First of all, I hope everyone had a restful and delicious Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for. One of the things I am most grateful for is our Friday after Thanksgiving family tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree.
It started when I was a kid. My dad would pile us all in his Ford Ranger and drive 30 minutes to a Christmas tree farm. My sister and I typically picked out a tree at the back of the lot. It had to follow 4 rules:
1. No gaps.
2. Shaped like a triangle.
3. Straight trunk.
4. Can’t see another person standing on the other side of it.
When we cut it down, we put it in the back of the truck, grabbed some hot cocoa, and listened to Christmas music the whole way home.
This morning, I will pile my crew up and take a similar trip to a different farm. The tradition started with my dad in the 80’s lives on and my kids absolutely love it.
So this morning, I am excited and VERY thankful that the Lord gave us his son, which is why we begin celebrating today. The symbol of the evergreen tree (ours is a Leyland Cypress), reminds us of God’s unfailing, always consistent love and grace….even when it seems like everything around us is dead.
I hope you have a blessed day and enjoy the beginning of the Christmas season, however you and yours choose to celebrate!
First of all, I wanted to say that I am thankful for this ministry, God has moved in mighty ways through The Manly Message, and I am thankful to him and all of you who are involved.
Nathan Bain is from Freeport, Grand Bahamas, and recently his family who still lives there lost their home and their church (which is also affiliated with a K-12 school) from hurricane Dorian. For two months now the GoFundMe page they had set up for donations had been stalled out at $2,000. But, God had a plan. It doesnt say this in the article, but I am almost positive they have all been prayerful, and asking God to help them rebuild all this. There were probably times as well, that they thought “Lord, I am not really sure how this is going to work, this is a major task.”
It’s amazing how God works. “The upset that put the spotlight on the post-Dorian relief efforts came the night before the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament was to tip off in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Participants in the eight-team tournament — which includes No. 6 North Carolina and No. 13 Seton Hall — are assisting recovery efforts, with Tar Heels senior Brandon Robinson leading a donation drive and Seton Hall raising money for hurricane relief.”
Then on Tuesday, Nathan and his teammates beat Duke at Duke. It was the first time in over 20 years that Duke has been beaten at Cameron Indoor by a non conference opponent! It’s been over 37 years ago, since Duke lost to an unranked non power conference team. Duke was favored by 27.5 points and SFA was an 85 to 1 odds dog!
Nathan Bain hit the buzzer beater in OT to finish off the victory! But, the real victory is in Gods hands, as now the GoFundMe page that was sitting at $2,000 is all the way over $100,000 currently! Men, do not write this off as coincidental or lucky, this is the Lord’s work. Also, try to recognize the big and small work he does in your life. I assure you it’s there. Be thankful today, for Gods work in our lives!
Men, Many of us will be gathering around family this week, what a great opportunity we will have to share the gospel with others. I get it, family can be the hardest to talk to. Conversations don’t have to be awkward or hostile, simply sharing what the Lord has done in your life if a great way to start. If words aren’t coming, your attitude and manor can speak volumes. Have a blessed thanksgiving.
Good morning men. I want to continue on Michael’s message of contentment. We too are at a place where we are struggling with being content. We want to be successful yes but there is a balance we struggle with. That’s the why. We tell ourselves we want to be successful to be financially stable. So that we can provide for our family and provide a future for our children. We have to make a very conscious effort though to be balanced. Yes everyone wants to be successful but at what expense? I don’t like to compromise time with my family and children to make some more money. I can always make it later. I can’t watch my children grow up again. We refuse to work on the weekends, especially Sunday. That’s not what that day is for. We make every effort to go to church on Sunday because God has blessed us 7 days a week. The truth of the matter is, we could all make it without our monetary possessions if we are truly reliant upon Christ because he is enough. He will give us exactly what we NEED. This holiday season, be content on where you’re at. We aren’t in a competition with our neighbor. We want everyone to have the same prize and that’s knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. Have a great thanksgiving men.
As I shared last Monday I have been wrestling over my dreams, goals and desires and ultimately contentment. The looming holiday season, my current employer’s uncertain future and my flesh are still making this a battle that I need to wage not by my power but by God’s. Thankfully He led me to recently start this Paul David Tripp devotional on Thankgiving that has pointed me to truth and grace. So I am sharing with you the first day of it:
Today marks the beginning of Paul Tripp’s Daily Thanksgiving Devotional—a free 12 day email series to help us cultivate a spirit of gratitude this Thanksgiving. If you haven’t already signed up, read today’s devotion below for a taste of what you would receive each morning leading up to Thanksgiving.
Day 1
Contentment celebrates grace. The contented heart is satisfied with the Giver and is therefore freed from craving the next gift.
Sin does two very significant things to us all. First, it causes us all to insert ourselves into the center of our worlds, making life all about us. In our self-focus, we are all too motivated by our wants, our needs, and our feelings, and because we are, we tend to be more aware of what we don’t have than of the many wonderful blessings that we have been given. But there is more; because we are self-focused, we tend to be scorekeepers, constantly comparing our piles of stuff to the piles of others. It’s a life of discontentment and envy. Envy is always selfish.
There is a second thing of equal significance that sin does to us. It causes us to look horizontally for what can only ever be found vertically. So we look to creation for life, hope, peace, rest, contentment, identity, meaning and purpose, inner peace, and motivation to continue. The problem is that nothing in creation can give you these things. Creation was never designed to satisfy your heart. Creation was made to be one big finger pointing you to the One who alone has the ability to satisfy your heart. Many people will get up today and in some way will ask creation to be their savior, that is, to give them what only God is able to give.
Creation was never designed to satisfy your heart. Creation was made to be one big finger pointing you to the One who alone has the ability to satisfy your heart.
“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:25–26). These are the words of a man who learned the secret to contentment. When you are satisfied with the Giver, because you have found in him the life you were looking for, you are freed from the ravenous quest for satisfaction that is the discouraging existence of so many people. Yes, it is true that your heart will rest only ever when it has found its rest in him.
Here is one of the most beautiful fruits of grace—a heart that is content, more given to worship than demand and more given to the joy of gratitude than the anxiety of want. It is grace and grace alone that can make this kind of peaceful living possible for each of us. Won’t you reach out today for that grace?
Paul David Tripp (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a pastor, author, and international conference speaker. He is also the president of Paul Tripp Ministries. He has written a number of popular books on Christian living, including What Did You Expect?, Dangerous Calling, Parenting, and New Morning Mercies. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Luella and they have four grown children. For more information and resources, visit paultrippministries.org.
This week will be a week of giving thanks. It can also be a week of making a difference in one way or another in someone’s life.
The difference might be teaching someone how to show thanks, the difference might be mending the fence with someone or setting up others to mend the fence, the possibilities are endless. Each day when we get up need to prepare to take the opportunities that are there for us to be difference makers. 
I hope you make it a great week in the trenches. Please travel safely and show patience. Anytime travel and extended family are involved tensions can rise. Make a difference by being the example. Be exceptional at being you.
33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Poi is a traditional Hawaiian food that is essentially a mashed up purple root that you can eat by itself or as an ingredient in other foods.
By itself, poi tastes horrendous to me. However, as an ingredient it seems to take on the taste of whatever it’s in. As an example, poi rolls taste just like regular rolls, but it’s obvious they have poi in them because they’re purple.
You can guess my point, we need to make sure that we’re surrounded by those who sharpen us. In addition, we need to be a positive influence on others.
Make it a great day in the trenches. Be exceptional at being you.
I want you to read this quote and think about who may have said it:
My message to all men is that you have to kill pride. You’ve been taught that pride is a manly thing, that pride is a good thing. But the problem with pride is that it stops you from growth. When you’re so proud that you won’t change, you’ve got problems. Male pride causes wars; millions of people have died because of male pride, because one man would not back down. Male pride will say, “I’d rather blow up my whole family than have everyone look at me as though I’ve lost.” That is so dangerous.
Jesus? Ghandi? Mother Teresa?
Yeah, none of the above. Terry Crews. Yes, that Terry Crews. The dude from Idiocracy and the Old Spice commercials.
I read this yesterday and it just reminded me that ALL of us, when we stray from Christ, fall into this one way or another.
So….take it from the Old Spice Guy (and Jesus too)…set your pride aside and submit.
The Manly Message 
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