Man2Man Recap - June 13: Real, Relevant & Reaching

Our Man2Man bible study session this Saturday was filled with words of wisdom and a call to authentic Christian living. The scriptures we examined were:

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

3 John 2 and

John 14:6.

Each man was challenged to "Be Real, Be Relevant . . . so you can Reach".

In order to be effective in spreading the Gospel, we need to have a real relationship with Christ that goes beyond Sunday Worship attendence. We need to have a true relationship with the Word of God because when we develop a love for reading and STUDYING the Word, it becomes alive to us.

We discussed what it means to FEAR God - a reverance and respect for God that makes us want to keep His commandments and stay within His will.

Men were then encouraged to "pray without ceasing" - praying needs to become like breathing to us where we do not even think about it. A practical way to do this is to say "breath prayers" throughout the day at pre-determined times so that you are always meditating on God.

The session closed out with each man giving a practical example of what FAITH meant to them. Through tear-filled eyes, men shared testimonies which touched the depths of everybody's hearts and no man left there unchanged - including the young muslim man who was invited by one of the brothers to attend. He did not give his life to Christ right then, but (with a glow on his face) he spoke about how the meeting had 'opened his eyes to a lot of things'.

Praise the Lord Cathedral men - we are Determined, Disciplined and Doing.

... till next time!

Book Release: Three Crooked Roads by Charles Stansbury

Now Available for Purchase!!!

Charles Stansbury’s fourth book, “Three Crooked Roads” is a must read publication that focuses on three sensitive issues:

1. Gang Violence

2. Obesity

3. Homelessness

“Three Crooked Roads” can be purchased on the website authorhouse.com for $12.00.

DON’T DELAY, ORDER NOW !!!!!!

Charles Stansbury is an adjunct faculty member at Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, and Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania, where he teaches Writing Composition and College Reading. “Three Crooked Roads” is Mr. Stansbury’s fourth book. His other books are:

• Towards A New Spirit: Enough Is Enough
• No Turning Around
• Two-Fisted Champion

Mr. Stansbury has an MA degree in School Administration and Supervision from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

Monday Devotional: Forgiveness

by Cranston Chester

I was recently reading Genesis 37 -46:30 - the story about Joseph and what he went through from the time he was sold into slavery to the time that he saw his father (Jacob) again. I was especially moved when he first met his brothers again after they sold him into slavery and they did not recognize him. I started to think to myself. If my brothers had sold me into slavery and left me for dead would I have had tremendous hatred for them?
Sometimes we may experience broken relationships in and out of the Body of Christ that could leave us hurt, resentful, and distrusting of others. As children of God we should always forgive those who wronged us and ask forgiveness of those we wronged.

I have found that holding grudges only weighs me down while the person that offended me may be “free as a bird”.

I am reminded of what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did for us on the cross at Calvary. Even though we did not deserve it, He died for our sins, and grants those that believe in Him everlasting life (John 3:16). Whenever you are wronged or wrong someone, forgive or ask for forgiveness to release that burden! Do not generalize all of your future relationships based on the bad one you had! You will be excluding yourself from the other blessings that God trying to bring into your life!

REMINDER: Man2Man Bible Study Tomorrow!

Monday Devotional: Keeping It Simple

by Cranston Chester

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33 NIV)

This scripture is one of my favorites in the bible because it has a way of recalibrating me whenever I am distracted or overwhelmed. Whenever I read this scripture, I am also reminded of what I must be doing as a child of God.

Am I seeking God to be blessed to show others what is going on in my life, or am I open to God’s will being done in my life so that He is glorified regardless of my situation?

If I were to look at my financial responsibilities as a husband and a father, it can be overwhelming especially during this financial season. This scripture speaks to me because I am reminded that it is God who created the earth and everything therein (Nehemiah 9:6). Because He knows what we have need of as His children, and I need to be about His business.

God has placed a lot of “talents” in our hands, let us use them to the best of our ability for His glory and honor. Whenever I get away from that and become focused on using His talents for my purpose, it becomes overwhelming and distracting. The Holy Spirit always reminds me that this is a faith walk and to keep focused on God regardless of our situation. We are only seeing the current piece in the puzzle of our life, but God sees the completed puzzle, and we know that He has nothing but good plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11).

Whether or not you went through a setback (financially, or emotionally), please be reminded that worrying will not resolve it. Commit it into His unchanging hands. Continue to stay focus on our Heavenly Father and what He reminds us to do on a daily basis.

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”!

Monday Devotional: What Is Our Primary Purpose For Raising Our Children?

by Cranston Chester

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these”. (Matthew 19:14 NIV)

As the father of toddlers, like our Heavenly Father who said “…plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11), I want nothing but the best for them. I’m often thinking that I would like for them to be scholars first then everything else thereafter. Even though that is wonderful, it never sat well with me because something was missing. In Proverbs 22:6, the scriptures say, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it”. (NIV). This scripture can be interpreted as each child has special gift(s) from the Lord and we have a responsibility to nurture them as parents.

And we should!

Then I remembered growing up as a child attending a missionary school in kindergarten. Whenever I remember the songs we sang, it always brought joy to my heart. It also convicted me when I was in the “world”. My eyes were opened to this scripture (Matthew 19:14) one day by a man of God when he said that our primary purpose for raising our children is for them to have a “personal” relationship with God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everything else follows. We cannot answer for them on judgment day, but we can lead them to the Light that is higher than us.

We can have daily devotional time with our children and teach them how to pray. This should be a fun time because this is the least we can the do with the gifts(s) He blessed us with in our children. Continue to encourage them that they should always pray “first” whether they are in a good or bad situation. Also, continue to be the loving and caring fathers to them as your Heavenly father is towards you. Even when disciplining them.

Children learn mainly from what we do not what we say, we must have a personal relationship with God that is “visible” to them. Even though God blessed us all with free will, whenever our children become young adults, can we look ourselves in the mirror and truly say that we did all we can to lead them to Christ?

It is never to late. Simply, ask God to not only bless you with the wisdom, but to order your footsteps to teach your children about a personal relationship with Him. Then be open to His will being done in their lives!

Man2Man Recap: Be Mindful of the ABC's of Man

Brothers, what a blessing once again it was to come together as men of God and break the bread of life together - which is the Word of God. Today's speaker was Minister Mark S. Lewis and he introduced a powerful concept that he called "The ABCs of Man". Basically, if you go through the alphabet, what truths about the Bible and what it says about you does the Holy Spirit bring to mind?
He began with the powerful letter 'R':
We must REPENT, so we can be REAL, and then we will be RELEVANT.

Brother Stansbury shared how it is important to be VIGILANT, so that we are VIABLE and then we as men will have a VOICE.

Going in this same vein of thought, we turned to James 1:19-22 and this took us to the letter 'S':
Be SWIFT to hear, SLOW to speak, and SLOW to wrath - this is where we spent the majority of our lesson because there were some powerful revelations from that scripture.

Minister Lewis shared a recent experience where he asked a person a simple question and they began to give him a lot of details that (in his flesh) he really did not need to know. What he really wanted was the answer to his question and he could have easily cut the person off and asked for 'the abbreviated version'. However, he was SLOW to speak and SWIFT to listen, allowing the person to finish everything they had to share, and after it all, he thanked them and hung up the phone.

After getting off the phone, his wife shared with him that she was so proud that he had not cut the person off, because the person needed to share their heart - cutting them off may have hurt their feelings and ultimately weakened the power of Minister Lewis' witness and ministry.

Such a simple example illuminated to each of us how easy it is to hurt our witness, just because we want to speak, before we have listened to the person speaking with us. The last part of the S's is SLOW to wrath - often when we speak too quick, we stir up wrath in the other person, or if we misinterpret what they are saying, anger is stirred up in us. This leads to conflict that advances the enemy's agenda but does nothing to glorify God. SWIFT to hear gives us an opportunity to be true vessels of God's love and when we are SLOW to speak, our words are peppered with love rather than the wrath that might have otherwise been festered in the moment.

REMINDER: Man2Man Bible Study Tomorrow!

Brothers Breaking Bread Breakfast - April 4th, 2009

PERTH AMBOY, NJ - Determined, Disciplined and Doing - the focus of the Cathedral Men's Ministry, was in full display this Saturday morning as we hosted Brothers Breaking Bread Breakfast. The topic was "Men's Awareness: Christian Consciousness in Today's Culture". As each man walked into the event they were greeted by members of the Executive Committee who each wore a memorable black suit and sky blue ascot combination, visually underscoring our determination to be disciplined and unified as men.

The Cathedral's Banquet Hall was packed with men from 9am to noon who were determined to worship God in spirit and in truth. The event opened out with a spirited worship session that edified every man in the room and ushered in the presence of the Lord.

Then came a word of exhortation from Elder McCullum where he challenged every man in the room to take their eyes off the Genesis 3 story and focus back on Genesis 1 where man was endowed with authority and dominion. He encouraged every man to focus on their purpose, hear what God is saying and move forward regardless of any attacks the enemy might have.

Next up was the keynote speaker, Elder Henry H. Rodgers who shared from the heart about the importance of coming to "make a difference instead of complaining that a difference needs to be made." He encouraged every man not to "sleep during the revolution that is going on right now." He drew from the scripture Matthew 26v36 where the disciples fell asleep when they should have been awake while Jesus was praying. He left us with a powerful quote:

"Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humbled that he knows no more"

We must strive to have the humility of Wisdom and avoid the pride of Knowledge.

After the word, we all filled ourselves aplenty with a delicious breakfast catered by Pastor Smallwood's Two Fish and Five Loaves restaurant where he described the menu merely as "The Works".

As we broke bread together, we shared in a lively discussion about a wide range of issues from infidelity to political action. God was glorified and the men were edified.

Enjoy the following short slideshow from the breakfast:

Monday Scripture & Quote 03/16/09

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
(2 Timothy 1:7)

The person who makes a success of living is the one who see his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.
(Cecil B. DeMille)

Determined, Deciplined and Doing - The Cathedral Men are ON THE MOVE - Working together to make YOU look more like HIM.

Man2Man Recap: God Watches Over His Word to Perform It

Brothers, what a wonderful morning we had today at Man-to-Man bible study! Elder Larry took us through a survey of the biblical truth that we are all created in God's image. The implication of this truth is that:

1. God watches over His Word to perform it
2. If I am in the image of God, I have the same authority in the Earth as He has in the heavens
3. Therefore, because God said it, there is no way I can fail (if I am walking in His Word)

The teaching flowed like this:

• Genesis 1v26: God created MAN (not specifically Adam) but MAN in his image and likeness and gave him dominion, authority and the ability to rule all created things -> this applies to us too
• Genesis 3:1-6 : Adam succumbed to the serpant (who was a created thing) and fell out of relationship with God
• Mark 1v9-13: The second Adam (Jesus) reversed what happened in Gen 3v1 -> He gave us back the dominion, authority and ability to rule all created things; we too are God's sons and he is greatly pleased with us

Why then do we focus so much on the fall in Gen 3v1 instead of the great endowment of power that God gave us in Gen 1v26?

We must walk in an understanding that "God watches over His Word to perform it." All He is waiting for is for us to use the power that is in His word. Therefore, when we are faced with a challenge, our weapon of battle should be The Word of God . . . it has power . . . but only if we use it.

Just test it and see.

From Humor to Commentary (Wassup Part II)

In my previous post, I used the Bud Light "Wassup" commercial to illustrate a point about how men are generally depicted as anti-intellectual and lazy. We all found this commercial funny, but the subtle stereotypes it underscored should not be ignored.

During the election season, I was quite heartened to find that the same group of actors that did the original commercial had taken the same concept, using the same wit and humor, and used it to make some serious commentary on the current state of our country.

Enjoy

What is Enlightened Iron? (Wassup Part I)

The name of this blog combines two ideas - Enlightened and Iron - as a metaphor for the types of issues that we will attempt to write about and comment on. To break it down a little further, here is the reasoning behind the two parts:

ENLIGHTENED

dictionary.com will give you the following definitions of Enlightened

1. having knowledge and spiritual insight [ant: unenlightened]

2. characterized by full comprehension of the problem involved; "an educated guess"; "an enlightened electorate" [syn: educated]

IRON

"Iron" is the metaphor used by the author of Proverbs as he describes the important relationship between men. The idea that each man makes each other sharper by their interaction with each other.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

This blog's lofty goal is to elevate the discussion among all Godly men to deal with contemporary topics where our voices need to be heard. There are no easy answers, but we should at least be part of the conversation. If you watch most commercials closely in which men are involved, the men are depicted as either libido-driven adolescents, or dim-witted imbeciles or both.

Think about the famous "WASSSUP" commercial for Bud Light.



Yes, it resonated with that primal nature that exists in all of us, and the humor was not lost on a single man watching the Superbowl that year. But if that is the only view the common man has of himself, we are lost.

Being enlightened simply means: "knowing what's going on around you". There is nothing fancy about the definition we use in this blog. We just want you to open your eyes, think about what we are saying, and share your thoughts.

Welcome to Enlightened Iron.