Haters Gonna Hate

I think Billy Graham is a great man of God.  How dumb it seems to me to see people sharing videos about why he or any other man of God are something less than great men, doing great things for the kingdom, getting men saved.

Billy Graham, Chuck Swindol, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Hagan and a lot more have one thing in common. They led more people to Christ and godly living than you have.  

Remember Mark 9:39 But Jesus said, "Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. 40"For he who is not against us is for us. 41"For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.

It just proves, haters gonna hate. 

Haters Gonna Hate http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/haters-gonna-hate.html

THE WAR ON BROTHERHOOD: Fighting through Prayer, Submission, and Obedience

Praise God that He is sovereign. I've had the pleasure to call James Disciple Johnson since the very beginning of Disciple. I can't begin to explain the way our relationship has shaped me and has grown me as a Man of God. We've been through a lot together, ridden thousands of miles side by side. I stood by his side when the 1%ers tried to cut his patches off and told us there wasn't going to be any new MCs. There was a year when it was just he and I, when we weren't living in obedience to the Lord and the devil tried to squash the club before it had a chance to take root. There was a time I even considered quitting, when my leader was under attack, struggling with some sin issues, and I had no one to follow. But it was to God's Glory, and I rejoice that He used me to approach my brother and point those things out to him. God used that conversation to get James's attention and show him what our mission was: To Disciple Men to have a Daily Word and Prayer time, and to support the 1% world with prayer.

You see, that's how Brotherhood is supposed to work. Even your brother is at his lowest, weakest point in his life or in his walk with Christ--you don't abandon your brother. You stick by his side and you fight with him. I'm not going to leave a brother behind--especially when he's under attack. And I'm damn sure not going to bring him down when He's at his best, or beat him while he's under attack. I've stuck by his side through thick and thin, and when my brother stumbled, I helped pick him up. That's what it means to be a Brother. I love my brother, and I'm going to keep fighting on his behalf.

I am grateful for James' leadership. I have submitted myself to the authority that God has given him through this club. The key is this: I follow him as he follows Christ. As long as James is following Christ, submitting to his leadership is easy because I'm following God's vision for Disciple. I'm willing to do anything he asks of me for the benefit of this organization because I understand the vision. I'm not going to talk bad about my brother behind his back even when I disagree with something he says or does. I might say "hey bro let's talk about this, help me to understand why you said or did this."

Only recently have I learned how important praying for my brothers is. Being a Disciple invites a whole new level of attack from the enemy. Men of God we must pray for our leader. Pray that he would stay true to the vision God gave him. Pray that the Lord would guard him from the attack of the enemy. Go to WAR on behalf of your brothers, men! And when they can fight no longer, fight for them. FIGHT FOR YOUR BROTHER. Remember that this war doesn't stop as long as we're on this side of Heaven. Never give up. Never surrender. Spend time on your face praying for your brothers, praying for our leaders daily. Value the term Brother and remember the price Jesus paid to call you Brother.

There's way more than just two of us now, and it's been a wild ride. I give God all the Glory--that He considered me trustworthy, appointing me to His service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown grace because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. (1 Tim 1:12-14).

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peacable and considerate, and to show humility toward all men. Titus 3:1-2

Disciple Retrow
National Vice President & Co-Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

THE WAR ON BROTHERHOOD: Fighting through Prayer, Submission, and Obedience
http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-war-on-brotherhood-fighting-through.html

The Mother Charter

The bylaws of Disciple were and have been written recognizing the fact that we are a new organization. We are in the unique formational process of founding this club and starting up charters around the country and the world. We are establishing best practices for getting new Charters in place. We are adding new regional and national leadership positions as we start up state after state,  country after country. We are in the beginning stages of forming national relationships with the major clubs. Our bylaws undergo annual changes based on comments from the membership and the leadership, that reflect the new realities we encounter as we go from a small operation in one state to a nationwide and indeed global motorcycle club,  an explosion that happened in just one year.

We know that there are many Christian organizations that have gone before us and paved the way. Some are widely respected and some have gone about things the wrong way in our estimation. Some other them had their patches pulled by National MC's because they soured things so badly. Some of these clubs relied on democracy, allowing competing viewpoints about how to do things from different members to dissolve into internal quarrels that spilled out in confusion to the public. Some fought open wars for leadership with competing 'National Presidents' suing each other and brought shame and disgrace to the name of Jesus and made Christians look petty and silly. We resolve that this will not happen to Disciple,  and have laid a clear path to ensure success, clearly laid out in the beginning of our bylaws. It's a time honored and respected MC establishment known as the Mother Charter. 

Democracy works well for running a county, but the scriptural basis for leadership is the Set Man. God sets a man in place, gives him a vision, expects him to live holy and to carry it forward (and is pretty harsh with him if he doesnt) , and gradually brings men around him to fulfill it.  A few at first,  then more and more. Reference Abraham, Joseph, the Judges, King David, Jesus, the Apostle Paul, but nothing anywhere laid out for choosing a leader through voting. King David in 2Sam23 had the Three, then the Thirty, then the mighty men, and then was ruler over an entire country. Or Jesus who started out with a few,  then a dozen,  then seventy and by the end was thronged by crowds. Voting and democracy aren't laid out in the Bible, and it is the position of the leadership of Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club that they have their place,  but we choose to follow the Biblical model of a Set Man.  As Paul writes in 1Cor11: follow me as I follow Christ. And if the Set Man doesn't follow Christ, the Mother Charter will replace him. 

As we have grown into a global entity, it has become a logistical impossibility for each full patch member to intimately know the founder, his vision, heart and character. In 2013 our first charter outside the mother charter became a reality. In just one short year with hundreds of men joining, even a short phone call with the founder takes some level of scheduling.  Urgent issues get a quick call back, but a call just to chat may take a few days to return. This is why the Mother Charter is such an important concept. 

We trust the men of the Mother Charter to spiritually discern and know the heart of the founder,  and to ensure adherence to our founding principles. As the men closest to him, we entrust the sacred responsibility of ensuring the club is globally launched on the right course to these men. Anyone can do it,  but only the members of the mother charter have the geographical proximity to have daily contact, hear the vision, the thought process and scriptural backing, work out misunderstandings, have a regular daily/weekly chance to pray with and challenge and ask questions brought to them by the international membership as they share the vision. The Mother Charter is the sounding board for Disciple members to take concerns,  questions, points of clarification or gripes. It's likely that they will have the answers, and if not they can access them. More importantly if Disciple members question the character or actions of the National President, the Mother Charter cares about the reputation and regulation of the club, and will correct the National President or the perception of the membership as needed. 

Course corrections come from the membership. The club stance on alcohol and marijuana were set, framed and voted on by the membership. Some members quit over these important issues,  and less serious ones too. The National President, Mother Charter and other National Leadership have been responsive to concerns. However there are some core values which are seen as critical to keeping us true to the founding principles of the club as we facilitate a global implementation of Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club. 

1. The guiding principles of the club are set by the founder. There are many great biblical missions,  feeding the homeless, caring for battered women, helping out habitat for humanity etc. But the founder set the mission statement through prayer.  Those not aligned with the founder and his God ordained mission are invited to find an organization that meets their requirements. Those who see themselves in the mission statement are invited to come along for the ride in a spirit of unity.  There will not be competing priorities. 

2. The Mother Charter appoints the leadership. The Mother Charter understands the founding principles based on time spent with the founder. While others may come along with great vision and charismatic leadership potential, if they do not align with the founding principles, they are not right for Disciple. Voting allows for divisive politics, personalities, flesh, competing agendas and personal loyalties. We expect the mother charter to come together for fasting and prayer, and to select national leadership that is consistent with and submitted to the founding principles based on the guiding of the Holy Spirit of God. God is not the author of confusion (1Cor14:33), competing agendas and missions for Disciple,  He has given a clear vision for Disciple,  and a rock solid group of men to carry it out.. 

3. All the charters will abide by the bylaws and founding principles. We won't have different rules for each charter as they see fit,  and let them sort of govern themselves.  Disciple Christian MC follows a strict military like structure. A national boss with a series of national leaders,  regional bosses,  charter bosses, all working together in unity. Unity is our core principle,  there is no brotherhood without it. Respect for the positions of leadership will be upheld. Disrespect for leadership will be dealt with firmly. If you have a complaint, you have the right to stand up and say so by following Matt18.  But it better be valid,  not just criticism for the sake of nitpicking over doctrine of divisive arguments. Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, arguments about genealogies, quarrels, and fights about the Law. These things are useless and worthless. 2Tim2:Do not have anything to do with foolish and stupid discussions, because you know they breed arguments. 24 A servant of the Lord must not argue. Instead, he must be kind to everyone, teachable, willing to suffer wrong, 25 and gentle when refuting opponents. After all, maybe God will allow them to repent and to come to a full knowledge of the truth. 

This is a Christian club.  We are going to expect you to act like the Bible says a man of God acts. 

4. The Mother Charter patched members must be viewed with the same level of deference and respect afforded a patch member in a National leadership position. By simple fact of their proximity to and depth of relationship with the founder, they will have a working knowledge of the founding principles. They have stood by the founder through attacks on his character, stood by him when he was right, and when he was wrong they corrected him with love. They've had to suffer through the politics that inevitably happen between brothers in other charters, or even whole charters or states that went rogue. They have had to deal with the conflicts that the rest of the club who were focused on the mission rather than the mischeif was shrouded from. Many never knew of turmoil,  many caused it, but the Mother Charter prayerfully resolved it. And their work deserves credit and honor. Double honor. 
1Tim5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

God Bless You All
James Disciple Johnson 
Natl President and Founder 
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club 

The Mother Charter http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-mother-charter.html

Forget Doctrine, Preach the Bible

I've had conversations with people in the club that told me they didn't agree with what I was teaching. It's okay not to agree. But before you say you don't agree, do it biblically, and follow these rules. 

1. Know what you're talking about. Generally folks who don't agree about something I've said don't even know what I've said. They didn't hear it from me, and assumed something based on some sort of third hand information. If you're going to get mad about something I said, make sure I said it! Get on the Bible study conference call, that way you have a chance to know what we're saying. Ive found that everyone who disagrees with doctrine taught here didn't know what we were teaching, and wasn't on the Bible study conference call. GET ON THE PHONE and call me.  I better not hear it first on facebook. 

2. Get your facts straight. If you hear me preaching something, then it better have come from the Bible. If you don't understand something I said, then ask me and let's look at the Scriptures together. Most people who get really angry about something I've said never took the time to do that. When they do they find that my viewpoint is pretty reasonable from Scripture. I'm peer reviewed by the other preachers in the club. By the time I'm presenting something, Godly men have had time to review it. While the interpretation of your denomination may be different, nothing we're presenting is way out there or brand new. Trust me you don't have a complete understanding of Scripture. And neither do I. There is no way that one person can be the complete repository of all scriptural knowledge. All of us are up to learn something new that's true when we dig into the Scriptures or hear good Bible based teaching.

3. Get to the source. In the end you may know exactly what I'm saying and exactly where I'm getting it from Scripture, and not agree. So let's sit down and talk it out. Many divisions of the body can be resolved by simply having a conversation. Running around within the club and expressing your vexation is not godly, its foolishness and sowing division. The Book of Proverbs calls sowing discord among the brothers an abomination. You'll get warned once,  made a prospect a second time,  and put on the third. That's biblical. 
Proverbs 6: 16  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18  An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19  A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

4. Get over it. If we debate some point of doctrine and you change my mind, then welcome to the team of brothers who challenged me on something and made me change my view. It's certainly happened before and I'm sure it will happen again. And if you don't change my views,  and I tell you that I think you're dead wrong, then we can agree to disagree. Not everyone that goes to every church agrees with every viewpoint their pastor has. But you don't stand up during the sermon and start yelling at him. Don't do that here either. If you can't agree to disagree graciously we will put you out. There's not going to be division or discord over doctrine in this club. Not even a little. 
Titus 3:10  Reject a divisive person after one or two warnings

5. It's not that big a deal. Nothing that were preaching is life shattering or world ending. We're never going to come up with a new way to get salvation that doesn't include Jesus Christ, we're never going to ask anybody to drink Kool Aid in little cups. If we did you would go to the mother charter, and they'd simply replace me and move on. Anything short of that is something to avoid argument on. Wanna have a theological debate? Great! Brotherhood means being able to move on without harboring anger about it. 

At the end of the day this club belongs to God, and its up to God to ensure that we are heading in the direction he wants. God is more than able to correct wrong behavior, reference the cracked ribs I have as I write this because I wouldn't listen to him about standing on my bike. If you have a serious issue with anything, and the above steps don't work for you, then get on your knees and pray that God will change people's minds, whether it be ours or yours. If that doesn't work and it still bothers you badly enough, your options are to leave the club or just drop your issue. But don't go destroying the hard work men across the county have put into this club by being negative, spiteful, vengeful and stirring up dissension. Trust me God will deal with that too. If your interpretation of the Bible is that earth shaking then God will bring tuna bunch of men to preach it to,  and you can start your own Motorcycle Club.  In fact,  that's why there are so many out there now, so you can just find one that agrees with you. 

Whether everyone agrees with it or not, I am responsible to God to preach what He lays on my heart. And the fact of the matter is that some of its going to pick their conscience and they're not going to agree with it. There is no way but I will stop honoring God with what he lays on my heart to preach because somebody doesn't like it, and that should make you proud of me. When God gives it to me, and the men of God around me have reviewed it as on target,  then nothing is going to cause me to go backwards from the mission God has put me on. 

We're not going to stop teaching the Bible because people don't like it. End of story.

James Disciple Johnson
Natl President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

Forget Doctrine, Preach the Bible  http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/forget-doctrine-preach-bible.html

Seven Steps to Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolutions 
Is Anger and Conflict Hindering Your Spiritual Growth?
Love is the supreme value in the kingdom of God. Anger and conflict block out love. There is probably no greater challenge to spiritual growth than how you handle anger and conflict.
"If your brother sins against you, go and SHOW him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over." -- Matthew 18:15
Angry man
Seven steps to resolving conflict:
1. IF THERE IS CONFLICT
2. YOU
3. GO
4. TO THE PERSON
5. IN PRIVATE
6. AND DISCUSS THE PROBLEM
7. FOR THE PURPOSE OF RECONCILIATION
Discussion of the steps:
Acknowledge the conflict. Conflict is normal; it is a part of human nature. Lack of conflict does not equal maturity.
You must do something about it. Why don't we face up to resolving conflict? Pride, Fear, Stubbornness.
Go means go or approach. Go does not mean avoid or pray or think or forget. But before going, ask yourself:
Why am I angry? There are three major reasons that we get angry:
Hurt
Frustration
Fear
What do you want?
Go directly to the person involved. NO third parties, no mediators, no friends. Conflict is inevitable. Resentment is OPTIONAL. Resolution is up to you.
Talk in private. Be sensitive. Approach the other person as you would like to be approached.
Anger Myth: The best way to handle anger is to ventilate it.
Reality: Ventilation only reinforces anger. It is also not appreciated by those ventilated on. It accomplishes nothing positive in either person.
Use DIRECT communication.
Describe clearly what you observed. (Example: "You didn't listen to what I said.")
Explain how it hurt you. (Example: "My opinion doesn't matter to you.")
Tell what the consequences have been. (Example: "I'm feeling quite resentful." or maybe "I feel like knocking you out when you treat me like that.")
Ask for what change you would like. Change implies more than simply an apology, although an apology is often a good place to START.
Aim at reconciliation. The goal is to restore the relationship. The goal is not to prove who was right, not to get back at someone, not to avoid the situation, not to turn away and forget.

For His Glory
Disciple Big Beard

Seven Steps to Conflict Resolution  http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/seven-steps-to-conflict-resolution.html

Spreading the Word, Facebook Style

Believe it or not, there are people who have never heard of us before. Men that long for brotherhood and a place to belong.  How will they hear? 

If you are a Disciple supporter, hang around, prospect or full patch, it's time to start putting out the word. Go to our Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club public Facebook page and poke through the picture albums and begin sharing pictures you think are cool. Share them on your Facebook page, share them on the pages of bikers you know, on public biker pages about fixing Harleys, share them on any page that has anything to do with motorcycles. This is something you can do from your phone. Download pics and share them out,  if you're handy with it,  teach the guys in your charter how. Believe it or not,  thats witnessing. It's getting the Word out, someone will join the club,  someone will get saved because every day, bit by bit, you are doing your part to spread the Word. 

Share links with the pictures. There are many many blogs to choose from,  here are two to get you started: 

http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com
http://disciplecmcaboutus.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-do-i-join-disciple.html

So cmon,  earn your keep. Each of us has different strengths,  but all of us can help others encounter their destiny: one share, one post at a time. 

James Disciple Johnson 
National President and Founder 
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club 

Spreading the Word,  Facebook Style http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/spreading-word-facebook-style.html

Marijuana & Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

In the context of Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club, marijuana use for any reason,  legal or illegal, has time and again been confirmed as completely inappropriate for those who are part of the club,  by overwhelming vote of the full patch members. This affirms the longstanding tradition of our bylaws, and is completely appropriate for the following reasons:

1. A key component of our ministry is our Drug Free 43 Nazarite initiative where we empower sobriety through biblical fasting. Our goal is to see men freed of addiction by the power of Christ, and it would be counterproductive and wholly inappropriate to change the bylaws to allow a new sort of drug use and addiction. 

2. Given the fact that many of our brotherhood have come out of a world of addiction, and specifically from addiction to marijuana, it would be wrong in the strongest terms for us to reintroduce this powerful and addictive narcotic into our numbers, and cause our brothers to stumble. The Bible is unequivocally clear on this matter. 

Luke 17 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea. 

Romans 14 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

1 Cor 8 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

3. Compassion dictates that we do not relegate our brothers to a life of addiction to falsely labeled "medical marijuana", but that we express the freedom and healing that is integral to the message of Jesus Christ. Christ did not come to mask symptoms of pain with marijuana, He came to heal us completely!  Disciples do not shrink back from their responsibilities under the Word, by telling people to be addicted to marijuana. Rather, we resolve to follow what the scripture says, and pray healing over our brothers. 

James 5 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Exodus 15 I am the Lord your healer

Isaiah 53 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

4. The connection between marijuana and the occult is clearly documented, and it is the position of the founder of this club that marijuana use is akin to witchcraft and demonology. The very Greek word that we get the word pharmacy from means witchcraft. While Satan may be able to make you feel a little better for a little while, only God can heal you. The very fact that spiritists and demon worshippers consider marijuana as something that enables witchcraft and communication with demons signals us that it's the wrong direction for Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club. 

1 Corinthians 10 You can’t drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too. You can’t have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than he is? You say, “Everything is permitted.” But not everything is good for us. Again you say, “Everything is permitted.” But not everything builds us up. We should not look out for our own interests. Instead, we should look out for the interests of others. 

5. While the law of man may change in these evil days, God's law doesn't, praise God! Men may say killing babies and gay marriage are OK,  but that doesn't make it so. The truths we hold to be self evident from scripture do not change with an act of Congress. Whether man says it's legal or not,  we hold the standard of the word on sobriety. 

Mal 3 For i am the Lord and I change not. 

1 Cor 6 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Peter 5 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

6. Finally we Disciples must clearly show the way to Christ.  We must be circumspect and hold to approved doctrine.  We must re-establish what path a serious hardcore man of God walks in, and leave no room for waffling and equivocation in critical areas.  Men will follow us, men who seek healing and recovery, and even one day our sons, and by our walk they must know clearly what sound wisdom and good judgement is. Only then can we begin to see generational healing, building up what the enemy has devastated in the lives of men. 

Isaiah 61 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

Isiah 58 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

Eph 5 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit

Let us never lower the bar,  let us show the way to overcome! 

James Disciple Johnson 
Natl President and Founder 
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club 

Marijuana & Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/marijuana-disciple-christian-motorcycle.html

GET OVER IT!

GET OVER IT!
If you get all hot and bothered every time someone does something to annoy you, you don't have much sense.  If you can't learn to quickly and easily overlook and forgive people who annoy you, you haven't earned respect of or shown yourself to be a wise man. I didn't say it, the Bible did. 

This old MC culture thing about getting all offended about people you feel disrespected you isn't Jesus, and you will need to get over it quickly become a wise man. If this stings you, you need to start spending a lot of time studying what the Bible says about anger and forgiveness. Jesus has forgiven you for a lot of stuff! And according to Matthew 6 if you don't start doing the same thing, He's not going to keep on forgiving you, and you're not a follower of Christ.

Proverbs 19:11
New International Version
A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense.

New Living Translation
Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.

James Disciple Johnson
National President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

GET OVER IT!  http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/get-over-it.html

Struggling Right Now? You've Gotta Read This!

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation—whom shall I fear or dread? The Lord is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, [even then] in this will I be confident.

4One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock.

6And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; in His tent I will offer sacrifices and shouting of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; have mercy and be gracious to me and answer me!

8You have said, Seek My face [inquire for and require My presence as your vital need]. My heart says to You, Your face (Your presence), Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require [of necessity and on the authority of Your Word].

9Hide not Your face from me; turn not Your servant away in anger, You Who have been my help! Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!  Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child].

11Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain and even path because of my enemies [those who lie in wait for me]. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me; they breathe out cruelty and violence.

13[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living!Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.

Psalm 27

Practicing the Presence of God

I'd like the entire Disciple Nation to do this spiritual workout this week together,  just as we did the 10 day fast together earlier this year. I want us all to experience practicing the presence of God together. Here's what I'd like to see us do everyday this week, a couple times a day if you can:

1. Get somewhere quiet and open the Revelation song on headphones or speaker. Let it play through a few times. Here's a link: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rGgX_oqdib4

2. While it plays, lay facedown on the floor before God.  This is position of humility and submission. Quiet your thoughts and just let the music wash over you. 

3. If thoughts come,  just pray. Ask for forgiveness of sins. Ask God to cleanse you, mold your heart,  restore your soul (Psalm23). Ask for the presence of God to fall on you. 

4. Ask the Holy Spirit to burn impurities off you,  to make you more like the image of Christ. 

5. Finally,  just worship Him. See yourself in heaven before His throne. Just let His love flood through you. 

6. As you get it,  begin to then do it with your spouse. 

Why this song? It's not just another nice song.  It's written by God.  The Words are lifted directly from Scriptures. It's what the Angels say before the throne of God.  Singing along adds you to the chorus in heaven, and brings you into a worshipful place. This exercise is about going from hearing or reading about God, to actually experiencing His presence. It's about learning the discipline of entering into worship,  entering into the spiritual realm in a tangible and real way. Doing so makes us more able to hear Him speak, less resistant to His Spirit changing us. 

Doing this together corporately as a body gives us strength. We must go from individual people struggling in lonely battles,  to a body together successfully prosecuting a war on our flesh and our enemy. As a body of believers we are inextricably bonded together spiritually. Each of us strengthening ourselves together takes us from being one brick,  to being a powerful wall,  tied together by the mortar of His Spirit. An uncoordinated army,  each one doing his own attack,  may well engage in friendly fire and start attacking each other.  An army carefully fighting in unison is a force to be reckoned with. 

Who is with me? 

James Disciple Johnson 
Natl President & Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club 

The NO DRAMA Club

Club Politics. Why do we embroiled ourselves? Why do we cease enjoying this club over politics? When did this stop being fun and ministry? Why do we waste our time getting mad about other clubs, and even other brothers in our club? Why is there any he said she said among our brothers? We are grieving God. Eph 4:29Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying (building men up) , that it may minister grace unto the hearers (grace is being treated better than what's deserved). 30And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

NO DRAMA. It has to stop. It doesn't matter what any other Christian club has to say. Or for that matter what any other club, or person in or out of our club has to say. If we are living in submission to God, He will make a way. Prov 16:7 When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. You need to be focused on living right for God, not on how others are doing their thing.

Stop the chatter. I don't wanna hear complaints about silly rivalries anymore. Inter charter rivalries, Disciple California vs Disciple Carolina, it's ALL Disciple. Getting mad at another brother, holding some grudge because of something they said or did days weeks or months ago is silly. Yeah I said it, it's silly kiddie stuff and none of us should do it or allow it or participate in a conversation about it. Matt 5:22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. 23“So if you are presenting a sacrificei at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

I'm guilty of talking smack about other clubs, and at times other brothers. I get mad at all the politics and dumb stuff. I repent, I was wrong, please forgive me and stop me if I do it again. It doesn't matter what they say, it matters what God says. God says not to take into account a wrong suffered. 1 Co 13:5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.

God has forgiven you of so much. And again daily. You must do the same. I say MUST. Matt 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. NEITHER WILL YOUR FATHER FORGIVE YOUR TRESPASSES. pretty important I'd say.

Stop getting all worked up. Stop taking everything so damn seriously. Quit judging your brother. Stop. STAHP! This is supposed to be enjoyable not some rat race for popularity or chance to go round dinging anyone who in your opinion ISN'T FIT FOR A REAL MC. What is a REAL MC anyway, because each of them is pretty well different from the other, and each individual in them is different from the next. We weed out men left and right, by the time they wear this patch they have earned our respect, even if they do dumb stuff sometimes. Heck, YOU do dumb stuff sometimes too, so cut some slack here and there. And have some fun. Read this next bit carefully.

Rom 12:1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
4For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
5So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
6Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
7Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
8Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
9Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
10Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
11Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
12Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
13Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
14Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
16Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
17Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
18If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Real Men Don't Trailer Their Bikes! Or something.

I've done lots of miles on motorcycles over the years. My first two bikes didn't have odometers, so I don't know how many exactly, but I would guess somewhere around 100,000. I've done a good portion of those miles next to brothers. I've learned the people I wanna spend time with don't really get to know me, and I don't really get to know them when riding next to each other. As wonderful as riding handlebar to handlebar is, and it's wonderful because it forges the deep bond necessary for an MC, the deep relationships I'm looking to build take time in conversations as well. Both have their place.

That's why I don't mind throwing my bike in a trailer, crowding in a crew cab and sharing some time in conversation when we're headed somewhere. I've built up all the street cred I need, what's more important to me is the depth of Christian conversation we have together. It was the 18 hours in the truck together where Warhammer and I cooked up a plan that has helped spread Disciple across the country over the last year. It was 10 hours in the truck together where I learned some of Kenneth Keith incredible testimony. 

Don't get me wrong, we all hate it and feel like losers when we will pass the pack of dudes getting soaked in the freezing cold in the rain and they're headed in the same direction as we are. And I've been that guy plenty of times,  like the six hours coming back from Georgia in 36 degree heavy rain last December in a pack of eight bros. But then on the other hand we have important things that are accomplished when we're in the cab together. So all I'm saying is don't be afraid to throw all the bikes in a trailer and crowd the brothers together to get some bro time. I know how to ride next to my brothers and the value of it, but I also know the importance of conversations that I missed when I am.

We have deep things to discuss.  Disciple isn't all party.  We have testimonies, we have shared problems,  strategic planning, prayer and praise together,  there is a lot of bonding time that has value. And don't forget when we arrive we can be refreshed and ready to roll rather than wiped out and ready to sleep.  That's key when the weekend only lasts 48 hours. So don't buy into some kind of hype that you aren't a man if you trailer to a run with some bros.

Struggling With Finances? READ THIS

I've said many times, Im not here for your money, Im here for your brotherhood. And I stand by that statement firmly. If anyone in this club doesn’t pay donations because they are in a hard time financially, we are not going to send Jimmy Two Thumbs to slam the trunk on your two thumbs, or pull your patch. This statement is based completely out of the fact that I would never want anyone to avoid the benefits of being in the club just for financial reasons.

On the other hand, MCs have dues and members are expected to pay them. (We have donations, because donations are tax deductible and you can have a receipt at the end of the year for donations.)

If you are in this club, it’s reasonable to expect that you will donate to the cause of what we do. We aim to Disciple men to have a daily Word and prayer time, to bond men together in Christ, to run a 43 Nazarite addiction support group, a 43 PTSD support group, and to get 1%ers saved, and give them a place to come to that is like where they came from, but Christian. Spreading that across the globe should be something we are all willing to sow into.

Our suggested donation is $10 a week. We do not enforce it, dues are enforced, and you pay them to get the privilege to wear a rag because you HAVE to. Christians CHOOSE to donate, because the Word says God likes a cheerful giver.

Just as I am writing to you now urging you to give to this ministry, the Apostle Paul urges you to give in 2 Corinthians 9, and talks about the blessing you receive from giving.  So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given. 2 Cor 9:5

Then Paul makes an interesting statement, he ties what you GIVE, to what you RECEIVE.  Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”

In other words, if you are suffering through a challenging time financially, you should look at what you GIVE. Not just to this club, but to your church, to the local poor. I can tell you that I know what it is like for me financially when I choose to not give money to God via tithes and offerings, and I also know what my financial picture is when I choose to give tithes, offerings, gifts to the poor, and gifts to the men of God in my life.

I can tell you because Ive seen that the Word is true, when you Give, God takes care of you. When you TAKE from God, and don’t give, the Devil gets to take from you. Mal 3:11 I would never consider operating my own business and not giving tithes and offerings. Why would God allow me to be financially blessed when I am being selfish about my giving to Him? Why would he go against His word in the Bible?

I challenge you if you are going through financial hardship to GIVE. Don’t ask the brothers to pray for you if you aren’t being obedient or honoring God with your finances. There is no point is us praying against the will of God.

Paul clearly writes that when you show God honor with your finances, He will provide more finances for you. That when you are willing to sow seed, He will give you more seed to sow! HE will enrich you, God supplies His own capital. 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Cor 9:10-11

I believe that if God needs to get $100k to a church, He knows how to get a million to a tither. Why? Because when we give, its to help others. 12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Cor 9:12-15

What do we do with the money in this club?

1.    Help others and the poor. We recently loaned a bro some money for a tire. We have helped a bro out who was robbed at Christmas time. We have sowed into a single mother who had cancer and five kids at Christmas time. Donated to charities like cancer, diabetes and others.

2.    Spread the mission. Help club leadership travel to places where we are growing, to speak, pray and strengthen our growing charters. We help with expenses for charters who are hosting national and regional runs.

3.    Assist in emergencies. A brother was traveling recently on behalf of the club and was hit by a vehicle, we paid to fly him home.

4.    Cover fees. It isn’t free to run a global ministry the right way. Compliance with state and federal laws involves attorney and bookkeeping fees, as well as advice from other professionals.

Why should you donate to this ministry? It’s simple. We fall into exactly what 2 Cor 9 talks about. Helping others by giving money for Godly purposes. And when you sow into the Kingdom of God, He takes notice of your situation.

I will finish with a quote from Prov 21:13: Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

I want to know that I am doing the right thing with my finances, because I want to make sure God is hearing me when I need help too. 

Cover the Soldier Beside You

What if you're spiritually connected to the brothers around you? Not just socially or soulishly connected through the mind, will and emotions, but intertwined in their spiritual battle?

What if when you prayed, demonic attack in other people's lives was beaten back? What if when you made the choice not to look at porn today, one of the other brothers felt his desire to do so, just go away? What if when you fasted and prayed and felt nothing, its because it wasn't for you, and somebody else around you received a breakthrough? What if your choice not to have a beer today was the difference in one of the brothers breaking his sobriety or not today? What if your moment of reflection and reading the Word was the difference in another brother not struggling in his marriage today?

What if it were true that there were demonic forces, powerful demonic forces arrayed in battle against you and those you know? What if in this unseen fight, there were unseen connections between you and the men of God around you? What if you dropping the ball in your spiritual walk meant that suddenly a breach in the wall occurred, and others paid the price for it?

What if you were some sort of spiritual machine gunner, and when your automatic weapons fell silent, those holding a line around you took the brunt of the attack?

What if someone you know and love is silently struggling right now, and falling to your knees right now in intercession was the plan of God for the success in their battle?

You Should Care What People Think

Weary of hearing "I don't care what people think". That's the flesh, that's the world. Not Jesus. The Bible says we are supposed to be looking for favor with people, and a good reputation. Prov 3:3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.

That means your goal is to be a good person, not some rude jerk who doesn't care. Kindness AND truth. Truth isn't accepted by others if it's spoken with out kindness. Kindness is useless if its flattery and lies. You can't separate them. You have to learn how to be kind to people.

If you're going to be a Christian, stop thinking you can run around and be harsh to people and argue with everybody. Start thinking that you need to treat people the way you would treat Jesus if he was standing in front of you. Respect man, respect. Show people respect!

And it doesn't change if you're put in a position of authority. Just because you're the boss doesn't mean you get to be disrespectful to people. I'm the national president of a motorcycle club, but I don't treat prospects any different and I treat my brothers. Unless they step out of line. And I don't treat my brothers any different than I treat prospects, when they step out of line. The catch doesn't make the man, we don't lose our obligation to respect somebody because of a patch.

When you read the Bible, you find a far different philosophy in the world has about how to treat people, we have an obligation to please our neighbor, be tender, humble.

Romans 15:1-2 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you

1 Peter 3:8-12 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

None of this is to say that are supposed to live our lives according to to how other people think and compromise our values. But we are supposed to be considerate and compassionate.

James Disciple Johnson
National President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

The Psalm 133 Anointing

Psalm 133 is a scripture on brotherly unity. That's a key issue for a Christian MC! If you see the level of unity we have in Disciple Christian MC, don't think for a moment that this is just the way it is everywhere! Few organizations have the love and unity we have carefully crafted here. We routinely have folks from other organizations come to us, who describe having nothing like the unity or brotherly affection we do, rather jealousy and infighting. 

As you meet with your crew and enjoy the tightness, realize that there is a specific unity, a anointing on this club from God. We bathe our decisions in prayer. We pray for the men, and for the bond of unity. We follow Heb 10:24 and consider how to spur each other on to good deeds. We live lives dedicated to the purposes of God, and we exercise strong leadership to ensure that these purposes are carried out on a national level throughout the club.

Biblical unity comes from the anointing of God. In Psalm 133:2 it describes the anointing as running first down the head, commonly interpreted as the leadership. Aaron was the High Priest, the head of the spiritual organization. If the head, the leadership, doesn't live it, then the anointing of unity goes no farther into the organization. If the leadership carries out a Godly lifestyle, lives and teaches unity, then it flows down from the top of the MC to the bottom.

Bathe your leadership in prayer. What God has built, the enemy is constantly trying to tear down. We must be on the offensive, working in the power of the Holy Spirit to guard what God has given us.

The Excellency of Brotherly Unity.
A Song of Ascents, of David.
1Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!
2It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes.
3It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forever.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960–1995 by The Lockman Foundation – All rights reserved.

The Proverbs Challenge and Psalms Challenge

Proverbs Challenge and Psalms Challenge are my daily default reading. I heard once that this was what Billy Graham read daily. Its pretty simple. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs and days in the month, so read the chapter that corresponds to the date. As I write this its the 22nd day of the month and I just got done with the 22nd chapter of Proverbs. If you miss a couple days no problem, just pick back up on the chapter for that date, if its the 25th, read the 25th chapter.

You don't have to start on the first, start today. You don't have to go back and read what you missed, you will read it next month. And the month after, and the month after, for the rest of your life. That's the thing with the Proverbs challenge, its a lifelong thing. Why? Because every time you read it you get something new. I had a mentor suggest I read all six chapters of Ephesians daily for 30 days, and sure enough I got something new out of it every time. The Word of God is active and alive and the Holy Spirit is working in you when you read.

The Psalms challenge is just the same thing, but with 150 chapters you read five chapters a day, 30 days in the month. To figure out where you need to read today, multiply the date times 5. Today is the 22nd so I started at Psalm 110 and read through 114, five chapters. Now don't freak out, most of the chapters are very short, just a few verses. But this way, throughout the day, you can pull out your phone and have something to read and meditate. And that's the point here. You always want to have a Word in your head to meditate, chew on, focus on.

There are lots of good reading plans, ones that get you through the Bible in a year, or focus on peace or prosperity, and that's great. This plan supplements those. You can select other reading when you are done, and you can literally chew through the Psalms and Proverb for the day in 15 minutes. I generally move to the new testament after. Sometimes I switch it up and read it backwards from the last verse to the first. Sometimes I read it in another translation.

But Proverbs was mostly written by the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, to his sons, to pass on wisdom. Reading it daily for the rest of your life gives you daily access to the Wisdom of God. And we all need wisdom. Psalms was mostly written by King David, a man after Gods own heart. So you get a daily dose of how God thinks, how He operates, how He protects and provides for his people. Need peace? Read Psalm 91, or any of a score more that are full of the peace of God.

By internalizing the concepts found day after day, you wash your mind in the way God thinks instead of how the world thinks. You find answers to problems you're struggling with, ethical dilemmas, interpersonal relationships. When you oit in the world dealing with situations, the Holy Spirit will remind you of some proverb that covers it, and you will make it through based on following the Biblical advice. You will learn to see the difference between foolish people and wise people, and catch when you are acting one way or the other.

And that's the goal, wisdom daily. The wisdom of God.

How Men of God Speak

You need to listen to the men around you with spiritual ears. Real men of God are constantly seeking Him, talking about Him, praising Him. Powerful men of God are not concerned with negative miserable things and the works of the devil, other than casting them down and taking authority over them. Faithful men of God are praising God, seeing His mighty hand at work, involved in changing lives and situations through the power of prayer and the authority given to them in the Word. Deep men of God are in tune with listening, sensing what God is doing, listening to Him, and to you when you speak, valuing what they hear, ever learning.

Let us step it up men! Let us be praising God in all things, verbally to others, out loud with our mouths. Let us steer the course of conversations from the banal, negative, fleshly, and human centered, and bring the Light!

And beware the men around you. Listen carefully when they speak, and weigh their advice based on whether it is the voice of a fleshly man, or the voice of a man dedicated to the praise of the Living God. Listening to fleshly men will bring you down, listening to deep, strong, faithful men of God will lift you up.

Look at Psalm 111 man, look at God! Isn't He good?

Psalm 111:1 Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly. 2 Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them. 3 Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever. 4 He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate. 9 He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.

Why We Read the Word Daily

We don't read the Bible to notch off another monotonous daily Christian task. The goal is to change our way of thinking daily, from the flawed way the world sees things, to the renewed mind of Christ. We are literally trying to do away with worldly wisdom, and dependence on the kind of stinkin thinkin that the world beats into us daily. Fleshly thoughts. We are trying to leave behind the way WE think things through and understand them.

Instead we are allowing the Word to wash through us and cleanse away natural wisdom, worldly insight, and renew the mind of Christ in us. We are coming to see things through the lens of Jesus, asking Him to help us see things the way He does. God has access to information and wisdom that you just don't have. He can show you ways of handling things that you never would have imagined. He wants the best outcome for you, trust in Him!

When Prov 3 says 'lean not on your own understanding', it literally means to stop over thinking things and trying to figure them out. Being led by the Spirit means doing things that are uncomfortable to your flesh, that don't make sense to you, and are in fact the exact opposite of what YOU want to do in your flesh. Based not on what you THINK, but on what you HEAR, or what impression you get from the Spirit of God. And that's often going to be contrary to what you want.

Read these scriptures in quick succession today and let the Holy Spirit speak to you about them.
Eph 4:22-24
Eph 5:25-27
Rom 12:2
Prov 3:5-6
Psalm 119:9

Boast in God, not Yourself

Anytime you hear me or anyone else talking about what "I've" done for this club, and how much "I" contributed, and how "I" are responsible for this or that, you should stop thy conversation and rebuke pride. None of us have anything to boast about, God built this club. If we have anything to boast about let us boast in Christ (1st Corinthians 1:28-31)

Anyone who is comfortable with themselves and their achievements has no need to advertise them. I think of Jim Big Beard Cramer who when he talks about the remarkable achievements in California, talks about how God has done this, God has done that. Give credit where credit is due, don't steal it for yourself. God is building this club, if we build it we are building it in vain. Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.

Don't allow anyone in this club to make their religion worthless by losing control of their tongue and bragging about something they've done, James 1:26. If anyone starts praising themselves for what they've done for this club, tell them to read Proverbs 27:2.

The world isn't supposed to see you when they see what Christ has done for you or through you. It's not the man, it's the mission. We don't glorify the man, we glorify God. We are trying to eclipse God when we try to get people more interested in what we have done than what God is doing. Galations 6:14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world's interest in me has also died.

We are to operate in Love as Christians. 1 Corinthians 13 says Love is patient and kind, love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.

Without love, all our accomplishments are nothing. And boasting makes them nothing. Boast in God!

REVENGE!!

Psalm 60:12 is a key Scripture for a man of God to internalize. Through God we shall do valiantly, And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.

Men of God don't react out of flesh and temper. They realize that God has their back, and they focus on living right, and doing the right thing, righteousness.

Men of God don't take revenge. They learn to say nothing, and do nothing, when confronted with situations where they are being persecuted and you have done nothing wrong. Rom 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

When you get in the flesh and react to something that set you off, you have short circuited the Will of God. Instead of Him taking revenge, you receive the natural consequences of being angry. If you control yourself, and don't react out of anger, God has obligated Himself by His Word to take revenge.

I recently described a situation where God had dealt with some people who insulted our Christian Motorcycle Club the club. I received a phone call from a man who asked me in a very belligerent tone "what makes you think God would do that for you?" The simple answer is the Bible! And He just doesn't do it for me, He will do it for anyone who sets their steps according to the Word of God.

Now none of this is to say that you don't have the right to self-defense, or that you should let people walk all over you. Protecting yourself from harm is always reasonable, and can be justified from the scripture. Going back later and exacting revenge is different. If you turn it over to God, with patience you will always see Him act. Unfortunately, we typically let our flesh get the best of us, and we do something stupid and pay the consequences for it.

And if we're not doing something stupid, we are THINKING something stupid! Writhing around in anger in our minds, not turning it over to God, not allowing Him to act, not operating in forgiveness, not releasing the situation. Hating, hurting, mentally killing them in our minds.

Release it to God! They will get theirs! Call it karma, call it reaping what you sow, God is not ignoring your hurt if you are walking in righteousness! When things start going wrong in their lives, God is able to remind them of what they did to you. He is able to remind them to come back and apologize to you. It's happened many times to me that something I released, brought that person back humbly asking for forgiveness.

As Paul writes, leave room for the wrath of God! He is always better at getting revenge than we are.

The Anointing

Lessons for Preachers 3: Operate in the Anointing

Psalm 24:3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully.

Not all preachers produce equally. The Bible is clear that there are different levels of fruit from each Christian. Matt 13:8 spells it out, some seed fell upon the good ground, and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. So how do we get from a 30-fold Christian to a hundredfold Christian?

Answer: Anointing. If you are full of the Holy Ghost, those who you're preaching to will receive the stirring of the Spirit as well.

To understand the anointing I encourage you to read the following three scriptures. Acts 7:55 describes a state of being called being full of the Holy Spirit, some refer to this as the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 61 describes the purpose of the anointing.  Acts 10:38 describes how Jesus, who is our example, operated under the same anointing.

The key to flowing in the power of the Holy Spirit is to live in a manner that pleases God. Strive to please God in all of your actions, as commanded in 1st Thessalonians 4 . Works don't get you saved, but they do make a difference in the lives of others. It is impossible to live like hell, and expect the power of heaven to fall on those you are serving. Clean hands and a pure heart are a requirement. As you become more conformed to the image of Christ in your deeds and thoughts, you impact the world and people around you more.

There is no substitute for the anointing. No amount of studying or throwing big words like hermeneutics or exegesis will do. No amount of interesting facts like how many horns are on the altar, or what a Serephim may look like, none of that will work. These thing may make people thing 'well golly look how much he knows' and have all sorts of admiration for you, but it won't make them better people.

If you are not full of the Holy Ghost and power, your preaching will fall on deaf ears, and change no one's life. There is a value to teaching, and exposition of the gospel. Even in that, the moving of the Holy Ghost is necessary to stir people's hearts. Words have power, but their power is at a different order of magnitude when the Holy Spirit is stirring the hearts of the hearers. You can speak well and share interesting facts all you want, but if it falls on hard hearts, it's just pride.

So stir up the Spirit, ask for the anointing, ask to be full of the Holy Spirit! If this were just something that happens to everybody all the time, the Bible would not have pointed out that it happened to Stephen. Stay away from that dangerous behavior that causes the Quenching the Spirit described in Acts 7:51 or 1 Thessalonians 5:19. Clean hands and a pure heart. Truth and kindness, Proverbs 3:3. It takes some striving, it takes some work, Phil 3:14. Its not for everyone.

The anointing does not come from living a casual life. Men who carry the anointing on a regular basis are far from average. There are lives bear the distinctive imprint of the power of God, anyone who spends any amount of time with them will quickly discern that there is something far from average about them.

The hallmark of the anointing in my experience is a discernible and tangible presence of God. Some people call it chicken skin, because they get the cold chills and their hair stands on end. I think that's a terrible description, that sounds creepy, but it illustrates that believers across the globe feel like tangible sense of the presence of God in the same way. Others describe it as the feeling of fire running through their veins. Perhaps this is the effect Moses may have felt when he felt the voice of God speaking to and from a burning bush. Or the feeling the men surrounding Daniel had in Daniel 10. Or the men surrounding Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, or how how they reacted in John 18:6. These people all felt something powerful when the presence of God fell around them.

Now I have heard scoffers and mockers make fun of the anointing, and call it just a lot of emotional nonsense. But if you think about it, God wants to interact with us on a very personal and emotional level. All the fruits of the spirit are emotions, love joy peace patience kindness. God wants to have an intimate relationship with you. It's more than just head knowledge, it's more than just something you read in a book, its something you experience, it's deeply intimate.

The anointing is a touch from God. Its confirmation from Him that He knows you and cares about you. It's His Spirit bearing witness with your spirit. Its tangible, real and powerful. It also doesn't come easy. I remember when I was being mentored in ministry, I would cry out to God asking to receive the anointing. Nothing happened day after day, week after week. I would occasionally receive the anointing during praise and worship at church. I was hearing my companions talking about the powerful anointing, and wonder why I wasn't receiving it.

1st Corinthians 14 1 says that we should earnestly desire spiritual gifts. That means there's going to be a period of time between when we learn about something, pray for it, and receive it. And during that time we're supposed to be earnest, steadfast, patient, standing in faith, not giving up.

The anointing will come when we magnify Christ, that is the chief office of the Holy Spirit, John 16:14. That's why we often feel it during praise and worship time, music is often about Christ. The anointing will come when we hear truth, after all he's called the Spirit of Truth, John 16:13. There are times when I receive the anointing and I have to back up to remember what  was just said in my presence, what I missed, what the Spirit is bearing witness to in my spirit, Rom 8:16. Often it happens when I am in a conversation with someone and they're telling me something that is true about what God is doing in their life. Sometimes a powerful anointing comes when I'm about to consciously choose to sin, and the Holy Spirit is pricking my conscience.

The Holy Spirit is constantly trying to get our attention, and we are constantly quenching him through our actions. Learning to live in a place where we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading is critical to powerful preaching. Learn to accept His guiding hand in your day-to-day life, in the preparation, learning and then the delivery itself.

Jesus makes a fascinating statement in John 14:10. "The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works." Notice he switches from words, to works. When you stop speaking on your own initiative, to make yourself look learned, then God can do some works.

Mocking and Scoffing

How long, foolish ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge? Prov 1:22

Matthew 7 says you will know them by their fruits. Know them how? What fruit?

One reason the Proverbs challenge is so important, reading proverbs everyday by the date, is that it repeatedly explains how to recognise different types of people and their fruit. One type of person is the wise men, another is the fool. Because anybody can talk a good game, it's important to study the fruit, and differentiate between wise people and fools in your life. Fools need to change their game, or get kicked to the curb. Or they will bring you down. Wise people need to be cultivated in your life, spend time with them, learn their ways.

According to the verse above, one way to recognize person acting in foolishness, is to hear them engaging in scoffing, or mocking. To mock is to deride, make fun of, insult by copying a pattern of speech or action. It can also refer to something fake. When we mock or deride people or knowledge, we are mocking their Creator who set knowledge in motion.

Wise men of God never have a problem portraying their thoughts or opinions, and do not resort to mocking God's creation, other people.

The verse above shows that mocking comes from ignorance. When you're short on facts, you can always insult your adversary. If you don't understand something it's easier to make fun of it then to search it out. Asking someone who is wise in that area might reveal your ignorance, and so rather than ask and look foolish, mockers act foolish. They try to hide their ignorance and make themselves feel better by derision.

This is found all throughout the Proverbs. Psalm 1:1 says that we should not sit in the seat of scoffers. That's hard because our culture is made up on satire, derision, mocking, and scoffing. It takes true and careful conscious thought to change this habit.

You can't fix stupid! The good thing about ignorance is it can be fixed. We can stop ignoring the Word of God! As we read the Word of God it can wash over us and change us. As we read the definition of a foolish man, we can recognize behaviors that God does not approve of and change them. We can put scoffing and mocking far from us.

Combat mocking with information. Confront mockers and share the Word with them. We all fall into it occasionally, catch yourself and stop yourself. But most importantly, recognize that when you are led to mock something, it means that you do not have knowledge on the situation, and it's time to study it very closely, there may be a revelation awaiting you!

God is Love

Lesson 1 for preachers, God is Love. Be loving. Pastors who seek the image of Christ need to be understanding, compassionate, gentle, kind, meek. Not proud, brusque, angry and judgemental. Jesus talked about not casting the first stone. He is loving, kind, patient, merciful, longsuffering, gracious and forgiving toward us. That's how we are supposed to be.

Season your speech with salt. Edify, build up, encourage. Proverbs 3:3 says to seek truth and kindness. Both together. The one is useless without the other. Truth without kindness is harsh and hurtful, people will turn and leave. Kindness without truth is useless. But people will receive the message of truth when we focus on the tone of the delivery in kindness.

Southern hellfire brimstone preaching is amusing, but not always effective. Denouncing, criticising, and bashing aren't Jesus kinds of things, they are Satan kinds of things. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren in Rev 12:10.

The Holy Spirit will convict men of sin and righteousness, you don't have to. You have to just love people. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you have to clarify sin, and gently move peoples perception of it. But mostly as the Spirit is moving when you preach, they will be convicted of it all on their own.

Look at what Isaiah says the Spirit has anointed us for: I don't see standing in judgement of every little thing, thundering against sin, railing against doctrine you don't agree with...

Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;
2To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
3To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
4Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations.
5Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.
6But you will be called the priests of the Lord; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast.
7Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs.

The Bible says in John 16:8 that the Holy Spirit will convict men of sin and righteousness. (And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment). I don't need to do the Holy Spirits job for Him, He is quite capable! People living in sin know it (whether they are ready to admit it or not). Most often they are hurt, broken, traumatized by life. Many gay people who I have counseled were the victims of abuse or rape. Me beating them up rather than binding them up is not the answer. Many hurting people are afraid to even go to church and don't feel worthy of the love of God. Judgemental hateful 'Christians' have turned them off ever wanting to hear about Christians. Let us be sensitive, share the love of God, and let the Holy Ghost do his job.

Jesus followed this pattern as well. When the religious leaders brought the adultress to Jesus in John 8:7 he asked who was without sin to cast the first stone. Jesus saved his most scathing comments for the judgemental religious leaders, not hurting sinners. Somehow we have gotten away from the teachings of Jesus, and we are all to ready to cast that first stone, point the finger of shame, and kill with our words out of ignorance. Ignorance of what its like to sit across the desk as they sob out their story in Christian counseling, and receive healing from their wounds where the devil has cut them. We are too ready to condemn the sinner, drive them out and away, and not ready enough to heal them.

Did God come down with brimstone and fire when Adam ate the fruit I Genesis 3:9? No, it was with simple questions, where are you, who told you that you were naked? Conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit, condemnation is the work of Satan, called the 'accuser of the brethren' in Rev 12:10. Don't do either job for them. Do your job, binding up the broken hearted, healing the sick, proclaiming freedom to captives, sharing the love of Jesus.

None of this is to say that you can never point out sin or speak conviction. Far from it! However be sure that you are sensitive of your own shortcomings and the grace you have been given, and minister that same grace to the hearer. Grace means unmerited favor, treating other better than they deserve. Look at what Paul says in Gal 6:1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.

Think of the roughly 30% of women who have been victims of sexual abuse or violence in your congregation. Think of the untold pain. Think of the struggles with pornography the men endure. Think of the shame. Think of the secret hurts, the stresses, the loss of jobs and homes, the sickness disease and cancer people struggle with. Your congregation is hurting, no matter how bright a face they may try to put on things. Man of God, be sensitive, be caring, be loving.

1 John 4:19 says we love God because He first loved us. You will bring more people to the cross with love than with condemnation. God is love, you be love too.

A great question can be raised, how do you handle when you know people are out of line.

The first answer is always to pray for that person out of love. God may reveal to that person how they need to change. I remember a young lady who is working on my youth ministry team who had an issue with how she dressed, showing an awful lot of cleavage every Sunday. I prayed about it, the very next Monday she showed up wearing a pantsuit that was completely modest.

The second answer is always to pray and ask God to change you first. If you go into confrontation as your freshly self, your flesh might get involved. Before we correct someone, we need to make sure that its not just our issues getting in the way. Cultural differences, gender differences, all these things can cause an offense. An example might be in black church showing up on time does not necessarily value as much as it is and white church. Collecting someone on a cultural issue like this may just be in sensitivity on your part.

The third answer is to pray, how does God want you to handle the situation? Do you need to do some research on how to deal with this issue? Is there a word of knowledge God has for you on what's going on with this person? Are they struggling with an issue, and the bad behavior you're seeing is just a symptom? Can you be there to heal them and help them, and behavior will correct itself because the root cause was dealt with?

The fourth answer is to pray about if this is spiritual warfare? Is this a person carrying out an assignment of the enemy to get under your skin or distract you from your purpose? Is there a spiritual force it was that you need to discern and take authority over? Is this something that is assaulting you in your faith or temper? Praying that God will help you to discern the spiritual root of the issue will always make you more effective at binding it, kickin it out, or dealing with it.

The fifth answer is to be very sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in dealing with the issue. It may be while preaching that He releases you too comment broadly on the issue and teach the resolution without specifically calling that person out, rather than going directly to the person. Recently while preaching as a guest speaker in another church the Holy Spirit had me to stop and treat the issue of spousal abuse very thoroughly, even though it wasn't in my notes. The spirit was telling me there was someone in the audience who needed to hear it. The pastor took me aside later and was laughing because he had not been released to deal with a man in the church who he knew was abusing his wife, but I as a stranger not knowing the situation I was able to preach on it without condemnation. I'm sure that man was particularly uncomfortable well I was dealing with the subject for about 5 minutes!

The last step is to follow the biblical order for confrontation in Matt 18. Be gentle, be loving, be understanding, but be firm. Don't allow the issue to wander into other issues, stay on focus. Don't do it out of your flash, if you're losing your temper, the issue is with you not with them. Remember your own faults and shortcomings, and the grace that God has given you. Give them that same grace.

Prov 27:5 better is an open rebuke the love that is concealed. Prov 17:10 a rebuke impresses a discerning person more than 100 lashes for a fool. Prov 9:8 do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you, rebuke a wise man and he will love you.

Some people are fools, and you will not get through to them. They will laugh, or rage, and there will be no peace. Just realize you're dealing with a fool, I didn't say that, the Bible did! But if things go badly, you have to check yourself, learn what you could have done better, and realize that you may not have been the right. Let God work in your heart so the next time you do better.

Just like 1st Corinthians 13 says, everything has to be done out of love. Check yourself closely, that there's not some contentious spirit in you, a desire to just be right, or show how much you know. Truth and kindness. God is love.

Disciples Will Kill, Shoot, Stab and Lay Hands on You

I'm warning you now! We Disciples will kill anyone who crosses us.

With kindness.

We are very likely to shoot you.

A prayer.

We are also likely to stab you.

With the sword of the Spirit.

And if all of that doesn't work, we will lay hands on you.

And say a blessing over you.

Never cross a true man of God, because he'll never take revenge. But God will on his behalf.

Never lose your temper, you're men of God!

To Disciple Men

I just read a very condemnational post by a leader in a large nationwide Christian motorcyclists organization. In it he sits in judgment and condemnation of all Christian motorcycle clubs that don't patch up women, as being inferior to his organization that does. He thinks we do it to be like other clubs, and wrote at length how we are to be separate from the world not of the world. Let me bring to light some facts he has ignored, because I've heard from many like him.

Here at Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club, like many other Christian motorcycle clubs, we are a men's ministry. And that's okay. There's something out there called Promise Keepers convention for men, I'm sure your church has a men's ministry. That's ok too. I'm not aware of any reasonable call for them to admit women as well. We Disciples are focused on getting one percenters saved and those are by and large Men. We are focused on growing Christian men in their faith in God and love of brotherhood. Both of those things are oriented toward men. It just is what it is. There are lots of organizations out there for women or for both men and women, I won't name them here. But we are an organization for men. I certainly don't criticize their mission of patching up women and men. But they aren't motorcycle clubs. And whether anyone likes it or not, that's just the way it is. I don't go around decrying the fact that my church has a quilt knitting for ladies, and I'm not allowed to join! And neither should you.

God has a place for every Christian ministry. Don't be jealous, don't criticize or condemn other Christian ministries whose goals and directions from the Holy Spirit is different than your aim. Celebrate the diversity of Christian organizations, we have the same goal, and are reaching the lost. Don't sit in judgment of your brother. Work to find common ground, that is the work of mature men and women. The rest is the work of the enemy.

James Disciple Johnson
National President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club
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