RIDGE MEN'S
READER
May 7, 2008
The Men's Ministry e-mail newsletter of
North Ridge Community Church
Our mission: Turning Ordinary People Into
POWER-Filled Followers of Christ
www.northridge.org
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Ridge
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“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not
require. Then I said, ‘Here I am, I
have come--it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my
heart.’" Psalm 40:6-8 (NIV)
CONSIDER
“Read whatever chapter of Scripture you
will, and be ever so delighted with it -- yet it will leave you as poor, as
empty and unchanged as it found you unless it has turned you wholly and solely
to the Spirit of God, and brought you into full union with and dependence upon
Him.” William Law (1686-1761)
STILL
TIME TO SIGN UP FOR MEN’S RETREAT!!!
May 16th-18th, your
Christian brothers from North Ridge will be joining together at the United
Christian Youth Camp in Prescott for fellowship, worship, growth, and fun—yes,
fun—at this year’s NRCC Men’s Retreat.
Please, give yourself the gift of time: time to join other Christian men
discover that they, too, need each other.
Our session minister will be Scott Morgan, the Lead Pastor of Life Quest
Church in Ahwatukee. Scott has a heart
that is on fire for helping Christian men identify and overcome the many unique
challenges they are facing. Scott will
lead us in inspiring, energizing, and thought-provoking discussions of topics
and challenges we each face every day.
“You Can’t Do It Alone” was selected as this year’s theme to emphasize
the importance to men of being courageous and secure enough to acknowledge
their need for companionship and help from God, their families, and other
Christian brothers. It’s not just that
you need other Christian men as companions, they need you, also. The cost is only $129, but the many gains
one can look forward to are truly priceless.
Please stop by the Men’s Ministry table for more information, or call
Tom Murray (480) 951-3462, or Scott Hile (602) 757-5594. Winn
GOD'S
MODEL FOR MANHOOD
by Rick Warren
There's a lot of confusion out there about
what it means to be a man. The Bible's
view of manhood can be summarized by 5 characteristics: compassion,
consistency, cooperation, commitment, and courage....
IRONHORSE
MINISTRY
The next Ironhorse ride will be on May 31st,
the weekend after Memorial Day weekend. Everyone will meet in the east parking lot of Northridge and
depart at 8:00 am. The entire road time
will be approximately 5-1/2 hours from start to finish. You will have breakfast or brunch at Macky's
Grill in Payson, then ride through Pine, Strawberry, Camp Verde, Cottonwood and
onto Sedona, where you’ll have lunch at the Hideaway Restaurant. After lunch (and whatever) you’ll head for
I-17 and home. If anyone wants to cut
the ride in half, you can head back to the Valley from Payson (back down Rt.87)
after breakfast, and the rest of the group will go on to Sedona. If you have any questions regarding the ride,
call Paul Pastor at 480-575-5209 or email him at paul@paulpastor.com. Until then, live each day in God's care!
ON MANHOOD
"No man has ever risen to the real
stature of spiritual manhood until he has found that it is finer to serve
somebody else than it is to serve himself." Woodrow Wilson
"Not to be needed is slow death for a
man." John Gray
SOME
ATHEISTS GO TO CHURCH TOO, BUT NOT TO WORSHIP
There exists growing group of American
atheists who have left traditional religions, but still feel a desire to be
part of a religious group. Many had a
positive experience with religion before losing their faith and they miss the
community, the tradition and the chance to talk about values with likeminded
people. So they join religious
organizations that are accepting of atheists, form churches just for atheists,
or even attend traditional theistic churches....
ON
SIN
"The concept of sin is a stark
acknowledgment that we can never be omnipotent, that we are bound and limited
by human flaws and self-interest. The
concept of sin is a check on the utopian dreams of a perfect world. It prevents us from believing in our own
perfectibility or the illusion that the material advances of science and
technology equal an intrinsic moral improvement in our species." Chris Hedges, I Don't Believe in Atheists
(Free Press, 2008)
AN INVITATION FROM PASTORS RANDY
AND DAN
TO JOIN THEM FOR 2 NEW STUDIES:
NEW – MIDWEEK MEN’S GROUP – starts March
27th
Hey guys – do you work from home or are you retired? We’d love to have you join our new midweek
men’s group on Thursdays from 8:30-9:30am in the Prescott Room. Pastor Randy will be digging deeper into a
study of Philippians. We are kicking
off the study tomorrow – so stop by!
Contact Linda at (480) 515-4673 if you need more information.
CITY GATES - Saturday @ 7am in the Ridge
Café
Imagine you had a month to live. How would you use that month?
At the Saturday morning men's Bible study called City Gates we will be
looking at the lives of four men as they arrive at the end of their lives. What is important to them? What is their focus? How do they want to be remembered? For the next four sessions we will look at
the lives of Paul, Peter, John, and Jesus to see what was important as they came
to the end of their lives. The lessons
learned from these men can provide perspective on how we can live more
meaningful lives. Join Pastor Dan and
other men who get together the first and
third Saturday mornings each month in the Ridge Café at 7am for coffee, a
donut, and a large dose of the Word of God.
SELECT
YOUR EQUIPMENT
Basketball players dress simply: shoes,
shirts, shorts, and sweatbands. But
life is not so simple for football players -- and what about ice hockey
players? Besides clothes, the athletes
in these two sports have to cover themselves with pads and helmets for
protection. Regardless of the sport, no
athlete can expect to win without the proper equipment. Paul wrote to Timothy that Scripture was
given by God to man that we might be "thoroughly equipped for every good
work." How, exactly, does
Scripture equip the believer? It
teaches us doctrine, it reproves (disciplines) us, it corrects our path, and it
instructs us in righteous living. Plus,
it gives us our uniform for "offense" (putting on Christ; Romans
13:14) and "defense" (spiritual armor; Ephesians 6:11-18). In addition, we’re given our daily practice
gear: service, Bible study, fruit of the Spirit, prayer, and obedience. If that sounds like a lot of equipment, consider
the stakes: The spiritual life is a winner-take-all contest.
Source: Turning Point Daily Devotional,
4-20-08
PAINTER'S
8-YEAR EFFORT AT DALLAS ORTHODOX CHURCH NEARLY DONE
In April 2000, iconographer Vladimir
Grigorenko arrived in Texas from Ukrraine with sketchy English and a fervent
Christian faith to undertake what became a yearlong project. He was hired to paint religious images for a
wooden screen that stands in front of the altar inside Dallas' St. Seraphim
Orthodox Cathedral. But once the screen was done -- depicting Jesus, Mary,
saints, and disciples -- the cathedral's white walls and ceiling stood
obviously bare. Mr. Grigorenko was
asked to continue his work and take on a canvas of plastered drywall. He figured the challenge would take two years
or so....
THE
IRONY OF IRON MAN
The new movie Iron Man is based on the
Marvel comic book of the same name and features Robert Downey Jr. as Tony
Stark, a millionaire industrialist who dons technologically advanced iron
"armor" to fight evil.
Beyond its obvious entertainment value,
does Iron Man have more in store for us than battle suits and repulsor
rays? You bet. Superhero movies offer plenty of food for
thought and our souls, right down to their premises and the philosophy behind
them. Plus, a number of recent
superhero films have focused as much on the men behind the masks-and on the
critical events that shaped and guided them-as they have on special effects and
fight scenes. And Tony Stark, the man
beneath the armor in Iron Man, is one of the most complex and compelling
characters in comic book history.
What can we learn from an armor-encased
superhero who can protect others, but can't save himself? And what does his story say about finding
strength in weakness?....
CASPIAN
BUZZ STORMS THE WEB
Prince Caspian, the 2nd film in The
Chronicles of Narnia franchise, doesn't hit theaters until May 16, but the buzz
and hype machines are in full swing. A
behind-the-scenes featurette, which includes some of the first footage of the
mouse character Reepicheep in action, can be watched on YouTube, while a brand
new trailer has been posted on MySpace....
YOUR
AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH
1. Pick the number of times a week that you
would like to go out to eat (more than once but less than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50
5. If you have already had your birthday
this year, add 1758. If you haven't,
add 1757.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that
you were born
7. You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original
number (i.e., how many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week). The next two numbers are your age!
LEADERSHIP
TIPS (BUSINESS, FAMILY, LIFE)
"Multi-tasking is dead. It never worked and it never will. Intelligent people love to sing its praises
because it gives them permission to avoid the much more challenging
alternative: focusing on one thing."
Timothy Ferriss
VERSES
TO PONDER
“...all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God...” Romans 3:23 | “...all
our righteous acts are like filthy rags...”
Isaiah 64:6
CONSIDER
“Faith is the acknowledgment of the entire
absence of all goodness in us, and the recognition of the cross as the
substitute for all the want on our part.
The whole work is His, not ours, from first to last.” Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), The Everlasting
Righteousness
HOLINESS
“We want to be holy because we know that to
be holy is to be like God and to be near him.
But sometimes we drift. Pleasure
entices us. Troubles mount. Sin calls.
The world beckons. We wonder why
our hearts seem empty and cold. What happened
to the zeal we had? What happened to
our desire to live an extraordinary life?
Why are we sliding back into old habits? These may be questions the Holy Spirit is urging us to
consider. Perhaps he is right now
shaking us awake from our spiritual torpor, reminding us that without holiness
no one will see the Lord. Today let us
ask God to help us live out our faith with passionate commitment fueled by a
hunger for holiness that reflects our love of God and his greater love for
us.” Ann Spangler, Praying the Names of
God
Meditation
“As obedient children, do not conform to
the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:14-16
TRUE
LOVE
“Thomas a Kempis speaks for all the ages
when he represents Jesus as saying to him, ‘A wise lover regards not so much
the gift of him who loves, as the love of him who gives. He esteems affection rather than valuables,
and sets all gifts below the Beloved. A
noble-minded lover rests not in the gift, but in Me above every gift.’ The sustaining power of the Beloved Presence
has through the ages made the sickbed sweet and the graveside triumphant;
transformed broken hearts and relations; brought glory to drudgery, poverty and
old age; and turned the martyr's stake or noose into a place of
coronation.” Dallas Willard, Hearing
God
Meditation:
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19-21 (NIV)
AS WE DECIDE, SO WE
ARE
“Every time you make a choice, you are
turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a
little different from what it was before.
And, taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all
your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a Heaven
creature or into a hellish creature -- either into a creature that is in
harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one
that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures
and with itself. To be the one kind of
creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and
power. To be the other means madness, horror,
idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the
other.” C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere
Christianity [1952]
Meditation:
“We must pay more careful attention,
therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was
binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how
shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was
confirmed to us by those who heard him.”
Hebrews 2:1-3 (NIV)
WHERE
DOES YOUR CONFIDENCE REST?
“Ultimate confidence in the goodness of
life cannot rest upon confidence in the goodness of man. If that is where it rests, it is an optimism
which will suffer ultimate disillusionment.
Romanticism will be transmuted into cynicism, as it has always been in
the world's history. The faith of a
Christian is something quite different from this optimism. It is trust in God, in a good God who
created a good world, though the world is not now good; in a good God, powerful
and good enough finally to destroy the evil that men do and redeem them of
their sins. This kind of faith is not
optimism. It does not, in fact, arise
until optimism breaks down and men cease to trust in themselves that they are
righteous.” Reinhold Niebuhr
(1892-1971), Beyond Tragedy [1938]
Meditation:
“For [the Father] has rescued us from the
dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in
whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation.” Colossians 1:13-15 (NIV)
GOD’S
FAIRNESS
For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is -- limited and
suffering and subject to sorrows and death -- He had the honesty and courage to
take His own medicine. Whatever game He
is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has
not exacted from Himself. He has
Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial
irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack
of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and
death. When He was a man, He played the
man. He was born in poverty and died in
disgrace and thought it was well worthwhile.”
Dorothy L. Sayers, Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World [1969]
Meditation:
“For this reason he had to be made like his
brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful
high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of
the people. Because he himself suffered
when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:17-18 (NIV)
FAITH
& TRUST
“Faith is not so much belief about God as
it is total, personal trust in God, rising to a personal fellowship with God
that is stronger than anxiety and guilt, loneliness and all manner of
disaster. The Christian's faith in
Christ is trust in a Living Person, once crucified, dead, and buried, and now
living forevermore. Call it, if you
will, an assumption that ends as an assurance, or an experiment that ends as an
experience, Christian faith is in fact a commitment that ends as a communion.” Frederick Ward Kates (b.1920)
Meditation
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope
for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY, JOHN STOTT
World renowned author and speaker John R.
W. Stott turned 87 on April 27. Stott
retired from all active public ministry just one year ago and moved into a
retirement facility for Anglican clergy.
John Stott Ministries president, Ken Perez, reports that Stott is happy
and doing well in his new surroundings....
Read
this in full at
CONSIDER
“We have the means to evangelize our
country; but they are slumbering in the pews of our churches.” John R. W. Stott
VERSE
TO PONDER
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it
is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the
Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16
A
PRAYER
“Living Word, I thank You for Your written
word.”
SHARE
YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITES
Tell us what sites you find enjoyable and
why.
From
Gary Heiliger:
All links to websites are provided as a
service, and do not imply endorsement by our church.
"You grow up the day you have your first real laugh -- at
yourself." (Ethel Barrymore)
Winn L. Sammons
Editor
Wsammons1@cox.net
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Ridge
Men's Reader is a periodic newsletter of announcements, news, recommendations,
articles, and other information helpful to men in our spiritual growth. Thanks for welcoming Ridge Men's Reader into
your in-box!
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The
mission of North
Ridge Community Church is to Turn Ordinary People Into POWER-filled
Followers of Jesus Christ. The Men's
Ministry Team offers a variety of activities for men to interact with other men
on our journey of faith in Christ together.
Large group, small group, and one-to-one events encourage relationship
building and spiritual strengthening that result in maximizing the potential we
all have in Christ. Contact Tom Murray
at 2agingrockers@cox.net if you'd like to participate in a men's discipleship program.
North Ridge Community Church is
located at 6363 E. Dynamite Blvd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331. Tel: (480)
515-4673. Visit our website at www.northridge.org
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