Be Watchful, Stand Firm, Act Like Men

"What does this verse mean to you?

To Calvin, it meant, "13. Watch ye. A short exhortation, but of great weight. He exhorts them to watch, in order that Satan may not oppress them, finding them off their guard. For as the warfare is incessant, the watching requires to be incessant too. Now watchfulness of spirit is this -- when, free and disentangled from earthly cares, we meditate on the things of God. For as the body is weighed down by surfeiting and drunkenness, (Luke 21:34,) so as to be fit for nothing, so the cares and lusts of the world, idleness or carelessness, are like a spiritual surfeiting that overpowers the mind. [169]

The second thing is that they persevere in the faith, or that they hold fast the faith, so as to stand firm; because that is the foundation on which we rest. It is certain, however, that he points out the means of perseverance -- by resting upon God with a firm faith.

In the third exhortation, which is much of the same nature, he stirs them up to manly fortitude. And, as we are naturally weak, he exhorts them fourthly to strengthen themselves, or gather strength. For where we render it be strong, Paul makes use of only one word, which is equivalent to strengthen yourselves.

14. Let all your things be done in love Again he repeats what is the rule in all those transactions, in which we have dealings with one another. He wishes, then, that love shall be the directress; because the Corinthians erred chiefly in this respect -- that every one looked to himself without caring for others.

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To US:  What does this verse mean (what should this verse mean) for Legacy dads around the world:

Be Watchful

• Study the word of God
• Know the way your enemy works
• Be on Guard and ready to act
• Flee from evil

Stand firm in the faith

• Do not give in to peer pressure
• Be ready to give an answer
• Don't be swayed from the truth

Act Like Men

• Read Here

Be Strong

• Trust in the Lord
• Do not lean on your own understanding
• God is our strong tower (our refuge)
• He is our strength
• Find your Joy in the Lord (for the joy in Him is our Strength)

Let All That You Do Be Done In Love

• Read Here
• Carry Each other's burdens
• Love one another
• Do not devour your Christian brothers and sisters

What are you thoughts on this?

Dante

Man up, Lion down

 

WHAT:  ACT LIKE MEN

WHERE/WHEN :  CHICAGO ILLINOIS (ALL STATE ARENA) May 15-16, 2015 Allstate Arena 6920 N Mannheim Rd. Rosemont, IL 60018

WHY:  TO CONNECT, TO GROW, TO DISCIPLE

WHO:  ALL OF YOU

Lance and I cannot believe that Act Like Men 2015 is here again.  We had such an awesome time and had great fellowship with our brothers and forged new friendships and accountability along the way.  There are conferences that pump you up and get riveted and then you go home back into the every day life and entertain sin.  And then their are churches, groups of men, men's groups and disciples of Christ who go to a conference like Act Like Men and decide that this day will be the day that I take the Lion in my life (the sin that I keep chained in the closet, in the darkness and away from all other eyes) and I am going to drag it out in the street and put a proverbial bullet in its head.

This is that conference.  This is that time.  This is the year.  This is the day when you change it.  This is the day that you will let other brothers in.  This is the day that you will be accountable.  This is the day that you will Act Like Men!

1 Corinthians 16:13English Standard Version (ESV)

¹³ Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong

Blessings,

Dante

To Sign up for Act Like Men, Click HERE (Note;  If you go to my church or Lance's Church, contact us privately as we have a church code for this event)

The Ultimate Gifts

Both Lance and I have posted on the Movie, The Ultimate Gift, back in 2007 and 2011, and I decided to have my family watch that movie last night.  My three kids (ages 10, 9 and 7) all thoroughly enjoyed the movie and were saddened with tears through parts of the movie.  I learned a lot about my kids (more teachable moments) in that was both my intention and my hope that they would connect to a life lesson that I was trying to bring them.  The theme of the movie is in its title:  The Ultimate Gift and my family and I were not let down.There are gifts that the main character has to learn throughout the movie (that are applicable to life)

• The Gift of Work - if you can appreciate this gift and learn to love the gift you can accomplish anything in life
• The Gift of Money - when you realize good stewardship and that its all God's, then you can appreciate what He has given you
• The Gift of Friends - when hard times hit, you know who you true friends truly are
• The Gift of Learning - you will never be old enough to continue to learn, appreciate the learning times
• The Gift of Problems - Read James 1 (life will not be easy, it's how you embrace them that can carry you through)
• The Gift of Family - No matter what, family (both biological and church) should always be close to you (and your heart)
• The Gift of Laughter - Life is too serious, enjoy these precious moments of laughter
• The Gift of Dreams - Set the curve high and reach for God's best in your life
• The Gift of Giving - to give is truly better than to receive, for the blessing lies in this
• The Gift of Gratitude - appreciate these moments that others do for you no matter how significant or insignificant
• The Gift of a Day - life, as it is said, is way too short, so appreciate the days that the Lord has given you
• The Gift of Love - the Ultimate Gift!  In one of my favorite musicals (Les Miserables) there is a line that says, "to love another person is to see the Face of God"...

What I really liked about this movie is:  Everything!  What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul (answer:  nothing!).  This movie encapsulates a road to discipleship that is biblical and that it truly tells you that giving is better than receiving.  This is completely counter-culturual in that it shows you that when you give without expectation (letting the right hand not know what the left hand is doing) God's blessing is so much better than what we possibly could think.

This movie aloud me the privilege to share a beautiful teaching moment with my family - What really matters in life.  I taught about God's love for us and what he calls us to do in return.  My youngest (7) was hit hard with the realization of death and that one day mom and dad will be gone (be sensitive to this), but what the tears aloud us to do was to connect on so many different levels.  I learned not to be afraid to share bitter truths in life with our kids.  The reality and frailty of this conversation led to a much bigger theme:  The Gift of Family and the Gift of Love (God's love for us).  When we put these things in our life and move towards God's path for us, then we find the abundant life that He promises us.

I would love to see a follow-up movie on this.  My theme in this would be a man who used to be a trust-fund brat and totally of this world, moving to a true disciple of Jesus Christ making a difference in the world.  Looking like something Job quotes in his book: Job 29.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all of your ways acknowledge him and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3).

Blessings,

Dante

PS - there is a sequel/prequel called the ultimate life (movie preview to follow once it is viewed)

A Father Abandoned

Parenting advice and blogs seem to focus on two distinct areas: The new parents to school age child genre and the triage – something is wrong genre. As a result, 90% of the parents I talk with at my conferences and in discussions tend to fall into these two categories and it’s often hard for other parents to relate to me as a father of two teenagers. Unless there is a triage issue, most parents in the teen years have long stopped reading the parents blogs and have just settled in their groove.

Recently, I’ve discovered a phenomena that I’ve read about but did not expect to hit me so hard in the teen years, the Abandonment Issue. After returning from six months abroad in a foreign country, I’ve realized that my two teens are now fully engaged in their own lives and peer group. Each day, the kids have an agenda and schedule filled with school, activities and friends and the last thing on their list is spending time with dad. Gone are the days when dad was the apple of their eye and seen as a super hero that they would run to when scared or in need. Although I knew these days would come, I never thought that they would hit me so hard.

My logical side tells me that this is normal and part of the teenage years, where my kids spread their wings and try things on their own, but my emotional side feels abandoned and as if one chapter of my parenting book has ended. The teen years are the years when peer groups and peer influence become more prevalent in our children but as a father, although I realize that this is normal, it’s hard to not feel abandoned and insignificant.

When your children are little, you never think the day will come when they start to spread their wings and try things on their own and the day they leave your home for college seems like a fairytale in the distant future. However, as the years pass and they grow into young men and women, you soon realize that the distant fairytale is slowly getting closer and closer.

Although friends have become more important in my children’s lives and spending time with mom and dad is “boring” I have to remember that this is all part of God’s plan and that the fruits of years of prayer and hard work are unfolding before my eyes. I also have to remember to cherish the moments when my teens do want to spend time together and to make those moments memorable and meaningful. I pray that God gives me and all parents who enter into this new phase of parenting the strength to continue to reach out to our children, even when they don’t need us as much, and to continue to pray for their safety and that God works in their lives to bring about His ultimate plan for them.

Esse Quam Videri

Lance

Discipleship Part 2: The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the Pride of Life

Do Not Love the World1 JOHN 2: 15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

When you think about these words, they are really tough to handle as a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Tough to handle in the way that our old self (dead to sin) is still at war with our new self born again in Jesus Christ.  We are no longer owned by death, as death has lost its hold on those who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  The problem is when we entertain lust in our lives.  Lust is defined as, "intense sexual desire or appetite".  There are three things that can pull us away from what God's perfect plan for us is:

Lust of the eyes:

• Beauty (desiring what we see, but cannot have)
• Nudity
• Sexual appetite
• Desire
• Want
• Greed

Lust of the Flesh

• Acting on that which we desire by sight
• Giving in to the temptation of the eyes
• Gratifying our desires via the flesh
• Gluttony
• Overdoing
• Insatiable Appetite (nothing can fill it)
• Addictions (drugs, alcohol, sex) and giving in to them

Pride of life

• Putting our needs before God's will
• Succoming to our desires, thereby following the worlds path instead of God's
• Becoming god-like without the power to save (we did it our way NOT God's way)
• Selfishness
• Arrogance
• Un-repentance

How to equip yourself for these 3 major battles:

• Put on the new self
• Holy Living (click here)
• Become a living sacrifice (click here)
• Renew your mind (daily and for some minute by minute)
• Confess and Repent
• Turn away from (in simple terms: RUN)

Next up, running the race:  Equip, Prepare, FightBlessings,

Dante

Trust in the Lord - a time of reflection

Proverbs 3 New International Version (NIV)Wisdom Bestows Well-Being

• 1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
• 2 for they will prolong your life many years  and bring you peace and
• prosperity.  3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck,
• write them on the tablet of your heart.  4 Then you will win favor and a good name
• in the sight of God and man.  5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart  
• and lean not on your own understanding;6 in all your ways submit to him,
•     and he will make your paths straight.[a]
• 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;  fear the Lord and shun evil.
• 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
• 9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
• 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,  and your vats will brim over with new wine.
• 11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke,
• 12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.[b]
• 13 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,
• 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.
• 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.
• 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
• 17 Her ways are pleasant ways,  and all her paths are peace.
• 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.
• 19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;
• 20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.
• 21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
• preserve sound judgment and discretion;
• 22 they will be life for you,
• an ornament to grace your neck.
• 23 Then you will go on your way in safety,
• and your foot will not stumble.
• 24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
• when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
• 25 Have no fear of sudden disaster
• or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
• 26 for the Lord will be at your side
• and will keep your foot from being snared.
•  27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,     when it is in your power to act.
• 28 Do not say to your neighbor,
•     “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
•     when you already have it with you.
• 29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
• who lives trustfully near you.
• 30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
• when they have done you no harm.
• 31 Do not envy the violent  or choose any of their ways.
• 32 For the Lord detests the perverse but takes the upright into his confidence.
• 33 The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.
• 34 He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
• 35 The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame

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Some take-a-ways from Proverbs 3:

• Read His word daily (keep His commandments and repent when you don't)
• Work out your salvation daily (with fear and trembling of God's AWEsomeness)
• Let Love and Faithfulness abound in you daily (and in your daily walk)
• Fear the Lord and do not entertain anything perverse/evil
• Do not hate His discipline, but understand that He is treating us as a loving father would treat his son
• Do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight (keep the word close to you and your heart)
• Honor the Lord with your wealth (tithe).  This is the only time that we can test the Lord (Malachi 3:10-11)
• Try and out give God in doing good (see what He does for you)
• Do not withhold good and charity from others when it is in your power to act (this will be a great sin against the saints, so repent if you do and ask for his path the next time)
• Do not envy the violent or worldly individuals (their wealth and prosperity is fleeting if their hope is not in the Lord)
• Do not choose their ways of living (worldly) for this does not prosper us, nor does it make our Father (in Heaven) happy
• Do not grieve the Holy Spirit that is in each of us that profess the name of Christ
• Finally, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart
• Lean not on your understanding
• In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Blessings,Dante

Top 10 reasons when you know your life is too busy

Back when I was in college for both my undergraduate and graduate degree, I had the privilege to travel to many different countries.  One particular year I was able to take an international course in Rome, Italy.  This was a two-week course in graduate school, which allowed some of my friends and me to travel all around Italy, Greece and Switzerland.  I thoroughly enjoyed this time and was in awe of how laid back the Italians were especially during their siesta.  Literally, in the afternoon there was a four-hour siesta (time for rest) and the town that we were staying was literally shut down.There is a lot to be said for that, sometimes when we find ourselves in life's fast lane, we need to take a break and slow way down, and even get off at the proverbial rest stop.  This got me thinking about this post and how important time management is as stewards of God's time.   How important are some of the most little things in life that we are so busy (world standards) that we miss God's standards.

So here it goes, my top 10 reasons when you know your life is too busy:

#10   You worry too much  - the demands in your life keep pulling you in every direction (Job lists keep growing, there is always more to do, your kids activities are taking you in every direction - family dinners are in the family vehicle going from one sport to another instrument).  You have not been keeping up with the goals that you set for yourself when you were younger.  You are not sure about this economy and what that means for you your loved ones.  You don't give these worries to God (let's be honest, if you worry too much, I want to challenge your prayer life)

#    9   You are too busy to forgive others - you let everything else pull you in every direction and to do things that really don't matter.  Relationships that need to be edified and nurtured and cultured.  Sometimes we neglect loved ones (our wives, kids, family members and friends) You need to say you are sorry and make them a priority.   You need to forgive if you let life get in the way of forgiveness.

#    8   You are lonely - let's be honest here.  You can be successful, you can technically have it all and you could have a wife and family that loves you and friendships that would do anything for you, but you are too busy to notice and to busy to realize that you are wealthy in friends and family and relationships - so you feel lonely

#     7  You are in debt - because of the busyness and the time pull you justify the debt in your life due the demand of this rat race called life

#     6  Your family and friends' relationships are suffering - as point #8 said, because you are so busy the very things that give you peace, contentment and happiness are left out in the cold of this busy and the time away both by being their presently and or being pulled away by life still keeps you disconnected from the ones that you need to cultivate and build up and invest in

#     5   You procrastinate too much - you have so many good ideas and dreams that will bring you to levels of contentment and happiness, yet you are too busy to take the tasks to hand

#     4   You are truly bored - life is crazy, you are way to busy to slow down and breath in the life of peach and tranquility, therefore you believe that you are bored instead of busy - so you make your life busier and busier pursuing the very things that are in front of you (slow down smell the roses)

#     3   You have no spiritual life - the way you used to pray, the way you used to spend time in the word, the way you used to devotion - where is the time

#     2   You are lacking community - what more needs to be said, refer to #8 #4 and #9

#     1   You are not making time for the right things - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, body and strength.  The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as your self.  Put God first.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all of your ways and He will make your path straight.

When you reflect on these things (and be honest) my next post will point us to Scripture to meditate on (Start with Proverbs 5).

Blessings,

Dante

Ordinary Men

A few years ago, I was asked to sit on a steering committee to find a new youth pastor for a church, the following is some highlights from this experience.I had attended this church for a while of highly religious people, you know, “church” people. They went to church each week, tithed and gave money to the poor; they studied their scriptures and read them daily. These people dressed nice, smiled, and were good, Godly people. These people also believed in a strict interpretation of the Scriptures and to that end they were at times prejudice. They looked down on those who were different or those who did not believe what they believed. They often spoke harshly of people who were outside their religious group or used passages of scripture to point out the sins and flaws of others in an effort to help these outsiders repent. Overtime, this church developed an “us” versus “them” mentality but it did not really matter because there was more of “us” then “them” and we knew we had the true faith.

Then along came this young man, a youth pastor for a nearby town, he was very knowledgeable of the Scriptures but believed that the Scriptures was to be interpreted and used for grace, mercy and kindness. He invited everyone to come to his youth group and service and hear his message – those who had premarital sex, criminals, and drug users. He seemed to attract a rough crowd. He didn’t care how these people had sinned or what they had done; the youth pastor allowed them to come to our church and often told them they were forgiven. At first, the elders from our church were shocked but they merely dismissed this youth pastor as ignorant. In fact, the youth pastor came from a part of the country that was uneducated and poor and therefore the church elders chocked his actions and teachings up as misguided and that the youth pastor was simply uneducated.

But the youth pastor didn’t stop there, he kept preaching and even started preaching against the senior pastors and the church elders saying there were corrupt and misguided. The youth pastor also started to attract a following of some rough men – laborers, a former convict, and a CPA who had been caught in tax fraud. All these men were flawed; sinners and none of them were well versed or educated in the Scriptures. They were ordinary men but the youth pastor told them they should start teaching everyone about God. The situation got so bad that there were many altercations between the senior pastors and church elders, and this youth pastor and his band of criminals and sinners. Even worse, many of the people at our church were starting to follow the youth pastor instead of the senior pastors and elders. Finally, the senior pastor and the church elders decided they needed to take action, they could no longer allow this youth pastor to teach his interpretation of “their faith” or corrupt their church and their way of life. Something needed to be done.

What happened next was amazing and something that I will never forget, the senior pastors and church elders felt threatened by this youth pastor. He was contradicting everything that the pastors and elders had taught their congregation for years. He was overlooking sinners and those who had questionable morals and allowing them to be a part of “us”. The youth pastor was splitting our congregation in half and appointing criminals and untrained laypeople to speak on behalf of the church. The youth pastor was challenging our church, its authority and our rules. So they killed him. That youth pastors name was Jesus.

While this story in itself was amazing, what happened next was a true testament of faith in God. Those fishermen, a terrorist, a tax collector and the rest of the untrained, ordinary men – went on to change history and our world as we know it. God used these ordinary, untrained men to change the fate of the world and history forever.

Stay tuned…

- Lance