Uncategorized – Westchester Men's Ministry

Feedback Please

January 24, 2016 by nymensministry Leave a Comment

I have let this blog go dormant over the last few years, due to a lack of time to write meaningful posts. I’ve continued to post on twitter (@NYMensMinistry), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NYMensministry/), Google+ and even Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/nymensministry/), where we have nearly 8k followers.

I thought I would ask what is most valuable to you, in your walk? Should we try to post more often here, and if so, on what topics?

If you’d rather not post publicly, you can always send us an e-mail at NYMensMinistry@yahoo.com

Thanks and God Bless Small Groups

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Journaling: What Did You Learn?

December 21, 2012 by nymensministry Leave a Comment

Journaling, journal, challenge, Bible, Bible study Today is day 40 of our 40 day journaling challenge!! Congratulations! I hope you have enjoyed this challenge. I would definitely like to hear what you’ve learned and anything else you would like to share. Please add a comment either here or on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/NYMensministry

I thought I would share some of my thoughts on what I’ve learned, in no particular order:

God is faithful! He desires to spend time with us and blesses us when we do. Especially if we are not doing it out of obligation
God talks! I knew this but who among us, would rather hear themselves instead of God? I hope I can continue to improve my ability to hear his still quiet voice.
He makes it clear that He is the one speaking. Someone mentioned that they heard something on the radio about prayer, and they thought, ‘come on speak about James 5 because that is what I’m studying. They than went to their Bible study group and the topic was about how James 5 relates to prayer! Amazing. I, too, have seen God give me two unrelated pieces and than all of a sudden he gives me the middle piece that causes it all to make sense.
Practically, it is easier to pray and journal first thing in the morning. I found that if I didn’t do it then, there was only a 50% chance that I would do it at all. This might just be me.
Everything technique you use can be hijacked by the devil. As I pray, sometimes I would find myself reflecting on the previous day. Sometimes God would show me the truth behind certain events or bring to mind something I thought during the day. Other times, the devil would use it as a way to distract me from hearing God.

Day40

These thoughts are off the top of my head and I would love to hear what you experienced, even if you journaled for just one day.

I can tell you that I hope to continue to journal and grow closer to God and I hope you do too. Please let us know what you think. Thanks!

Journaling: What Did You Learn? by Westchester Men’s Ministry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Fourth Man in the Furnace

September 1, 2012 by nymensministry Leave a Comment

– From ‘The Voice of the Martyrs'” http://www.persecution.com/

Twenty-seven-year-old evangelist “Sajid Masih” climbed aboard the bus that would take him to his next mission. He was heading into hostile territory, a region of Pakistan dominated by Islamic extremists.

As the bus carried him toward a dangerous and uncertain future, Sajid reflected on a dream he had experienced before completing Bible school. In the dream, he saw one of Pakistans prominent cities in the future, with a large, open door at the city entrance. Sajid said he believed the dream was God’s way of telling him He would take him in a new direction and open doors for sharing the gospel in Pakistani cities.

In the decade following that dream, Sajid led many Pakistani’s to Christ. Most that he met were open to the gospel, and some experienced miraculous healings.

Now, as he headed toward a new adventure, Sajid struck up a conversation with several passengers seated nearby and began to tell them about Jesus. They were interested to hear more, but a bearded man sitting behind Sajid was incensed by what he heard and began to argue with him.

“You Christians do not consider anything about our prophet, so why should we listen to you talk about your Bible?” the man demanded.

Calmly and respectfully, Sajid replied, “Our Bible has no reference about your prophet.”

“The prophet was written in your Bible,” the man continued, “but you people would not accept it so you changed the words to your own.” Sajid did not respond. He knew he could not reason with someone so angry.

The long bus ride came to and end shortly after sunset. After Sajid got off the bus, a dozen men gathered around him. They quickly overpowered Sajid, placed a blindfold over his eyes and shoved him into the back seat of a car. Twenty-five minutes later, they arrived at a compound and took him into a room for questioning.

“Who are you?” they demanded. “Are you a preacher? Are you converting Muslims? Which organization do you belong to?”

Sajid fell silent with fear, but his persecutors threatened to kill him if he didn’t respond to their questions. “I am telling you the truth,” Sajid explained, “I am God’s preacher.”

“If you want to spare your life, you must deny your faith and become a Muslim,” his captors warned. “If you don’t do as we say, we will torture you and within 30 minutes your passion for Christianity will disappear.”

“I am ready for whatever you choose to do to me,” Sajid replied. “I am prepared to die for Jesus, and I will not lose my passion for him no matter what you do to me.“

Sajid’s kidnappers took him outside, tied his hands behind his back and forced him to stand on a block of ice with his back against a tree. They tied a rope around his chest and legs securing him to the tree. After four hours on the block of ice, Sajid’s feet began to suffer from frostbite. He could endure the ice no longer and cried out to Jesus for help. “Suddenly, I saw a vision of a radiant angel appearing in front of me,” Sajid said.

Sajid’s pain eased and he regained his strength. He was inspired to sing several worship songs, despite the possible consequences of annoying his persecutors. Then he fell unconscious. When he awoke at 3 am, he realized he had been dumped in a drainage ditch at the side of the road. His wallet and a Hebrew language book he had been carrying were lying beside him.

A passerby took Sajid to a local hotel where he recovered for three days. He contacted his brother who brought him home for more rest and medical treatment.

He says although his trial was difficult, he felt Jesus was very close to him. “When we suffer and face trouble, Jesus comes very close to us”, he said. Just as a “fourth man” appeared with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, Jesus was present with Sajid in the midst of his suffering.

When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were delivered from the fiery furnace, King Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God” (Daniel 3:28)

Like the men in Daniel, Sajid yielded his body to torture in order to worship no god except their own God. His witness and courageous faith inspire us. We thank God for his deliverance from Pakistan’s fiery furnace and pray that the Lord will continue to use him mightily.

Filed Under: courage, Faith, trials, Uncategorized Tagged With: block of ice, Christ, faith, furnace, pakistan, Pakistanis, Sajid Masih, torture, trials

Olympians and Christians

July 29, 2012 by nymensministry 3 Comments

Olympics Medal London 2012 I was watching the Olympics and it wasn’t long before I heard one of the personal stories that the games have become known for over the years. A story of sacrifice and suffering characterizes the very different life of an Olympian.

I then saw a commercial in which various different athletes declared small sacrifices they have made: “I haven’t watched TV since last summer,” ” I haven’t had dessert in a year,” “I missed my school prom,” etc.

As I thought about these sacrifices, I reflected on the Christian life and how, in many ways, the life of an aspiring Olympian is similar. Christian men sacrifice daily for their wives, family and for God. They don’t do what they want to do. They stand out. They are different from everyone else and that is difficult. It takes strength, courage, and most of all, faith!

Purity ring men

I was told recently about a young relative who wears a purity ring. The ring reminds him that he is saving himself for marriage. So, when he is tempted, when he has desires, he can stop and realize that there is something better in store for him. I’m sure this faith in God’s promises strengthens him. In many ways this ring is a reminder of the medal (or the crown as the Bible calls it) that we ought to strive for in the race of our lives.

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:14 (NIV)

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. ” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“If we do anything to further the kingdom of God, we may expect to find what Christ found on that road – abuse, indifference, injustice, misunderstanding, trouble of some kind. Take it. Why not? To that you were called. In Latin America someone who feels sorry for himself is said to look like a donkey in a downpour. If we think of the glorious fact that we are on the same path with Jesus, we might see a rainbow. ” – Elisabeth Elliot

“To take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us.” – John Henry Newman

“You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” – 1 Corinthians 6:20

“If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love. ” – Amy Carmichael

You see our sacrifices are nothing, as Paul said so well in Philippians 3:8: “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

May we gain the prize, Christ!!

Amen!

Filed Under: Christian Men, courage, Faith, trials, Uncategorized Tagged With: crown, God, Jesus, medal, Olympians, Olympics, race, sacrifice, trials

Real Revolutions Start with Sacrifice

October 15, 2011 by nymensministry 1 Comment

All true revolutions seem to have started with huge sacrifices, in many cases including martyrdom. I believe it is because we have a sense of justice and rightness. An inherit willingness to die for a cause or for someone we love. This is just one of the ways we were made in God’s image.

A person or a small group of people see an injustice and can no longer keep quiet. They have what Bill Hybels calls a “Popeye moment”. That is they have a moment of holy discontent, they say “I’ve had all I can stand, I can’t stands no more!” They decide that this is a cause worth fighting, a cause worth dying for. They put on the gloves, they take up their cross and get to work. This moment “prompts us not to indifference and not to despair, but a moment that empowers us to rise up and do something about it.”

Pastor and playwright Kay Munk lived in Denmark amid Germany’s occupation during World War II. He drew the attention of the Gestapo because of his outspoken opposition to the persecution of the Jews in Denmark.

In 1941, he preached on the Good Samaritan. In his sermon he stated that “Christ-ians follow Jesus by loving their neighbors as themselves. This is the truth that the Good Samaritan tale puts before us; it calls its hearers to face up to the needs of a flesh and blood neighbor. To have a flesh and blood neighbor,” says Munk, “puts you in an either/or position. Either you may be a help to your neighbor or a burden.” Either you protect the sheep or you are one of the wolves.

Munk insisted on, and showed unflinching honesty about, what is helpful. To name the wolves so that the flock can protect itself better helps the neighbor in Jesus’ name. The wolves must be resisted for the sheep’s sake, and for their own sakes. Munk says: “It was not the task of the Good Samaritan to look up the robbers afterwards and compliment them for work well done. The goodness of God as we see it in Jesus is meek and long-suffering, but never compromises with evil.”

Therefore he called for mercy for the Jews, striking workers, hungry in city and on farms, and for confused children in an unstable world.

He was executed by the Gestapo in January of 1944. His body was found in a ditch by the side of the road, his Bible was next to him, along with this writing:

“What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer “Faith, hope and love?” That sounds beautiful. But I would say – courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature…we lack a holy rage – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity.

The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth…a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lies that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction, peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.

And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish…but never the chameleon.” (As found in Irresistible Revolution pg. 294)

His killers honored Munk’s outspoken resistance to the Nazi occupation by their ruthless but futile determination to silence him. The people heard his message. Despite the danger from the Nazis who had killed Munk, four thousand Danes came to his funeral. They commemorated him with a lively courage and faith like his own, both then and throughout the war.

Good shepherds protect the sheep from the wolves. Munk insisted: “Jesus’ fight against the wolves continues through the church which will allow itself to be torn to pieces rather than let robber or wolf gain entrance to the fold.”

Will you answer the call and stand up for your family, your children, your wife. Saying I see the wolves in our society. The wolves of materialism and selfishness. I choose to sacrifice my time and ambitions for the sake of my family and friends. For “I’ve had all I can stand and I can’t stands no more!”

If your answer is yes, see www.NYMensMinistry.com/MENTOR

Material garnered from some of the following sites:

http://www.pietisten.org/summer99/kajmunk.html

http://www.richfieldumc.org/20110417.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/weekinreview/23worth.html

Filed Under: Christian, Dying to yourself, Persistence, trials, Uncategorized Tagged With: Christian men, holy discontent, holy rage, leaders, revolt, revolution, righteous anger, sacrifice, take up your cross

The Demise of Guys?!

October 9, 2011 by nymensministry 2 Comments

We originally posted a TED talk on the impact of frequent TV, gaming and porn consumption. After further reflection, we believe the talk didn’t make the case strong enough. Please watch this space over the next week – we will share more data on this issue.

We will also share data on the epidemic of fatherless households. Sometimes this is due to the physical absence of the husband/father, and sometimes it is due to the emotional absence. Both, have a huge impact on a child.

In the meanwhile, please support the below MENTOR initiative. Thank you!

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I don’t pretend to have all the answers but this is one of the reasons we have a men’s ministry. We refuse to sit idly by, while our children and grandchildren, our sons and daughters, our friends and family become victims to our society! We are starting a movement! Will you join us?!

The movement is of fathers to sacrifice for their children and become a M – E – N – T – O – R:

M = They Model the behavior. So that their children say ‘I want to be like that!’. Pastor Denny Henderson
said it best when he said his father told him that he could always be confident in ‘doing what I do. saying what I say, watching what I watch, reading what I read’. He would never do anything that he, his son, shouldn’t do.

E = They Engage and Encourage. It’s important to know what your son is interested in, what they are worried about, what they are excited about. As someone said, part of loving someone is caring about what they care about.

N = They Share the Good News. A firm foundation based on the Gospel. As Jesus says in Matthew 7 and Luke 6, you will not be able to stand trials if you do not have a strong foundation. The foundation is Jesus and we build on that foundation through obedience.

T = They Commit their Time. We need to spend time not only with our children but with our wives. How we treat their mothers teaches them a lot about how they should treat women. As Rev. Theodore Hesburgh said ‘The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.’

O = They Expect Obedience. There is a place for respect and displine in parenting. As we are obedient to God, we need to ensure our children our respectful and obedient to us and other people in authority.

R = And They Regulate. As parents we need to regulate the amount and quality of TV, internet and gaming that is consumed by our kids. We need to create boundaries of appropriate behavior. Ironically once they know the boudaries it creates a refuge for them because they know what is appropriate. It’s like the anology that rules in baseball allow us to enjoy the game. We don’t have to worry about someone running to first and hitting the first baseman in the head with the bat before they are tagged.

Are you willing to make this commitment? For your son’s sake, for your sake, I hope so. May God bless you all!

Filed Under: boundaries, Christian Fathers, Christian Men, dad, Husbands, Uncategorized

In Jesus’ Name

August 28, 2011 by nymensministry 1 Comment

A Prayer from Jesus; He gets the Credit

It isn’t uncommon today for someone to donate money to a cause on another’s behalf. This could be done as a gift or to celebrate / mourn an event. They may have said “I have made a donation to this organization in your name“. Of course you would thank them, especially if you have strong feelings for the organization or its purpose. The fact the money was given in your name means you get the credit for the donation rather than the giver.

I was thinking the other night that this isn’t that different from a prayer said in Jesus’ name. When we say “in Jesus’ name” at the end of a prayer, we’re saying that this prayer should be treated as if it came from Jesus directly. Also He will get the credit for any good thing that comes from it.

Authority

There is a difference though. Unlike donating to a charity, a prayer said in our own name will not be accepted. It’s not because God doesn’t love us but because we aren’t righteous (sinless) and therefore have no ability or authority to ask on our own behalf. Think about it this way, although this isn’t a perfect analogy, if you needed a favor from someone but you recently had a bad argument with them, it isn’t likely that they would go out on a limb to help you. They may not even want to talk to you. You would need someone else who they respect and possible love, to go on your behalf and ask them.

When we pray in Jesus’ name, we are asking Jesus to be the conduit with God. To advocate for us because He is the only one who can. We are also following the direction He gave us in John 14:13-14.

His Will

Now, if we were to take the anology about donations above a little further, we can attempt to explain the last point on this topic. If someone said that they would like to donate money or time to an organization in your name, and the organization had a purpose/mission that you strongly opposed, you would refuse. Or you might recommend a different organization.

In the same way, when we pray in Jesus’ name our prayers must align with God’s will. If we ask for something that doesn’t glorfiy God, than we shouldn’t expect the prayer to be answered. Actually if we are truely open to God’s will, many times we know this before we even complete the prayer. One of the hardest aspects of prayer, is the letting go of our will.

Of course Jesus says in John 14:12 that we must also pray with faith. We must believe. If God is worth praying to, He’s worthy also of our expectations that our prayer will be answered. Isn’t He?

May God bless your reading of this blog entry, in Jesus’ very precious name!

Filed Under: Faith, God, Jesus, Prayer, Uncategorized

Repentance

August 17, 2011 by nymensministry Leave a Comment

Heard a great sermon yesterday by James MacDonald on Repentance. Definitely worth a listen. Let us know what you think below!

Pastor James explains, when you get specific about what God wants to change, God provides no shortage of opportunities to work on it. God loves us so much that He doesn’t want to leave us the way we are. Learn the importance of repentance in the process of change.

Process of Change – Step 1 Repentance

Filed Under: Forgiveness, Persistence, Prayer, Repent, Salvation, Uncategorized Tagged With: not really sorry, passion for God, repentance