Hi Men:
When Jesus commanded us to “make disciples”(Matt 28:19)…… He never said it was going to be easy. I like the quote above, because if you reflect on what we have been emphasizing for many years; we were bought for a price, we are not our own, Jesus is our Master and we are His obedient slave. So when we finally “cross the chicken line” and E2 becomes real, not only will our life become complicated, but in dealing with others it will be stinky and messy. Take heart though….. you will receive way more that you give.
Make sure you revisit this short article on Spiritual Parenting, by Dawson Trotman below.
Much Love in Christ,
Dan
Prayer Requests
- Jon Holden: Back surgery – Feb 26th … Jon will be laid up from 3-6 months.
- Romans Study: Friday, Feb 22nd with Jonathan Koehler
- Albert Chong: See attached PDF update by Christie Chong. A real praise report!
- Ron Rodriguez: Continue to pray for Ron and his brain tumor, for his wife Kristin, 2 daughters & parents, Chip and Jackie
- Pastor Govindu: Praise report – He returned safely from the Andaman Islands
- Bill Waller: God’s hand on him as he moves closer to a March trial with the Federal Govt.
- Lost Valley Men’s Retreat: March 1-3. Click Here for more information. Please pray for the men and teachers
- Larry Morris: Pray for his son-in-law, Jon Moryl, who has acquired a severe form of dementia. Pray for Colleen, Larry’s daughter.
- Please pray for all our wives and children!
- Please pray for our brothers and sisters in India
Men: Let’s pray for this in our lives!
Men: This is definitely worth re-reading!
An Example Of Spiritual Parenting
by Dawson Trotman, Founder of the Navigators
Twenty-three years ago we took a born-again sailor and spent some time with him, showing him how to reproduce spiritually after his kind. It took time, lots of time. It was not a hurried, 30-minute challenge in a church service and a hasty good-bye with an invitation to come back next week. We spent time together. We took care of his problems and taught him not only to hear God’s Word and to read it, but also how to study it. We taught him how to fill the quiver of his heart with the arrows of God’s Word, so that the Spirit of God could lift an arrow from his heart and place it to the bow of his lips and pierce a heart for Christ.
He found a number of boys on his ship, but none of them would go all out for the Lord. They would go to church, but when it came right down to doing something, they were “also rans.” He came to me after a month of this and said, “Dawson, I can’t get any of these guys on the ship to get down to business.” I said to him, “Listen, you ask God to give you one. You can’t have two until you have one. Ask God to give you a man after your own heart.” He began to pray. One day he came to me and said, “I think I’ve found him.” Later he brought the young fellow over. Three months from the time that I started to work with him, he had found a man of like heart. This first sailor was not the kind of man you had to push and give prizes to before he would do something. He loved the Lord and was willing to pay a price to produce. He worked with this new babe in Christ, and those two fellows began to grow and spiritually reproduce. On that ship 125 men found the Saviour before it was sunk at Pearl Harbor. Men off that first battleship are in four continents of the world as missionaries today. It was necessary to make a start, however. The devil’s great trick is to stop anything like this if he can before it gets started. He will stop you, too, if you let him.
God promised Abraham ‘. . . “in Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Genesis 21:12), so Abraham waited a long, long time for that son. God’s promise to make Abraham the father of many nations were all wrapped up in that one son, Isaac. If Hitler had been present and had caused Isaac’s death when Abraham had his knife poised over him on Mount Moriah, Hitler could have killed every Jew in that one stroke.
You can lead a soul to Christ in from 20 minutes to a couple of hours. But it takes from 20 weeks to a couple of years to get him on the road to maturity, victorious over the sins and the recurring problems that come along. He must learn how to make right decisions. He must be warned of the various “isms” that are likely to reach out with their octopus arms and pull him in and sidetrack him. But when you get yourself a man, you have doubled your ministry—in fact, you have more than doubled your ministry. Do you know why? When you teach your man, he sees how it is done and he imitates you.
This message was given in 1955. Here is Dawson Trotman’s recorded message (48 minutes):
Born to Reproduce http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/1A.mp3
Facts of the Matter
DO YOU WANT TO GET RICH?
Good Morning!
George is young, aggressive, astute in business, and…getting rich. He claims to be a believer in Christ. And probably he is.
But I notice that when I broach the subject of winning the lost and investing time in people’s lives for the Kingdom of God, his eyes seem to glaze over and his attention wanders. In my gut, I get the impression that George is being seduced by the love of money, which as we know “is the root of all kinds of evil.” (I Tim. 6:10a)
So…let me ask you a question “DO YOU WANT TO GET RICH”?
Clearly, God tells us not to put in the effort: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” (Prov. 23:4) (Also consider: Prov. 15:27; 23:5; 28:20; Heb. 13:5)
But if you do, then here’s what you can look forward to :
- You will “fall into temptation and a trap.”
- You will fall into “many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.”
- You run the risk of wandering “from the faith and [piercing yourself] with many griefs.” (I Tim. 6:9, 10)
Just where is your focus ? On money? Or on knowing Jesus Christ?
It cannot be on both, because:
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Money…For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” (Matt. 6:24, 21)
Jesus reassured us that if the pursuit of Him is our primary focus, He will provide for our material needs:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt. 6:33)
God may in fact endow you with wealth. The difference is that when He gives it, it is void of apprehension:
“The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no anxiety to it.” (Prov. 10:22)
QUESTION : Do you want to get rich? Or do you want to know Christ? It is either one or the other. But it cannot be both.
This week, may you experience His grace, peace, and protection.
~ R. Dwight Hill ~
Men: Not for the faint of heart…….
The High Cost of Cowardice
https://preview.mailerlite.com/a6e7q8/1094020215961818773/u4k8/
………..spiritual cowards yield to the world’s pressure, fearful of what an uncompromising life of standing for Christ and His gospel might cost them.…………
“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)