Here are a few great quotes from a book that we have been going through together in our Tuesday morning men’s Bible study, Kingdom Man.

“A kingdom man is one who visibly demonstrates the comprehensive rule of God underneath the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of his life.” p.14

“To be aligned under God is to consistently make your decisions whether personal or professional, in line with God’s Word.” p. 34

“Achieving greatness means maximizing all that you are destined to be for the glory of God and for the good of others.” p. 44

“Men…if you will simply make the most of where you are, God will do the rest…Never let your limitations limit what God can do with you.” p. 50

Check out this month’s issue of Grace Bible Fellowship’s Grace Notes at the link below:

GRACE NOTES MARCH 2016

  
Me and 30 of my closest friends at the Mavs game this past Wednesday night!! 25 4th, 5th, & 6th grade boys + 5 great adult leaders (Jason Waligura, Donnie Walton, Jarod Martin, Brandon Jester, & Barret Dupler) & me. We had a great time.

Effective youth ministry has at least 3 components. You have to — 1. PLAY 2. PRAY & 3. PREACH. This night was heavy on the PLAY. Our hope and prayer is that through this fun outing we disarmed these boys toward Christ’s church and built some relationships toward deeper, life on life discipleship. 

We’ll be looking at John 9 this Sunday at Grace Bible. And it’s not just a story about a nameless man born blind who regained his sight. It’s more than that. It’s the story of all of us apart from Jesus Christ. It’s my story. I was blind, now I see.

See you Sunday, Fam.

Video of recent Baptisms at Grace Bible, including my 8 year old daughter, Norah (picture below). Special day for our Faith Family AND The Layman Family.

*Thanks to Jason Carney for making this vid!

Our sermon yesterday at Grace Bible was over the WHY of pain and suffering, and how we can view it/deal with it biblically. Below, Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams speaks at his wife Ingrid’s memorial service after she died tragically in a car accident last week.  Clearly, Mr. Williams has a firm grip on the gospel and serves as an example to us all.

Also, here is a link to a post from Desiring God with deeper insights into the faith and example of Monty Williams:

What Would You Say If Your Wife Was Ripped Away?

Weary? We all are, at some level. The short video below and the post that follows by Jared C. Wilson (taken from ESV Men’s Devotional Bible) help us to realize the power of the gospel in the life of weary men.

Strength for the Weary

The gospel breathes life into a man’s weary spirit primarily in three ways:

1. It provides freedom from the past
2. It provides power for the present
3. It provides hope for the future

1. Freedom from the Past

I think every man carries around some sort of wound, baggage, things that they’ve done, mistakes that they’ve made, sins that they’ve committed. Even if they’ve repented of these things, sometimes they don’t feel forgiven or they feel like they can’t escape from under that shadow.

The gospel comes in and says that what you were does not define you. You are what God says you are in Christ. Understanding the rich truth of justification gives us great freedom from the past.

2. Power for the Present

In the gospel comes the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We really do have the Spirit working according to the Father’s will to make us more like Christ . We do have the power to obey.

But when we fall short—as we often do—we know that we have the grace to forgive us so that we’re not defined by our worst deeds. We really do have the Spirit’s empowering presence for our present work and effort.

3. Hope for the Future

Most men worry about providing for their families and making sure the bottom doesn’t fall out from underneath them. The harsh truth of living in a broken and sinful world is that we have no guarantee of security; Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). We don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

But we do have the guarantee that our hope is secure in the gospel. The hope that we have in Christ is not the same hope that we often refer to in everyday language (e.g., “I hope something good will happen.). Our hope in Christ is a sure hope—a secure hope.

Every man can wake up in the morning with fresh mercies and with the understanding that whatever happens to his bank account or with his family or whatever else, he is united to Christ and therefore he is as secure as Christ himself is.

Jared C. Wilson is the director of content strategy at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, and a contributor to the ESV Men’s Devotional Bible.

This post originally appeared at Crossway.org

We’ve recently had a quite a few people join Grace Bible as members. Praise God for that! But with the influx of members and the announcement and welcome of those members sometimes comes the question, WHY CHURCH MEMBERSHIP?

Church membership is something that I have grown in my appreciation of over the years. At our last membership meeting one of our elders explained how 2 years ago, on our annual elder retreat, we looked at Hebrews 13:17 where church leaders are described as keeping watch over souls “as those who will have to give an account.” Our natural response as elders was, who’s souls are we going to give an account for??? The words in Hebrews require us to think about how we determine who is in our scope of responsibility. We didn’t build our whole understanding of church membership around this verse, but it was one of many that informed us and helped us to have a greater appreciation for biblical church membership.

But while we as leaders and as a church have come to value church membership MORE, at the same time, church membership has become LESS valuable in our culture, and among many people who profess Jesus as Savior. Maybe you’ve heard, or maybe even  at one time, said, things like:

“I love Jesus. But the church, not so much”

“Membership? Sounds like a private club?”

“I’m a Christian, why would I need to be a member?”

I am a Christian, and I am an avid sports fan. Nothing wrong with that per se. But sports, in the life of a Christian, like anything else, need to be enjoyed biblically–for God’s glory. After all, our charge is straight forward in Scripture, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1Cor10:31). So how do we play as well as be a fan of sports, for God’s glory? It’s a good question. And one that requires study of Scripture, careful thought, prayer, and a lot of heart checks for the athlete as well as the fan.

Any time I come across good biblical thought and wisdom on this topic, I read it. I need all the help I can get. I found the post at the link below from author, pastor, and fellow avid sports fan, Jared C. Wilson, to be especially helpful. Here’s an excerpt, followed by the link to the entire post:

…when we use sports poorly, for our own glory and our own sake, we not only lose sorely but win poorly. And athletes, whether they’re Christians or not, reflect more the heart of God when they accept responsibility when losing and deflect credit when winning, when they seek the good of their team and the dignity of their opponents, when they do things like give up achievable salaries in order to provide financial advantage for their team in employing more highly skilled players who can benefit the organization. But when an athlete plays only for himself, he loses even if he wins. Many athletes love Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me,” but would that they’d also take Philippians 2:3 to heart: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

ENTIRE POST: FOOTBALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD?

Social media and cell phone misuse is a problem for teens and adults alike. But our teens especially need guidance, wisdom, and the example from parents and trusted adults on how to navigate the temptations and dangers associate with these forms of technology.

2Tim2:2 says …flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness… From these few words in Scripture we can conclude that 1.)there is a sinful desire that is especially associated with youth 2.) we are to flee from it, and 3.) there’s something to be followed after, “righteousness.” A cell phone and social media is not a safe playground for teens to go unsupervised. There are things to flee from and follow after. It’s especially challenging for youth. 

Here are a link to a post from Desiring God to help adults and teens raise our awareness to the dangers for us as Christians.

And here’s one from the Washington Post that will break your heart and scare the mess out of every parent who reads it. I’m honestly hesitant to share such a story, but I feel like sometimes we are failing to see just how serious this issue can be. My prayers are with this family.

I certainly don’t have all of this cell phone/social media stuff figured out for myself, or my kids. It’s a process. But here are 4 things I am working to “get better at” when it comes to my teenage kids and their cell phones and social media:

1. Get better at saying no — Sometimes we’re more concerned our kids will be upset with us, than we are for their sanctification and well being. We can’t be governed by fear that they may resent us. W need to focused on being faithful to God and protective of them. There are some apps, media outlets, that should be avoided, and ungodly practices on “safe” media outlets that should never be done. Using the Bible as our standard, we need to be ready to say no.
2. Get better at explaining why — “The answer is no because I said so” can be ok in the moment, but an explanation as soon as possible is very helpful. The older kids get the more they need to know the WHY behind the answers we give them. We don’t need to take their need for an explanation as disrespectful. It could very well be an effort to better understand and align with your decision. When explaining why, we should use applicable Scripture when possible and talk about God’s love and protection in His commands. Along with why, we have to be ready to acknowledge with them that “everyone else IS doing it” (maybe even people at church) but that doesn’t sway our decision. We have to explain that our goal is to be faithful to God and protective of them. (Explanation is also a good opportunity to pray with them about the matters being discussed)
3. Get better at monitoring — We need to look through our kids phones, timelines, and messages often. If we’re not tech savvy enough, or don’t have the time to do that, then they don’t need to have the phone. Phones also need to be made unaccessible to teens at times. We don’t want our youth out driving around at 2am, OR cruising the internet at that hour. We need to keep their phones (and probably their car keys) with us at night. (There’s no full proof content protection plan but K9 Web Protection can be very helpful)
4. Get better at setting an example — teens are like doppler radars for hypocrisy. Can you blame them? Don’t we all want authorities to go by the same rules we do? If I’m scrolling twitter, catching up on sports scores, and reading emails all the time, I can effectively say anything to my kids about their “screen time.” They need to be able to look to us for a healthy example of what to do, and what not to do. As with so many things, a good example can go a long way.

There’s a ton more I need to work on. It’s a work in progress. It’s very important that we stay in a healthy direction in this area. Which requires me to seek and submit to God and will, and that’s ALWAYS good.