The Man of God

Men and brothers,

     A quote from brother Norman Wakefield:

"God's evaluation of a church isn't based on what happens on Sunday mornings, but what happens in the homes throughout the week. As the men go, so go the families. As the families go, so goes the church. Men who have a vision for how they can express the heart of God as a Father to their wives and children are men who make the pastor's gospel preaching powerful and relevant and have the privilege of preparing the next generation for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ." 

Enough said my brothers! We need God to give us this vision! Stand firm, stand strong, all for Christ. To God be the Glory!

INDNJC,

sam

How Saved are We?

Men and Brothers,

I thought this excerpt would be a good challenge to our thinking. Read and be blessed and challenged! Love y'all,

An excerpt from "How Saved Are We?" by Michael L. Brown:

"The American Church at the end of the twentieth century is experiencing a crisis. For years we have preached a cheap gospel and peddled a soft Savior. We have taught salvation without self-denial and the crown without the cross. We have catered to the unsaved and compromised with the world. Now we are paying the price.

Our "instant salvation" message has dishonored God and deluded men. Our faulty seeds have produced a flaky harvest. What a pitiful crop we are reaping!

     As American "believers" we:

     - spend hours watching television but minutes watching in prayer;

     - are hungry for the sports page but have little taste for the Word;

     - spend more money on pet food than on foreign missions; 

     - love to feast but hate to fast;

     - welcome God's blessings but are wary of His burdens.

Is this what Jesus died for? Is this our "new life" in Him?

Stop for a moment and think:

     Anyone who spends more time playing video games than seeking God in prayer has no right to call Jesus Lord.

     Anyone who takes delight in today's perverted TV shows is serving another god. 

     Anyone who cannot die to sports for a season is worshiping idols.

Scripture says: "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him..." (1John 2:15)

                        "...because friendship with the world is hatred toward God" (James 4:4)

In reality, whose friends are we?"

Certainly something to think about my brothers. May God grant us grace and strength to be sold out to Him and His will.

To God be the Glory,

Papa Sam 

The Paradox of Choice

Men and Brothers,

I wanted to share an excerpt from a book "Costly Grace" by Jon Walker. I pray you are encouraged and challenged.

"And His commands are not burdensome...." --1John 5:3

  ---As we follow Jesus down the hard path through the narrow gate into the kingdom of heaven, we find He consistently moves us toward a choice--and then He demands we make a choice.Will you follow Him into the kingdom of heaven, or will you remain a citizen of this world?

     You can remain in the kingdom of this world, but then you are not His disciple. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, "It is the paradox of choice. When we live as a citizen of this world we seek easy choices that lead to an easy life. However, when Jesus brings us to a choice, the choice its self is easy, it is our decision that is hard because to follow Jesus means to abandon the life of apparent convenience."

     Bonhoeffer says the commands of Jesus free us from the chains of our own religious traditions. By submitting to Jesus wholeheartedly, we are free to be who we were created to be as we enjoy fellowship with Jesus.

     Jesus is not arbitrary or naive in His rule. He knows the realities of this life, but He also knows the realities of eternity. His eye is on the endgame. He knows there will be a judgement for those outside His grace, and so He approaches the world with a different point of view. Even on the cross, His prayer was for forgiveness and not for vengeance, and that is a perspective we must learn as we move from thinking like fallen beings to thinking like citizens in the kingdom of heaven.

     We may not understand all Jesus does, and that scares us, but that is also where faith emerges. It is at this critical junction between fear and faith that we can see the cost of discipleship clearly--and so Jesus pushes us constantly to this place of choice, where we follow in faith or pull back in fear.

     Think about your choices. What do they say about your relationship with Jesus?---

I pray these thoughts blessed you and gave you some real meat to chew on. There is no sense in us wasting our time pretending to love God. He will not be mocked. Chose to walk in God's ways today and every day. Rise up O' man of God! I love you and I'm praying for you.

 

To God be the Glory!

papa sam

Men and brothers, Starting in 2008 I created a blog and started sharing my heart and life with other brothers in Christ. My hope was to encourage and challenge us as godly men to be just that: godly men. As the Lord would share things in His Word with me through study, meditation, and prayer I would in turn write this in my blog for the benefit of the Church--at least the men of the Church. I recently have felt a pulling to share again via my blog and pray God would use it for His glory and our growth. I'd also like to repost some of my old blogs as well. I also made it a habit to sign them "Papa Sam" so everyone would know it was me and not Sammy! These blog post will come thru email but you can also go to the blog site to read(and leave comments-Please!!) and subscribe if you'd like. Again, I hope this is a blessing to all who read. To God be the Glory! Papa Sam

Radical Abandonment

Men and brethren,
Greetings in Jesus name! Something to consider for today and to encourage those in your influence to think on as well! We need a great awakening in American Christendom today!

Radical Abandonment: commanded by Christ!
"Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."

What? Give up everything you have, carry a cross--daily, and hate or despise your own family? This sounds a whole lot different than--"Admit, Believe, Confess, and pray this prayer after me."

What has become of biblical Christianity? What have we abandoned for Christ really?

"Follow Me"--contained radical implications in the lives of the disciples. Jesus was calling them to abandon their comforts, all that was familiar to them and natural for them. He makes the same call for all that follow Him--even today, here in this land of convenience and prosperity! This must be how we come to Jesus and also how we must follow after Him. Grace is a free gift, but it comes at a big price! Jesus was willing to pay the price for us! Are we willing to pay the price for being His true disciple? Well?

To God be the Glory!
s. everett


- Posted using BlogPress from s. everett's iPhone

Is it humanism?

Beloved, are you saved? Yes! Of course you say! But are you sure? I'm not speaking of "assurance"of salvation in Christ. I'm asking if "you" are assured that you have come to Christ with the right intentions! Did you come to Christ because you truly understand the enormity of your sins before a holy God or did you just feel guilty and don't want to go to "hell" in the end? The first is contrition, the second is humanism! One is about the glorious righteousness of God and the other is about saving yourself! Think about it for a while! God's worth it! The end of all being is the glory of God not the happiness of man!


- Posted using BlogPress from s. everett's iPhone

The Bride

Men and brothers,
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! May He fill your hearts with joy unspeakable!
Today I was thinking about my bride and all that she is to me! Normally I post blogs on family and the man's role as a father and don't usually take time to consider--in writing--my second half! She is half of me by the way and I most assuredly am incomplete with out her! So, today I would like to dedicate this blog to my beautiful bride Angie!
Brothers, have you considered your bride today? How often do you remind yourself that the two of you are "one flesh" and that you are to be "as a loving savior" to her? When was the last time you washed her in the Word or prayed a blessing over her? Do you deal with her " according to knowledge" as instructed by the Word? How often do you praise her for giving her life to her children and the keeping of your home? The Bible informs us that they are the weaker vessel and need special consideration. How often do we give it to them?
Do you realize how important it is for us to encourage our brides? Men they need our love! They need us to remember to put our love to "work" in a real way. A way that says you are so grateful to God for giving you a helpmeet.
Also, maybe your thinking that your bride doesn't really live up to all the right godly attributes and it would be hard to be so loving! Well, your right it will be hard. Because you'll need to really look hard at yourself and the fruit of your life in order to make her a godly wife! That's right, you start being a loving savior to your wife and dying to yourself and she will have no problem treating you like a king!
Finally, I covet your prayers in this area for my life! Please pray for me--my bride really needs you to! I have often failed in this matter in the past but desperately want to succeed! You see, our relationships with our brides are a living witness and testimony of Christ's relationship with His bride--the Church! So when I fail here, I fail to be a good witness for Christ! Let's consider today how we can be a wonderful savior to our brides no matter what the circumstances, cause Christ is wonderful to us regardless of our circumstances! "Oh , to be like Thee!"

To God be the Glory!
PapaSam

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