Men's Fraternity Week 14

Men’s Fraternity
Week #14 Empty Promises

Pastor Brian often begins our sessions with short videos. Sometimes they tie in with that week’s message and sometimes they’re just for fun, like this one. This one is for those of us who have had a bad morning:



Review
Idols can be divided into two categories:

• Surface idols.
• Deep idols.

Deep idols are:

• Control – pursuit of security or power.
• Significance – desiring approval or recognition. [If you feel devastated when you don’t receive approval or recognition then this may have become an idol for you.]
• Comfort – driven to ease or consumption. [Seeking comfort in food, etc…]

Jeremiah 2:13
For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

John 4:13-14
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never be thirsty again.

To be an Authentic Man is a repenting man, a man identifying the broken cisterns so he can pursue the Life of Christ.

Biblical examples of Men struggling with Lure of Idolatry.

1. Adam

Genesis 3:5-6
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Foundational lie to idolatry:
When we can go around God and away from God rather than TO God to meet our deepest needs.

Control - ”your eyes will be opened”
Significance - ”you will be like God”
Comfort - ”good for food…delight to the eyes”
Like all idols, this idol (the fruit) over-promised and did not deliver.

2. Solomon

[I have read through the book of Ecclesiastes a few times but confess that I never fully grasped what it was all about. Pastor Brian helped put it in perspective, however, when he said that it is basically King Solomon’s labwork; experimenting with various means of pleasing himself or giving meaning to his life, and drawing conclusions on the results.]

PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE THROUGH SELF HELP

Ecclesiastes 1:13
I applied my heart to seek and search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.

Acquire control of his life through knowledge and trusting in what he has learned.

Conclusion
Ecclesiastes 1:17
And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but striving after wind.

Knowledge too over-promised and under-delivered for Solomon.

PURSUIT OF PLEASURE

Ecclesiastes 2:1
I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.”

Pursuit of comfort through pleasure. Believe that escaping life and responsibility and giving ourselves to parties and leisure is the life.

Conclusion
Ecclesiastes 2:2
I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”

When something good becomes a god, the pleasure it brings dies in the process.

PURSUIT OF ALCOHOL AND STIMULANTS

Ecclesiastes 2:3
I searched with all my heart how to cheer my body with wine…

Turned to comfort of escape through alcohol.

This is fueled by a man who wants escape and immediate gratification, temporary relief, or a buffer between him and the stress of everyday.

PURSUITS OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND POSSESSIONS

Ecclesiastes 2:4-8
I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

Looking to his accomplishments was going to give him a sense of significance.

Conclusion
Ecclesiastes 6:2
a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.

PURSUIT OF SEX

1 Kings 11:3
He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

The god of sex offers a counterfeit joy that becomes elusive through time, ever harder to please, ever closer to emptiness.

The god of pleasure is the master of bait and switch, luring us in with images and promises that become the chains and shackles of our mental imprisonment.

PURSUIT OF WORK

Ecclesiastes 2:18
I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me,

If you seek significance and control from work, it will not _________. [Brian didn’t fill in this blank for us but I think it should be “deliver” or something like that.]

Paul

Pursuit of Righteousness
I can control my life or find significance in:

• Being good
• Being moral
• Fulfilling the duties of the church

Philippians 3:4-7
though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Questions for discussion:
1. We have looked at some key characters in the Bible that had some battles with idols in their lives that left them empty What are some of the empty promises you have discovered in life?

2. Share with your group what would be your top idol we discussed today that leaves you empty, but you find yourself wanting to go back or going back?

3. Read Matthew 6:19-21 and discuss what Jesus was saying here in relation to our struggles with the deep idols we have discussed today.

4. Discuss this quote “Idols are defeated not by being removed but by being replaced.”

Men's Fraternity Week 12

Men’s Fraternity
Week #12 Heart

Pastor Brian began our session today with a funny video about a classic old Christmas song:



Reminder of the Four Pillars of Manhood:

• Reject passivity.
• Accept responsibility.
• Lead courageously.
• Wait for the greater reward. God’s reward.

Remember that men who live out the four pillars of manhood are difference-makers!

1. Understanding the Heart Wound:

• God created mankind without sin and Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world.
• Once Adam and Eve sinned, everything changed.

Genesis 3:6-13
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. ⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in te garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done? The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

[Adam did not reject passivity and he did not accept responsibility. His first reaction was to hide from God, but God sought him out to reconcile.]

• The punishment for sin is both spiritual and physical death.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Understanding this alienation from God can help us understand why so often our reality doesn’t measure up to our hopes and dreams.
• There is a longing in each one of us to be reconciled to God for all of eternity.
• The longing is present even if we deny it.

Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

• The effects of sin are seen in all of creation.

Romans 8:22-23
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we walk eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

• One day Jesus will make all things new.

Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

• Until that time we have to live between what is and what will be. [but we are not called to simply wait]

1 Corinthians 16:13
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

2. The Journey from Here to Eternity

• We will all struggle with sin.

Romans 7:18-19
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

• The eseence of the heart wound is our total inability to do anything good before God apart from a right relationship with Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:10-12
”None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

• One reason it is difficult for us to understand this truth is that we are not as evil as we could be. [without our own set of man-made laws, mankind would live to its fullest evil capacity.

Wayne Grudem writes: “The constraints of civil laws, the expectations of family and society, and the conviction of human conscience all provide restraining influences on the sinful tendencies in our hearts…But in spide of the ability to do good in many senses of the word, our inherited corruption, our tendency to sin…means that as far as God is concerned we are not able to do anything that pleases Him.”

• God has already provided the only solution for our sinful heart condition.

Romans 5:6
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

• Faith in Jesus doesn’t mean we all of a sudden become sinless. We are forgiven but not perfect.

Sanctification defined: Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.

3. Practical Help as we Grow to be More Like Jesus Christ

• We need to recognize and feel our feelings.
• We must tell the truth about our hearts to those who are trustworthy.

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man

• Give the truth of your heart to God.

John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Group Questions:
1. How has the brokenness of the world touched your life? What does God’s promise to redeem the world mean to you?

2. Why do you think it’s difficult for men to be transparent with one another? Discuss how transparency is difficult for you personally.

3. The end of this session suggested three ways for you to connect to your heart. How good are you in living out these three areas?

• Recognize and feel your feelings,
• Tell the truth about your heart to those who are trustworthy
• Giving the truth of your heart to God

Journal - Visitors

Well, here I am back again! It’s about 3pm now and I just wanted to update what I started earlier. I got my potato salad finished and Joni and I think it turned out pretty good. The potatoes may have been a little bit overcooked but not too bad. At least they didn’t completely go to mush when I mixed everything together. Also the eggs I boiled this morning were undercooked and the yolks didn’t look right to me. So I gave the yolks to Sassie, which made her very happy, and I just used the whites in the potato salad. It’s in the fridge chilling right now and should be ready for supper. We’re going to have hamburgers and potato salad. Sounds good! Also, while I was waiting for the potatoes to cook I decided to whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies, something I’ve been wanting to do for a few days now. I usually take the easy way and instead of making a bunch of cookies I just throw the dough into a glass dish and make cookie bars or whatever you want to call them. So we’ll have something for dessert too.

While I was working away in the kitchen we noticed that we had some very pretty visitors out on the front lawn. Take a look at these!

This is actually the second time we’ve seen these colorful fellows in the yard. I snapped a few pics of them the other day but didn’t really get any good ones. Instead of trying to sneak up on them this time I decided to snap a few pics through the kitchen window and they turned out pretty good. When we saw these guys the other day Joni looked them up in her bird book and discovered that they are American Goldfinches. They’re very pretty aren’t they?

And both times that the Goldfinches have come around, there’s been 1 or 2 of these bright fellows with them. Joni couldn’t find this one in her bird book the other day but today found out that they are Indigo Buntings. These are much brighter and prettier than the typical bluejays or bluebirds that we usually get around here. Today we counted seven of the Goldfinches and two of the Buntings. As we watched them we discovered that the Indigo Bunting is a bit of a bully, often chasing the Goldfinches away as they found something to eat.

But all in all, they commingled reasonably well. Here’s a nice little group of them. The American Goldfinch is the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa, and Washington. They typically winter in the south from southern California down to Texas and Mexico, and even as far east as Florida. In the summer they head up to the northern Midwest and Canada to breed, but can be found throughout much of the US all year round. They also have a very pretty song. After listening to it from the internet we could easily identify their call in the yard.

The Indigo Bunting spends the winter all the way down in Central America but in the summer they can be found just about anywhere in the US with the exception of the Rocky Mountains and anywhere north and west of them. They are commonly referred to as “blue canaries” and I think that’s a fitting name as they are a small and brightly colored bird.

Matthew 6:25-26 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ESV

Genesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” ESV

Journal - In The Yard

Monday turned out to be just about the most gorgeous day I can imagine. It was sunny and warm with just a light breeze. Exactly the kind of day I had been hoping for to get some work done in the yard. I had several projects in mind that I wanted to get done so at 1pm I headed out and got to work.

First was the brush pile I had gathered at the incinerator a few days prior. I started that burning and then began to toss on limbs and trash from one of the other brush piles. I ended up getting that whole pile cleaned up and on the fire, which was a little more than I thought I would get done. That was the biggest brush pile I had so it’s good to have that done. Just one brush pile to go and it’s the smallest but also the furthest from the incinerator.

While that was burning, I got three potatoes from the kitchen and cut them into quarters and went out to the garden. I planted twelve of them and marked them with sticks so I would know where they were. I had forgotten to ask Mike how deep to plant so I hope I didn’t get them too deep.

My next project was a new flower bed for Joni. On Sunday, Bobbi had given Joni a big baggie full of Zinnea (sp?) seeds and I had a good spot picked out for them. In our back yard are two big trees fairly close together. A previous tenant here had surrounded the two trees with a rectangle of railroad ties and the space in between really needed something in it since nothing much grows there. So I got out the shovel and turned the soil, then raked it to break up the clods and smooth it out. Then Joni did the planting. While I was digging in there I discovered that the railroad ties are not planted as firmly in the ground as I had thought, and also that they are not as rotten as I thought they would be. That was good because two of them were sunk in almost flush with ground on one end and I wanted to put some dirt under them. After discovering that that would be a pretty easy job I went ahead and took care of it.

By then I was feeling pretty tired, but I still had one more thing I wanted to do. A couple of weeks ago, Mom gave Joni some hollyhock seeds. Joni planted a few here and there, and also put a few in the new flower bed I dug, but I wanted a row of them on the north side of our patio area. So I dug up the soil along that edge and put a row of them in. Then I gathered up some bricks, of which there are a lot scattered all around the place, and put a brick border along the outside edge.

By then it was nearly 4 o’clock and I was very tired and getting pretty hungry too. I went out and raked up the fire a bit. It was pretty much burned up by then and didn’t seem to be much of a threat. I put the rake, shovel, and hoe back in the shed and closed it up, then went inside and cleaned up.

After three hours in the sun I was worn out but felt great. My shoulders and neck were red again but that felt great too. I thanked God again and again for giving us such a beautiful day and for giving me one good eye to see and enjoy it with.

Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ESV

Leviticus 26:3-4 If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

Useful Tools

Whew! I was getting worried there. As I mentioned in my last post, I realized that my blog had strayed from the purpose that God intended for it. Upon that realization, I promised to get things back on track and start writing the things that God wanted me to write again. For the last several days since then, I’ve been waiting for God to tell me what to write about. For several days I waited, and I was beginning to worry. But today, He finally put something on my heart..

I received an email from Uncle Butch a couple of days ago in which he was talking about Nebraska joining the Big 10 conference. I wrote about that quite a bit while it was happening a month or two ago and Uncle Butch was sharing his views on the subject. It was while I was thinking about my response to him that God flicked on the little light bulb that floats over my head. What, you don't have one?

In regards to the big move for Nebraska, I was totally against it. Not because I felt it would be a bad move for the University of Nebraska, but simply because I don't like it when things change. Even changes for the better are difficult for me because I just don't like change. In my life, I have spent years at lousy jobs that I hated simply because it was easier to stay than to go to the trouble of finding a new job. It's part of my obsessive/compulsive nature.

I like routine. This sounds dumb to a lot of people, but I like waking up each morning knowing exactly what I’m going to do that day, and when I’m going to do it. When I went blind, it took me months and months to develop a new routine around my blindness, but I did it. It’s something that I really struggle with.

I struggle with it because I know that God doesn’t want us to be so rigid in our lives. I really feel that the more flexible we are, the more useful we will be to Him. I mean, let’s face it, a can-opener is useful, but only when you want to open a can. But if you had a combination can-opener, bottle opener, glass-cutter, hack-saw, jack-hammer, how much more useful would that be? That’s a bad analogy because really the jack-hammer attachment would serve all of those purposes, but you get the point, right?

It’s pretty natural to resist change in our lives, to remain in our daily routines. I resisted the notion of Nebraska being a Big 10 school, but now that it’s a done deal I can see that it’s probably a better deal. If someone had asked me if I wanted to be blind I would have resisted very strenuously, but I have to admit that I am a better person because of it. Turns out God knew what He was doing after all.

I’m going to try to be more flexible from now on. I think it’s okay to have a routine, as long as I don't get so caught up in it that I miss out on some new opportunity that God has for me. I’ve probably missed out on lots of things for that very reason, but God never gives up on us does He? He’ll just hold onto those good things until we are ready for them, and that's a pretty comforting thought.

Genesis 12:1-2 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Mark 1:17-18 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed Him.

Wind

It’s windy. Not just windy, very windy. Stupendously windy, fantastically windy, remarkably windy, and extra-ordinarily windy. It's so windy the tornados have gone vacationing to South America. It's so windy the hurricanes are jealous. Tempests envy the brute gale force of Nebraska.

When you are driving down the road and you open the window a crack, you know how loud the wind can be. Imagine that in reverse, you are standing still and the whole world is roaring past you at fifty miles per hour. Now imagine that going non-stop for three days. I wonder where all that wind can come from. There must be giant vacuums opening up in Mexico because all of their air is being sucked into Nebraska. Maybe it’s the other way around, maybe the vacuum is in Canada.

I tell people that I don’t know what they have done with the Nebraska that I left so many years ago, and they say it has always been this way. They are wrong. The Nebraska I remember was timeless and unmoving, not this rushing, howling lunacy. I fear that the men in the white coats will come soon to take this Nebraska away. Or maybe I desire it. So easily can you forget that the world can be still and quiet.

The wind roars like a lion and howls like a coyote. It whistles like a boiling tea-kettle and moans like a restless spirit. Trees creak, shingles flap, and barn doors crack like the first shot of hunting season. The power lines are a gospel choir ushering in doomsday. Neighbors shout to be heard over the tumult and they sound miles away. If they shouted at you from upwind, their voices would slap you in the face like an angry mother.

The wind thunders across the plains like a herd of startled buffalo. It gallops to and fro like unbroken horses, crossing the earth in great strides. It is swifter than deer and quicker than hares. It mocks the birds, shoving them aside thoughtlessly.

Outside we are buffeted by the wind; inside we are buffeted by the sound of the wind. The wind is an uproar; a cacophony of howling, moaning ghosts; God's own bellows unleashed. Wind like this could drive a person mad.

Patrick Swayze and Bette Midler never knew wind like this. Benjamin Franklin would have stayed indoors in such a gale. Winds this ferocious would have kept Odysseus at sea for another twenty years.

The wind is endless, tireless, pitiless, bottomless. It is inexhaustible, incomprehensible, inconceivable, and incredible. The wind is unending, unceasing, unyeilding, unrelenting. It is forever, eternal, constant and infinite.

Other than that, life is pretty good.

John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Genesis 8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

Matthew 14:30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Dream Diary - Patience

Hi there! Long time, no see. This will be a short post, probably. I have an interesting dream fragment that I wanted to put in the record.

In the dream, I was at the Baptist church in Gibbon, the church I attended in my youth, the church Mom still attends today. I was hanging around with my friend Joe Gangwish. Incidentally, Joe is the brother of Bobbi's husband Mike Gangwish. I don't remember what Joe and I were doing but I also vaguely remember Joe’s mom, Francey, being there. Anyway, they disappeared after a bit.

The interesting part began when I entered a certain room of the church, I think it was the parlor. There were several people sitting around a large table playing password. Remember that old game? It used to be a game show, too. Anyway, one of the people was a guy named Ron Sheets that I used to work with when I lived in Kansas City. I don’t remember what he said to me, but he indicated that he wanted my help with the game. He had a word printed on a card and he wanted me to help him come up with clues to give the other players. He held out the card and showed it to me, and the wordprinted on it was “patience.”

Now I wonder what that dream could possibly mean. I’m not sure if this matters, but the cards they were using were kind of like little gift tags, you know the kind that have “to” and "from" printed on them. The backs of the cards had some kind of Christmas design on them. The front had a Christmas design on the top half, and the bottom half had the hand-written password on it. I’m not sure what the Christmas tie-in means. Maybe something to do with how impatient I was feeling at Christmas last year.

So that was my dream. We are being bombarded today. There are chunks of ice falling from the trees and banging all over our roof. Kind of creepy.

Thanks for reading. Try to stay warm!

Genesis 40:8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Ten Things I Like About Being Blind

Hi there! I’m so glad you are here! If you have been following Drums In The Deep for the last few weeks you’ll know that I just finished telling the story of how I went blind.

Pretty serious stuff, I know. And I have more serious stuff to talk about. In fact my next couple of posts will be the most serious stuff yet! (Look honey, I foreshadowed! Aren’t you proud?) But hey, you can’t be serious all the time right? So before I go on I thought I would throw in a little comic relief.

I’ll warn you in advance, I have a weird sense of humor and, well, some people just don’t get it. I don’t even get it myself sometimes.

I used to be a huge fan of David Letterman, and like other fans of Dave my favorite time of the week was Friday when he did the top ten list. So I decided to put together a little top ten list of my own. So here it is, from the home office in Minden, Nebraska:

Top ten things I like about being blind!

#10 I can whack people on the ankles with my cane and pretend it was an accident.
#9 I get to eat with my fingers all the time!
#8 When Joni says, “Are you going to clean up this mess or what?” I can say “What mess? I don’t see any mess.”
#7 My talking watch!
#6 Listening to Jim Dale read the Harry Potter books.
#5 When I get pulled over for speeding, the cop usually feels sorry for me and doesn’t give me a ticket!
#4 Whenever there’s a power blackout I can run rings around the sighties!
#3 I can freak people out just by saying “See you later!””
#2 I get to wear my shades all the time!
And the #1 thing I like about being blind:
Making my screen-reader shout insults at people!

Thanks for reading! See you later!

Genesis 21:6 …God hath made me to laugh so that all that hear wil laugh with me.f