These are brief notes from the MEN'S CONFERENCE at Loveland, Colorado (March 18 to 20, 2011).

The video and audio of the 12 sessions are available at: http://rlcfchurch.org/sermons/rlcf-mens-leadership-conference-2011

· If you serve others unselfishly, the Lord will reserve a basketful of blessing for you finally - just as he kept 12 baskets for His 12 disciples (John 6:12-13). Are you faithfully gathering up the "fragments" of time and money in your life so that none of them are wasted (John 6:12)?

· The true "prosperity gospel" is this: God has blessed us with every blessing of the Holy Spirit in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

· The identifying mark of our church should be that we love one another (John 13:35).

· When building local churches, if you rebuild the dividing walls (of culture, language and community etc.,) that Christ broke down on the cross (Ephesians 2:14), you will be guilty before God (Galatians 2:18).

· God does not hear the prayers of many men because they do not live with their wives in an understanding way - honouring them as weaker vessels and as joint heirs (I Peter 3:7).

· The happiest people on earth are those who judge themselves always and never judge others.

· A godly leader is one who recognizes that he himself is beset with infirmities and therefore deals gently with others - seeing them as ignorant and misguided people, and not as rebellious and stubborn people (Hebrews 5:1-2).

· The Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2). So if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you will be filled with a deep reverence for the Lord.

· The Word of God has two edges - one edge to judge yourself and the other to proclaim to others. You have to remove the log from your own eye first before you can remove specks from the eyes of your brothers (Matthew 7:5; Heb.4:12).

· You cannot tell others to take up their cross if you are not doing so yourself and thus giving them an example to follow (Mark 8:34).

· There is fullness of joy in God's presence (Psa.16:11). When we lack fullness of joy, it indicates that we are not in the presence of God.

· The only way into the Father's presence (most holy place) is through the rent veil - denying your will.

· Whenever correcting people, always start with the assumption that they are ignorant - not rebellious. So begin with instruction rather than correction.

· God wants to sensitize our conscience - somewhat like a defective weighing scale being repaired and gradually becoming more and more sensitive to small weights placed on it.

· New covenant doctrine must be founded on the teaching sections of the New Testament (the teachings of Jesus and the epistles) and not from the historical sections in the gospels and Acts. Otherwise, you will go into error.

· A man dying of thirst will value a glass of water much more than one who is only mildly thirsty. God gives the Spirit's power only to those who are desperately thirsty (John 7:37).

· Faith is believing that God is more eager to give us what He has promised, than we are to receive it.

· A river does not need to be pumped. It flows. Such is the Spirit-filled life that Jesus has promised us (John 7:38).

· Our love for Jesus will increase only as we meditate frequently on: (a) His love for us (I John 4:19), and (b) how much we have been forgiven (Luke 7:47).

· You may be able to explain the filling of the Holy Spirit and yet not experience it - just like a doctor whose digestive system is not working can still explain its working.

· It's because Christians are too lazy and impatient to listen to God's voice that they run around trying to "do something for God." (Luke 10:42).

· True prayer is a circle. It begins with God giving us a burden. The circle is complete when we pray that burden back to God in faith. The goal in all prayer is the glory of God (Romans 11:36).

· For God to use you, you don't have to be able. You just have to be available!

· Most believers claim that Jesus is coming back soon, but they don't live as if they believe it.

· Christ does not do a half-job in saving us from sin - He can save us completely (Heb.7:25).

· If you keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 21), Jesus will keep you from falling (Jude 24).

· If you are under a heavy yoke, it could be because you're fed up with the people around you or with your church. If however, you are fed up with your own defeated life, then you can receive Jesus' yoke which is light (Matthew 11:28-30).

SATAN'S TACTICS

· Satan does not like to be reminded that he was defeated on the Cross. Make it your goal to remind him of that as often as possible!

· Satan tries to make us doubt the truth of what God has said (Genesis 3:1).

· If a believer lives according to the flesh, God says he will surely die spiritually (Romans 8:13). But Satan and many preachers say that he will not die spiritually. Who will you believe? See what God and Satan said in Eden (Gen.2:17 and 3:4).

· Satan will seek to hide from you the destructive, long-term effects that sin will have on you.

· There are two full-time workers in the heavens - Jesus interceding for believers (Hebrews 7:25) and Satan accusing believers (Revelation 12:10). Who are you partnering with?

· When we hold hands with the Devil in accusing others, we open the door for him to wreak havoc in our own lives and in our home.

· Look at every person who harms you (like Judas) as a mailman who is only delivering a package from your Heavenly Father (John 18:11; Romans 8:28).

· If you secretly rejoice at the misfortune of someone you are jealous of - like Job's three friends did - you are a partner with the accuser of the brethren.

· The Devil couldn't tempt Adam when he was resting in God's presence on the seventh day. If Adam had taken God's presence with him into the garden, he would not have sinned.

· The battlefront of temptation (as with Jesus' temptations in the wilderness) is in our thoughts.

· When sin is crouching at the door, if you think of it as a harmless little kitten, you will open the door. But if you see it as the tiger that it is, that desires to swallow you up, you will keep the door firmly shut (Gen.4:7).

· The one who is satisfied with getting just "pass marks" in the test of "freedom from anger" will confess his anger (and ask for forgiveness from man) only just before going to bed (Ephesians 4:26). The one who is seeking to get 100% however, will confess and ask forgiveness immediately - and thus seek to get rid of all anger from his life permanently (Ephesians 4:31; Matt.5:23,24).