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!

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!

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.