Welcome to the Mighty Men Training Institute

  Life is complicated, and so are the problems and issues that we deal with. "There are no easy answers," many people will say. And often, they are right.

So we come up with systems and formulas to help deal with the problems of life, including sin. We have 12 steps, four spiritual laws, fivefold ministry and Rick Warren's baseball diamond.

All of these things are valuable and have helped people escape addiction and be more effective disciples of Jesus Christ. But do all of our solutions require blueprints and schematics? Does sanctification (the art of being holy) always come with directions, like one of those put-it-together-yourself shelving kits you buy from the hardware store?

There is another approach to dealing with sin. You only need two seconds to read it. It's found in 1 John 3:6 ­- actually the first half of verse 6. John writes, "no one who abides in him keeps on sinning."

The "him" is Jesus. To "abide" means to remain.

Two of the greatest writers of the faith were specialists in abiding. Brother Lawrence discussed it in his little book "The Practice of the Presence of God." Frank Laubach played "the game with minutes." He taught that we should keep God in mind at least one second of every minute of every day.

The closer we are to Jesus, the farther away we are from sin. If we keep Jesus at arm's length, that leaves a vacuum which sin will always occupy. My prayer for the brothers is that we keep Jesus close, abide in him, and make the songs of our lives sweet music to his ears.

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 The theme of narrow escapes and rescues is on my mind because of how our Navy rescued that merchant ship captain from pirates.

Have you ever had a close call, a brush with death or a life-threatening circumstance?

After a narrow escape, we think about what happened and why it happened. And the episode with the pirates reminded me of my own close call. One night in the 1980s, I was invited to a friend's house and would have automatically accepted the invitation. But the Holy Spirit told me not to go, so I called him to decline the invitation and told him why. My friend thought I had finally become a "religious fanatic."

The next day, my friend called and, in a shaky voice, said, "how did you know?" Turns out that the night before, he and his mom had been held at gunpoint by a crazy ex-boyfriend of my buddy's sister. The guy even stuck the gun in my buddy's chest and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire even though it was loaded. They were wrestling for the gun as the sheriff's department stormed into the home. The guy later told the cops he had intended to kill everyone in the house, and then himself.

So my friend and I talked about how I knew. I told him about how I was saved by turning my life over to Jesus Christ, the greatest rescuer of all. Then I told him about how Christians - and only Christians - have access to a Holy Spirit who counsels, comforts and warns us away from danger.

Sometimes, in dramatic ways, God gives us second chances. Scripture tells us what we should do with those chances.

Psalm 118:17-18 says, "I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death."

May you be in tune with the indwelling Holy Spirit, always attentive to his leadings.

And may you be a bout the business of recounting the deeds of our mighty God!

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God came to this world too save the lost,

God gave of himself at the cross,

He died for you and me,

So we could be free,

To love a God who loves even me.

 

 

Christ came to this earth as a man,

But the people just did not understand,

That his love for you and me, would take him to the tree,

To shed his blood for sinners like me.

 

 

Now that his work is complete,

We can stand tall and come to his feet,

There is now rest for the weary,

And power for the weak,

Our God will all ways be there,

For those who are called his sheep.

 

W Punt

 

 

 

 

 

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On this Good Friday,  I cannot think of anything better to write than Hebrews 10:19-25. This is from the English Standard Version.

 Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope WITHOUT WAVERING, for he who promised is faithful

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

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  Every year the Final Four comes around, I am reminded afresh of the greatest basketball coach of all time, John Wooden of UCLA. I consider him a personal mentor, even though we have never met.

We remember him for his 10 national championships and the jaw-dropping array of talent he was able to attract and coach. Yet, his legacy is larger than basketball. Here is a man who exemplified every value we want to learn as men and every value we want to teach to our children. These values worked for Wooden (and are still working at age 98) from his small-town upbringing in Indiana to Los Angeles.

As a great teacher and motivator, Coach Wooden has done us all the immense favor of putting this value system on one piece of paper. It's called the "Pyramid of Success," and it deserves our careful study.

There are two pieces of the pyramid that stand out to me. The first is his definition of success: "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable."

The second is one of his 12 lessons of leadership: "Make each day your masterpiece."

Coach Wooden is also our brother in Christ and he's never been shy about proclaiming this fact. He knows creating masterpieces depends on close contact with the Master.

I highly recommend you dig into the wealth of teaching the coach has given us. You can start on his website, http://www.coachwooden.com/. Then, take a look at his books. My favorites are:

"Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections" - Collected quotes on a variety of subjects.

"Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life" - Covers each block of the pyramid. This would be a great book to take a small group through.

"Coach Wooden One-On-One" - This is a 60-day devotional and is wonderful to use with your daily quiet times with God.

 

 

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