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New home page and domain:  www.BiblicalMan.org

You can still access and direct people to the current site as it is now. Our goal with this site is to provide believers with the resources that are helpful, if not necessary, for their spiritual growth in Christ! This resource website is targeted for men, but has lots of information that would be useful to anyone who is seeking to glorify Christ with their entire life.

Again thanks for following and please know your comments, encouragements, and content suggestions are always welcome.

In Christ,

Chad Gray

Also, as always, I like to share my resources for this study:

ESV Online Study Bible

Audio Messages from Matt Chandler: “The Art of Prayer” & “The Reign and Rule of God”

Book “Evangelism and The Sovereignty of God” by J.I. Packer

Prayer, Evangelism, & The Sovereignty of God

God’s sovereignty in prayer:

Eph 1:3-11 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

Prov. 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Ps. 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Jer. 10:23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

Ps. 135:6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

•    He is sovereign over ALL things! Proverbs elsewhere says even the roll of the die belongs to God.
•    He predestines according to His council and will.
•    IF THIS IS TRUE… WHY PRAY??

There are two answers to this question, one short, one long. Long answer first.

•    All throughout the Bible God’s people are constantly asking Him for things… personally, for others, to change their circumstances, etc. AND… GOD LISTENS!
•    Ex. 32:9 – The Lord tells Moses to get out of the way, He’s going to kill everyone and start all over with Moses. Moses begs and implores God to remember His promise and spare these people, and God relents.

James 4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

•    Does this passage not imply that if we would ask, we would have?

Lk. 11:9-10 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be     opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
2 Chron. 7:14  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all     unrighteousness.

•    If God has already sovereignly decided what He will do, then these verses put us in a bit of a theological quandary don’t they?
•    Is God truly sovereign over all things or can WE move Him by our prayers???.. YES! Back to this in just a minute.
•    Since we’re asking questions, take a look at Eph 2:8-9
•    Just a side note question while you’re looking that verse up: If you believe in the total free will of man, meaning that man’s choosing of Christ as Lord is all up to that person, then why pray and ask God to save them? If He answers your prayer, did He not violate the free will of the person He saved? Just something to think about.

Eph. 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on     the last day.

•    If God is completely sovereign and only He can open the eyes of men and draw them to salvation and change their heart… Why preach? Why study to teach? Why share the gospel at all?

Rom. 10:14-17 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

•    We preach, study, teach, and share because God has established, in His wisdom, that it is through the proclamation of the Word that He will open eyes, save souls, and change lives.
•    The same is true with prayer… Why pray?

ANSWER #1 Prayer becomes the means by which the purposes of God are accomplished and that in that way, prayer changes things!

Two ditches to watch out for when dealing with this quandary of theology:

#1  Since God is sovereign over everything, prayer gets pushed back out of the way into some corner that we rarely visit and the intellect reigns and rules. Prayer becomes a very small part of our lives.
#2  God becomes a genie in a lamp that gives us whatever we ant as long as we rub the lamp just     right.

ANSWER #2 Why pray? Simply… God has commanded that we pray!

God’s sovereignty in evangelism / missional living:

We’ve already answered the big question of why we preach or teach or share the Gospel with our friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, etc. Now we’ll talk a little more about how God’s sovereignty plays into us getting to be a part of the miracle of someone’s salvation.

•    Share the story of how God orchestrated my salvation experience.
•    The lady that shared her faith with me had it right. She set out to make a disciple of Christ and not just a convert. She gave up or devoted a season of her life to the goal of making me a disciple. She fulfilled the Text!
•    Evangelism, especially in the South carries kind of a negative connotation because in the past it has been somewhat focused on converts and numbers. Missional living or living your life on mission is about the reign and rule of God, not just making converts.
•    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against evangelism, but it is NOT an event we do, it’s how we see the world.

Ps. 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of     them.

•    God formed not only your physical make up and appearance, but also your unseen characteristics and traits.
•    He did this on purpose. For us to take care of what He has for us.
•    I’m not the most gifted teacher, by far, but it is no mistake that I am here right now talking to you about this, or that you are reading this blog.
•    But WHY did He do this??

Acts 17:22-26 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

•    God knit you together in the womb with passions, likes, dislikes, skills, gifts, abilities, etc… And He determined where and when you would live… And the number of your days… Again WHY?

Acts 17:27-28 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

•    This means that your neighborhood, job, hobbies, the things you are drawn to… ALL of it is eternally significant!
•    We see this at work here all the time at Cove Creek!
•    Again, it means that evangelism isn’t just something we do, it’s the lens by which we see the whole world. Our whole lives are about the reign and rule of God.
•    It also means that we are going to have to start opening our mouths and proclaiming the Gospel to those people we just hope are seeing our lives and will get saved just because we are trying to live a “good Christian life”.

I had a good friend of mine ask me at church if I could give him a few good podcasts to follow. I gave him a few that I could think of off the top of my head, but thought it would be nice if I could actually provide him with the links. Also post it for everyone else to be able to quickly access. In this post I have compiled a list of podcast and book authors that I have learned a lot from and that have influenced my life greatly.

• Matt Chandler – The Village Church, Dallas, TX Sermon Library / iTunes Subscription
  • Twitter / Facebook
• Mark Driscoll – Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA Podcast RSS / iTunes / Sermons / For Men
  • Twitter / Facebook
• Timothy Keller – Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York Sermon Library
• John Piper – Bethlehem Baptist, MN Sermon Library / Sermon RSS Feed / iTunes Subscription
  • Twitter / Facebook
• Voddie Baucham – Grace Family Baptist, TX Podcast RSS / iTunes Subscription

You can check out some of the sermons I have highlighted on my site here.

Also check out all the book links and reviews we’ve listed here. You can’t go wrong with any book by Tim Keller, C.S. Lewis, or John Piper.

Resources I used to help prepare for this message:

• Audio Message – “Wisdom” by Mark Driscoll.
• Audio Message – “What Is Adultery?” by Voddie Baucham.
• ESV Online Study Bible
• Blue Letter Bible

What is wisdom?  Dictionary.com defines it as “Knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgement as to action.”  i.e. “Knowing and doing what is right.”  Or even simpler… applied knowledge.

Where does wisdom come from?  True wisdom comes from God.  Prov. 1:7 – “… fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  James 1:5 – “If you lack wisdom ask God for it.”  And Prov. 3:19 – “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth.”

There are a few myths we have when it come to wisdom.

1. Age = Wisdom.  Theoretically this should be true because experience is one way we can learn wisdom.  But of course we know this isn’t always true or else the oldest people we know would always be the wisest people we know and we can feel safe going to them for council.
2. Intellect = Wisdom.  Some think that just because God has gifted someone with the ability to absorb knowledge and be very book smart, that that always translates into wisdom.  We all know people who are smarter than us, but don’t have very much common sense or “street smarts”
3. Education = Wisdom.  Lastly, some think that the more schooling someone has, the wiser they are.  Just because someone has a ton of degrees and knows more about a certain area than you may, doesn’t mean they are wise.  If that were true then people who had degrees that required the most school (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.) would be the wisest people we know.  Not necessarily.

How is wisdom learned?  Through experience, the council of others, and the Bible.  The book of Proverbs teaches wisdom a lot of times by contrasting wisdom with folly.  ‘The wise man does this, but the fool does this’.  Sometimes it’s easy to see what we should do by seeing what is wrong.

What is folly?  Lack of sense, or lack of judgment.  Unwise.  But, folly is not necessarily sin.  There are a lot of choices that we make that wouldn’t qualify as sin… they’re just dumb!  Though folly can and sometimes does lead to sin.  It puts you in situations that are not good, right, or healthy.

Proverbs 6 1-19 gives us a few practical warnings against folly.

Warning against co-signing loans.  6:1-5

Again, it’s not a sin to co-sign a loan with someone, it’s just not smart.  It gives the picture of being caught in a trap. It doesn’t make sense to co-sign. The bank has all the money and based on the person’s history, doesn’t trust them with a loan. You have no money, (or else you would loan or give it to them), thinking you know better than the bank, you put yourself in a tough spot for someone else.

2 Lessons:

1. Don’t co-sign.
2. Don’t put someone else in that position

Warning against laziness. 6:6-11

Laziness isn’t necessarily a sin, it’s just not smart.  Paul says if you don’t work, you don’t eat.  Laziness could lead to sin if you are not providing for your family as you are commanded to do.  Statistically we are getting less and less sleep and yet still complaining about not having enough time in the day.  How is that?  The amount of time in front of the TV and internet is steadily on the rise. Maybe we have too much entertainment.  It’s not a sin to Sabbath.  Sin is neglecting the Sabbath to do the things you needed to do in the week, but were too busy with entertainment.

3 things that help me when I get out of balance:

• Plate – Know what I can and can’t do. Honestly assess how much I can handle. How big is your plate?
• Prioritize – Arrange the most important things on my plate in order of importance.
• Prune – If it doesn’t fit…Kill it.  Heb. 12:1-Throw off sin and everything that hinders… Whether it’s morally sinful or morally neutral, if it hinders your race, throw it off.

Warning against crookedness and discord. 6:12-15

2 Warnings here:

1. Watch out for those who are always looking for a way to twist every situation to their own benefit.
2. Don’t be that person.

What God hates. 6:16-19

Verses 12-15 and 16-19 flow together with the focus of v. 16-19 being on the seventh thing the author mentions. We read the first 6 and agree with all of them, but tend to look over the 7th or think it’s not quite as “bad” as the others. But the Bible says a person who stirs up discord among his brothers is an abomination to God. We in the church, don’t need to stir things up just because something isn’t working out the way we want. AND we don’t need to tolerate others who do so. It’s useless and harmful.

Warning against adultery. 6:20-35

Why does Proverbs mention adultery so much?

1. Because he is trying to reveal to us how our relationship with God is similar to a marriage covenant and when we worship anyone or anything else, it’s like we are committing adultery on God.
2. It’s mentioned so much because God hates it. He hates what it does.

To fully understand this we have to look at the Biblical purposes for marriage.

1. Procreation-Genesis 1. The first commandment God gave was to “be fruitful and multiply.” This is not just having kids, but raising them in the fear and instruction of the Lord that we might take dominion as He commanded. BE FRUITFUL, NOT JUST MULTIPLY! Adultery opens us up to illegitimate children outside of our covenant relationship, thereby denying one set or both sets of children the parenting God requires in order for us to raise them the way He has commanded.
2. Sanctification-1 Cor. 7:1-5. Not the Greek/Roman romantic love America is infatuated with. Our culture just has it wrong! God gave us marriage in order to satisfy those desires that He gave us within a relationship that glorifies Him. Adultery takes those desires and fulfills them in a relationship that is outside of the context and covenant God established. It is, in essence, saying, “God, I know best. I know you set this up to meet my desires, my desires aren’t being met and I’m not satisfied with what you have set up. I’m going to do my own thing because I know best how to meet my needs.” It’s idolatry.
3. Illustration.  Rev. 19:5-8. Illustrates the relationship between Christ and His church. We’re painting a picture of how Christ loves us and cares for us.

Adultery is a perversion of the gospel. This picture of Christ who is forever faithful to His bride, sacrifices adn dies for His bride…Adultery turns that on it’s head. We were never meant to be fully satisfied this side of Heaven. That’s why God hates adultery. That’s why Proverbs mentions it so much. It destroys families, works against sanctification, and perverts the Gospel.

Jesus takes it a step further and lets the people know what God was after when He gave the 7th commandment. They thought it was all about the “act” of adultery. Jesus says “no,” if you lust after another person you have already agreed in your heart to commit adultery, already given yourself to another. You just haven’t had a chance to consummate the relationship yet. The “act” just exposes your heart.

Petra Ballet Company

Dads, don’t miss opportunities to be a blessing to your children and likely be blessed in return. Recently my 5 year old daughter started taking ballet at Glory & Grace ballet group, which teaches worship through dance (fantastic).  They brought in the Petra Ballet Company for a show this past Saturday night. My daughter was very excited to go to her first real ballet, and I, just wanting to spend time with her, agreed to take her. Keep in mind I’m not much of a dance/opera/musical kinda guy. I thought I would take her, have some fun with her, be bored at the show, but score some big daddy points in the process. God had other plans!

I was completely blown away by the Spirit of the Lord on the girls from Petra as they worshiped through dance.  I was able to be a blessing to my daughter by explaining to her what was happening in the different dances, as the gospel was presented in every single dance!  I was blessed in several ways myself.  To have my little girl curl up into my lap, squeeze my arms, and tell me she loves me, as she looks up at me with her beautiful, blue eyes, there is nothing like that in this world!  I was also blessed by the Lord reminding me of His love for me, as I watched the stories being told through the dances of people being set free from the slavery of sin.  It was such a great memorable night for my daughter and me!  I may have even shed a manly tear or two… maybe.

My point being this: Guys, don’t throw these seemingly small opportunities away!  What could have possibly been more important than taking my girl to that show?  Phone calls?  Emails?  TV shows?  Hobbies?  These activities or anything else like them would have been a ridiculous trade!  How could I trade some temporary pleasure or personal satisfaction for something that would have a lasting, if not eternal, impact on my child?

Click here for the message – “Cultivating a Healthy Marriage”.

Click here for all Tim Keller messages on this site.

Click here for all FREE Tim Keller messages from Redeemer Pres. Church.

Click here for 5 part series “Biblical Parenting” by Tedd Tripp.

Click here for all messages listed on this site.

What does it look like to lead out spiritually in your family?  Again, not as difficult as we’ve made it.  Yes, we do need to read the Bible, we do need to study the Bible, we do need to pray because our kids will ask us questions that will force us to say “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”  But, aren’t these activities things that all Christians should be doing and striving for anyway?  You do not need to be some brainiac theologian (able to quote thousands of verses from memory and write your own systematic theology book) to lead a family devotion or worship time.  Nor do I think that those times have to be every single night, 3-4 times a week would be good, but, every night surely isn’t too many!  It could be as simple as: read a few verses, talk about them for a few minutes, and have prayer.  You could even get a good worship cd or play a few kid led worship songs from an iPod.  Be creative and have fun.  If you’re like me, not very creative, there are tons of websites (some referenced on this site) to help you out.  By far my favorite investment when it comes to this subject in my family was when I bought The Jesus Storybook Bible.  The stories are relatively short, easy to read, the kids love them, and they all point back to Christ!  Most of the theological work is done for you.  Great resource if you have kids under 7 or 8.

Please don’t misunderstand me, it is a big role.  The weight God places on us as men, husbands, and dads is heavy!   Spiritually leading our families is easy to understand Deut. 4:9-10 (we know we should be), but hard to do.  It’s not hard to do because the tasks are huge or over our heads (I mean really, a 15 minute devotion with our wife & kids a few times a week…), it’s hard to do because it’s a constant battle with our flesh and laziness.  I know it’s tough, believe me.  For some strange reason, praying with just my wife is one of the toughest things for me to do because it forces me to bare myself to God in the presence of someone else, seeing and hearing all my flaws.  But that is such a beautiful part of our relationship with our wives and Satan will do whatever he can to stop that!  It’s also hard to feed others if you are starving to death yourself.  Again, believe me, I’ve tried.

On a side note…  It always amazes me how some guys will spend so much time and money learning, mastering, or just watching a sport or hobby, but when it comes to investing in their wife and kids, all of a sudden their tired and can’t afford a few resources for the spiritual health of their family.  I’m not anti-sport or anti-hobby, we need some time to ourselves and time with the guys!  BUT not at the expense of our family.  Being a Biblical man is tough because it calls us to sacrifice, to lay down our lives for others.  Sacrifice ourselves for the Gospel, for our family, & for the church.

I’m not a big New Year’s resolution guy, but MEN, we do need to have some resolve!  Get with God, grow in Him, feed yourself, feed your family, feed His Church, and praise Christ that where we fail there is grace!  Be MEN!  Please hear me… Husbands… Dads… You can do this!  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  You can’t do it alone.  Find other guys on the same path and fight for each other!

We are currently going through a six week teaching series from Matt Chandler (The Village Church Dallas, TX) called “Image and Glory”.  I love this series because it deals with so many aspects of biblical masculinity, not just men as husband and fathers.  We will do more in-depth studies on those topics later on.  I created this post to give the guys quick access to the series itself and a few other messages that Chandler references throughout the series.

If you are in the Gadsden, AL area, we would love to have you sit in with us.  We currently meet every Tuesday night from 7-9pm at my home in Glencoe (get in touch with me for directions).

“Image and Glory” Series

“Role of Women”

“God and Sex”

All messages from Matt Chandler

All messages on this site