I was visiting with a special friend of mine recently (LPB) and we were reminiscing on his relationship with his sons and the talk was drawn to the unsaved sons.    His heart was aching on what he could have or should have or could do about bringing them to a relationship with Jesus Christ.   As most guys do – the blame game always comes up — How did he fail them:   Was he always tired and angry when raising them because he worked midnights – did they turn because he made them go to church – were they abused because of his lack of protection – did he not tell them that he loved them enough – how could he help them with their debts (student loans – tough losses) – because of his failures did they stray away.     As you can see his heart ached and he was crying out to Jesus for help……..

Well as the conversation went forward – the premonition that he received was that the only thing he could do was “Pray” and go forward the best he could – because only through his own relationship with Christ could he be successful.    One of my great friends (Nick) and I were having a conversation about Grace recently – we came to this conclusion:  We are given Grace (which can be very difficult to accept) and giving Grace can be very difficult to give someone…. but giving ourselves Grace is next to impossible.   *So we must forgive ourselves and go forward.

As the story would go – one of his sons called recently and stated that he was going through a process to cleanse his body and his soul.   His son was looking for a way to seek GOD and wanted to know about a few things.  It was like the story of the Prodigal Son – Pure Joy and celebration – and the tears just flowed and flowed and flowed….  (He lost a couple of Man Points – but he says no one but him and God knew about it).    As the story would go – it is through our brokenness that God does his greatest work – but this would be the brokenness of the Father – From this he has a much deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.  His sons are hard workers and now he has hope for their salvation.

My thoughts come back to Obedience:  If we Cry out to Jesus out of our brokenness and seek his help – all things are possible.  We will receive great Joy – Wisdom – Hope and a much greater relationship with Jesus Christ and with all those who surround us.

We are all People of a Second Chance.                    AMEN.

Bobby G.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
In my travels this week all this stuff kept going through my head…  Passion – Obedience – Humility – Wisdom (Fear of the Lord) and I was struggling trying to come up with a Blog.  I was born and raised in a Christian home and when I went through a study called Experiencing God (at about the age of 38) it blew me away.  What is this thing about having a relationship with God – I was saved when I was 12….. but I found out there was more to it. 
      I just got a News Letter from a good Pastor Friend of mine (Velcro) and he wrote a section on “New Creation” –  this is what had been going bump through my head (article below).   With true passion comes the knowledge of where it comes from and then there is no holding it back.   But with that passion comes the desire to be Obedient – Humility and then the knowledge of Wisdom that only comes from the fear of the Lord (Proverbs)……  WOW 
               Bobby G.
 ENJOY

 New Creation

                A friend of ours has been a Christian for a great many years, yet through those years, he was divorced several times and his children would seldom visit and he had no friends and even his co-workers didn’t really like him.
                 A few years ago, this Christian man suffered a very traumatic event. Since that day, he has built a great marriage with a wonderful lady and his children look forward to visits and he has friends everywhere he turns and his co-workers enjoy just being around him.
                  What happened? That’s the question his son asked me. My only answer was that he had yielded his life to God. His son responded with, “But he’s been a Christian since before I was born.” My reply was that there is a difference between saying “I am a Christian” and experiencing the life-changing reality of God Almighty.
                  Unfortunately, we too often tell people, “All you have to do is say this prayer …” and we don’t even realize we have missed the most important part of salvation – the heart. The change from “Old things are passed away” to “All things are made new (2 Corinthians 5:17) requires our hearts to change.
               Without the heart change, Christianity is just a bunch of “Do’s” and “Don’ts”. The “best Christians” are the ones who obey the most rules but they do not understand the reality of being a Christian.
                True Christianity is being obedient to God not because we have a list of rules but because there is nothing more important in the world than to please our God. Being a true Christian means loving others, all others, so much that when others hurt, you feel their pain. True Christianity is not about you, your wants, or your needs. True Christianity is about serving others.
Pastor Velcro    churchwithanattitude.com 
 
 

I had the privilege of joining a Prayer event this last Sunday at the Depot that was extremely powerful and it was put together by 6 Pastors from 4 different Churches.  (Thanks to Pastors Galen, Shawn, Jeff, Max, Roger and Bob).  This was great seeing the churches coming together for One Cause – One Purpose in unity to Pray.  This is an event that needs to happen more often in as many venues as possible.     It was great to see The Church come together minus any denomination differences in unity and seeing a packed Depot full of Men/Women and young people praying.  
 
 There are many other areas where this can happen…              **My Pastor (Bob) has this vision of a non-denominational team going out door to door in a united Evangelism effort to share Jesus – and doing this for The Church and not A Church…    Evangelism at it’s best – no one trying to get people to a specific church.            **My wife has a Special Women’s Bible study that has women from different churches going through an intense 29 week study…   There are no divisional doctrines separating them from an enhanced study and there is healing through it all.
 
             Real quick point of clarification – I do believe we should all have a specific church to worship and serve in, but it is awesome when we can join together for a specific cause and be united.  GMM was started for just this purpose – our two major points of what to expect from a GMM Conference cover being united. https://godsmightymen.com/conferenc/
 
            1.  “To stand up and band together” – GMM would have all men be united in one body, that they would break down all denominational barriers and be able to connect with a larger body of Godly men.                 2.  “With encouragement and the power that the Holy Spirit gives, God’s Mighty Men will stand up and band together to win souls for Christ, while at the same time fortifying their town and churches from Satan’s attack.” –  GMM would have all men go back as warriors to their churches wearing the armor of GOD for the purpose of bringing the lost in and building up their congregations to win the battle.  They would also cover their congregations with the power of prayer to protect them from Satan’s attacks.
 
     I can see unity happening other cities and there is hope that it will keep on expanding.  I have connected with Murray in Laramie and I see the same unification working in his Churh and Community.  His Church is having a Men’s Conference and they have invited all men from all churches to come.  The Laramie Churches are also coming together and having a non-denominational prayer event this Thursday.  AMEN
 
  **You can see God doing some powerful work in our area.
 
             One of the Scriptures shared by one of the Pastors at the Depot was:        If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. – Jeremiah 18:7-10
 
     So my prayer would  be that more of these Events will be coming and that we start uniting as “The Church” (Or as Galen would say THE Big C) – that more Christians would join in bringing together a Spirit of Unity so that God would place on us the Good that he has intended for us to receive.
 
 Bobby G
 

     In my job I get to travel allot and several years ago I was training inGreen River WY. and one of the employees got my attention.  While I was training Jeff started complaining about another employee who was a Christian and how he was always Preaching at everyone.   Then he turned to me and looked me straight in the eyes and asked the question “Are you one of those Jesus Freaks”?????………………………………………   I pondered that question and finally answered it — but the really big question that popped in my head was –   “Do people see Jesus in Me?”
    Since then I look at Evangelism in a different way – I believe one of the greatest tools for Evangelism is that people need to see Jesus in Me.  I do not mean that I am suppose to be Preaching at everyone that I encounter – but that I have a Spirit of Jesus that it is the core of my personality.  When people connect with me – they will encounter something really Special/Different that they will want to know more about.  It will become such a contagious personality that it will enable me to share what makes me Different. J
 
    I have been blessed to have a couple of people in my life that portray that type of personality:
            One of them is my Wife:   She has one of those Special personalities and it is apparent when she encounters people at her work.  I believe that the people come to experience her and leave with this special feeling because of the work that Jesus is doing through her – The Services she supplies becomes secondary to them.
            The other person is Jim (one of GMM’s Great Leaders).  Jim and I have been doing ministry work for a very long time – but recently he had a very bad Motorcycle accident and it will take him several months to re-coop.  What has been amazing is the way he is going forward through this terrible accident.  Anyone who has come into contact with him knows that there is something special and he has been a great example of People seeing Jesus in him.
 
    So the question comes back – Do they see Jesus in Me?  –  I have come a long ways since that first encounter of being asked if I was a Jesus Freak and I have a very long way to go to make sure that I am never asked that again.  I try to focus on each experience that I encounter and try to decipher how Jesus would respond and it is getting better.
     I have also had to understand that not everyone will see Jesus in me and there will be times that I really blow it.  I also have to remind myself – Jesus encountered Pharisees that seen him as an enemy and we will too – but I still need to focus on my response as I go forward as Jesus did.
 
Here are some areas to Ponder the Question:  Do they see Jesus in Me?  (You may have others that I have not identified – the list could be very largeJ).
 

1. When I have a disagreement at Church – Do the Church members see Jesus in Me?
2. When I am playing Softball and the Umpire makes a terrible call – Do the Team members see Jesus in Me?  (Pastor Bob)
3. When I am standing in the really long line at the Post Office – Do the people around me see Jesus in Me?  (Just had to plug this one in)
4. When I get bad service at a Restaurant or Store – Do the Servers see Jesus in Me?  (2$ bills)
5. When the Bad Driver cuts me off – Does my family see Jesus in Me?  (Pres. Ryan)
6. When I am in a tough work enviroument – Do my Co-Workers see Jesus in Me? 
7. My Relationship with my wife – Does she see Jesus in Me?  Ditto for my Kids…
8. When I am encountering one those Hardships that are suppose to be pure Joy – Does the world see Jesus in Me? (Jim – you are doing great)

 
**So when people encounter me – the encounter should be pointing to Him…
 
Bobby G.
 
 

     This will be our 4^th GMM Conference and we have enjoyed the progression of each theme that God has presented to us:

“”How big is Your GOD”

 “Alive in Christ”

“Driven by the Power of the Holy Spirit”

“Activate Your Faith”

We also have what we expect  you to get when you attend a Conference – check on the Tab for the Conference to see what they are.
But my biggest question is what does “Activate Your Faith” look like – Pastor Roger helped us in getting the theme for the upcoming Conference while I was having lunch with him.   The discussion was along the lines of guys stepping out and doing some service projects in the Downtown area – and his comment was – “Wouldn’t that be great to see guys activating their faith”…  and with some help from a couple of the board members (Jim and Jay) we came up with the Theme.
Well I have been pondering that question and I have to tell you – it must look different for everyone and every church.  God has given us all different gifts and we all seem to have our own unique relationship with him.   So when I look around to see how this is demonstrated – I see it in allot of different ways.
Here are some of them:

1.  Church’s:   Pastor Jason has this Miracle Mile (expanding to 2 miles) that surrounds his church.  The Church members look for different ways to serve the needs of the community (Homes – Schools – Businesses and even other Church’s).  Could you imagine another church helping a different church become successful?  WOW.
2. Prayer:  Pastor Grant has been putting together a Prayer Event in which several groups of guys take on a 2 to 3 mile section of a 30 mile circumference around the city and pray for the city.
3. Service Projects:   This could be in Your Church – Your Community – Homeless Shelters – Hospitals – Rest Homes etc….
4. Evangelism:   Taking in a stranger for the night – A friend from Church (Micah) did that one night after our Bible study – he took in a young couple that was going to spend the night in their Van at the Church parking lot…  talk about activating your faith.

My thoughts could go on forever – but what I would really like to know is….                How do you explain or see “Activate Your Faith”?  –  Please send me an email and explain what your thoughts are on the topic – as I stated it looks different to everyone.
Email to bobbyg@godsmightymen.com.      Or you can post a comment on this Blog.
Bobby G.

 
I have a very wise Pastor (Pastor Bob) whom I seek Godly wisdom from and he has helped shape my relationships with my wife and sons.  One of Bob’s greatest pieces of Wisdom that he passed on to me was on the Making of the Bed.  *This is my version of the story –   It seems that in Bob’s earlier days of his Pastoral work, he would have to work about 32 hours a day – when he would come home after his very hard day at work – he would go into the bed room and the bed was never made.   This bothered him so much that one day after a very hard day at work he approached his wife and in his anger proceeded to tell her how much he disapproved of this practice and that he would like some changes to be made (namely the bed).  Bob has a very wise wife –  she just looked at him and wisely stated “Bob if it bothers you so much that the Bed is not made – then Make it – I am OK with the way it is”.   Can you see where this is going….
            Well I went home that afternoon (My wife did not make the bed either) and I proceeded to make my Half of the Bed and not hers…    When Diane got home and noticed this – she gave me this puzzled look and asked about it…   OK – here is comes – I could finally tell her that I wanted the bed made – so in all my wisdom and courage, I said…   “Pastor Bob told me to do it!!!”
            The real wisdom of this story is:   As Husbands or Dads (or just being a guy) – There are several things that will bother us about someone or something that we get very angry about – which will lead to extreme problems in our relationships and even our health.   About 95% of the time the problem is not with the other person – but with us.  First of all we need to do a personal check on ourselves and see who really has the problem – normally it will be us – so we just need to fix it (make the bed if it really bothers you).  I share this bit of wisdom allot with the guys that I am around because there is so much healing in our relationships when we focus on the real problem –  we must communicate with ourselves and correct it.
            I do need to tell you that this has been a life saver in my marriage – work – raising my sons and friendships.  I do a reality check on myself allot……    there is one more piece of Wisdom that came out of this —    EVERYONE NEEDS A PASTOR TO BLAME…  so when you do not have a great answer or are in one of those situations that you need to get out of  – just state “Pastor Bob Told me to do it… “     IT Works.
 
Bobby G

As God’s mighty men, we need to grow stronger is getting to know God everyday.  On these pages we hope to encourage and provide a space to share thoughts of God’s plan for our lives.
As Proverbs 27 tells us, “As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.”
It takes iron to sharpen iron. Sharpening a knife requires iron at least as hard as the knife. Once sharpened, a knife is bright, sharp, and ready for much more productive service.