by Caleb Gordon | May 21, 2015
I want to say, MEN ARE IMPORTANT!
We live in a culture that is tearing guys apart. On every hand we see masculinity being attacked. The sad thing is that MOST churches are not engaged in this fight to fix this issue.
We place our focus on other ministries (e.g. youth, women, or children). Now, I need everyone to understand I’m not against these ministries. I love those ministries too. But I firmly believe that every church should have a solid men’s ministry to encourage and challenge the men of the church and community.
If we get men healthy, we will have healthy families. The only way to get a man healthy is to cure him of the sickness of sin, and the ONLY way we do that is through the blood and power of Jesus Christ. The Gospel must be preached to men. I have four things I think every men’s ministry should be promoting.
1. Promote God’s Word as the primary blueprint. I know that sounds like a ‘no duh’ idea, but sadly, in our churches, God’s Word (The Bible) is becoming less and less important. We have pastors who stand in their pulpits and tell their congregation that the Bible is not inspired and not the final authority to our lives.
This must stop! We need to base our ministry on God’s Word! “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16).
2. Promote why each man should be investing in Kingdom work over everything else! We are not promised tomorrow, but you wouldn’t know that by what we act. We chase things that will have no impact or worth in 1,000 years.
We neglect our churches to the point where they are almost completely irrelevant. We would rather our children be involved in sports camps or organizations that have zero eternal focus. The Bible tells us to be focused on the things of God over the things of this world.
“Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
“Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).
We need to have men’s ministries that encourage men to focus Jesus rather than entertainment.
3. Promote that every man has a mission they are called to accomplish in their city. Being a missionary is NOT predicated on your zip code. Your pastor cannot do what you were called to do. Your city needs YOU as a man to step up and take the mission of God seriously. Every man has a calling; every man has something that God wants them to accomplish. What we need to do is figure out what the next step is for each of us and then actually do it. Our men’s ministries need to foster an environment that challenge men to reach further and look for opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19).
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (Isa. 52:7).
4. Promote that every husband and father should be their family’s primary spiritual leader. We live in a world where we hand almost everything off to a professional. This area of spiritual leadership does not need to be handed off to someone else.
You as a husband and father need to be leading, guiding and protecting your family spiritually. Our pastors and our churches need to be pushing this agenda. We need to encourage our men to raise up a Godly legacy, and that’s done by raising up a Godly family.
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor. 16:13-14). I firmly believe that if these four things are promoted in churches and men’s ministries across our country, we will see a major shift in culture and the way we think and act. I also believe that most of the major problems and issues we deal with as a nation would go away if we had healthy men loving and investing in their families.
When Jesus Christ is promoted everything changes!
by Meagan Thomas | May 13, 2015
Long time, no read, Wordslingers! It is unbelievable to imagine that a year ago, I was given this opportunity to be a human microphone for this blog, as a Baptist Messenger intern and writer who derives inspiration from my environment, life experiences and the people who intercede in my life’s path. And in this life, God has revealed to me very early how much I have a passion and curiosity of what makes mankind tick, in more ways than one.
From foreign cuisines that are infused with tongue-numbing spices and aromas (Often times my friends wonder how I can stomach and actually enjoy the heat; “if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen” is my response often times), to the unique styles that often adopt vibrant colors and symbols that are stitched with symbolic purpose within a culture. There’s just something that entices my soul in trying to interpret and truly understand people and how they perceive the world we live in. It is amazing to me how there are so many perceptions of the world around us; in nature, in cultural norms and in beliefs.
Just this recent semester I have just conquered, I was given an opportunity to film a documentary for my non-fiction cinematography class over any topic of our hearts’ desires. My crew (Shout out to my fellow camera nerds, Gavin and Josh!) had unanimously decided to film a documentary over my Native American Art professor I had in Fall 2014 (Shout out to Michael Elizondo, Jr.!), on how his art symbolizes his embrace of his heritage, sense of identity. The purpose we wanted to give this documentary was a realization, a conviction of the cultural differences and tensions that have been present in society since the beginning of time. We wanted to open the window of opportunity to place people, whether it be familiar or foreign, in a perspective where we could unite our hearts, as a human race, and understand and love one another.
We all live in the same world, so we all share a universal purpose, even though we may differ in appearance and in tongue. And that’s what makes life so beautiful; this is a human’s perspective trying to define the omniscient presence and limitless perspective of God. In God’s eyes, we are all of His children. I don’t know about you, but how boring and bland life would be if He created all of us EXACTLY the same? And honestly, it would not be long before I would go insane because I cannot tell the difference between people; that would be a terrifyingly sad reality, for all of us.
I draw inspiration from Acts 8:26-40. In this particular passage, Phillip has a God-destined encounter with a eunuch, a representative of the growing Ethiopian Church. Keep in mind, after Christ, there was a swirl of ordeals as to how to have access, who was “eligible” to receive and hear the Gospel, resulting in an adoption into God’s family. The Jews and the Gentiles (Considered ‘outsiders’ of the faith) were just trying to figure out and decipher the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Fortunately, as human history has unraveled, anyone and everyone who has open hearts and ears for the Gospel, and an encounter from Jesus Christ Himself, can be saved. In addition, as the Gospel was and does tend to spread like a wildfire, at the time, the Ethiopian Eunuch was living evidence as the “ends of the earth”, when Jesus says to reach out to the ends of the earth.
Alluding back to the passage aforementioned, the Eunuch who Phillip had encountered was physically journeying and reciting the prophecy of Isaiah, a way in which he believed could be his bridge to the Gospel he was desperate to cross. Naturally, as all believers are placed in situations to share Scripture/the Gospel, it can be nerve-racking because you don’t know how the receiving end/perspective is going to respond to this Truth. In verses 30-34, the conversation naturally unfurls into something more powerful than the actual people involved in the conversation. God had already been working within the “foreigner” for some time, and in verse 35, Phillip becomes a vessel for the Holy Spirit to flood the thirsty soul of the Eunuch. The passage continues on as the Ethiopian spots a body of water and wants to submerge himself into the act that all believers are called to act upon: Baptism. Shortly after Phillip finalizes the “foreigner’s” adoption into God’s family, the new brothers’-through-Christ paths diverge and spread the Gospel to where God had led them.
Another powerful moment in the New Testament, also found within Acts (Chapter 2), was when the original disciples were at the same place, at the same time, received supernatural powers during Pentecost, in which the Holy Spirit gave them the abilities to speak the Gospel in all languages, of all peoples. God fired up the hearts of the people who would change the course of history and for generations for all time; a group of people Jesus Christ Himself had chosen. If that doesn’t get you fired up as well, as a modern day disciple, I don’t know what will.
Some people may see diversity within the human race as barriers to relate and communicate; others see it as a bridge to see and live life in ways you could never conjure up on your own. No matter your race or color of skin, in God’s eyes, we all bleed the same and need the same Savior.
by Wade Crews | Apr 23, 2015
Gender Neutral, Gender Equity, Pay Equality, Sex Discrimination, Marriage, Bruce Jenner – what do these things have in common? They have all been manipulated, confused, diluted and abused to curry political favor and distract from what God has put in place as the wholesome normative for His creation.
As you read, you will see more scripture from God’s Word than a typical blog, because if you believe that He is and that God is Who He says He is, then His Word should be the final say on gender roles in this world.
Let me first make an observation. Men and women are different – VERY different! We are not the same. We don’t even work the same. Gen 1:27-28 – “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
We have a responsibility. As humans we have a responsibility just from these two verses. To be male and female. To be mother and father. To be husband and wife. To procreate and be fruitful and multiply. Just from these two verses, there is no “equity/equality” between a man and a woman. What should be between a man and a woman is the worship of their Creator.
I am always confused about a world that wants to promote diversity while demanding some warped sense of sameness between the sexes. We are different for a reason, a very godly reason, for His purpose. My wife completes me because she is different. I can’t do what she does and vice versa. We have two sons because we are different and blessed to be able to fulfill God’s desire for why He made us.
There is nothing I have seen in God’s Word which would limit a woman in her ability or potential. The Proverbs 31 woman is a successful business woman who is in real estate and designs and sells clothing accessories and ensures her family is admired in the community. My own wife is one of my most important accountability partners. I love her so much I am usually prevented from doing things I might normally do out of impulse for fear of disappointing or upsetting her.
Eph 5: 22-31 –”Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church fnin all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.”
I am a boy, so I fully admit I have some difficulty in understanding exactly what these verses are saying to girls. However, I have no doubt what it is saying to me. My wife is to be a girl. My wife is to be a Christian who loves The Lord. I should love her so much I am willing to die for her. I am supposed to die to self for her joy and to point her to Christ, as well as literally be willing to die for her. I do not demand my wife submit to my authority. How she approaches that gender-appropriate role is between her and Christ.
These verses also clearly identify my father and mother as being a man and a woman. They also clearly describe a man and a woman being one together. The way a man and a woman become one flesh is through birth of a child. That child is literally the “one flesh” from the two of them.
This is not a blog to debate barren wombs or blended families or any of those issues. My motivation in this era of removing gender signs from restrooms is to encourage us to celebrate the fact that God created us male and female. We are different for a reason, a specific and beautiful reason.
Nobody I know believes that a man or a woman should earn less than the other for the same job. Today, men can be nurses and women can be doctors. That is wonderful! We should also realize there are things only men can do and things only women can do, because that is how we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Romans 1 speaks to how God will give people over to their unnatural desires. When people chase the confused desires of their heart instead of the Creator of their heart, they usually end up someplace they were never meant to be. Equality comes from the love of God for His creation and those who pursue Him and the fact we are all members in the Body of Christ.
by Caleb Gordon | Mar 23, 2015
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates – Deut. 6:5-9.
We live in a ‘Christian parent culture’ that, by process of elimination, is teaching by example. In and of itself, this is what we are called to do. We are to lead our kids.
We are to show them what it looks like to love Jesus. We are to show them what it looks like to love the church, and to truly be committed to the body local of Christ.
But there is a problem. The stats are showing something different. Eighty-plus percent of students are walking away from the church by the time they are seniors in high school. And there are blogs, articles, and books that attempt to address the “why,” but I think the biggest reason is because the parents are not truly living out Deut. 6:5.
We have adults that are professing to know and love Jesus, but they act as if they are atheists. Look at this COMMAND: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children…’
What are we to be teaching our children? Are we teaching them to pursue Jesus with everything, to make him the top shelf when it comes to our priorities? Are we teaching them that being active in the church is important?
The sad thing that is happening is that the average church member only makes around two church services (meetings) a month. This includes Sundays and Wednesdays. Church attendance is not what saves us, but it is an outward barometer that measures what we view as priorities.
If you, as a member of any other social organization only made two meetings month it would be deduced that you really did not think that this group was that important. Out of all organizations on the planet, the church should be one of the most cherish and loved above all else! What we are doing in the church WILL matter in 10,000 years.
You need to ask yourself the question, “Does what your recreational sports team is doing going to really matter in eternity? Is it more important than the things that Jesus has called us to do?”
I know the regular arguments: ‘We can be salt and light if we are in these areas.’ And the answer to that is YES WE CAN BE! But in all reality, 99.9 percent of the time we are NOT being salt and light. We don’t wanna rock the boat. We don’t want to truly engage on that level. So we remain quiet, or even worse, we dive head long into the realms of the people who are present with us and instead of showing the light of Jesus we just become exactly like the other lost people. So in all reality that excuse is not truly valid.
It’s been my experience with people that if folks are not coming to church or replacing church with other stuff and activates they are committing idolatry (i.e. they love this world, and the things of this world more than JESUS.) And just so you know, that ends badly for those people.
Our utmost commitment needs to be to Jesus Christ and the mission of Jesus, which is primarily executed in the local visible New Testament church. If you are devoting more of your time to any other organization or group, you are living un-biblically.
I think one of the major reasons atheism is growing in our culture is because men (fathers in particular) in the last 60 years or so have placed high regards on everything and anything, (sports, money, jobs, hunting, fishing, video games, etc.) but the things of God (Bible study, Church membership, being active in that biblical community, and prayer) have mostly been ignored. Because of this, it’s had a trickle effect on children, so we are seeing children now not just ignoring the things of God, but rather becoming hostile to the things of God. It’s time to change things! MEN (Fathers) WAKE UP! Take an active role in your child’s spiritual formation. How can we do that?
1. Make sure you are committed to a local Bible-believing church. What does that look like? You and your family are actually committed and active in that community, and not just on Sundays but throughout the week. Have other believers and church members in your home on a regular basis, and show your children what a healthy loving church community looks like.
2. Make time to have regular family prayer and Bible study together. This means taking time to get on your knees and pray with your wife and children. Open your BIBLE inside of your home, and encourage and lead your family to do the same!
3. Be committed to living the Gospel out in your city. This means, actually do something. Lead and encourage your children to do mission projects that actually will have an impact, and commit to helping lead others to Jesus Christ! What are we to be teaching our children? To make Jesus our EVERYTHING…and we should be chasing Him more than we chase anything else!
This verse sums it up. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you – Matt. 6:33.
by Tiffany Zylstra | Mar 5, 2015
Sometimes grumpy moods happen. It’s not like something happened, or didn’t happen. You’re just grumpy and cranky and kind of mad at everything. My mom calls these moods “time for an attitude adjustment,” but most of the time I call these “Mondays.”
But them I’m reminded, usually on a weekly basis, that I should be the most joyful person ever.
- I’m a CHRIST follower. I am not going to hell. When I die I get to sit at the feet of Jesus and rejoice with the angels!
- I woke up this morning with heat, a roof over my head, food in my fridge and running water for a shower. Per the World Health Organization globally, 1.8 billion people have to use a drinking water source that is contaminated. I had to run my kitchen faucet to get water for my tea. I didn’t have a concern that it might not be safe.
- Today I got to get in my (mostly) working car and drive to a job. Thankfully, the unemployment rate continues to decline but there’s still 5.7% of the US population that are unemployed.
- I have some pretty incredible friends and family. I have the opportunity to be with them on a regular basis.
- My good health allows me to be capable of volunteering. Some of my favorite people are the Oklahoma Disaster Relief crew. When something horrible happens they go into high gear. They have lots of volunteer trainings throughout the year. There are many other incredible worthy causes but DR is one of my favorites.
- Oklahoma sunsets are beautiful! Glorious colors to remind me how God created all of the spectrum. Proverbs 20:12 “ears that hear and eyes that see – the Lord has made them both.”
- We have incredible freedoms. I can say whatever I want, gather with the people I whose fellowship I cherish, celebrate the name of Jesus boldly in public, and a host of other freedoms allowed by the Bill of Rights.
It’s all too easy to get caught up in the grumpiness of repetitive daily life, but there is oh so much more to be thankful for! Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
by Caleb Gordon | Mar 2, 2015
So everyone last month (including me) flipped out over the 50 Shades of Grey movie that came out…but I got to thinking about it, this movie is just a symptom of the deeper problem.
Why are women running to this type of book and film?
Honestly I put the blame at the feet of men. WHY, men?
Because God has called men to lead, guide and protect women. For the last several decades that has not been the case at all. We actually have been taking advantage of women. We have not viewed them as daughters of God, but rather something to be consumed. Shame on US, men!! It’s sinful and wrong!
If men (husbands) would follow Eph 5:25-28, women would not be running by the millions to go see this type of filth and trash.
I am calling on CHRISTIAN MEN, in particular, to become ACTIVATED for the cause of Jesus Christ! Show your wife what it looks like to chase after the things of God. This is so much more important than anything else we can do as husbands and men.
When we chase after God, and bring our wives along with us in this journey, the marriage relationship completely transforms. If men would do this, women would no longer have a need or desire to run into the arms of this type of ‘entertainment.’
As my grandpa use to say: “If you’ve got a top shelf steak at the house, you won’t be running into town to get hamburger helper.”
If we transform the hearts of men we will change the destiny of the entire family.