UFC Fighting and Man
Here is a unique video where Pastor Mark Driscoll talks about MMA and how it equates to the everyday man. If you know me at all then you know exactly what I think about what Pastor Mark says. But I am curious to what some of you think. Share your thoughts and comments below.
Who is Fighting with you?
It amazes all the time to hear from so many men that they are not doing life with other guys that can speak into their lives. That men today feel that they are tough enough to be able to handle life on their own. One of the things that I have learned over the years is that I need to surround myself with men that are willing to fight. I need to surround myself with men that see that this life lived in a relationship with Christ needs the support of others that are see the need for a battle ready group. Here is a picture for us to look at when it comes to what kind of guys we need in our battle ready group:
Faith Fight Everyday
Did you know that every day that I have a fight? I have a fight with myself. No some of you may automatically think like me and picture Jim Carey beating himself up in the bathroom in the movie “Liar, Liar”. I want you to know that is not what I am talking about. I don’t know if I could literally give my self a right cross to the face.
What I am talking about is that every day I fight myself the side of me that wants to do what I want and not what God wants. I fight with the way that I spend my money, the way that I talk to my wife and kids, I even fight with weather or not I want to even spend time with Jesus and His word. Because you know what it would be much better if I just slept in at least a half hour. I deserve that don’t I? I believe that this fight is what leads to affairs, divorces, abuse, addiction, and the loss of our families. I even believe this fight is what is allowing men to stop leading the families that God has called them to lead.
Galatians 5:17 (NLT) “the old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict.”
We are always going to be at odds with ourselves. We are always going to be virtually in a fist fight with ourselves over what we are to do or not do in this life and our choices will always have some conflict. But there is hope. There is a way to deal with this fight. It is to trust in the complete work of Jesus Christ. It is to know that the distractions of this life were nailed to the cross and crucified. We need to seek to learn from the greatest fighter that ever walked this planet, Jesus.
Let’s learn to fight and fight with the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, because that will only be the way that you will ever be able to defeat, YOU!
Anointed Fighter
I am so excited to be a part of this exciting new ministry called “Anointed Fighter”. I have had the awesome opportunity to be able to talk with Danny White the leader of this ministry and see the amazing material that he is creating for discipleship that goes along with MMA. It is my prayer that this ministry achieves great things when it comes to reaching men with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Check out this promo video for an event that they are doing in Detroit with Life Christian Church. Because we all know that life is a true daily fight, but we know that Jesus has already won the BATTLE.
Men in the Church
The last couple of weeks I have been doing some research for our “Man vs. Wild” message series for the month of March. I have taken the time to read one book and half way through the other book. The first book is called “No More Christian Nice Guy” and the second book is called “Unleashing Courageous Faith: The Hidden Power of a Man’s Soul” both written by Paul Coughlin. So far they have both challenged and encouraged me as a Godly man, husband, and father. I say that because for most of my adult life I always felt that there was something wrong with who I was a Christian man. (Now for those that know me yes you knew that there was something wrong with me, beat my family to the punch) I like to bungee jump, skydive, ride a motorcycle, I love UFC and MMA, I go nuts over hard hits in football. These are the things that I like and I never knew if that was what I was allowed to like being a Christian man. I would always hear the comments “Well isn’t that too violent?” or “Don’t you think that is setting a bad example for your son?” Well, what I have really thought about those comments was “I Don’t Care what you think!”
Now that I have read these two books I have to say that I feel even more called to be the man that God has created me to be, you want to know why? Because I was not called to be a “Nice Guy”, I have been called to be a “Godly Man” and being Godly does not always mean that I am nice. I want you to also know that I hope that no one ever calls me nice again. (pg. 181 “No More Christian Nice Guy”: The word nice comes from two very old and unflattering words, one is French and one Latin. They both mean “ignorance, an absence of knowledge or awareness.) My goal is to be Godly and being Godly is not nice and sometimes it means that I need to get into a fight. I need to fight for the love of my wife, I need to fight for the needs and care of my kids, and I need to fight against anything that goes against what God wants for my life. What I really think is that if more men knew that being a Godly men was about getting into a fight they might be more apt to want to follow the Jesus that went all the way to the cross fighting for our freedom, he fought so hard that it meant His death. That is the Jesus that I follow, not the feathered haired, pasty white, never smiling Jesus, that was always serious, and would get knocked down by a sixth grade girl. (I have the 6th grade daughter that could do that by the way.)
If you were to go to church and hear about a Jesus that was a real man, what difference would that make to you?
