Peering down from the mountain

Can you imagine how Peter or Matthew might have felt after spending a weekend with our Lord listening to his teachings and watching how he walked amongst the people? They must have been breathless and amazed at our Lord as he ministered to the many needs of the people and shared inspiring and life changing concepts while connecting to them in a real way. I can not compare my experience at PK 2002 in Raleigh North Carolina to that which I have just described but I can say that it was a definite mountain top experience.

I was aware of this event approximately 1 week before the event due to hearing about it at a bible study group that I attend on Thursday evening. As the men were talking about the preparation to finally go to this event I figured that it was too late for me to make any preparations and I considered thinking about a PK event in 2003 to attend.
It seems that I was destined to go and a ticket for the PK event was provided for me free of cost due to some one else who was unable to make it to the event. I am sorry that this person was unable to make it but I am glad that I was able to go. I was blessed richly to say the least. God touched my heart in so many ways that I am bursting at the seams with all that I saw and heard.

The first PK event that I attended was in Irving Stadium, Irving Texas in 1994. At that time I also had a wonderfully powerful experience in which I felt that there was NOTHING that could separate me from the love of God and that the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against me. One thing that I was not prepared for after attending this event was the horrible onslaught that the enemy brought against me in the weeks to come. I will address that later on in this document as we consider peering down from the mountain and the eventual trip off the mountain back down into the valleys of life and the approach to the gates of living in reality.

One of the things that impacted me at both events was the large number of men from all races, creeds and denominations who planned to come together under one roof and praise and worship the Lord and receive Godly instruction and encouragement. So many times in life the secular media focuses only on the negativity of the world and the horrible consequences that can happen because of our sin nature. How often do we see them observing and reporting on 14000 men who represent a cross section of the church in 2002? I would venture to say not often enough. The praise music was awesome and the teaching was tremendous. There was enough "milk of the word" for brand new converts and enough "meat" for those of us that have been on a life journey with Christ.

Storming the Gates was the theme and the color was RED. Red signified the blood of the lamb and white signified the fact that we as believers and Disciples of Christ have been washed in that blood and that we are a royal priesthood and a royal generation. The entire focus of this Promise Keepers event was to remind men that we are in a special and unique place within our society. We have the ability to change the history of this world IF we choose to embrace our Godly heritage and take up our cross and follow the Lord no matter where he leads us or what task he gives us to do. We were encouraged and commanded to stop being passive with regards to our relationship with the Lord and with our families, churches and communities. We were encouraged to defeat our fears and to put on our armor and to fight the good fight, to storm the gates of hell. We were encouraged to walk out our salvation with trembling and fear. We were reminded of the fact that one of our roles is to be the leaders that our families desperately need. As Godly men we should serve our wives and our children in such a way that they will know and understand who God is. We were told that our families are our first ministry and that there are no other ministries before that. Once we get our homes in order before God and take the necessary steps to rid our lives of worldly junk then we will be able to withstand the darts of the enemy and lead other people to the cross where the power of the holy spirit and the integrity of our relationship with Christ can change those folks for eternity.

I came back from this mountain top experience realizing that there were areas where I need to grow and how that need for growth is only causing me to become stagnant in going to the next level with the Lord. God's desire is that we will be fruit bearers and that fruit will bring forth other fruit for the kingdom. In 1 John 1:8-10 tells us that if we say that we have no sin that the truth is not in us and Gods word has no place within us. Spiritual arrogance costs way too much and there are too many people that are headed to eternal separation from God for me to be playing games and thinking that I have arrived. My natural inclination is to be my worst judge and to condemn myself. The enemy, over the years, has always battled against me in this area and I have always had to struggle to find the balance I need to know the difference between spiritual growth achieved and areas I need to grow in without condemning myself and coming up with feelings of hopelessness. One of the speakers made a statement that made me cringe. He said that Christ is the head of the church and He was willing to give up His life for her. Likewise we as Christian men who are married should be willing to serve our wives and families even unto death. He further challenged us in the fact that we will never be able to fulfill that role until we are able to give up the remote control to the television. How can you die for your wife when you won't relinquish the controls to the TV?
I think that you could hear 25% of the oxygen being inhaled as men all over the sports arena realized an area of their lives that needs to be worked on. I need to show my children and wife through my actions that I am willing to be a servant leader in my home. Talk is cheap and I need to put feet to my love for them.

I was challenged in the area of prioritizing my time. One speaker reminded us that the only way that we are going to be able to put on the full armor of God and storm the gates of Hell was to be the warrior for God that we should be. He encouraged us to remove all the junk and garbage and ungodliness out of our lives and prioritizing our time so that we can equip ourselves to fight in the battle. We were reminded that our armor does not protect us from the rear and only from the front. We were reminded that God asks us the same question that he asked Peter. Do you love me more than these? God was using fish as an example of things that Peter loved more than God but each of us can easily choose the things in our lives that represent the fish. I am sometimes challenged with prioritizing my time and I need to spend less time in front of the idiot box (TV) and substitute that time that I regain by connecting to my family and spending more time in studying Gods word and praying. I need to disconnect from all the things in this world that are hindering me from being at my fullest potential for the kingdom of God.

I was also challenged in the area of connecting with other men and developing godly relationships where I can be not only a mentor but also be mentored. Spiritual arrogance, pride and having been hurt by other Christian men and churches in the past cause me to be on the defensive and to be very cautious of whom I open my heart to.
I know that in order to go to the next level with the Lord and to be the Godly Man He wants me to be that I need to get past this and to learn how to trust again. It is so easy for me to hide behind ministry and to mask my spiritual inadequacies and needs by ignoring them and helping others. I was challenged in the area of being sensitive to the needs of others despite what I might think. I was reminded that Paul stated that we should try to be all things to all men for the sake of reaching them and drawing them closer to the cross.

This week we will spend time climbing down from the mountain top experience at PK 2002. It is totally up to us how we choose to allow this experience to affect us. We will either choose to cut out another PK notch on the spiritual belt buckle and ride the wave of emotional warm "fuzzies" until they run out OR choose to recognize the areas of my life where growth is needed. Time is short and the fields are white unto harvest. The work is plenty but the workers are few. There is no time for being passive and complacent while the world around us is headed to eternal separation from God. We need to spend time on our knees asking God to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to surround each of us with other godly men, teachers and preachers that can help us to be equipped to be a mighty warrior and army for God. We need to get on offense and move forward against the enemy and be proactive instead of defensive.

In 1994 I was caught off guard and did not realize just how angry that I had made our enemy. Luckily for me God used a friend of mine that had already connected to me to help me to crawl out of the hopelessness and depression that the attack caused in my life. My friend redirected my focus and helped me to remember the vision that God had given me and showed me that God does not expect me to be perfect. God expects for me to be obedient and to take my life one day at a time and to leave the battle to Him. God is much more powerful than I am. My friend showed me that I could not defeat the enemy in my mind by myself. My friend showed me that I needed to connect to other Christians and to draw strength from them so that I could find the hope and get back into the battle.
In 2002 I expect the enemy to attack and I will determine to connect to other men in my life who love the Lord and will allow me to join in the offensive with them as we determine to storm the gates of hell together.