On January 23, 2009 at 7pm, The Men of Bay Area Fellowship will gather for one historic night.Pastor John Atkinson will deliver a talk that will challenge the MoB and the community at large to change the way our world thinks of Godly men.
If you believe God has called you to lead your family, church and community in way never seen before, join us.
Upstairs in the Element room you will have a chance to stand up next to other men and hear Pastor John share a vision for the coming year.This is not for every guy who just wants to keep living the way he has been living.This is a chance to take the lead and really change the world with a complete faith in God to change you.
Be sure and clear your schedule for Saturday, January 24, 2009 also!
This call to action will be made Friday night and the battle will begin Saturday morning at 8am sharp in the church parking lot!
This is my first attempt at blogging, so I thought I would make a small entry just to see how it works.
Today is my fourth day of doing the 10 Days To Better Health CDs that Bil put out a while back. The basic premise is to get a jump start on losing weight and begin a healthier lifestyle. However, the real goal is to draw closer to God by linking the physical to the spiritual. Each time I feel like quitting or get strong hunger pangs, that reminds me to pray. It's amazing how many times I think about food during the day. Not just when I'm hungry, but I usually will start planning lunch right after I finish breakfast. I used to complain that I couldn't seem to find enough time to pray. When I take away the time I spend thinking, planning, and preparing meals, I suddenly have a lot of extra time.
I have also learned to differentiate hunger from cravings. The hunger is not really an issue at all because you can eat when you want and as much as you want, as long as it is the right foods (fruit, vegetables, nuts, and water). Fighting cravings is the hard part. I guess it is kind of like any other temptation. It's not that you really "have" to have it, you just want it because you really believe that you "need" it. I used to think that the best way to alleviate temptation was to yield to it. That may be the easiest, but you then carry the guilt with you; much like yielding to food cravings means you carry around a few extra pounds. Eventually, a little turns to a lot.
Every month the MOB meets at the Cross in front of Bay Area Fellowship. This month Shawn Albright led the men in prayer for our church, our pastors, our leaders & our country. The staff at Bay Area is going through a lot of medical crises lately, and Shawn paid special attention to those that we love and their families. Please join us next time. We'll send out a reminder via our weekly newsletter. If you aren't already signed up for the newsletter through The Church Engine web site, please see the box to the right. Join us as we worship Jesus and show our church the Men of Bay Area Fellowship are stepping up.
This morning I got up and started reading about the temptation of Christ while he was in the desert fasting for 40 days (Luke 4:1-13), and I then found another awesome passage in Luke 22:31-38. I just had to share this with you.
3 Things I Learned About Satan That Surprised Me:
He tempted Jesus for the ENTIRE 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert fasting.
When Satan finally left Jesus alone in the desert, he was only waiting for the next opportunity to tempt Jesus again. HE COMES BACK?! Sonuvah….
From Luke 22:31, Satan actually petitions God to have a chance to sift through Jesus' disciples like wheat, to test them. He wanted to skip Jesus and come after the disciples directly!
3 Awesome Things about Jesus that I Learned:
For 40 days, Jesus told Satan to "stick it" with those temptations. Jesus never flinched or faltered, and he remained full of the Holy Spirit and stayed focused on God's purpose.
No where in Scripture is it written that Jesus fell to Satan's temptations. In fact, he never turns from God and actually has authority OVER demons (Luke 4:31-37, 8:26-39, 10:17). He tells them to go away, and the demons are truly afraid that it is time for the abyss.
When Satan asked to test the disciples, Jesus had been praying for the protection of his disciples. Jesus put himself between the temptation of sin and his disciples! Dying on the cross was not the only sacrifice Jesus made for us. His entire life on Earth was a sacrifice for us!
It is important to realize that spiritual attack from the enemy is persistent and recurring. Satan is like an elusive enemy who is always probing the perimeter until he finds a weakness to exploit.
It is even more important to understand that Jesus has power over Satan. As Satan begs God for the opportunity to sift through us all like wheat (when he actually takes the time to ask), Jesus intervenes for us. While Jesus walked the Earth, he prayed for the safety of his disciples and ultimately became the sacrifice that freed us all from death caused by sin. He is our salvation.
Just as Jesus prayed over his disciples, we can pray over each other so that our own faith and resolve may not fail, and strengthen our brothers in Christ.
FOLF - Fellowship of Lord Followers - plays disc golf together every Saturday at 8:30a at either Live Oak, West Guth, Lamar or Waldron parks. It's a couple hours of friendly competition, recreation and most importantly, fellowship with Christians.
This weekend we plan to play at Live Oak park in Ingleside. Call Hans for more details 774-0545.
On a recent Sunday during the month of October, your MOB was given the opportunity to present this great ministry to our congregation and educate men what we are all about. We added 43 new men over that weekend alone! We have a lot of work ahead of us in 2009, details to follow!
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