A Warning and a Promise - October 2, 2006
“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6
This past weekend was quite busy for our ministry. In addition to participating at our regional Promise Keepers Convention with an Outdoor Connection Ministries Booth, we held the Inland Northwest version of our 25th Anniversary Dinner/Auction on Saturday evening. Both events were well attended and provided numerous opportunities to share God’s word and our new vision to assist pastors in reaching men with a fresh challenge to become engaged with their family and church. If you were involved in either event, a great big THANK YOU for your support!
Our new brochure and website demonstrates why it is so important to inspire men to live a Christ-like life. God created mankind for relationship. He desired that they would know Him and make Him known. Unfortunately, the pride and self interest of mankind got in the way of worshipping our Heavenly Father. Through creation God spoke to the heart of mankind but man thought he had a better idea on what paradise should be. Then God gave us inspired patriarchs like Moses and Joshua but people quickly turned to their own ways of doing life instead of following the God’s direction.
God gave us great kings and priests, people like Solomon and David, but even the kings and priests failed to trust and obey God’s word. Finally, God gave mankind great prophets. The prophets spoke truth and warnings that were for the most part ignored.
Right after the great works and revival from the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah came a lesser known prophet by the name of Malachi. Malachi would be the last prophet before Christ came. Malachi found the people of his day indifferent, corrupt, and stagnant. They were consumed with their own lusts and families were disintegrating. In this post—revival period, the people and their leaders had become complacent and apathetic. Malachi rebuked the priests and religious leaders for irreverence, disobedience, cynicism, hypocrisy, and offensive behavior.
Despite their sin, Malachi in his fourth chapter pronounces a clear and resounding affirmation of God’s love and concern for His people. He assured the Israelites that no amount of gross sin or shameful compromise would alter God’s love for them.
As children of God what joy and comfort there is in the knowledge that God loves us- that nothing in all of creation can separate believers from His love. (Romans 8:38-39). However, because God loves His children He wants to provide direction and discipline to rebuke the hypocrites. The Israelites had intermarried with people from the pagan nations surrounding them, thereby compromising their faith. Their hearts had grown cold and indifferent to the things of the Lord. In short, they had wandered from the path God had clearly set before them, and it was time for God to call them back to faith. This sounds a lot like our culture. Malachi wrote strong but necessary words of reprimand.
In the aforementioned verses (Mal. 4:5-6) God offered a bright word of hope and encouragement along with His admonishment. Ultimately God would give mankind one more chance through the promised Messiah, who would come among His people. After the prophet Malachi spoke there would be 400 years of silence for people to repent and consider God’s promises.
The only way God could bring healing and give power to His people to accomplish restoration in the land was through His Son – Christ Jesus. In a miraculous example of grace, Christ would take on the sins of mankind.
With the promise of Malachi 4:6 "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers;” also came this warning “or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Let us take heed before it is too late. Fathers need to return to faith and their families and sons need to embrace their heritage. This land needs to be cleansed and healed before Christ’s second return.
Today, OCM has created a vision to help reach the men of this world.
Our Mission
Making Men’s Ministries Happen! Outdoor Connection Ministries (OCM) seeks to inspire, equip, and encourage men to know Jesus and make Him known through activity-based evangelism and dynamic resources that help build relational bridges with God, their families, and other men. OCM:
- Helps churches create vibrant men’s ministries
- Assists men’s ministries in connecting with their communities
- Provides resources for discipleship growth and evangelism
Why Men’s Ministry?
For every 10 men in the average church...
- 9 will have kids who leave the church
- 8 will not find their jobs satisfying
- 5 have a major problem with pornography
- 4 will get divorced – affecting a total of 1,000,000 children each year
- Only 1 will have a biblical worldview
- All 10 will struggle to balance family & work
The numbers aren’t pretty
- There are 108,000,000 men 15 or older (2003 US est.)
- 61% of them don’t know Christ
- Less than 6% are really engaged in their faith
Let’s pray that the hearts of the men of this land will return to God and family before Christ returns.
Blessings, Jim Grassi
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