The Checkpoint
The Checkpoint
Purpose feat. Geoff Van Leeuwen (E7/S3)
Purpose. What is our true purpose?
Guest Geoff VanLeewen, a fellow disciple, joins us to share some of his journey.
You will be encouraged and challenged as we talk about:
- What do you find security (salvation) in?
- "Salvation by the System"
- You find the end of your own means no matter what.
- If you are not saved by grace, an authentic faith in Christ; then you are not saved (you can't truly be saved by works).
- How do we operate in the mission field around us?
- What is a healthy fear of God?
- What we do is a reflection of who we are.
- Masculinity involves rejecting passivity.
- Insecurity is something we all share in common.
- Letting God change our heart to be loving and missional.
Some resources mentioned:
Book of Jeremiah in the Bible
Courage to Stand: Jeremiah's Message for Post Christian Times by Philip Graham Ryken,
Raising a Modern Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood, by Robert Lewis.
Geoff's talk at Grace Community Church on 12/16/2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOqQFNMcIuw
"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Do everything in love.."
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV
Purpose. What is our true purpose?
How can identifying this and living according to it change things?
We are all living for something, what are you living for?
Geoff learned some key principles from the book -
Courage to Stand: Jeremiah's Message for Post Christian Times by Philip Graham Ryken,
and the book of Jeremiah from Scripture.
How do we operate in the mission field that surrounds us today?
May 2022: A new study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University has found that just 37% of Christian pastors in the United States have a biblical worldview, demonstrating that spiritual awakening is "needed just as desperately in our pulpits as in the pews," according to the pollster.. The nationwide study of about 1,000 Christian pastors found that the majority (62%) possess a hybrid worldview known as Syncretism.
Salvation by the System
What is your security based on ? Geoff shared his 'security' was in the faith system around him, the faith practices he did and took a part of as part of his upbringing, it was what he counted on as his 'salvation'.
What God has shown him are...
- You find the end of your own means no matter what.
- If you are not saved by grace, an authentic faith in Christ; then you are not saved (you can't truly be saved by works).
"I recognized I did not have a fear of God. I had not made Jesus my Lord."
Psalm 36:4 "Even on their beds they plot evil; they commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong."
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Jeremiah 7:9-11 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord."
What we do is a reflection of who we are.
Truly following Christ as Lord should change who we are, and out of who we are changes what we do.
Masculinity involves rejecting passivity.
Insecurity is Common Ground
We can draw people into their need for Christ, to be compelling, by talking to them about insecurity. Tell your insecurities and how God has changed you.
Only by the grace, power of the Holy Spirit can you have a changed heart. Pray for the big things! Pray for a change of heart and mind, being in need of God in all things. God delights in our humbleness and obedience. See the power of God and provision of God in all things, even the small things.
Committing to being a man of God is countercultural.
The only assured infinite rate of return is God's Kingdom.
Our kids are not ours, their are not the governments, they are God's. In heaven, we will be brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to steward caring for our children and spouse. Help them know how holy God is, how sinful we are, and God's plan for redemption and restoration.
Not having a fear of God, then developing that healthy fear led to delighting in God.
Sacrifice. Some things have to be given up that draw us away from God. But in reality, giving these up and investing in others is more satisfying. We need to do the 'heart work' as God helps change our motivation.
When you are full of the Holy Spirit, you have the Lord and people see that.
Titus 3:3 "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another."
Loving others can only truly happen after being loved by God.
1 John 2:6, 9-11 "Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did." "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them."
John 15:4-5 "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
Have a heart to help others know Christ and grow in Christ.
Psalm 1 "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction."
Raising a Modern Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood, by Robert Lewis.
Geoff's talk at Grace Community Church 12/16/2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOqQFNMcIuw
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The purpose of our podcast is to help each other be better leaders, husbands and fathers for God's glory. Our discussions are based on elements from the Men's Ministry at Hillcrest Christian Reformed Church in Hudsonville, MI. For more information about us, check our website and hillcrestcrc.org
