On Saturday, August 7, over 300 men gathered at Desert Springs Church for a men’s conference, The Man: A Call to Fight for Biblical Manhood. Dave Bruskas, this year’s conference speaker, preached to this group of men from three churches, including Mars Hill Church, Desert Springs Church, and Trinity at the Marketplace.

The audio for this conference is now available for download and includes two panel discussions and three talks with Dave:

• Session 1, Dave Bruskas: “The Man and His Lord“
• Session 2, Dave Bruskas:  “The Man and His Woman“
• Panel Discussion 1: Tim Bradley, Dave Bruskas, Daniel Schuman
• Session 3, Dave Bruskas: “The Man and His Church“
• Panel Discussion 2: Dave Bruskas, Ryan Kelly, Michael Kelshaw

In a sentence, Dave’s purpose was to show “everything it means to be a Biblical man has to do with the preeminence of Jesus.” In his third talk, Dave gave three word pictures to describe how men often treat the church:

1. Some people treat the church like a waitress. If a waitress brings us enough good stuff, you might even give her a tip.
2. Some people treat the church like maid. For instance, let’s say you’re on vacation, and you might think it’s okay for the kids to eat gooey chocolate in bed and leave towels on the floor and the kitchen a mess. You’d never do that stuff at home. This kind of person thinks it’s up to the church to clean up his mess. He’s strictly a “taker.” It’s okay to come to church broken, but it is not okay to stay broken. It’s okay to come deep in sin, but it’s not okay to stay deep in sin.
3. Some people treat the church like a porn star. That is, they treat the church like a virtual relationship. If a man has a relationship with an electronic image, he doesn’t have to pay for her dinner, raise kids with her, work through conflict and differences, etc. Some men want to stream a sermon podcast from a church across the country without investing anything in a church in town.

Jesus didn’t show up out of nowhere. Luke 24 records the story of Jesus’ interaction with two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus where “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (24:27). And when he did this, the text says, their hearts “burn[ed]” within them (24:32). And so we have much to look forward to in December.

December Sermon Series

Starting this Sunday, Ryan will show us the greatness and the glory of the promised One, Jesus Christ, in a four part series that will culminate on the Sunday following Christmas. Here are the titles and times, so you know what’s ahead:

Sunday, December 12 (9:00 & 10:45 AM): “Someone’s Coming”
Sunday, December 19 (9:00 & 10:45 AM): “Jesus: God Dwells”
Friday, December 24 (4:00 & 6:00 PM): “Jesus: God Redeems”
Sunday, December 26 (9:00 & 10:45 AM): “Jesus: God Reigns”

While we’re on the subject of December and Christmas and Christ, two more things:

Christmas Resources at the Resource Center

In addition to this sermon series, DSC has a number of resources available at the Resource Center to help you see Christ clearly and spread Christ broadly during this month. Cause for Praise CDs are available for pick-up (if you pre-ordered) or purchase for $10. All DSC sermon CDs are 50% off, including past Clarus conferences and special speakers. The Resource Center has also been stocked with a number of books about Christ for adults and children for purchase as gifts. To listen to past Christmas season sermons, visit the Christmas section of the Messages portion of this site.

Remember to Invite Friends to one of DSC’s December Services

For those who don’t know Christ, Scripture says that they are “[without] hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). As those who have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ, we are privileged messengers of the news that Christ has come, and that through Christ God dwells, God redeems, and God reigns. Remember the appropriateness of the season for inviting friends, family and neighbors to church, and let’s be especially hospitable on Sunday mornings knowing that we are joined by visitors who may be hearing the gospel or hearing the gospel savingly for the very first time. And let’s pray faithfully that many would come to know Christ, not only as the baby that he surely was, but as the risen and reigning King that he is.

Last week, at our Lord’s Supper meeting, Ryan showed us the importance of thankfulness in the Christian life in his sermon, “Give Thanks to the Lord.“ Ryan drew from across the Bible to give us ten reasons to pursue thankfulness. They are listed here with Scripture references or brief explanations.

1. Giving thanks fights pride and fosters humility

Romans 1:21 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

2. Giving thanks fights anxiety and gives perspective

Philippians 4:6 “…don’t be anxious about anything, but instead give thanks.”

3. Thankfulness is an overflow of Christ’s peace in our hearts

Colossians 3:15 “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”

4. Giving thanks is an overflow of the word in us

Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

5. Giving thanks is part of being watchful

Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful with thanksgiving.”

6. Giving thanks is how we continue in prayer

Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”

7. Giving thanks is right – It is the great reckoning with reality

1 Corinthians 4:7 “What do you have that you have not received?”

Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

8. Giving thanks (praise) is why we are saved

2 Corinthians 4:15 “…so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.”

9. Giving thanks induces more and more praise

In the same way that more and more sin produces more and more blindness and waywardness, more thanks grows into a habit of and a craving for more and more thanks.

10. Giving thanks will never be done, it’s never enough

We can never, ever fully acknowledge all that God has done, is doing, or will do. It is what we will do forever.

Ryan also showed us how we can do thankfulness by showing us five levels of thanksgiving from the Psalms. If grumbling and a lack of thanksgiving is your thing, it might be helpful to write down the first word in each of the following lines on a piece of paper to keep with you.

1. Identify reasons for thanks and remind yourself of them
2. Ponder your reasons for thankfulness
3. Feel thankfulness in your heart
4. Express thankfulness to God
5. Promote thankfulness in others

In Sunday’s sermon, “What’s Next?“, Ryan preached from Colossians 2:6-8 to explore what follows after we hear, believe and embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Paul puts it in these verses, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him” (2:6). That simple marching order encompases all that is required of the believer in Christ.

In his sermon, Ryan gave us several simple reminders from this text that we need continually between the comings of Christ.

• There’s nothing greater in all the world than to know Christ, to be known by him, and to be “firm in faith.”
• You can’t grow where you’re not planted. Are you planted in Christ? Have you received him?
• The soil we’re planted in is Christ and his gospel – only and always Christ. We don’t need another soil.
• He planted us there – not we ourselves: “By his doing you are in Christ” (1 Cor 1:30).
• If we’re planted in him, he is growing us; he’s building us up…even when it feels like he’s not.
• Nevertheless there is genuine responsibility – we are to grow, to read, pray, give, serve, love, study/meditate, discipline ourselves, etc. Give yourself to these with all seriousness and effort.
• No insignificant part of the Christian life is to be overflowing in thankfulness. Work at it. Grow in it.

In Sunday’s message, “The Guts and Glory of Ministry,” Ryan preached from Colossians 1:24-2:5 to show us God’s purpose in the ministry of the apostle Paul, who rejoiced in his sufferings “for the sake of [Christ’s] body.” Paul had a decidedly word-centered ministry focused on the proclamation of the gospel of Christ, and suffering was always a means to more of the same. He was busy planting churches and spreading the gospel, but this section of Colossians shows us just how tirelessly Paul labored to strengthen the church in the gospel. Paul toiled and struggled in order to “make the word of God more fully known” to God’s people, to “present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:25, 28-29).

Paul’s commitment to strengthen the people of God reminds us that the church’s growth in maturity and number are not separate concerns with separate means. The gospel is extended into the world as the church is strengthened in the gospel by the word.

To make this point, Ryan quoted John Piper from his sermon, “The Role of the Pastor in World Missions,” who expressed well the mingling of these aims:

What then should a pastor do to promote a passion among his people to see God glorified by the in-gathering of his sheep from the thousands of unreached people groups around the world?

My answer: above everything else, be the kind of person and the kind of preacher whose theme and passion is the majesty of God. No church will be able to rise to the magnificence of the missionary cause of Christ if they do not feel the magnificence of Christ himself. There will be no big world vision without a big God. There will be no passion to draw others, near or far, into the joy of our worship where there is no passionate joy in worship.

The most important thing I think pastors can do to arouse and sustain a passion for world evangelization is week in and week out to help their people see the crags and peaks and icy cliffs and snowcapped heights of God’s majestic character.

I mean that we should labor in our preaching to clear the mists and fog away from the sharp contours of the character of God. We should let him be seen in his majesty and sovereignty.

…the majestic character of God needs to be seen week in and week out not in the context of casualness and triviality and Sunday morning slapstick, but in the context of exaltation and awe and solemnity and earnestness and intensity.

How will our people ever come to feel in their bones the awful magnitude of what is at stake in the eternal destiny of the unevangelized, if our homiletical maxim is to start with a joke and keep the people entertained with anecdotes along the way. How will the people ever come to know and feel the crags and peaks and snowcapped heights of God’s glory if our preaching and worship services are more like picnics in the valley than thunder on the ice face of Mt. Everest?

It’s Thanksgiving day, and there are many things for which to be thankful. As the people of God, our greatest cause for thanksgiving is this very vision of God in Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).  That’s why Paul could give this imperative following immediately after Sunday’s text: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6).

So, let us abound in thanksgiving for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for the ministry of those whom God uses to teach us each week, who toil and struggle for our maturity in Christ, who make the word of God more fully knowing in and through the body at Desert Springs Church.