar Series entitled: Discipling Dads. The goal is to give Dads some direction for fulfilling the Great Commission at home-with their own kids/families. As Fathers we are called to direct our “children onto the right path” (Proverbs 22:6) and give them the spiritual training they need for life. This is a serious calling, but one that too many men feel ill-equipped for (so in typical male fashion we often just leave it to someone else). At the end of the seminar, Dads should have a “blueprint” for going through the discipleship journey with their kids. Wouldn’t it be great to have kids going into our youth groups with a foundation to build on instead of waiting for the foundation building to occur (when it’s sometimes too late)?

This will be an ongoing blog series as I work out some of the content of the seminar and get it sharpened. I’ve already been doing some of the early work (it’s still actually in progress) and have been praying about it for some time now-it was God that placed the topic on my heart in the first place and He has been refining it ever since. I’ll be sharing the basic seminar outline, content, and materials as I more fully develop them, but… 

Here’s where I need your help now. One of the basic contexts of the seminar is teaching our kids the basics, the foundations, of the Christian faith (actually it’s more about modeling the Christian walk ourselves first and then teaching our kids). What I need to sharpen is this list of fundamental, Biblical elements that are essential for us as men to pass onto our kids. Here is the list I have so far. Note that these are general topics, I haven’t fleshed them out here on purpose (I’ll be doing that further down the road). Right now I am mainly looking for the big-picture topics:

  • Developing a Personal Relationship with the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
  • The Core Spiritual Disciplines/Habits
    • Scripture 
    • Prayer
    • Worship
    • Fasting
    • Confession
  • The Great Commandment 
  • The Great Commission
  • Servant Leadership
  • Theology 101 (a.k.a.: What will you die for in your faith? This includes the Inerrancy of Scripture, Virgin Birth, etc)
  • Biblical Community
  • Submission
  • The Sacraments (i.e.: Baptism, Communion)

That’s what I’ve got so far (off the top of my head). Now it’s your turn…what are the foundational truths I’ve missed? How would you refine and/or expand on the draft version of these topics? There’s a lot more refining and definition to be done here so let loose. Let me put the question to you another way (actually two ways):
          1. If you were a Youth Pastor what would you want the new kids to already know?
          2. What do you wish someone would have taught you in your early spiritual development?

PS: Our family will be out camping for the next few days so there won’t be another blog submission until this weekend. Have a great week!!

12.06.2007 Band of Brothers, Discipleship, Discipling Dads, Ministry No Comments