Welcome to Roundtable Ministries

Gillham, Bill, “What God Wishes Christians Knew About Christianity
Harvest House, 1998.

When victims are gripped by panic and fear,
Who do they need? [Put your name here]

When hurricanes strike lives and homes far and near,
Who will respond? [Put your name here]
When men need a leader to guide and to steer,
Thank God for you, [put your name here].
When I’m in trouble or need and want someone near,
Who do I think of? [put your name here].

Who volunteers? Who will build strong and grow?
[Put your name here] is ready to go.

Who progresses from good up to great?
Who is willing to pull more than their weight?
The answer, always, is immediately clear:
It’s none other than [put your name here].

When folks have suffered too long, and they’ve now had their fill,
Who steps up to the plate? [Put your name here] certainly will!

Who is there to rescue their fellow mankind?
Is anyone willing? Who will they find?
[Put your name here] will go, leaving loved ones behind.

Who will show character when men are maligned?
Who makes sure the papers are signed?
And who, when put through fire, comes out strong and refined?
It is all of us [Put your names here], all of us combined.

No matter what wind blows, and irrespective of weather;
If the burden is heavy, we’ll work ’til it’s light as a feather;
Persevere we shall, it’s not a matter of whether,
[Put your names here]…we’re in this together.

And that said, let me add just one more thing that can apply to everyone in the Roundtable,
May all who come behind us find us faithful.

ATHEISM: The world embarrasses me, and I cannot think that this watch exists and has no Watchmaker.

Voltaire

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

C.S. Lewis

Christianity is not just a mental assent that certain doctrines are true -- not even that the right doctrines are true. This is only the beginning. This would be rather like a starving man sitting in front of great heaps of food and saying, "I believe the food exists; I believe it is real," and yet never eating it. It is not enough merely to say, "I am a Christian," and then in practice to live as if present contact with the supernatural were something far off and strange. Many Christians I know seem to act as though they come in contact with the supernatural just twice -- once when they are justified and become a Christian and once when they die. The rest of the time they act as though they were sitting in the materialist's chair.

Francis Schaeffer

Death in the City (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1969) 134

No one is so thoroughly superstitious as the godless man. Life and death are to him haunted grounds, filled with goblin forms of vague and shadowy dread.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.

C.S. Lewis

Our twentieth century, far from being notable for scientific scepticism, is one of the most credulous eras in all history. It is not that people believe in nothing - which would be bad enough - but that they believe in anything - which is really terrible.

Malcolm Muggeridge

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

A.W. Tozer

POWER: Genuine love is so contrary to human nature that its presence bears witness to an extraordinary power.

John Piper

The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God, give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!

A.B. Simpson

If we fight the Lord's battles merely by duplicating the way the world does its work, we are like little boys playing with wooden swords pretending they are in the battle while their big brothers are away in some distant bloody land.

Francis Schaeffer

Death in the City (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1969) 142

If Christ seldom makes offers without demands, He also seldom makes demands without offers. He offers His strength to enable us to meet His demands.

John Stott

What Christ Thinks of the Church: An Exposition of Revelation 1 - 3 (Grand Rapids, Baker: 2003) 43

JUDGMENT: God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will
to overcome them.

C.S. Lewis

I am convinced that many men who preach the gospel and love the Lord are really misunderstood. People make a "profession," but because they haven't understood the message, they are not really saved. They feel a psychological need and they want psychological relief, but they don't understand that the Christian message is not talking only about psychological relief (though it includes that) but is talking about true moral guilt in the presence of a holy God who exists. The real need is salvation from true moral guilt, not just relief from guilt feelings. And I am certain many men who make a profession go away still unsaved, having not heard one word of the real gospel because they have filtered the message through their own thought forms and their own intellectual framework in which the word "guilt" equals "guilt feelings."

Francis Schaeffer

Death in the City (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1969) 93

SUFFERING: Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.

Billy Graham

Suffering passes, but the fact of having suffered never leaves us.

Leon Bloy

Joy in affliction is rooted in the hope of resurrection, but our experience of suffering also deepens the root of that hope.

John Piper

...Sufferings must be the Churches most ordinary lot, and Christians indeed must be self-denying Cross-bearers, even where there are none but formal nominal Christians to be the Cross-makers...

Richard Baxter

Christ was willing to suffer and be despised, and darest thou complain of anything?

Thomas a Kempis

Where are the marks of the cross in your life? Are there any points of identification with your Lord? Alas, too many Christians wear medals but carry no scars.

Vance Havner

The Christians are unhappy men who are persuaded that they will survive death and live forever; in consequence, they despise death and are willing to sacrifice their lives to their faith.

Lucian

Christianity is a battle - not a dream.

Wendell Phillips

It requires more courage to suffer than to die.

Napoleon Bonaparte

I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.

Joseph Addison

This is God's universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world.

John Piper

Truly it is a misery even to live upon the earth. The more spiritual a man desires to be, the more bitter does his present life become to him; because he sees more clearly and perceives more sensibly the defects of human corruption.

Thomas a Kempis

Paul's sufferings complete Christ's afflictions not by adding anything to their worth, but by extending them to the people they were meant to save.

John Piper

God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them.

C.S. Lewis

How's that?? Read again the corrected version:

PERFORMANCE: "The biblical doctrine of the universal image of God leads Christians to expect non-believers will be better than any of their mistaken beliefs could make them. The biblical doctrine of universal sinfulness also leads Christians to expect believers will be worse in practice than their orthodox beliefs should make them....Christianity not only leads its members to believe people of other faiths have goodness and wisdom to offer, it also leads them to expect that many will live lives morally superior to their own. Most people in our culture believe that, if there is a God, we can relate to him and go to heaven through leading a good life. Let's call this the "moral improvement view. Christianity teaches the very opposite. In the Christian understanding, Jesus does not tell us how to live so we can merit salvation. Rather, he comes to forgive and save us through his life and death in our place. God's grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior. Christians, then, should expect to find nonbelievers who are much nicer, kinder, wiser and better than they are. Why? Christian believers are not accepted by God because of their moral performance, wisdom, or virtue, but because of Christ's work on their behalf. Most religions and philosophies of life assume that one's spiritual status depends on your religious attainments. This naturally leads adherents to feel superior to those who don't believe and behave as they do. The Christian gospel, in any case, should not have that effect."
The Reason for God, by Timothy Keller

Judging others is perhaps the most watched, most criticized, most wrongly used and most misunderstood - by unbelievers and believers alike

I've discovered the best way to read the Bible (without drudgery). CLICK HERE

Quote of note: In your discussions with the lost, "Pull no punches, but spare no grace."

Look at this amazing clock - it provides just a glimpse of what God may see as he takes note of abortions, deaths and the increasing population of souls:

As we remember 9/11 - today or any day - let's remember our military men and women in prayer - those who are fighting in our stead. Here's a Marine's gripping tribute to the fallen:

Morning Cheer
(Changes weekly - this is hosted by Denny Strand, one of the founders of the Community Gospel Sing)

Eternity is not bound by time. God heard your prayers before the beginning of time and has been moving the universe to answer your prayer. On a more human level, here's a reminder
of God's direction
to "redeem the time" - a perpetual clock whisking us toward our eternal appointment with God!
Are you ready?
Click here

"The most amazing truth - you gotta get this."
"This is awesome."
See this movie here and now! Click here and choose movie speed (AT THE TOP) according to your Internet connection. If connection hangs up, choose "small."

FROM DAVE YENDRALL:
Here's a pic I took a year or so ago (click to enlarge). You can see Tony Fend's wheelchair to the right of Tom Etchey; Tony is obviously in it, we just can't see him -- pretty much like our meetings -- he's there, we just can't see him--same way with the Holy Spirit. NOTE: Tony Fend went to be with the Lord in the summer of 2005 after a long battle with cancer. For a poem about Tony, click here.

We are an organization of men serving our Lord Jesus Christ by giving hope and encouragement among the entire spectrum of men - men who are, or who want to be successful in the Kingdom of God; men who are, or who want to be a friend of God - a child of God - and who want to be part of a band of brothers. Men of the Roundtable come in every description: those who triumphed in business and those who failed in business; men who seek to learn more about God; men who are hungry, looking for male fellowship, seeking direction, who are downtrodden, discouraged, overwhelmed and who think they are alone, as well as men who laugh, love, cry, love sports, hate sports, welcome challenges or are buried by them.

The Good News is that God loves you and wants a relationship with you. And part of that connection with God comes from connecting with other men. No one understands you quite like another man - and God.

Jesus Christ thinks the world of you. He's up all night praying for you. Since He created you, He knows you best and wants the best for you. Of all the friends in the world, His intent is to be your best friend. Of all the care-givers in history, He's the most competent. Of all the mechanics, accountants, attorneys, carpenters, plumbers, custodians, physicians, counselors, farmers, electricians, teachers, transportation practitioners, soldiers, sailors, pilots, ecologists, biologists, ministers, salespersons, public servants, firefighters, law enforcement officers, chefs, nutritionists, handymen, foresters, dentists, chemists, musicians, engineers or physicists, no one is more of an expert than Jesus Christ.

And He wants more than anything to be your friend and share His knowledge and power as a fellow revolutionary. (For more information on what it means to be a fellow revolutionary, click here.)

Join us this Tuesday night at 7 p.m. or Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. at Christ Memorial Church (West Wing newer addition) a block down from the Chevron station in Poulsbo and see why a lot of guys think this is the best hour and a half of the week!

Each Saturday, in addition, other Roundtable fellowships have been started in Port Orchard and East Bremerton, WA (Sylvan Way Baptist); Yuma, AZ (approximately 30-50 men meet each Saturday morning there); Idaho, and Australia.

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, but in the band of brothers, you are far more than a number - click here. Your Elder Brother, Jesus, loves you so much that He knows the number of hairs on your head! Me? I have wavy hair - one hair looks at the other and waves "Good-bye"! Stop and see us. We won't put you on the spot!

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Welcome to Men's Roundtable

Power-packed punch:

"He said, 'I thirst,' ...but He made the river!" --Bev Lowry - "Mark Lowry on Broadway"