What is lacking in today's discipleship...?

As a leader in Men's Ministry I have found myself more in prayer and leaning on God's word daily.  I have come through a season in life that I would call, "Walking through the desert of persecution."  I have remained faithful to prayer and to daily Bible reading and instead of trying to change my circumstance, I instead changed MY ATTITUDE toward how I respond to difficult and trying situations.  Scripture is very clear when it tells us that those of us who are Children of God will (it doesn't say "May") BUT WILL face persecution.  

Thankfully, I have accountability partners in my life (not just my wife, but a few close friends who don't hold back in hold me to the fire) and they have given me wise counsel in difficult situations.  I am thankful for these people in my life and I am thankful for the Bible that is practical in the ways of righteousness and obedience to God's will.  

Through this season, this Valley, I have been made keenly aware that churches can tend to have a lot of immature spiritual babies who are still on the proverbial nipple and have yet to dig into the meat of the Bible and to move from Spiritual Immaturity into Spiritual Maturity.  In putting it in simpler terms: They need to move from milk to meat.  My pastor puts it in an even better way - moving from a pew sitter to a heavy hitter.  

I really don't put blame on anyone or institution for the immaturity of most believers.  Instead, I found the need even more important in today's context.  That is, to say, that we are in a world that continues to move even further away from God and does not rely on the very foundation of truth and biblical principles - if you don't believe me - do some research on some ivy league colleges in the US and our founding fathers of this great and wonderful nation.  

To put my thoughts as plainly and simply as possible - we need more disciples of Christ.  We need to grow the connected (those that are members of church and actively serving) and to have mentors (both men and women) teach the younglings (those who are spiritually immature - I don't care how old they are) how to move from infant to heavy hitter in the Kingdom of God (refer to Hebrew 5 & 6 to see where I am going with this).

I have posted before on three major themes that I continue to keep coming back to and that is: 1) Biblical Purity 2) Biblical Stewardship (which includes Contentment) and 3) Discipleship.  This is a call to arms to all of our brothers and sisters who read this blog.  If you are a Timothy - then found and pray for a Paul and a Lois & Eunice in their lives.  If you are a Paul and or an Elijah, then find a younger Timothy in your life and mentor them.  Prepare them and sharpen them as the Word of God calls us to do.  Teach the younger women to love their husbands.  Teach the young men to lead by their obedience to Christ.

More to follow,

Dante

TAYLOR'S WILD RIDE

With Mothers Day safely distant and Lance’s uplifting “Mothers and Wives” well digested, I can now tell this story.
It’s a week old, but my smile and the twinkle on my heart lingers. It’s a short story with a long ending, a Legacy Dad’s future ending. The players are Matt (dad), Taylor (son), and Steve (friend, burly professional outdoor instructor). This time Legacy Grand Dad (Gary) is but the remote scribe...but he was “there”.
Taylor is now 12years + 4 weeks. Yes, that week thing is important. Remember, he’s in his Year of Passage, his “manhood year.” Behind him already are his birthday hunting rifle (Dad’s money), a scope (his and Grand Dad’s money), an overnight, a couple of now regular Tuesday morning father-son breakfasts, a long mountain bike trek and a couple of seven mile runs (after which Dad passes out, Taylor does chores).
Utah’s a great place to raise kids, boys especially. Guess that’s why there’s so many of ‘em in Utah. The wonderland of Moab and Arches National Park is only a couple hours away. So, off they went, the three of them, bolting first out the church doors (usually the last of the chit-chatters), Mom and four siblings behind to make their way home with a fresh inch of snow on the roads.
Back story: Taylor is a spectacle-wearing brainiac (I claim the DNA source). Though he’s homeschooled, he’d be called “scrawny” by school bullies…until they see him wrestle. Great kid, excellent student, mostly good oldest brother, a real birth order oldest. He herds cattle, rides mountain bikes, hikes with family, that sorta stuff; hey, it’s Utah.
Late afternoon with majestic formations ready to take on their unforgettable sunset glow, the two men and the boy-becoming-man make camp hastily and pull out the climbing gear. This was not Taylor’s first equipped climb (the first one was ice climbing; in itself memorable). But , it was his first serious and guided climb; super-challenging . Hey, his mentors were pro wilderness and recreational therapists for a residential ranch.
Then comes Dad’s surprise. Two big guys and one little one were off, heading to a popular climbers’ prize face, a huge multi-faceted, multi-colored bluff (they called it, “Steep Stuff Bluff”). Up, up, and away; two supermen and a boy. This is where Dad’s telling of it takes on the rich overtones of one of those forever family stories. He climbed well and, strangely, the only one whose breath was not echoing off canyon walls. Tail-end Charley, Taylor was left to pull the pitons and anchors, safely rigged in the line. The big boys got themselves in a dead end crevice. Dang. As they re-routed (“backed down” doesn’t sound right, they were pros), Taylor headed off sideways to a new route. Dad and Steve froze. Not in fear, but in wonder. Taylor was making his way, precariously but safely, along the thin slice of sandstone protrusion using a technical move that actually had a name. Taylor didn’t know the name, but he had the move instinctively. It required high levels of “clever,” focus, determination, experience, limberness, and strength. Hand over hand, foot to knob, Taylor guided the guides to the top of “Steep Stuff”.
Dad and Steve knew boys; they’re pros. This one amazed them. “Scrawny” had become a little giant of a man. Racing the Sun’s fading glow down had less instruction than affirmation for the pair and their charge. Camp fire and a climber’s snack couldn’t come soon enough.
Next morning’s burritos in town was more like three men hanging out. The day ahead had a ten-mile mountain bike trek on tap. This is not ride around Central Park. It’s man-stuff; gullies, foothills, slot canyons, river beds, way up, way down. Half way, with five miles back to camp Taylor, calling a halt while he pulled cactus needles from his legs (breaking new trails always has risks), wondered if it was possible to make it back to camp and do a little more climbing.
Sometimes it will be the smallest comment midst a big adventure that brands a marker in our memories. I wasn’t there. Dad recited the conversation as if he were painting a mural. Bikes back in the truck, equipment out and re-rigged, the three found their way to the base of yet another challenging rock face. Taylor stepped back to let one of the big guys start up. “Hey there, big guy, you’ve earned your spot. You lead the way and I’ll follow my instructor.” That was burly Steve.
The story winds down as the men pack the truck for the return, but Dad describes the scene with his surprise and his pride still fresh. “Hey, Dad, this sleeping bag goes here, and I think the back pack will fit under the cooler.” The young man, now fully part of the team, has stepped up without permission to take charge of one small part of the world.
There’s a Legacy Dad idea we can all take away and ponder. Like they do us, we too oft take our children for granted. We have real lives as we work and socialize outside their view. The venture with Taylor outside the customary home setting (you know, chores, school work, family meals, outings), gave Matt a chance to see a son forming as man, a future Legacy Dad, in setting unconfined by routine. A wild man after God’s own creative heart was being honed in a way that won’t materialize behind the lawn mower. The imprint of the Passage was already deep…and it was not just on the son.

The Power of Prayer

James 5:16b puts it this way, "The Prayer of a Righteous Man is powerful and effective".  Let me put it a different way, The Prayer of a Righteous Man, who has professed Christ as his personal Savior and has made him Lord over all is powerful and effective.  To put it another way, any prayer that is not centered with Christ, would therefore be a sin, because it would not constitute as being in God's Will because we would not be using the one Advocate who is testifying on our behalf:  None other than Jesus Christ who is/was and forever will be the perfect Lamb of God.  When Jesus, who was the perfect lamb and who came to save you and me, died on a tree (a cross) he fulfilled every prophecy about him and he now acts as our intercessor with God.  Because of His sacrifice and victory over death, we can approach the very throne room of God with effective prayer.  

Here is the key to effective prayer, it has to be done in a way that is truly from the heart.  It has to be prayer that does not contradict God's will.  When/Where two or three are gathered in His Name we are told in Scripture that God is there and hears our prayers.  When a Righteous man prays, his prayers are powerful effective because he is praying:  "Not my will be done, but God's will be done."  We are not righteous on what we have done, what we could do, or what we could potentially do, however, we are made righteous by God the Father through Jesus Christ His Son, who has given us a great and powerful Mediator (who is the Holy Spirit - Read Romans 8:16). This process of righteousness is given to us who are called by God to be engrafted sons and daughters into his Kingdom by the process of Justification, Regeneration and Sanctification - not by our will or righteousness, but through God the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit can this process only be completed.  Note:  We will only be fully Sanctified upon the return of Jesus Christ.  When we pray, through the righteousness and holiness of the Trinity, we can be bold and confident in our prayers - Through Obedience, Humility, prayers from the Heart and prayers that our God's will - we can be effective - we can have assurance - For if God is for us - who can truly be against us.

Repentance + Obedience + Humility + Spiritual Growth = the elements to the prayer of a Righteous Man.

Where are you today?  God loves you and wants the best for his adopted children - he loves us as his very own because of his gift of Jesus Christ.  Humble yourselves and obey!

To God be the Glory Forever and Ever, Amen.

Dante

Mothers and Wives

The Things Mothers Have Taught Me.
If it was not for a woman, I would most likely be in jail right now. Women tend to bring out the worst or best in men and I have been blessed to have known many women, some closer than others – Moms, Wife, etc. At times, I did not know that these women were subtly teaching me. They led by example, by humility and by courage. I could probably write pages on this subject but I will try to keep it to a few.     

 Women are the most selfless people I have met. I tend to be selfish while my wife is the exact opposite. Jesus never focused attention onto himself, but rather always on the Father and then His bride (the church). My wife’s example led me to follow Ephesians 5:25. My reward has been a wife who wants to serve me and an incredible, loving, passionate marriage and family.

My mother and wife have taught me that moms perform selflessly on a daily basis for their families – and one completely self-sacrificing act by giving her child life. Moms make sure everyone else is fed first and always offer their husband “the good piece of fish.” Moms get up in the middle of the night when children are sick. Moms drive endless hours to practices, games and meetings to support their children’s activities. In essence, a mother’s existence is one big act of selflessness. In my book, everyday should be Mother’s Day.   

Humility. My mother has taught me humility. In the past, I’ve leaned more towards pride and boastfulness. Society teaches men from an early age to be strong, self-reliant and competitive. But my mother, like Jesus, took a different approach. She set aside her pride and ego, and tried to submit herself to God. She has been through some tough times and showed me the value of gratefulness and being humble.

Kindness and Gentleness. I have learned that my anger can have a very negative effect on my whole family. My anger does not expose itself in a physical way but a verbal way. Husbands can speak life or death to a marriage or family simply by the words we use. I pray daily for God to help me to guard my tongue and try to only use words that edify and uplift others, not tear down or emotional scar. Again my wife and mother have set the example. 

Honesty. Our world is full of dishonesty and society seems to think lies have a sliding scale of severity. My wife has taught me that honesty will always prevail. Even when what we have to say may be hurtful, it is always better to be honest. In marriage, a pillar of communication, honesty will make or break your marriage. My wife is my helpmate and confidant, I tell her everything. I even warn other men not to share things with me that they do not want my wife to know about. Honesty has made the difference.    

Spiritual Gifts. This is one area that I have always struggled in. The Bible speaks of miracles and spiritual gifts but it always seemed so supernatural to me and unbelievable. My mother in law has recently learned the gift of healing, if I would have not seen it with my own eyes or heard of the countless eyewitness accounts, I would have never believed it myself. My mother in law cannot explain it in words but simply describes it as the Holy Spirit working through her. She has absolute faith. Miracles happen every day we are simply too blind or skeptical to actual see them most of the time.   

Unconditional Love. A marriage is never 50-50, it’s 100-100. Giving yourself unconditionally to another person or child is not easy for men. It takes combining all the above traits to truly commit to love somebody no matter what life throws your way. All the moms in my life have taught me that when you give your heart to someone, it is unconditional. You don’t withhold your love and kindness when times are tough or you don’t agree with your spouse or child. You love your children from the moment they are born until the moment you or they leave this earth and you never hold back. 

To my wife and my Moms who have taught me so much by saying so little, I thank you and love you so much. You have left a Legacy inside me and everyone you touch with your love, your warmth and your kindness. You are the reason I am the man you see in me today.

Happy Mother’s Day
Lance      

Posted via email

Time for a laugh (for men)

I saw this after our mini church on Sunday Night and laughed....

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaK9bjLy3v4&hl=en_US&fs=1&&w=480&h=385]

Old Sin Nature....The Death March

A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees when they walk over long distances and for an extremely long period of time, being supplied with little or no food and water. The result is that the weakest of them die primarily due to exhaustion and dehydration. 

Galatians 5:1⁶So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. ¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

When we are new creations in Christ, that is, we are justified through Christ and because of that God's love has adopted us as sons of God.  We are new creatures in Christ and immediately we find a war within us.  Our old sin nature versus our new self.  Why do so many of us fall victim to the Death March where we slowly fall back into the old and forget the new. 

Less of us and more of Him, of HIs Word, of prayers and supplication to Him daily are the only ways that we can slowly put the ways of this world behind us and become what Christ calls us to be:  Disciples of Christ.  By that, we see the fruit of the new self: 

Galatians 5:22 but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other

Epiphany

Maybe it’s that I just finished listening to Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods or maybe it’sbecause I just had to leave my family yet again and it’s weighing heavy on mymind and heart, but I think I have discovered True Happiness.

When I was young, I had big dreams.  Big dreams of wealth, power and individualfreedom over my life and what it would stand for.  Like most, I went to school, got idealistic,then struck out to work hard and climb the latter of success so I could havenice things and someday retire with a plush 401k and live the easy life whilewriting my own book.  I worked long andhard hours chasing money, status and fame.  I’ll never forget the first year I made six figures; I thought I hadmade it and joined the big leagues.

Then life happened and God let me know who was really incharge.

With a series of unfortunate events, my life and the whitewashedwalls I tried to build around me came crashing down.  Shortly after the worst year of my life, 9/11happened and like most people I paused to examine my life.  What I saw was greed, buying in to theloser’s game and chasing a false ideal of success and happiness. 

When I was a Financial Planner, we used to utilize a salesstrategy called “What’s Important About Money to You.”  It was taken from Bill Bachrach’s ValuesBased Selling.  The exercise would askpeople about their life goals and how much money they wanted for retirement.   

People would tend to list their goals materially.  A Big House, a Range Rover, a Boat, a Condoon the French Riviera, etc.  When youtook someone’s goal and broke it down asking them what’s really important aboutthis goal to you it always came down to an emotion the person wished to feel.  We really don’t want these things; we wantthe feelings that we think these things we bring us.  “If I drive a nice car, people will think Iam successful. It will impress the neighbors and my in-laws.”  Really?

In 2003, I used this technique on myself examining my ownlife goals.  Do I really need a biggerhouse, a nicer car or more money in the bank or do I want these things?Furthermore, do I want these things or the imagined emotions that I believethese things will bring me?  If it isonly the emotions I am after, where else could I receive these emotions?

Society will try to sell you that happiness lies in chasingsuccess, fame and material possessions.

Is a bigger house, a nicer car and the status of buying thelatest 4G phone every 6 months really all there is to life?

I recently pulled out an old photo album and looked atpictures of my wife and I from our teens to our early marriage years. I pausedwhen I saw three pictures of our first apartment, car and bedroom.  We looked like poverty stricken couple withbad jobs and an old Buick that was barely running.  I then looked around my current house.  We have a big house full of Italian furniturein a private gated community with stocked lakes and dozens of hiking trails plus2 semi-new cars in the parking lot.    

We have come a long way since those old photos; do we reallyneed anything more? Are we really any happier or just more secure?  Some of our greatest memories as a couple andfamily come from the times we were the most destitute and in some of the mostharrowing situations, we don’t need more money, possessions or security.  We need more purpose in life, more giving toothers and more gratitude for all we have.

This is what I have found to be true on the subject:

True Happiness lies in canoeing for seven days into NorthernMinnesota and Canadian backcountry. Seeing God’s creation as he intended, with no outside noise ordistractions.  Watching a Mother Eagleand her babies catch a fish out of the water at dusk less than 30 yards fromyour canoe.  Chasing a bear off theisland you are camping on with only a Swiss army knife and some Chutzpah.  Running out of food at day 6 then canoeing andrushing to a Pizza Hut on day 7 starving and grateful you made it.

Building a school in a third world country where thechildren have never seen a text book or had any formal education.  Giving a ragged child that has never had atoy in his life a soccer ball and watching him play like it was the best day inhis life.  Then humbling yourself whenhis mother and father thank you repeatedly with tears in their eyes andtoothless smiles knowing that their child will receive the education they neverhad.

Taking your daughter on a date and going ice skating.  Falling on your face while she saves you thenretreating to the coffee shop afterwards for hot chocolate and fresh BlueMountain java.  Then she lets you intoher world and tells you of her dreams, struggles and what she really wants todo when she grows up.  Standing in herdoorway that night and watching her sleep peacefully with a slight smile on herface and wondering what she is dreaming of now.

True Happiness does not come from material possessions,titles or symbols of status and large 401k’s. 

My friend Peter once told me that I reminded him of theSwitchfoot song, The Loser. Having never heard the song I thought he must thinkthe worst of me?  Then I finally heardthe song:

Only the losers win
They've got nothing to prove
They'll leave the world with nothing to lose
You can laugh at the weirdoes now
Wait till wrongs are right
They'll be the ones with nothing to hide

'Cause I've been thinking, thinking
I've got a plan to lose it all
I've got a contract pending on eternity
If I haven't already given it away
I've got a plan to lose it all

I've been the burnout kid
I've been the idiot
I'll turn the other cheek to be hit
You can take what you want from me
Empty me till I'm depleted
I'll be around if I'm ever needed

True Happiness comes from human interaction.  Being the best person you can be for others.Living Godly values and setting the example for your family and friends.  Cherishing the moments with strangers andtrying to touch their lives in some small way. Reveling in the most simplistic of activities like eating a good meal ortaking a hot shower while knowing that at least 80% of humanity lives on lessthan $10 per day and doesn’t have a clean water source.  

“When youhave once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you knowthat a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the facessurrounding him; and you are torn by the thought of the unhappiness and nightyou cast, by the mere fact of living, in the hearts you encounter. Gratefulnessis the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are notgrateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because wewill always want to have something else or something more. The truth is thatour finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeplyuncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments,propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts andstart searching for different ways or truer answers. Happiness cannot betraveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritualexperience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. That man isrichest whose pleasures are cheapest.”