Mission Focused Men for Christ

Summary: Against a moral backdrop much like ours, in which evil seemed ready to envelop the whole empire. Peter gave specific advice to the Christ-followers of his day. This episode examines that advice and how we can follow it in today’s world. We will see that despite being disheartened by the way Evil was winning the cultural battle between Christ’s kingdom of righteousness and the kingdom of darkness, Peter urges Christ-followers to fight a different battle—one that Christ has given us the resources to WIN.For Further Prayerful Thought: Why do you think Peter tries to motivate his readers to fight the battle against evil desires and supplant them with a heart like that of Jesus—by appealing that such effort guarantees that their commitment to Christ will not be INEFFECTIVE or UNFRUITFUL?Step 2 for accessing Christ’s power to overcome selfish attitudes (from verse 4b) stresses that the power to partake of Christ’s moral excellence comes through his precious and great promises. How can living by Christ’s promises dispel the turmoil and self-preoccupation that tend to rule our hearts?Which specific promises of God stood out to you?Which selfish compulsion of you heart needs to be expelled by claiming a promise of God?For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left).

Summary: Great men in the eyes of Jesus are those who fight the sinful attitudes of their hearts, self-centeredness, pride, resentment, lust, selfishness, impurity, rivalry, idolatry, greed, envy, selfish anger. They surrender in humility to God’s reclamation project of re-making them into the toughness of character that Jesus showed. They channel their masculine aggression towards overpowering the dark attitudes of their fallen hearts. This episode explores what the Apostle, Peter, taught about how to unleash the power God has provided to win this battle.  For Further Prayerful Thought: If God has freely granted us the power to overcome sinful attitudes, why do we surrender to them so much?How does Paul’s explanation of sanctification in 2 Cor 3:17 make sense? And we all, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.What obstacles keep you from intimacy with Jesus?How can we do a better job of remembering that fighting our wrong attitudes so that our inner character looks like that of Jesus, is a personal call from him?For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left)

Summary: In the last ten years there has been an explosion of confusion among adolescent children about their gender. Girls doubting their femininity are suffering. Boys uncertain about masculinity are unsure of themselves. Alarming statistics reveal that the more confused children are about their gender, the greater is their risk of suicide. What should Christian men do about this crisis? This episode uses God’s command to us in 1 Corinthians 16:13 to answer that question.  For Further Prayerful Thought: What do you see as the implications of God’s command, “be watchful,” regarding our response to radical gender theory’s influence in our day?What do you see as the implications of God’s command, “stand firm in the faith” regarding our response to radical gender theory’s influence in our day?What do you see as the implications of God’s command, “act like men,” regarding our response to radical gender theory’s influence in our day?What do you see as the implications of God’s command, “be strong,” regarding our response to radical gender theory’s influence in our day?Resources To Enable Men to BE WATCHFUL FREE YouTube Video Series, A Biblical Response to Gender Confusion and the Transgender Movement. The 4 lectures are Understanding Gender Theory, Understanding Today’s Transgender Craze, Countering Radical Gender Theory, Biblical Worldview of Sexuality (For teens and youth leaders).Gospel Coalition article. Sarah Zylstra, “Transformation of a Transgender Teen,” The Gospel Coalition, July 6, 2022.48-page booklet, Our Daughter and the Transgender Craze: Responding with Grace and Truth.What Would You Say  Colson Center website“Protect Our Children from Gender Confusion” Campaign—our ministry’s call to get prepared, get praying, and get promoting this campaign on Facebook. For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left)

Summary: Because of the Hamas attack on Israel two weeks ago, I’ve changed the topic of today’s episode to address a battle that all Christians are called to fight—the battle to shape our culture’s worldview to conform to biblical truth, instead of letting false worldviews blind our culture to reality, because we are silent. This episode examines how Hamas’ worldview is very different from that of the western world and why it led to the inhuman massacre that we have all witnessed. For Further Prayerful Thought: Contrast the worldviews of the Hamas terrorists with the worldview of those who experienced abject revulsion at what they did.What observations stood out to you about the link between Hamas’ worldview and their behavior October 7th?How does the Hamas Israel war illustrate the truth that ideas have consequences—bad ideas have victims and good ideas have beneficiaries?    How would you answer the statement—the constant war between Islamic terrorists and Israel just proves the intolerance of religion is the reason we can’t have peace in the world?For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left).

Summary:  No man wants to fail his wife or kids. Despite loud cries to the contrary in our culture, we men are assigned the position of head of our marriage, which means if we love our wives well, they will flourish. As those assigned the role of father, our concrete love for our kids is designed to prepare them to see and welcome the parallel but invisible love of God the Father. This strategic position means we must win the battle to defeat our own selfishness, building a pattern of denying ourselves to meet the needs of our wife and children. This episode examines how it is that we daily tap into the power of Christ in us to overcome our default self-preoccupation, learn to die to ourselves, and better focus on meeting the needs of others, not only loving well the wife and kids we cherish but showing Christ’s love to those God has placed around us.For Further Prayerful Thought: What are some of the things that you think blind men to their own self-centeredness?How have you seen the action of putting the love of SELF above love for God and others bear destructive fruit?Of the five ways we examined to overcome selfishness and sacrificially love others, which is the hardest to do for you? Which is the easiest?For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left).

Summary: This episode continues our October series on the battles men fight by examining Satan’s efforts to destroy our trust in God’s character. Such confidence MATTERS to God so much that his Word says, “Without faith it is impossible to please him,” (Heb 11:6a). All meaningful love-relationships require trust. Because Satan wants to destroy our relationship with God, he constantly seeks to undermine our trust in him. This episode examines Satan’s tactics in this battle and how to resist him.  For Further Prayerful Thought:  What situations make it easy for you to complain? What do you think of the idea that murmuring is public disloyalty to God?How are Israel’s temptation to put God to the test and Jesus’ temptation to put God to the test similar?We observed four ways to battle Satan’s doubt about God’s goodness, battling pride, battling the idea that loving me would cause God to make my life easier, a short-run vs long-run perspective and simply quoting the Word of God this says, God is FOR us. Which of these seems hardest?  For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left)

Summary: This episode begins our October series on the battles men fight and begins with the temptation that survey’s reveal is at the top of men’s temptations—overcoming lust and if married directing their sexual desires totally towards the wife of their youth. We study David’s fall and the lessons we can take away from this biblical example.For Further Prayerful Thought:  How is the story of the weasel taking down the eagle similar to lust’s takedown of David?What are the outer conditions and inner conditions when sinful sexual lust is most appealing to you?How would you summarize the price tag of David’s sexual sin?How is David an example of letting his failure drive him TO God and not AWAY from God. (You might want to look at Psalm 51—written after David was confronted by Nathan.)For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left)

Summary: This episode raises the question, “Could it be that Satan and sin are racking up wins against us NOT because we’re NOT trying hard enough, but because we are not fighting with the right weapon?” Christ’s agenda of righteousness will never prevail in our own hearts or over the earth through trying harder. We must defeat the kingdom of darkness for “rightness” to spread. But such victory only comes through something called, PREVAILING PRAYER. This episode examines how to fight with this incredibly powerful weapon.For further prayerful thought.Do you agree that most Christians do not look at prayer primarily as a weapon? If you agree, why do you think that is the case. What are two or three of the arguments that most stood out to you, to show that God’s intention for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom of righteousness over earth requires us using the weapon of prevailing prayer.As we looked at the prayers of Elijah and Paul what practical insights can help you better pray for the things that will advance Christ’s agenda in the lives of your loved ones and spheres of your life?For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left)

Summary: On the night before he died, Jesus made the astonishing claim that he had completed the work the Father gave him to do. We wonder how Jesus could have talked about a completed work. His three-year ministry seemed all too short. For every prostitute whose heart he touched, hundreds remained untouched. For every blind man enabled to see, hundreds were still blind. Yet on that last night, with many urgent human needs unmet and useful tasks undone, the Lord said he had completed the work God had given him. How did he do that? That is the subject of today’s episode as we consider how best to be focused and effective in the mission assigned to us by King Jesus. For further prayerful thought.In what ways is the term seek, the opposite of haphazard, unfocused living?Why do the pressures of life seem to take us everywhere but to the masters’ feet to talk with us about our mission? Almost everything about life, e.g. just buying groceries, is more effective with a plan (a list). Why don’t we think about a game plan for growing in Christ or loving our wives well?   Resource Used for this Episode:The FOCUS Notebook.For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left)

Summary: This episode provides a biblical definition of the term kingdom of God and when that becomes clear, we will see why Jesus said that PURSUING THE KINGDOM OF GOD is the most valuable objective anyone could ever build his life around!For further prayerful thought. Why is seeking the kingdom of God like a pearl merchant pursuing and finding a fabulous pearl? What Scripture comes to mind to support the idea that the kingdom where Jesus wants righteousness to prevail is Adam’s kingdom, earth? How would you answer, the objection, “seeking righteousness” is at its core depending upon yourself instead of Christ? We saw that a clear understanding of our mission to seek first the kingdom of God leads to a) sharing the gospel, b) a high view of “secular” work, c) a high view of the physical word, d) realizing that salvation is not about escaping from the world but engaging the world seeking to spread Christ’s righteousness, e) that as agents of reconciliation Christians are to help others restore their relationship with themselves, God, others, and creation. Which of these five do you most want to remember from this episode? Why?Resource Used for this Episode:Discipling Men’s Hearts Through Kingdom DiscipleshipFor the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men’s issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left).