moMENtum

MY RESOLVE

Before Father God and fellow man,  I DO RESOLVE . . .

. . . to accept full responsibility for the welfare, protection and provision of myself, wife and children.

. . . to be the Priest of my home—to lead my family by word, deed and beliefs as directed by the Word of God.

. . . to be faithful to my wife with my eyes, hands and heart and to lay down my agenda when it honors her to do so.

. . . to teach my children to love the Lord, my God and theirs, with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength.

. . . to instill in my children a healthy respect and fear for authority—which is established by God.

. . . to teach my children by my own example how to live respectfully, responsibly and how to give more than they seek to receive.

. . . to avoid temptations, to stand up to wickedness and to love openly.

. . . to treat everyone I meet with the respect and decency I would hope to receive from them.

. . . to pray for and to forgive anyone who has offended me and to seek the forgiveness of all whom I have offended.

. . . to live in such a way as to demonstrate my awareness that God sees and knows ALL of my comings and goings.

. . . to use my mistakes as stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks.

. . . to turn away from sin and to seek after godliness.

. . . to be faithful to God’s Bride—the Church.  I will give her the time, attention, significance and honor that is due my own wife.

. . . to obey God’s Word, to do his will and to follow His ways.

. . . that (as before a great cloud of witnesses) I will throw off everything that hinders and the sin that easily entangles and I will run with perseverance the race marked out for me—always seeking to glorify Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity,but of power, love and self-discipline.”    II Timothy 1:7

Welcome to MoMENtum (Men in Motion).  We are the Men’s Minstry for the Journey Baptist Church in Rochester, NH.  For those of you who don’t know me, I am the MoMENtum leader and my name is David Anderson.  I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you my heart and vision for men and for this men’s minstry.  Please prayerfully consider supporting us with your prayers, encouragement and eventually your time and talents.

My passion is for men to see that “OK” is NOT good enough when it comes to the things of God.  The same God who designed the human ear and every Sunset and fresh, mountain spring water is the very God who designed me and you and every man who you know.  He DESIGNED us. He didn’t just make us. He wired us and gifted us with particular gifts and talents and strengths and weaknesses All for particular purposes.  He has intentions for ME and for YOU and for every man.  He is waiting on us to be useful, available tools and resources for His very hands in the fulfilling of His will in the world.  When we are NOT ready, useful or available, we are somehow slowing down or even interfering with the fulfillment of the will of God in our respective worlds.  God has guaranteed us life (high life) for eternity!  In exchange, all He asks of us is for us to give Him THIS life while we are here.

So there you have it.  These are the things that I will be communicating consistently to our men through my time of influence in MoMENtum.  I trust that you share my sentiments and that you seek your role in redefining what it means to be a godly man here at The Journey.

Let me take a moment to share  some of the key thoughts that I have regarding MoMENtum.  Our mascot is a steam engine train.  This image is vital to so much of what I see for our men.  It represents getting on track with God and each other.  It suggests having deliberateness in our journey… that we are going somewhere particular.  It suggests that we will be bringing others with us (as people rarely travel on trains without others around them).  There may be many on the train, but there is only ONE conductor (God).  The train will exhaust tremendous fuel and energy to move its first centimeter.  However, once it is in motion, it quickly builds up steam, speed and impact.  Once it is in full motion there is very little that could stop it. These are the governing thoughts that I have for how God will build and bless this ministry.  We are content to start small and slow, but we fully anticipate that in time God could bring us to full throttle and we could (in essence) be bringing with us hundreds even thousands with ease once we are in full motion.

Another one of the governing thoughts I have for how we will build this ministry is to let Jesus do the hard stuff.  He promised in John 12:32 that “When the Son of man is lifted up from the earth He will draw all men unto Himself.”  As much as I realize He is obviously referring to the Cross, I feel at peace with stretching the application of the scripture for the growth of the Kingdom of God.  Let me explain, I believe that when we “lift up” Jesus in any way that He will keep the same promise.  When we “lift Him up” with our words, our lives, our attitudes, in our conversations, in our work places, in our priorities, in our activities, in all these things and more…that HE will actively “draw all men to Himself”.  I believe that in the doing of these things that God works in the hearts of those who witness them and He goes to work literally drawing them unto to Himself.  He is a living God and to this day still actively engages in the winning of souls for His Kingdom.  All WE have to do is willingly and consistently and boldly “Lift Him up”.  Can I get an Amen!?

I look forward to meeting you personally and benefiting because of knowing you.  Iron sharpens iron and so man sharpens man.  Let’s not hesitate to rub shoulders in battle and service to our God and our culture.

Men, there is an exciting year laid out before us.  Get plugged in soon.  You don’t want to be on the outside looking in when God begins to move mightily with, through and on behalf of His men.

After our discussion of accountability the other night, I believe it would be helpful to refine what Biblical accountability looks like. Several models display how accountability can allow us to help each other become better disciples of Jesus. These are the relationship between Barnabas and the Apostle Paul, the relationships between Paul and both Timothy and Titus, a small group, marriage, the local church in general, and the Triune God . This series will look at three types of accountability relationships from the models presented above. These three types of relationships, when combined with help anyone take their discipleship journey to a “whole ‘nutha level.” After considering the above, it is time for us dive right in and look at the relationship between Barnabas and Paul.

The first thing to notice is how Barnabas was an advocate for Paul when he needed one. Peter and the rest of the apostles were hesitant to meet with Paul because of his history of persecuting the church. Barnabas stepped up and vouched for him, relaying the story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. One thing that this verse shows us about the relationship between accountability partners is that they know each other well. While the disciples in Jerusalem were nervous to let Paul into their midst, Barnabas knew Paul well enough to state that he had a genuine conversion to Christianity in a way that convinced the disciples in Jerusalem. Barnabas not only knew Paul that well, but he was willing to defend him.

Another thing that we can see regarding the relationship between Barnabas and the Apostle can be found in Acts 11:22-26. In this passage, Barnabas brings Paul to Antioch to help him teach and they spend a year on this endeavor. Once again we see how well Barnabas knows Paul. Barnabas can see that God gave Paul the gift of teaching. Additionally, Barnabas shares the stage with Paul, leaving Antioch to find Paul and bring him back to teach. While the Bible does not specifically say that Barnabas developed Paul’s gift of teaching, one would likely not be far off the mark in believing that he did help Paul develop this gift.

The final aspect of the relationship between these two men of God we will explore is found in Acts 15:37-39. In these verses, Paul suggests to Barnabas that they leave Antioch to visit the other churches they have started. Barnabas wishes to bring John Mark (who had travelled with the pair on their first journey), but Paul does not agree. Barnabas apparently believes Paul is wrong though, because Barnabas leaves with John Mark and they go their own way. We can see later that Barnabas may have at least in part been right about John Mark since John Mark and Paul end up being reconciled. This is evident from that fact that both Colossians 4:10 and Philemon 1:24 indicate that the two are together during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome.

Therefore, to wrap up, the relationship between Barnabas and Paul shows us several key aspects of accountability relationships. As we have seen, Barnabas knew Paul extremely well. Barnabas was also willing to defend Paul’s character when it needed to be. Barnabas also put his trust in Paul and helped Paul to develop his gift of teaching. Finally, Barnabas was not afraid to put his foot down when he believed Paul was wrong, and stood his ground concerning Paul’s mistake. Ultimately, by doing the same for each other, we can help one another to live our lives more like Christ.

Points to consider:
1) How can you and your accountability partner begin to get to know each other better? Eric said it best the other night…we should know each other well enough so that it is evident when something is going on with our partner, even though they do not wish to admit it.
2) Is there a set order to how these aspects should occur in an accountability relationship, or do they “just happen?”
3) Commit to each other that you will hold each other up.

Welcome to the moMENtum website! It is still very much a work in progress…please bear with us as we work to bring great content designed to help you grow in your daily walk with Jesus, in the home, and in the workplace.