Biking for Jesus at Bikes, Blues and BBQ

Guest Blogger, R.A. Stites, Ventures staff

The Bikes, Blues and BBQ festival is one of the big events each fall in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In its sixth year, it is expected to bring an astonishing 300,000 people to the city to enjoy the motorcycle rally, great music, and savory food. In an interview on KFSM, TV Channel 5 news cast, Leo Palmer of the Sons of Soteria Motorcycle Ministry said, “There is a new statistic out that there are more Christian biker organizations than other biker organizations. They're springing up everywhere and giving positive impact in the world."

One such is CMA, the Christian Motorcyclists Association. With three booths to serve festival goers, CMA fulfills its mission to ministry in the name of the Son of God. I spent a few minutes talking to James Gore, a member of the local Lifeline Riders Chapter, at his booth on Dickson Street offering free water, coffee and the Gospel. One of the most interesting things he said was that members had to earn their “colors”, the insignia on the back of his jacket, through training in ministry.

The commitment and challenge represented by CMA’s requirements for wearing its colors has to be one of the appeals that attract people to biking. Another is freedom. From Channel 5’s interviews with participants, one of the chief attractions and benefits of a bike is the freedom of the road. Freedom is also one of the hallmarks of the Christian life. Jesus sets Believers free from sin. (John 8:34-36) That is a freedom that lasts long after the “hog’ is in the junk yard and the rider has passed from this life into the next. It is exciting to think that CMA and the other ministries at this year’s festival will be presenting the message of true freedom to these lovers of the open road this weekend.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. …” Galatians 5:1

The Bullet of the Word: A Meditation on Psalm 18:34

He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. Psalm 18:34

I have always loved the phrase “He trains my hands for battle,” because that is what the true Christian life is about … spiritual combat! But for the first time the Lord arrested me with the promise that He will teach us to “bend a bow of bronze!” Most bows were made from wood and could produce tremendous tension that would throw the arrow forward with great force.

A bow of bronze can only mean the ultimate in power … if it can be pulled! The Lord whispered to me through this verse that He has given me a task to do in life that is equal in difficulty (or challenge) to a bow of bronze! I can only pull it off if I allow Him to put the force in me! The thought really lifted my spirits! All my battles and pressures have just been to teach, strengthen and enable me to “bend a bow of bronze!” Thank God that the Savior has chosen us to be warriors of power for the cause of the joyful Gospel!

The Battle: Men on the Front Lines, Continued

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 2 Thessalonians 3:3-4

A third essential step to enter significant combat is to radically embrace a battle plan, both personal and corporate, from which you will not shrink. Only then will you share the Master’s combat confidence. Most men seem to have no tactical or strategic spiritual battle plan. Some live in the hope that the war will pass them by. Others simply pretend to have been in combat. A man must become a serious student of the combat living of Jesus Christ for it is fascinating to see His responses to the hostilities of men. (Hebrews 12:3)

The Master’s combat confidence is demonstrated in the statement, “He despised the shame.” (Hebrews 12:2) He had contempt for the injustices of life in a sinful world. He viewed criticism, hardship, persecution, loneliness, rejection and suffering as mere trifles if they stood in the way of His allegiance to the Father. As He was confident in combat, we too can display that confidence and valor in the spiritual battle. Whatever price we have to pay to be obedient to Jesus Christ and bring glory to the Father is worth it!

The bloodiest and most costly battle in the history of the United States Marine Corps was on the island of Iwo Jima in World War II. For days, beginning on February 19, 1945, over 30,000 marines sought to defeat the well dug-in Japanese numbering in excess of 21,000. Only 1,083 Japanese soldiers survived the onslaught. Over 20,000 died in undiminished ferocity.

Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayshi, the Japanese commander, gave his life in a last fanatical stand. This statement from a letter to his son reveals the reason for his combat confidence: “Will power is the essence of manhood.”

But what of the victors? At battle’s end over 6,800 marines had died in combat and over 19,000 lay wounded. Admiral Chester Ninitz said of the marines who fought at Iwo Jima, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” In fact, of the eight marines who received the Medal of Honor in all of World War II, twenty-two of those came from the combat on Iwo Jima.

Men become great when they give themselves heroically to a task … a battle, bigger than they are. Their goal isn’t to be know as heroes, but only to do the heroic thing.

Combat confidence comes only to the man who is willing to sacrifice his all for the battle plan of Christ, his Commander. Our nation, our churches and our families desperately need men who have been captured by their King’s heroic vision!

The Battle: Men on the Front Lines

In war battles have to be fought! There is no option if victory is prized and envisioned. To refuse the “price of battle” is to surrender your destiny to the will of an enemy. The consequences are tragic!

Too many men in the church (including some pastors, sad to say) are like the dim witted boxer who still can’t comprehend at the end of the fourth round why that other guy keeps hitting him. These men aren’t even aware they’re in a battle.

When a man becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, he steps into the ring against demonic opposition. A faithful man’s only real choice is to fight. The other options are repugnant to a champion disciple – to be disqualified, to cover up and stall, or to be knocked out!

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

The first step to enter significant combat is to put yourself under a leader who intends to lead his command into battle. John Paul Jones, Revolutionary Navy hero, put it best. “He who sails with me had best sail fast, as I intend to put myself in harm’s way.” God has either called you to be a pastor or to follow a pastor. You have no other choice if you are to be faithful to Christ. You do have the choice of picking a pastor who “means business” about the Gospel.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… Ephesians 5:25

The second step, if you are married, is to determine that you will be what you ought to be to your wife. It’s never what your wife is to you, but what you are to her that is the mark of Godly manhood.

The greatest battle in marriage is to choose to change into the character of Jesus no matter what your mate does. If the man will pay the price to turn loose the Spirit of Christ through his life on any person or situation, then God’s Word guarantees that eventually positive change will come, one way or another!

The death of a relationship is in the arrogant refusal to change unless the other person changes first. A real man is always the first to change, to make a “Christ adjustment” regardless of what others do. “We love Him because He first loved us!” (1 John 4:19)

(The third and final step for men in The Battle will continue in our next post.)

The Bullet of Direction: A Magnificent Obsession

One of the first things I learned after accepting the Lord Jesus as my Savior was that I should have a personal vision for Christ and for His purposes on the earth. The man who led me to the Lord was associated with a group of Christians called Navigators. Their motto was “to know Christ and to make Him known.” I’ve fought to make these words the ambition and aspiration of my life.

I’ve learned that a Christian can either labor in the energy of the flesh or in the anointing of the Spirit. Only God will reveal to us our true motives when we stand before Him. I have no doubt that I love the Savior more now than ever. I want to be totally His man with His message - in any place, time, and way that will please Him. I see the delusions, shams, and trivialities of this fallen world so very clearly, and I know man’s only hope is in a personal, radical pursuit of knowing God’s Word and giving “sprit obedience” to its truth. I gladly confess my own inadequacies, failures, and weaknesses because they bring me to see my desperate need of Christ in all things.

The doctrine of weakness before God (2 Corinthians 12) has been one of my focuses. It’s only when we discover how weak we really are that we are motivated – even propelled – to seek our only source of strength, release and peace: Jesus. The goal is to know experientially, what it means to be “in Christ.” If our hope as Christians is to have the greatest impact for the Messiah, then each of us must be caught up in this magnificent obsession.

The Bullet of God’s Instruction: His People

Mrs. Charles E. Cowman authored a classic devotional book entitled Streams in the Desert. One entry, “The End of Our Strength”, contains the following thought, “God had to bring Abraham to the end of his own strength…” That phrase led my thinking to the way God picks only a few personalities in His spiritual history rather than many to teach us truth. Even though He could have picked hundreds, He did not do so in order to accommodate His vast list to our own limited capacity. By having only a few we are able to know more of them as we fill in their circumstances and progress. Although a few are easier to remember, the spiritual lessons would be the same with a hundred – or even a different person for every lesson. The Father selected Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Isaiah, Amos or Micah for certain illustrations of truth. Yet He could use nine others we are familiar with to teach the same truth – Isaac, Ruben, Levi, Caleb, Solomon, Jeremiah, Hosea or Zechariah. He could have chosen another nine we have never even heard of. Still the Lord’s purpose would be to teach us His same points! To have used the hundreds of people He could have would have given us three Old Testaments instead of one!! He always tells us enough so that we can know enough in order that we can be enough to the end that we achieve enough to bring Him significance. So if Abraham, Moses and David keep showing up in Scripture again and again just relax! They are just examples for all of us! Ordinary men who acted extraordinary when they risked believing the Father and acting on His desires!

For Internet devotional reading Ventures for Christ recommends the Devotions.org website from Back to the Bible.