Mark Adcock

Yesterday, my sermon included a number of steps to protect your heart and your home from Satan’s advances using the internet. You can listen to the sermon by going to our Media Center. But here are a few things to implement in order to pursue being a man or woman of honor.

1. Protect yourself and your family from Satan’s advances by putting a Christian based web filter on your computer. There are several out there to choose from, but my personal preference is found at www.hedgebuilders.com.

2. Expect Satan’s advances and be prepared
A. Study Ephesians 6:10-20 and put on the full amour of God
B. Study 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says: “13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
C. Don’t allow yourself to be put in harms way!!!
Illustration: Does it make sense to you for a man or woman who has a drinking problem to spend all their leisure time in a liquor store? If he/she spent their evening with their lazyboy and television in the middle of all that temptation, would he/she be strong enough to be victorious???

Or if I was a glutton, one who had trouble honoring God with my body by eating well, and I surrounded myself with every sweet imaginable, would I be victorious?

When it comes to the internet, we often become macho and say, In order for me to be a true overcomer, I have to be able to face down the temptation and not fail.

3. If you are in the clutches of the evil One, consider some radical amputation. What is this, you ask?

Read Matthew 5:27-30. ” 27″You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

An example of this concept is available in scene 15 from the movie Fireproof. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to overcome this sin and give God honor?

For more help, check out these two websites:

www.settingcaptivesfree.com

www.purelifeministries.org

And please feel free to call and ask me to pray that God would give you the strength to overcome!!!

Be Blessed!!!

Mark Adcock Uncategorized

On January 30th, a group of 18 men began a journey to become Men of Honor. The next Men of Honor breakfast will take place on February 27th at 8:00 AM. For those who were unable to make it, the following is a fill in the blank outline from my introduction given in week 1. Some answers are provided because they were a part of the presentation that cannot be duplicated on this site. Others are questions from the text and are left blank for your personal study.

Our text comes from 2 Timothy 2:14-26. Read these in and answer the following questions.

Key verses: 2 Timothy 2:20-21 20In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

1. What does verse 15 call us too?

2. What does verse 19 call us to abstain from?
a. Brainstorm for a few moments what wickedness looks like in our world today

3. Verse 20 says that some things honor God and some things dishonor Him.
a. Make a short list of ways that you most often honor God
b. Make a short list of way you most often dishonor Him

4. What must a man of honor do in order to be useful to God? (verse 21)

5. What does verse 22 call the man of honor to do?

6. What do verses 23 through 26 call a man of honor to do?

The Road to Honor is something that I took from Lou Priolo’s book Heart of Anger and modified to apply it to this study:

Step 1- Identify Your Sin (read Psalm 139:23-24)
Step 2- Confess it to God (1 John 1:9)
Step 3- Confess to One Another (James 5:16)
a. Confess to those injured by your sin and ask for forgiveness
b. Confess to other men and ask for their support, prayers and invite them to hold you
accountable
Step 4- Put Off/Put On (Proverbs 28:13)
a. Ask God for the power to put off the sinful behavior
b. Replace the sinful behavior with acts of righteousness
Step 5- Spur One Another on to Acts of Righteousness (Hebrews 10:24)

Finally, Who would you lift up from Scripture to be a biblical example of “A Man of Honor?” And why?

This study is available to any man who wants to join the journey to become honorable. Hope to see you on February 27th at 8:00AM. Breakfast is included. You will be done by 10:00 AM.

Be Blessed!!!!!!

Mark Adcock Uncategorized

Many have asked about some of the quotes that have been used as a part of this series “Lost In a Sea of Faces.” Here are just a few to consider as you pursue fellowship with others in God’s Church:

a. Quote from Jim Wallis in A Call to Conversion: “Community is the place where we lay ourselves open to genuine conversion. It is the corporate environment that preserves and nurtures the ongoing process of conversion. Once we have set our feet on a new road, community is what helps us along the way. In community we begin to unlearn the old patterns and to learn what the kingdom is all about. In relationship to one another, we understand more deeply the message of the gospel, and our relationships reinforce our ability to be faithful to it. The community of faith enables us to resist the pressures of our culture and to genuinely proclaim something new in its midst. Community is never withdrawn from the world, because its biblical purpose is to make Jesus Christ visible in the world…Community is the arena in which the struggle for a faithful church will first take place. Community, therefore, does not exist for itself nor as an alternative church. It is the battleground of the movement from captivity to renewal, from conformity to transformation. Community, then, is a living sacrament for the church.”

QUOTE: You’ve probably heard the saying, “The methods change, but the message stays the same.” There it is — the rallying cry of the evangelical church. It is the North Star that guides the most forward-looking leaders of the church. It serves both as a shield defending against the flaming arrows of those who cry “heresy” and as a catalyst for creativity and innovation in ministry. As long as you don’t change the message, anything goes for the methods of communicating it.

This view is based on a simple metaphor of media. Media and methods are merely “tools” or “vehicles.” They serve as neutral conduits, or pipelines, useful for dispensing the gospel. It’s like the plumbing in a house that carries water from the water heater to the faucet. We don’t think much about the pipes until one springs a leak.

However, this metaphor is a major problem. It prevents us from seeing the truth. The truth, as McLuhan famously observed, is that in fact the medium is the message. It’s a cryptic little aphorism that stands in direct contradiction to the evangelical rallying cry. He meant that the forms of our media, regardless of their content, have the power to shape our minds and our messages. In other words, you can’t change the methods without changing the message. (Shane Hipps)

ILLUSTRATION- Suppose I give Caleb a gift. He is just a baby. Not completely able to reason in an adult fashion. I take a box and place in that box a check for $85,000 earmarked for a college education. Then I wrap that box up in the most sparkling paper I can find. With bows and bells and rattles. When he is given that package, what is he most interested in? The content of the package, or the outward display designed to capture his senses? Let me tell you something, a babe in Christ is often the very same way. They can be so captured by the outward adornments of the church, that they never receive the message!

C.S. Lewis said: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is Hell.”

Mark Adcock Uncategorized

In the sermon Sunday, I alluded to a list of ways that parents often provoke their children to anger. If you missed the sermon on how to create intimacy with your children, check it out in our media center. Because I only gave you a few examples, I decided to make the entire list available from Lou Priolo’s book entitled “The Heart of Anger.” For further study, you can order this book online from www.timelesstexts.com.

25 Ways to Provoke Your Child to Anger
This list was excerpted from Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo

1. Lack of Marital Harmony (Genesis 2:24 and Hebrews 12:15)
2. Establishing and Maintaining a Child-Centered Home (Proverbs 29:15)
3. Modeling Sinful Anger (Proverbs 22:24-25)
4. Habitually Disciplining While Angry (Psalm 38:1)
5. Scolding (Ephesians 4:26-27)
6. Being Inconsistent with Discipline (2 Corinthians 1:17-18)
7. Having Double Standards (Philippians 4:9)
8. Being Legalistic (Matthew 15:8-9)
9. Not Admitting You are Wrong and Asking for Forgiveness (Matthew 5:23-24)
10. Constantly Finding Fault (Job 32:2-3)
11. Parent’s Reversing God-Given Roles (Ephesians 5:22-24)
12. Not Listening to Your Child’s Opinion or Taking His or Her “Side to the Story” Seriously (Proverbs 18:3 & 17)
13. Comparing Them to Others ( 2 Corinthians 10:12)
14. Not Making Time “Just to Talk” (James 1:19)
15. Not Praising of Encouraging Your Child (Revelation 2:2-4)
16. Failing to Keep Your Promises (Matthew 5:37)
17. Chastening In Front of Others (Matthew 18:15)
18. Not Allowing Enough Freedom (James 3:17)
19. Allowing Too Much Freedom (Proverbs 29:15)
20. Mocking Your Child (Job 17:1-2)
21. Abusing Them Physically (1 Timothy 3:3)
22. Ridiculing or Name Calling (Ephesians 4:29)
23. Unrealistic Expectations (1 Corinthians 13:11)
24. Practicing Favoritism (Luke 15:25-30)
25. Child Training With Worldly Methodologies Inconsistent With God’s Word (Ephesians 6:4)

May God bless you as you seek to honor God as you parent your children!

In Him,

Pastor Mark

Mark Adcock Uncategorized "Fathers, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." -Ephesians 6:4, do not exasperate your children; instead

Okay, so my blog has sat for a few months without an update. It seems life just gets crazy busy and the greatest of intentions sometimes go unmet. Isn’t that the way Satan often works in our spiritual lives. We have great intentions. We offer ourselves to the Lord and invite Him to do the next renovation project to our heart and lives. But, then life happens. Ballgames for the kids, work requires some overtime. First one thing and then another and suddenly we find ourselves having accomplished nothing that we set out to accomplish. “Well, this time its going to be different” we claim. If you can relate to this today, stop and seek God’s forgiveness for having dropped the ball on your way to achieve His goals in your life. Then, dust yourself off and move forward!

For His Glory!!!!

Mark Adcock Uncategorized

“”Carnal Christian” is a completely unscriptural concept. Believers in the idea of the carnal christian say that a person may receive Christ as Savior during a time of decision or religious experience, but never manifest any evidence of a changed life. This is a false and dangerous teaching. It provides a convenient excuse for the person who does not want to follow Christ. Such a person is lulled into a false sense of security thinking he/she has eternal life. The Bible no where supports the idea that a true Christian can remain carnal for an entire lifetime. Rather, God’s Word presents only two categories of people, Christians and non-Christians, believers and unbelievers, those who have bowed to the Lordship of Christ and those who have not.” For more study on this subject, take some time and read these verses of Scripture: John 3:36, Romans 6:17-18, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 5:18-24, Ephesians 2:1-5, and 1 John 1:5-7 and 2:3-4).

Mark Adcock Uncategorized

In Luke 9:23-24 Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”

John MacArthur writes about this passage saying “I suppose death to self is the real issue. Somewhere along your pilgrimage as a Christian you need to learn to die to yourself regularly. It saves you from being defensive, revengeful, retaliatory, hostile, accumulating the list of things against you.

When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set aside and you sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy and you count it a privilege to suffer for Christ, that is dying to self.

When you’re good is evil spoken of, when she misunderstands you, when your desires are not interesting to her, when your advice is disregarded and your opinions are ridiculed and when you are abused, when you are mistreated, or misunderstood and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, that is dying to self.

When you lovingly patiently bear any disruption, any irregularity, any annoyance, when you can stand face to face with folly and waste and extravagance and insensitivity and endure it as Jesus endured it, that is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, any clothes, any climate, any society, any interruption or any solitude, that is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in a conversation, or to record and recite your own good works, or to pursue commendation, when you can truly love, to be unrecognized for something good, that is dying to self.

When you see someone else prosper, someone else reach goals that you desire and you can honestly rejoice with that other person in spirit, feel no envy and not question God while your needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances, that is dying to self.”

Mark Adcock Uncategorized

The conclusion of my sermon on Sunday offered seven indicators to show that a person is poor in spirit. I took these from a 1979 sermon from John McArthur. The indicators are:

You may be poor in spirit if…

1. You have been weaned from yourself (See Psalm 131:2).
2. You find yourself lost in the wonder of Christ.
3. You never complain about your situation.
4. You see only the excellent things about others and only see your weaknesses.
5. You spend much time in prayer.
6. You take Christ on His terms, not your own.
7. You continually praise and thank God for His grace.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

Mark Adcock Uncategorized

My friend I stand in judgment now
And feel that you’re to blame somehow.
On earth I walked with you by day,
And never did you point the way.

You knew the Lord in truth and glory;
But never did you tell the story.
My knowledge then was very dim,
You could have led me on to Him.

Though we lived together here on earth,
You never mentioned a second birth.
And now I stand this day condemned
Because you failed to mention Him.

You taught me many things, that’s true.
I called you “friend” and trusted you.
But now I learn that it’s too late.
You could have kept me from this fate.

We walked by day and talked by night;
And yet, you showed me not the light.
You let me live and love and die;
But knew I’d never live on high.

Yes, I called you “friend” in life
And trusted you through joy and strife,
And yet, on coming to this dreadful end
No longer can I call you…FRIEND!
(Poem by and Unknown Author)

Mark Adcock Uncategorized

Repentance comes from the Greek work (metanoeo) which means “a change of mind.” O.S. Hawkins says that when someone repents, they change their mind about four things:

1. Our Self- Repentance leads to a new understanding of self. We have a new understand about our self-importance.
2. Our Sin- Repentance leads us to realize that our sin placed Jesus on the cross. It’s not pretty.
3. Our Savior- Repentance moves our understanding from seeing him as a great teacher or leader, to our personal Messiah…the One who came to save us!
4. Our Salvation- Repentance helps us move our understanding of our salvation from it being an award to it being a gift. We cannot earn it. God gives it.

Mark Adcock Uncategorized