by Chris Martin | May 19, 2026 | Articles, Mentors Corner
One could correctly conclude that the overarching theme of the Bible is Authority. If it is not “the” theme of the Bible, it certainly is one of a number of themes. All men live under authority in some form or fashion. The Bible teaches us that there is even authority in the Godhead (I Cor: 11:3). A child lives under his parent’s authority, an employee lives under the authority of his employer, citizens live under the authority of their government. Biblically, we can rightly conclude that authority is good, necessary, and profitable for man. Jesus states in Matthew 28:18, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Universally, without question, all men are under the authority of Jesus Christ. However, man is afforded two differing options: the option of choosing to acknowledge and voluntarily live under that authority now, or refusing to do so and at judgement being compelled to live under and acknowledge that authority as he is cast into Hell. The immutable fact about authority is that all authority is conferred, not usurped. That is, all men during their life on earth get to CHOOSE under what authority they will place themselves. It is a choice that each man will make, whether he does so consciously, after thought and deliberation, or subconsciously, without any specific or deliberate thought. Either way, it is the individual man who chooses who will be an authority over him. Have you chosen what authority you live under? Many Christian men will readily confess, after some self-reflection and thought, that they voluntarily place themselves under the authority of God,...
by Chris Martin | Jul 16, 2025 | Articles, Mentors Corner
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being? Declares the Lord’, “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My Word” (Isaiah 66:1-2). Time and time again in His Word, God turns our attention toward our need to be humble. In fact, it is discussed over 80 different times in the Bible. In our Isaiah passage the Hebrew word has a definition that includes to be “afflicted, humble, lowly, needy, poor.” In the New Testament Greek it carries a similar meaning of “to be cast down, of low degree, lowly.” The opposite of humility is pride, arrogance, conceit, boastful, or proud. How does a man achieve this posture of humility? It is certainly something that God has called the man of God to investigate and pursue. In fact, God says in Zephaniah 2:3 “seek the Lord all you humble of earth who have carried out His ordinances: Seek Righteousness, SEEK HUMILITY, perhaps you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.” The passage instructs us to SEEK humility in addition to SEEKING righteousness. The seeking of humility is as important as, and should be to the same degree, that we seek righteousness. We are to PURSUE it, CHASE after it, be DILIGENT towards achieving this “posture” of humility. So how do we do this? I propose...
by Chris Martin | Apr 22, 2024 | Articles, Mentors Corner
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every though captive to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:3-5). Paul’s admonition to the follower of Christ in the conclusion of these verses is to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” It doesn’t take a man much effort to conclude that he can only entertain one individual thought at any given time. He may quickly rotate between a few different thoughts at a rapid pace, but only one thought can be on the “screen” of a man’s mind at any given time. The Scriptures further instruct us that how we think, and what we think about (our thoughts) are of paramount importance to the believer. Proverbs 23:7 tells us “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” Correct thinking results in correct living, and incorrect thinking results in incorrect living. Thus, any man, by a function of exerting his WILL, can control what he thinks about and successfully take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” The WILL controls the MIND and what thoughts we entertain. A logical question is, how does a man do this? Paul gives us some helpful instruction earlier in the passage. First, in verse 3 Paul brings to our attention that even though we walk “in the flesh” (the temporal), this is not where we...
by Chris Martin | Aug 29, 2023 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Are you a F.A.T. man? One of the pernicious effects that a man may encounter after walking with Jesus for many years is the idea that he has reached the summit, that he understands and knows all that he needs to out of the Scriptures, and that subsequently, he has nothing left to learn. This “idea” is of course a lie that our enemy, the Devil, would take great joy in us embracing. The mature follower of Christ rejects this deception and listens to the Apostle Paul’s warning in I Corinthians 10:12 “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed that he does not fall.” Those involved in E2 may be familiar with the term “F.A.T. man”. If you are looking for men to invest and pour your life into, men to disciple, one does well to locate F.A.T men and then invest there. This simple acronym stands for Faithful, Available, and Teachable. However, before a man looks and prays for God to give him F.A.T. men to invest his life into, he does well to be consistently evaluating if he himself is such a type of man. A rhetorical question for your consideration: Am I maintaining a teachable spirit or do I think that I already have all of the Biblical knowledge and answers that a man can attain? A good barometer of a man’s true spiritual maturity is if he maintains a teachable spirit. Do you? St. Jerome rightfully observed that “The Scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for a theologian to swim in...
by Chris Martin | Aug 9, 2022 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Evangelism comes naturally to some. They count it as a spiritual gift. For the rest of us it can feel like a challenge or even a grind as we flop around like a fish out of water, not knowing what to do or how to do it. We may not recognize the opportunities in front of us to be undertaken, regretfully seeing many of these opportunities in the rear-view mirror. Jesus commands us to “go make disciples” prior to his accession into the heavenlies (Matthew 28:18-20). Therefore, it is the responsibility of all men to be involved in evangelism, sharing the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ– regardless of spiritual giftedness. The obedient man of God is involved in evangelism. To say otherwise runs counter to Biblical teaching. It would suggest that a man does not need to be merciful, does not need to serve, has no need to be generous–simply because he does not identify any of these as his spiritual gift. Certainly, a lack of giftedness in a particular arena is not an adequate justification in neglecting obedience to those things to which God has commanded. Evangelism is for every one of us–not because God needs us. He alone builds His Church. He gave us evangelism because we need it. The man of God who understands this attempts to weave evangelism into the fabric of his day. Having a mind for evangelism helps a man daily “regard no man according to the flesh” (II Corinthians 5:16) and helps him maintain an eternal perspective throughout his day. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but...
Recent Comments