35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Good morning men. What a wonderful awesome God that we serve. I love the verses above because they are a constant reminder for me. That 1. I need to trust God more during the midst of the storm and 2. HE is in control. No matter what I would have done, he is in control. Now, let’s not confuse this as to not do anything. God gives us wisdom and places people in our lives to help us. We have to use the tools Christ has given us so that he may better our lives and help us through the storm. Trust him men. He can calm the seas of your life!!
19Therefore, brothers,c since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Men, I am so thankful for the Manly Message message because in light of the brokenness in the world right now, we have a vehicle to help us stay connected to the Lord and each other. And all this has been provided because of Jesus. God the father sent Christ down from heaven, He willingly accepted and became flesh, lived a perfect life of obedience to God, and laid down his life on the cross as the perfect blood sacrifice that God required to pay for what we could not: our sin. But as we celebrate in a couple of weeks, we know that was not the end. Thanks be to God that Jesus rose from the dead and provided us a way to have a relationship with Him for all eternity.
Because of what Jesus did through his blood, we have a vertical connection to Him and the Father! We have hope! We can confidently draw near to God no matter where we are at, no matter what is going on because of Jesus. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
And we have been given a strong reminder for developing our horizontal connection: Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages us to consider how we may stir up one another toward love and good works, and not give up meeting together. So while we temporarily can’t meet together physically, we can get creative and intentional in connecting with one other and encouraging one another!
Thank you Jesus for what you did and what you are doing. Lord help us draw near to you in confidence, to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering because YOU ARE FAITHFUL. Help us to find creative ways to be intentional & connect, stir up, and encourage one another: our families, our friends, our neighbors, those in our lives, those you lay on our hearts! We know you are coming back some day Lord! We ask you lead, guide and provide for us until then that we may shine for your glory! I pray this in your name Jesus.
I leave you with this to remind you and pray over you a blessing from the Lord.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Pastors, however you are performing your service today, make it exceptional. It’s your day.
In a time like this we may feel like things are a little upside down. Thing may feel uncertain or they may be slightly chaotic. We may be seeking consistency and a routine.
The good news is that our faith is built on consistency because Jesus’ consistency is unparalleled. His love, His grace … everything about Him is consistent.
So we need to look no further for the stability we seek. It is always right there for us today, tomorrow and forever.
Make it a great week in the trenches. Be exceptional at being you.
20 Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,
In this uncertain time, I thought that this verse was fitting. We are all dealing with various obstacles from the coronavirus to changes in life. This is not an easy season for anybody.
As a group let’s make sure we are praying for the well being of our families, our country and the other men on the message. Many of you on the message likely have more time with your family at this point and I truly hope you are valuing it at the level you should.
Make it a great day in the trenches. Be exceptional at being you.
I just wanted to share this video today. It is one that I have felt encouraged by numerous times over the last year. I hope you are all staying healthy.
One of the well known love verses comes from Corinthians ch 13. It starts out with saying love is patient, love is kind.
Patients and kindness is something I have struggled with the last few weeks. I don’t have much patients left, I haven’t been kind like I should be. I assume I’m not the only one in this position right now. A lot of us our in a situation where everything has changed very rapidly.
It has been my goal to get back to patients and kindness, to be the leader of the house and set the tone for everyone with my attitude.
Good morning men. The last two weeks have been anything but ordinary to say the least. My wife and kids are home from school here in Arkansas until April 20th at the least and likely to extend beyond that. Continue to pray for us small business owners as the difficulty to operate is only going to increase.
Over the last week, we have had a TREMENDOUS amount of family time and it has been such a blessing. We’ve built forts, the kids have played together outside till they are exhausted (thankful for good weather!) my daughter and I have gotten the opportunity to go fishing twice. We’ve had family meals 2-3 times a day. The lord has blessed us with some great family time together. We are making the most of this storm by trusting in him knowing he will deliver us through this and enjoying our family even more. He’s given my wife and I some great time together that we have missed out on recently with both of us working and kids activities. We have been able to get long needed projects done around the house and that has lifted our spirits. So while this is a scary time, it’s also been a blessing spiritually for our family bringing us closer.
Continue to pray for all those affected by this financially. That stress is still there and like the messages have said over the last couple days, we are walking by faith right now, not by sight. It is important for us now more than ever to listen to Christ and trust that he is going to provide for us during this time and that he holds it all in his hands.
Before I get to the gifts, with everything changing day by day, my family has been in lockdown since last week. The KC area has restricted any meetings over 10 people and now the order has been given to stay home except for food or medical necessities. These changes have forced us to get creative to stay in touch and in community with brothers & sisters in Christ we are involved with; the local church. For starters, despite preferring to meet in person, I am very thankful for some of the creative things going on. Our church Friday night had a community meeting through Zoom. We had over 28 families connected, had a blast and it was free (thanks Zoom!)! This shot below is the group praying together. I couldn’t get my camera going initially so I didnt get in until after pic below was shot.
We shared pics of our families participating in online worship with Redeemer Fellowship in KC, a church we are merging with. Even our cat, Kona, needed hope from the message.
Our lead Pastor Orion Berridge wrote an excellent blog post on 10 gifts to pray for the church. Check out the post at the link below and join us in lifting these up in prayer for the body of Christ!
Orion is the lead pastor at The Avenue Church in Independence, Missouri. He also serves as the Acts 29 Kansas City area leader. Orion is a church planting strategist and a pastor to pastors. He is married to Amy, and they have two kids. You can follow him on twitter.
Also I would encourage each of us to pray for who the Lord wants us to reach out and connect with this week to be an encouragement from the Lord!
Pastors, you likely have another week of an untraditional service. Be creative, your congregation needs you today.
There is so much going on in world, but there is a lot going on close to home, as well. Things are changing more often than daily. We don’t all live in the same state, so what applies to me might not apply to you.
We are in a time that our faith must be strong for many reasons. In a recent sermon, our pastor said, “Faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second.” That statement really resonated with me and I hope it does with you, too.
I’d say we are living in faith right now. Hold true and strong to that. Work to strengthen it daily. We will all need it in this trying time.
Make it a great week in the trenches. Be exceptional at being you.
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