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The Gospel Man Conference
by Patrick Morley, David Delk and Brett Clemmer You’ve got men, you’ve got a church. Add a testimony, some pancakes, and prayer and – poof! A men’s ministry. Right? Not necessarily. This book is based on over 30 years of combined ministry experience, of training classes at the Leadership Training Center and thousands of interactions with men’s ministry leaders. It is filled with practical strategies and real life stories from leaders like you who are discipling men in the local church. You can reach men. You can get them to grow closer to Christ. They can help you change the world. This book will show you how. Click here to see what others are saying about this book.
By Tommy Boland-PCA. A 10 lesson study on the Beatitudes for laymen. this Bible study from Matthew 5 has discussion questions and fill in the blanks. Forward and recommended by D. James Kennedy. Click to order or inquire price  David A Man After God's Own Heart By Tommy Boland-PCA. A 10 lesson study on the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of David's life. David was less then perfect but worth our attention because he alone was called by God "A man after God's own heart". 129 pages fill in the blank. Click to order or inquire price
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October/November 2007 Vol. 3 No.5 The Gospel Man Conference Harvey Kirkpatrick
The only adequate foundation is the Gospel of Grace. As Herman Ridderbos reminds us, "the imperative (God's commands) rests on the indicative (who we are in Christ), and this order is not reversible." If a man's spiritual foundation is God's grace rather than the foundation being God's requirements, then a man’s walk with his savior puts a hop in his step, a smile on his face, a song in his heart, and a destination in his mind. The Gospel Man Initiative and its conference is designed to focus on this core issue of helping men see the Gospel of Grace as the foundation of their lives and frankly their only hope of living what we would call "a godly life".. and doing it together. Click here for more info on the Gospel Man conference.Ministry That Appeals to Men Pop Quiz: Examine these two sets of values. Which one better characterizes Jesus Christ and his true followers?
David Murrow, author of the book, Why Men Hate Going To Church, has shown this chart to hundreds of people, men and women, Christians and non-Christians. More than 95% of the time respondents chose the Right Set as the better representation of true Christian values. Murrow then tells his readers that he took the two sets of values from the book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. The Left Set are the values of Mars. The Right Set are the values of Venus. What is clear from this exercise is that when most people think of Christ and his followers, they think of feminine values. Few of us would agree with everything Murrow says, but his point deserves profound thought. Which set of values most reflects what our churches are teaching about the Christian faith? Does Scripture actually teach that the right side values are more godly than the left side? If the church exalts the right side over the left, what message is it sending to boys and men about their masculinity? This is a serious issue. Is it possible that today’s church has developed a culture that drives men away by asking them to check their masculinity at the door? This is Murrow’s thesis and it is well worth thinking about. Order Why Men Hate Going to Church. "Create Momentum By Providing Value" Excerpts from No Man Left Behind (Chapter 9) Two Common Traits of Men Men exhibit two traits: Some are busy, and some are tired. Most are both! Engage a man’s attention by offering him something he will find valuable. Tired men need to believe that getting involved will be worth the effort. Busy men need to believe that of all the opportunities clamoring for their time, the one you are offering them is top notch. In short you have to show them the value of getting involved. Give Men What They Need In the Context of What They Want How do you meet men on the fringe without being preachy? One Bible teaching model is, "What do men need to do?" Man In the Mirror’s model has been, "What do men need that that they are willing to do?" In other words, if a man needs to consider 20 areas, but he is only far enough along in his spiritual pilgrimage to engage in three of those areas, it doesn’t make sense to talk about the other seventeen. Instead focus on the three, lead him along, then add other subjects as he grows. Most nominally committed men will be focused, at least initially, on only their felt needs—career, money, family, time management, and so on. That’s okay. Talk to them about money, and show them what Jesus has to say about it. In other words, give men what they need in the context of what they want. Called to Sexual Integrity "Lust Reigns Where Repentance Is Incomplete" Gary Yagel Recently a friend’s eight year old son confided in him about his time management problems. "Dad, with all my video games to play and friends I want to play outside with, I just don’t have time for school." School just didn’t seem to fit into his schedule. Sometimes Christian men who are losing their battles with lust are looking for a quick and easy solution that will fit comfortably into their schedule. "Give me three steps for winning this battle for sexual purity and I will take them next Thursday afternoon at 3:00 and get this problem solved." In a world where Yankee ingenuity allows us to read license plates from outer space and put 500 songs on something the size of a credit card, we expect to quickly solve our problems. But instant solutions to spiritual problems simply don’t exist. Heart transformation can only take place through our union with Christ—and it is a life long cycle that requires repentance, faith, and obedience. Often this process is subverted because of incomplete repentance, so we are looking carefully at this Biblical concept through the lens of 1) mental assent—agreeing with God’s verdict, 2) our core affections—satisfying our hearts in God and hating evil, and 3) our actions—surrendering our will to Christ. Surrendering our will to Christ is an integral part of repentance, yet surrendering to the will of Christ is what we feel so powerless to do, when lust is awakened. There is, however, no way to avoid the agonizing pull of temptation and no way to escape the battle over saying, "Not my will but yours be done." This battle to yield to Christ is easier to win, though, when we remember these truths:" 1. This pull of temptation is a chance to demonstrate our loyalty to our redeemer and king. "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1Corinth. 6:19-20. 2. It is in remembering God’s mercy to us that we find power to surrender our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. "Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices—holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." Rom. 12:1. It is God’s grace to us that motivates obedience. 3. Surrendering to Christ’s Lordship does not mean trying to deny the pull of sexual desire; it is entrusting your sexual appetite to God. It is trusting God to satisfy your sexual longings in a righteous way—and it is "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" who "will be satisfied, not those who seek satisfaction in an unrighteous way. 4. We need to have the dignity to refuse to let sexual desire rule us. Slavery destroys human dignity. We need the dignity and sound theology to say, I wasn’t meant for slavery. I was created a king, made in God’s image to rule—not to be dominated, enslaved by some force like sexual sin. Christ, the second Adam, has set us free from our bondage to sin. We need to have the passion of freedom fighters to never again let ourselves be enslaved. "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires." Rom. 6:12 Heart transformation begins with full repentance, which is involves the mind - agreeing with God’s verdict, the emotions—realizing that our root issue is not loving our God enough, and the will - changing directions and surrendering to Christ’s Lordship. There are no easy shortcuts to sexual purity, but there can be a gradual heart transformation that makes us more inclined to surrender to his will. Click here to order The Called to Sexual Integrity Bible StudiesPCA Men’s Ministry News Equip To Disciple Conference, Anaheim, California, September 29. 120 men and women attended this Saturday Conference, which was sponsored by Christian Education and Publications. It included workshop tracks in children’s ministry, youth ministry, women’s ministry, adult ministry, leadership training, and men’s ministry. This is the first time a men’s ministry track was included in the conference. Eighteen different men attended one of the men’ ministry workshops.
Copyright © 2007 PCA Christian Education & Publications. All rights reserved. |
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Many efforts to
help men grow into mature followers of Christ focus on what men need
to do and be doing. Christian men have been derelict and need to know
their biblical roles and responsibilities across all the spheres of
life that the Lord has spoken to us about in His word. 
