Mission Focused Men for Christ

Episode Summary: Though we associate Jesus’ arrival on a donkey with children and palm branches, those actually with Jesus who shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” saw his arrival as the coming of the promised Messianic King who would fully and finally overthrow their enemies. This episode is devoted to better understanding the nature of Christ’s kingship and kingdom, which was not...

Episode Summary: Since it is the nature of men to want to win in everything they do, Christian Christ-followers want to win as disciples. Paul defines this success as reaching spiritual maturity, but such a target on the wall can be nebulous. In I Samuel 24, however, David displays three striking marks of spiritual maturity that give us a clear example to emulate. This episode explains these three marks of spiritual maturity.

For Fu...

Episode Summary. Many of us haven’t thought much about protecting our families, not just physically but emotionally. Feelings of depression, worry, bitterness, worthlessness, and fear can devastate our loved ones. One of the most eye-opening questions a husband can ask his wife is, “Are their fears that sometimes grip your heart?” This episode is designed to help us know how to cope with our own fears and know how to help our kids ...

Episode Summary. Christians find universal comfort in knowing that the Bible never flatters its heroes but exposes their numerous flaws. Such honesty inspires us with hope because we know that we ourselves are deeply flawed. Such a hero was David who had big successes but even bigger failures. This episode provides encouragement for all of us as we see David succeeding bigtime, failing bigtime, but always getting back up after he f...

Episode Summary. Christian tradition records envy as one of the seven deadly sins, along with lust, greed, pride, gluttony, wrath, and laziness. God warns us, Envy makes the bones rot (Prov 14:30b). This episode examines how King Saul’s envy of David steadily eroded the health of his soul. It then examines how to attack four roots of envy that can grow in our hearts. 

For Further Prayerful Thought:

1. What new observations about com...

Episode Summary. This episode examines the most famous friendship in the Bible the bond between Jonathan and David. We study their example to see how we can enjoy stronger brotherhood connections ourselves, because experiencing such brotherhood bonds has always been God’s intent, as Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 explains.  Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. ...

John Eldredge is right when he says, “A man must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being (Wild at Heart). The adage is true, “If a man doesn’t have a cause to die for, he doesn’t have a cause to live for.” This episode is about the greatest cause in the history of the world—the kingdom of Jesus defeating the kingdom of evil and spreading righteousness over earth. David’s...

Episode Summary. One of the great truths of life is that one’s mental perspective determines one’s attitude. Eve believed the lie that God’s command not to eat the fruit was selfish and that God was keeping something to be desired—the knowledge of good and evil—from her. That perspective led to the attitude of rebellion which led to the action of sin. This episode seeks to better understand how wrong thinking leads to wrong attitud...

This episode answers the question, “What do dads need to do to develop their child’s potential, i.e. to be faithful stewards of this treasure entrusted to us, not just because we love them, but because God has important contributions for them to make to his world.”  

Link to Leadership Diagram

Past Podcast Episodes on spiritual gifts: S2 E #38-41, 7/18/21-8/8/21 

Link to The Five Love Languages

For the printed version of this message c...

Summary: Marriage failure almost always begins with the loss of intimacy, i.e. closeness in the marriage. This episode examines what Scripture says married couples need to understand and do to experience both the emotional and sexual intimacy, which God designed marriage for. 

Couples Study to Overcoming the Intimacy Misconnect in Marriage

She spells intimacy TALK. He spells intimacy SEX. This booklet is designed to be used by husban...

Episode Summary. There is one investment you can make in your child’s future that God guarantees is more precious than gold, that will bring him a lifetime of enjoyment, a lifetime of protection from harm and a lifetime in which he is richly rewarded. It is explained in Psalm 19. This episode’s focus is on how to make such an investment. 

For Further Prayerful Thought

1. In the study of the six facets of the jewel of God’s Word—his ...

Episode Summary. Spiritual leadership at home is bringing our followers along with us in our whole-hearted pursuit of Christ. Persuading them to join us in this pursuit is almost completely dependent upon winning their hearts, which requires building our love relationship with them. We are inspired by the example of Jonathan Edwards, whose commitment to building his relationship with each of his kids was manifested by his decision ...

Episode Summary. The word husband is from the world of agriculture; it means to cultivate. This episode points to seven ingredients identified in Scripture that Christian husbands are to pour into the soil of their wives’ hearts to cause them to flourish. 

For Further Prayerful Thought.

1. What are the strongest arguments for a Christ-following husband to continually invest the nutrients into his wife’s hear that she needs to flouri...

Episode Summary. Almost all men would love more consistency in their lives. We know that is the key to success in every area of life, not the least important of which is success leading our homes well. But how can we more consistently stay focused on our mission from Jesus? This episode supplies two answers: First we must have clear picture of the goal towards which we are heading and leading our families—spiritual maturity as Chri...

Episode Summary. This episode begins by noting that Genesis 3:17 tells us that God’s curse upon Adam for his rebellion in the Garden of Eden was not just for transgressing the command not to eat the fruit but for his reversal of God’s created order of roles. Man’s call to lead the home matters to God. This episode examines what leadership is and is not, providing a diagram for understanding the three functions of leadership. We the...

Episode Summary. Mary, one of the godliest women who ever lived, agreed to bear God’s child and what does she receive? A sword to her soul. Few song writers I know have put Simeon’s promise that a sword would pierce Mary’s soul to music. It isn’t sung about by children’s choirs in Christmas pageants. But Luke's account of the true Christmas story ends on the ominous note of suffering caused by the opposition of the kingdom of ...

Episode Summary. This agent of familiarity is hard at work this Christmas season, spreading layers of the poisonous dust of the ordinary over the manger in Bethlehem to deaden our senses to the staggering reality of what actually took place there. This episode seeks to blow off that dust to reveal with fresh clarity five ways the incarnation can evoke radical devotion to Jesus. May a fresh look at the incarnation fill us with fresh...

Episode Summary. Countless committed Christian men wrestling with sins like lust and masturbation have asked a legitimate question. If Christ has redeemed me from slavery to sin, why am I still regularly giving in to lust and masturbation? Didn’t Paul say the Christian’s old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for the one who has died is fr...

Episode Summary. It is easy today for discerning Christians, who see the loss of biblical values taking place in our culture, to view this world as a sinking ship, going down to destruction through the weight of its own evil. But such despair can easily lead us to forget the very first commission God assigned us as humans—developing the potential of the creation God loves and shaping life in it to please him, life that is righteous...