All Categories - IRONSTRIKES

It's Been a Fun Ride

12/31/2018

When we started this blog in January 2012, we didn't know the possible effectiveness of having a blog that was made just for men. There have mixed results but for the most part this blog has met the objectives of providing daily information for men.

Ironstrikes continues and our monthly meetings continue. However, this blog is currently suspended pending the next step that will be happening for the onllne presence of Ironstrikes. Please pray, as we take a break, investigate how to best influence men in an online environment, and continue our objectives.

God Bless.

You can contact us at [email protected]

B.T. Roberts: Have Courage

12/30/2018

The messenger of Christ must be a man of courage. The coward will compromise. He will keep back part of the truth. The fear of giving offense will take the edge from his sword. If he is true to God, he can but arouse against him the active hostility of the enemies of God, as well as the church as in the world. Paul, the most divinely prudent of men, did; John Wesley did; Jonathan Edwards did. Charles G. Finney met with the most decided opposition, even in his own church.

He who will be faithful to the truth has need to pray: "Steel me to shame, reproach, disgrace, Arm me with all thine armor now;
Set like a flint my steady face,
Harden to adamant my brow."

Eternal life is not won without a struggle. The world is not overcome without a conflict. Souls are not rescued from the grasp of the destroyer without the most determined effort. Buckle on your armor; whet your swords; fight the good fight of faith.

Roberts, B.T. Pungent Truths (Kindle Locations 1788-1796). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

Uncle Buddy: The Methodist Preacher

12/29/2018

A presiding elder or station preacher burning tobacco and blowing blue smoke out of one side of their heads, while they crack jokes, would never make a man think of Moses and Aaron burning sweet incense to the God of Israel while all the hosts stood outside of the holy place and shouted for joy.

When a Methodist preacher smokes cigars, why does he draw the smoke down into his lungs? Why, he is trying to warm up his cold heart.

When a Methodist preacher smokes cigars, why does he blow the smoke out through his nose? Why, he is feeding the germs of depravity.

Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson (Kindle Locations 8822-8827). Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.

The God Who Seeks

12/28/2018

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. . .” (Genesis 3:8, NIV)

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.'” (Isaiah 65:1, NIV)

A common way that non-religious or even newly converted people talk about salvation involves the phrase “finding God.” It is not a bad sentiment. It expresses the fact that we are all on a journey of discovery in our lives, and we search until those needs are satisfied. As Christians, we recognize that only God can fill the emptiness that all of us experience. So, it is not surprising that people ask us if we have “found God.”

The good news is that, according to Scripture, finding God is not as difficult as we try to make it.

In fact, the God of the Bible is a God who is constantly and consistently pursuing us! God is a seeker. In Genesis, God takes the initiative to interact with His disobedient children. In Isaiah, we see a God who pursues those who are unaware or even unwilling to know Him.

God comes calling for us, even (especially) when we are at our most desperate. John Wesley referred to this phenomenon as “prevenient grace.” Prevenient grace is grace that comes before: before we are even aware and certainly before we are worthy of such an encounter.

As Scripture unfolds, we see a God who continually seeks to encounter a sinful world with redemptive grace by working through a nation and its leaders, but they often fall short. So, God, in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, makes a personal visit, in the flesh, to encounter His people: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Now, in the Age of the Spirit, God is seeking to use His Church to deliver this face to face invitation.

Can we look around this week and ask God where He is trying to send us in His ongoing pursuit of the lost, hurting, and marginalized? How can we become better instruments of God’s grace-filled initiative? How is God pursuing us, so that His Spirit may reveal an area of growth and transformation in our own lives? The God who seeks is still seeking!

Prayer:

Thank you, loving Father, for coming to us even when we did not come to you. May we be sent by your Spirit out into our world to be a face-to-face encounter with the love of your Son Jesus Christ. In His name, we pray. Amen.

This post was written by Charles W. Christian the managing editor of Holiness Today. You can find the original post here: holinesstoday.org/the-god-who-seeks

Coming Full Circle

12/27/2018

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel; the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The towns that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites. I Sam 7:12-14

Observation:

When the ark of the covenant was lost it was removed from Ebenezer and ended up at Ashdod. This signified a movement from a place where the people had trusted God, to self-protection. Sadly, God’s people, who were to be holy, were no longer in God’s holy presence.

Now, the journey seems to have come full circle. The ark had been returned and Samuel, their new leader called the people to faithfulness. They turned away from the other gods and dedicated themselves to serving God alone. They physically destroyed all symbols of the other gods that they had worshipped. Next, when they found themselves under attack from their enemies, they called upon Samuel to intercede not their behalf. He cried out to God, praying for the safety of the Israelites. Miraculously they were saved from the Philistines.

The result was a period of time when there was peace. Again, they took a stone and set it up as a monument to God’s intervention in their lives. It was an Ebenezer — rock of my helper! Whenever they would see this rock they would be reminded, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” The people of God were again living in relationship with their holy God. In this place of complete and entire trust and dependence, we are transformed into the holy people of God.

Application:

Through grace God is continually drawing humanity back into a relationship in which we can be made holy. This is God’s plan, for us to be in the image and likeness of the Triune God. This can only happen when we are in a face to face relationship, in the presence of God. In this way, we reflect the very holiness of God.

We must turn away from the other gods in our lives, if we are to be made entirely holy. We may not have wooded gods in our homes, but we may have allowed other aspects of our lives to become our idols. Even good things become idols when they take first place in our lives. Our commitment to family, the suffering, the environment, to justice — while all worthy — can become our idols. Anything that casts a long shadow across our relationship with Christ is our idol.

We, too, must be dedicated to serving God alone — even when it doesn’t make sense to the rest of the world. That’s when the attacks come. The enemy will do everything possible to destroy our fledgling faith, and create havoc with our community and lifestyle. The ways in which we live our lives will not be pleasing to the world. They will find ways in which to ridicule, cut-down and destroy the Christian life and faith. Instead of succumbing, we must call upon the Lord. Uniting together in prayer, as the people of God, will help us face the enemies of our day. This is not our battle, this is the Lord’s. We are not expected to have all the answers, but God does. Our entire dependence upon God results in God’s holiness entirely reflected in and through us. It’s those spaces of self-dependency that block the reflection. Now, entirely consecrated and faithfully seeking the face of God, we are transformed into God’s holy people.

It is in this place that we may raise our Ebenezer. Total dependence results in seeing the hand of God at work. When we are self-sufficient we miss out on the opportunities to see what God can and will do for us. God is my helper. God is my strength. God is my salvation. God is my provider. Christ in us — the hope of glory.

The Israelites had come full-circle. They had left Ebenezer, but God provided a way for them to come back home.

Prayer:

Lord, please help me stay in that space where I live entirely dependent upon you. Amen.

This post was written by Rev Carla Sunberg. You can find her original post here: reflectingtheimage.blogspot.com/2018/06/coming-full-circle.html

Crossing the Road for One Another

12/26/2018

We become neighbours when we are willing to cross the road for one another. There is so much separation and segregation: between black people and white people, between gay people and straight people, between young people and old people, between sick people and healthy people, between prisoners and free people, between Jews and Gentiles, Muslims and Christians, Protestants and Catholics, Greek Catholics and Latin Catholics.

There is a lot of road crossing to do. We are all very busy in our own circles. We have our own people to go to and our own affairs to take care of. But if we could cross the street once in a while and pay attention to what is happening on the other side, we might become neighbours.

For further reflection...

"He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him." - Luke 10: 34 (NIV)

This post was written by Henri Nouwen. You can find his site here: www.henrinouwen.org

Merry Christmas!!

12/25/2018

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

12/24/2018

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Charles Wesley

Uncle Buddy: Satisfaction

12/23/2018

My friend, if you meet satisfaction coming down the road with a smile on his face, for the Lord’s sake give him the right hand of fellowship. When joy comes in at the door laughing, trouble goes up the chimney growling, looking back over his shoulder gritting his teeth and praying for the Lord to burn the house down over the head of his enemy, but, bless the Lord, such prayers are never answered.

Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson (Kindle Locations 8813-8816). Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.

B.T. Roberts: Have I the Spirit of Christ?

12/22/2018

These words of Paul are of universal application: "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8:9). Here is no chance for a single exception. Let each of us ask himself: "Have I the Spirit of Christ?" I am not so much concerned about others as I am about myself. If all others are wrong, that will not save me. My prospects are not improved by the shortcomings of my brethren. Their failures to reach Heaven will not take me there. I may be very zealous for truth, but have I the spirit of truth? I may be a strict observer of Christian forms, but am I a new creature? Is the prayer offered and answered -- "Jesus, plant and root in me."? All the mind that was in thee, Settled peace I then shall find; Jesus' is a constant mind"? "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love" (Gal. 5:6).

Roberts, B.T.. Pungent Truths (Kindle Locations 1779-1787). Unknown. Kindle Edition.