Reprint Compliments of Men At The Cross By Joe White

VIDEO OF THE DAY

1 Corinthians13:1 10,13

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I opened a valentine card the other day and saw a string of X's at the bottom, accompanied by the words, "I love you Dad." I was touched, but it made me ask myself some questions. What is love? Psychologists tell us that without it we shrivel up and die, yet hardly one in a hundred people could give a definition of it. How is it that something so necessary is so misunderstood?

Most people who sign X's to their valentine cards are unaware that the custom goes back to the Christian era, when the cross, or "X", conveyed the force of an oath. The "X" was also the first letter in the Greek word for Christ, Xristos. Because it was a symbol associated with goodness and honor, it became an acceptable substitute whenever an illiterate man needed to sign his signature. So, in an age when few could write, the "X" began to appear on many documents. To strengthen the signature, and thus prove that he was sincere in the transaction, a man would kiss the "X"-much like witnesses used to kiss the Bible before taking the witness stand. It was this practice of "kissing the X" that led to its becoming a symbol of a kiss.

So, an "X" is a kiss, and a kiss is love, and we've arrived at a good definition. Right? Well, not exactly. It seems easier to nail Jell-O to a tree, than to define love. Describing it as an emotion comes up short. Even if we follow the popular wisdom that says, "love is a decision", we soon admit that seemingly loving decisions are made daily by people with no more love in their hearts than a cold statue. Love must, therefore, be defined as a person, with all the traits that a loving person would possess. That Person is mentioned in 1 John 4:8, where we read that "God is love." His loving traits are found in chapter 13 of I Corinthians. Try substituting the word "God" wherever the word "love" appears, and your daily need for more of God in your life will come into focus. You will see that you need His patience, His kindness, His humility, and so forth, if you are ever going to become more loving. Be filled with God, and you will be filled with Love.

Love is not a string of X's. It is not an emotion, nor a decision, nor even an action. True love is a Person-God Himself-who must dwell so completely inside a boy or girl that it is impossible to be in their presence without feeling loved.

QUESTIONS:
1. Read through 1 Corinthians 13 and write down all the descriptions of "love," filling in the blanks every time you come across the phrase, "love is ____________.”
2. How many of these descriptions are fulfilled in you? Is there one that is particularly lacking in your life? If so, which one?
3. What can you do to grow in this area of deficiency?

LIFELINE:
Love is the most important gift you can share with others. Discuss how you can share each description of this "1 Corinthians 13 love" that Paul is telling us about.

By "A Friend" from a CaringPages Blog"

It’s not an easy job, but like the Marines say, "it’s the toughest job you will ever love."

This is an incredible story about dads & their importance to the family. This was a CaringPages blog that was written by a friend in June 2010 as his own son is/was battling the

"BIG C"

....

Well worth reading.

---

Not surprisingly, today I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of Fathers. Sociological studies reveal this alarming fact: much of the crime and many of the behavioral disorders in the United States come from homes where the father has abandoned the children. In many societies the world over, child poverty, crime, drug abuse, and family decay can be traced to conditions where the father gives no male nurturing. Sociologically, it is now painfully apparent that fathers are not optional family baggage.

These facts have been brought into sharp relief in the context of helping my son and the rest of our children learn to cope with the new realities in our lives. My wife and I have very different strengths and weaknesses. Life wouldn’t be much fun if I married someone identical to myself (although I might get my way more often). Likewise, the way we help our children learn and grow is also very different. It’s kinda funny in hindsight. Although our differences are well known and apparent to even the casual observer, they were never a big deal because we have the same backgrounds and goals. Yet, when our family was thrown into this situation these differences cause us to solve the problems is very unique ways. My Wife's approach and my approach to each issue is usually very different. This, of course, can lead to conflict, much like the way the Archduke Ferdinand's Assassination led to a little conflict in Europe. (This is for our friends who ask that we write a “real” blog and think that perfect people are boring. I am not boring.)

It is useless to debate which parent is most important. No one would doubt that a mother’s influence is paramount with newborns and in the first years of a child’s life. The father’s influence increases as the child grows older. However, each parent is necessary at various times in a child’s development. Both fathers and mothers do many intrinsically different things for their children. Both mothers and fathers are equipped to nurture children, but their approaches are different. Mothers seem to take a dominant role in preparing children to live within their families (present and future). Fathers seem best equipped to prepare children to function in the environment outside the family.

My Wife tends to coddle and shield more, I tend to protect by helping the kids become more independent. Both are valid and important, at the right time. Deciding when the proper time is can be difficult; this is why God wisely gave every child both a mother and a father. You need both to balance these important decision. And as a parent, you need to know when to listen to your spouse and when to be quiet. This is easy to do when the biggest decision is who gets the remote (that would be me) or who get to take out the mouse caught in the trap (again, that would be me). However, when neither parent has slept much and the question is who gets up in the middle of the night for the 10th time in a row, it gets harder. If you don’t have a firm foundation in your relationship to fall back on, you’re up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

That is why I am so grateful for our heritages. I’ve been able to spend time studying my family lines. Today I came to the happy realization that I come from an unbroken line of great fathers. Both my direct line and my wives is an unbroken train of good men who married good women. I’ve got uncles and great uncles who made some pretty poor choices, but my fathers and My Wive's fathers were all good men. They showed through quiet example the way a man should live, and that is pretty darn cool.

A father is not the goofball shown on television. He is not the scourge of society that popular media likes to promote. Fatherhood is the righteous power and influence by which boys are taught in their youth and throughout their lives to honor chastity, to be honest and industrious, and to develop respect for, and stand in the defense of, womanhood. Being a father is a restraining influence.

Since ours is such a public trial, many people have sought out my wife and I to share their own experiences. It seems that whenever I am having a bad day, someone comes along with a story of their hard times that makes me grateful for my own, lesser troubles. It seems that just about everyone is going through a hard time right now. Health, jobs, family, environmental problems both real and imagined all cause a lot of stress.Ever consider how many fewer issues we would all have if men just learn to be men? If boys really were taught in their youth and throughout their lives to honor chastity, to be honest and industrious, and to develop respect for, and stand in the defense of, womanhood. If all men were like this, and if women encouraged it and expected it, image what kind of a world we would have.

So the take home message today? Learn to be a man before you become a father, learn to embrace the God given differences in your marriage before problems arise so that when they do come you can fall back on those core values of honor and respect.

Reprint Compliments of Men At The Cross By Joe White

VIDEO OF THE DAY

1 Corinthians 12:1-27

1Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. 4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

In the school I grew up in, it seemed there was always something to which a boy could look forward. These things were discussed on the playground with varying degrees of excitement, depending on what time of the year was at hand.

To the graduating kindergartner, there was the wonderful world of Mrs. Hamby's first-grade class. It was widely known she rewarded learning with candy. Then, there was Miss Holmes in the second grade-she was young and very pretty, and the object of not a few first crushes. With the third grade came Miss Pope, and five extra minutes on the playground at every recess. Mrs. Lowe's fourth-graders got to sing in a Christmas program at the mall. Mrs. Schmidt's fifth graders had "BINGO Fridays." But the granddaddy of them all was Mr. Cottle's much-rumored field trip to see the five-legged steer, ample reason in itself for most little boys to stay in school until the sixth-grade.

I remember how excited I felt, when at last the hallowed moment had arrived. We had just boarded the yellow school bus, and the air was abuzz with commentary. Opinions on the girls' side ranged from "gross" to "unnecessary." The guys, on the other hand, were unanimous. This was the zenith of our young lives.

"I don't want to see a stupid, old cow," said Susan Suggs. "It could have ten legs and I still wouldn't want to see it."

"Which just proves you're dumb as dirt," replied Bobby Spoons. "Anybody knows if a cow had ten legs, it'd be in the Guinness Book of Records, and people'd pay good money to see it. Besides, it's not a cow. It's a steer."

"What's the difference?" asked Susan.

Bobby Spoons didn't know.

Jeers and applause exploded from both sides of the aisle, as the bus lurched out of the parking lot. Sixty-five miles later, we arrived at "Lester's Little Sahara-Home of Exotic Delights." The bus windows were covered with red, prairie dust, and you could already feel grains of sand between your teeth.

As we disembarked, my buddy, Clifton Baker nudged me. "Do you think it'll be in the back or the front-or somewhere in the middle?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The leg. I mean, there's got to be extra room for it somewhere."

Steven Parham leaned into the conversation. "Who cares where the leg is! I just want to see it run. I'll bet that thing's as fast as Bob Hayes"

Lester, or someone pretending to be Lester, met our class at the turnstile, and off we went on the tour. First, we saw some newborn baby pigs-still wet from birth, which drew a yawn from the guys, but gagged half the girls. Then came the dried up fishpond, full of tarantulas. Susan Suggs fainted right there on the spot, and had to be taken back to the bus and fanned for the rest of the afternoon. Again, we boys were unimpressed. We had come for one reason, one rite of passage-to see the five-legged steer and, forever after, to possess the kind of knowledge that separates men from boys on playgrounds all around the globe.

But still, we had to endure the ostrich eggs, and the live rattlesnakes, and the six-thousand pound prairie dog, which turned out to be made of plaster, and was under repair, due to a leaky ceiling. Finally, Lester led us to a door, that opened into a dimly lit stall. Above the door was scrawled, "Behold the Five-Legged Steer."

"All right!" said Steven Parham, rubbing his hands together. "Now, for some action."

I wish I could tell you that what followed was the fulfillment of a dozen little boys' dreams, surpassing even Bingo Friday and our crushes on Miss Holmes. But it was all over in a matter of seconds. Having been hurried into the presence of a dismal bovine, with what looked like a pair of panty-hose full of sawdust strapped to its back, then out the back gate into the parking lot, we all stood blinking in the bright sunlight at one another.

"What a jip!" exclaimed Steven.

"That wasn't even a real leg," said Clifton.

I don't recall there being a single bit of eye contact between the genders on that long ride home. In the end, we enjoyed the stop at the Dairy Delite far more than any of the "delights" we had seen at Lester's place. But you can bet that none of us ever said a word about it to the fifth graders. We went right on bragging about the five-legged steer as if it was the St. Louis Arch or the Taj Mahal. And to my knowledge, that story has not changed in forty years.

In I Corinthians 12, Paul is warning his audience to "Beware the five-legged steer!" He describes the church as "the body of Christ" with "many members." Unfortunately, some of the Christians in that church had become discontent with the kind of "member" God had designed them to be. They wanted to possess someone else's gift or talent. They wanted to be an eye, when they were meant to be an ear. The end result was, some of them were becoming about as useful as a fifth leg on a four-legged animal.

Paul said it very plainly, "If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?"

Don't let envy of other Christians turn you into a useless appendage. Choose this day to be the man or woman God has designed you to be. Ask Him to reveal the work He is doing around you. Then, ask how you can get involved in that work.

QUESTIONS:
1. There are ways for every Christian to be useful in the Church. Name a few.
2. When we try to be like someone we're not, problems occur. Share a time when this was true in your life.
3. How has God designed you to be useful in His Church?

LIFELINE:
At one time or another, we have all felt like a useless fifth leg. God has entrusted special gifts in each one of us. Discuss how you will go about finding what your gifts are. Discuss how those gifts are useful to God.

Reprint Compliments of Men At The Cross By Joe White

1 Corinthians 11:23-34

"23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. 33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions."

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Someone once said, "The fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach." I'll do that one better. I believe that a man's stomach tells much about his heart.

If you look at one of our catalogues, especially the page where we feature our staff, you'll see that we hire some awesome athletes. In the old days, when the off-season demands on Division I football players weren't so continual, we'd fill the front row of the staff photo with some of the biggest men in the country-all smiling and flexing up a storm.

Now these were men who were expected to show up for two-a-days with more than just a little meat on their bones. So as you might imagine, one of the most commonly asked questions during interviews in those days was, "Will I get enough to eat while I'm at Kamp?" Of course we answered, "yes", all the while wondering what those extra flapjacks were going to do to our food budget. As always, we rolled up our sleeves, fired the stoves, and got to cooking.

I'll never forget one man-I'll call him, Alex-who had the biggest biceps I've ever seen. He played line for Texas Tech, and could eat more food than two men put together. Because he was a gentle giant, Alex was assigned to counsel cabin one, our little fellows. One day, when breakfast was just coming to an end and I happened to be passing by cabin one's table, I noticed Alex engaged in a classic contest with a boy the size of his thigh. They were spinning a spoon.

"If the handle points towards me, I get the last pancake," said Alex, licking his lips. "If it points toward you, you get it."

The boy nodded, hungrily.

The spoon was spun, and Alex won. Just as he was about to take his first bite, he looked up and saw the boy crying. Slowly-perhaps reluctantly-Alex lifted the pancake and slid it over to the boy's plate. Later, when I was telling Alex's co-counselor how impressed I was by the incident, he told me something I didn't know. Just before I passed by the table, Alex had arrived late to breakfast from the infirmary, where he had been tending to one of his sick campers. "That last pancake was going to be his first," said the co-counselor.

At the end of the term, Alex left camp, and I never heard of him again. But that day in the Kanakuk dining hall, Alex became an All-American in my book.

The mark of an all-star Christian is not just unselfishness, but love. Paul's big beef with the Corinthians in chapter eleven, verses 23-34, was that they were treating the Lord's Supper as if it were the last pancake-and everyone had his fork stuck in it.

"For in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and another goes hungry."

This supper, sometimes known as the "Eucharist" (which means, "thanksgiving"), had been combined with the church's communal meal, known as the "Agape." In short, more than just the traditional bread and wine were shared, though those two elements were held in highest esteem. Unfortunately, the very meal that was meant to commemorate the most selfless act of all times, the crucifixion, had become a "me-first-grab-fest." Some church members were wealthy enough to bring lavish picnics, while poor members had to sit by and watch their friends gorge themselves. The spirit of Christ-and Alex-was far from that place. And Paul was angry about it..

How about you? Are you the type who reaches for the last pancake? Or do you have the love of Christ in you that puts others first? A person's stomach tells a lot about his heart. What kind of heart do you have?

QUESTIONS:

1. Our appetites reveal our hearts. Besides food, what other appetites reveal one's heart?
2. How are you handling your appetites?
3. In today's church, we keep our potluck suppers separate from our Communion services. However, it is still possible for people to abuse Communion. Name some ways.

LIFELINE:

How much hunger would have to exist in your life before you would deny someone that last pancake? How hungry would someone else have to be before you shared the source of eternal life through Jesus Christ?

joe@menatthecross.org | Men at the Cross | 1353 Lake Shore Dr. | Branson | MO | 65616

What leadership books are you reading? Who are you meeting with this month to stretch your mind and heart?

Video: Bill Hybel on Leadership

"I do leadership development as a discipline. I don't do it as a recreation. I read one or two leadership books a month by sheer discipline. I don't ask myself if I feel like it. I need to read--I have to take responsibility, God has given me, whatever size platform it is- big or small. I have some people I've been given charge to lead well. I have to read to get better as a leader. I'm asking you leaders, take responsibility for your leadership development and read more and read as a discipline.

I'm asking you to get around other leaders that are better than you --as a discipline, I'm not asking you to do it recreationally. Every 30 days, ask yourself who could I ask to lunch or dinner? Who can I get around who's been where I haven't' been - built something I have not yet built? How can I ask them the right questions so I can stretch my mind and heart and get better?"

Learn more about The Global Leadership Summit .