Disciplines of a Godly Man (Updated Edition): With Studyguide

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Among my favorite chapters in the book in clue the chapter on fatherhood, work, church and witness. I felt the author’s most passionate chapter was the chapter on witnessing and I was quite encouraged by the author’s own example of making the most out of evangelistic opportunities. While I enjoyed the chapter on fatherhood is because today we have a crisis in society of fathers not being the fathers God has called them to be. Thee chapter on prayer was also personally convicting and edifying as that’s something I can work on more to improve. What did God speak to you about most specifically, most powerfully in this chapter? Talk to Him about it right now!

Discipline is a subject about which the Scriptures say much—but contemporary authors have been peculiarly silent. Kent Hughes fills a gaping void with this superb volume. You’ll be challenged and encouraged as you read. And if there is a spark of spiritual desire in your soul, this book will surely kindle it into a blazing passion for godly discipline. I think there's a couple of things. One, it is straightforward. In that sense, it's manly and direct. In other words, the chapters are pretty hard-hitting. Whether you like them or not, they're in your face and they come at you. The other thing is that almost every chapter begins anecdotally or with a story that then feeds into what the biblical text is, then applies the text, and then has practical applications at the end. Each of the chapters are written to really engage you right from the beginning, so those are some of the reasons. 06:45 - The Necessity of Spiritual Discipline Death: "Is this a grim gallows call? Not at all! It is no more grim than dying to self and following Christ... This can mean death to our rights, our time, or our perceived pleasures - all liberating deaths." Men, we will never get anywhere in life without discipline, and doubly so in spiritual matters. None of us is inherently righteous, so Paul’s instructions regarding spiritual discipline in 1 Timothy 4:7–8 take on personal urgency: “Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” That word “train” comes from the Greek word from which we derive gymnasium. So, I invite you into God’s Gym—to some pain and great gain! Every Christian man, whether a new believer or a mature Christian, will be challenged again and again by this remarkably wise and fascinating book. Kent Hughes skillfully weaves together the teachings of Scripture with real-life examples as he powerfully teaches us what true Christian manhood looks like in the ordinary details of our lives. I highly recommend this update of a book that is becoming a Christian classic.” - Wayne Grudem, Distinguished Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary

In our own time Winston Churchill has been rightly proclaimed the speaker of the century, and few who have heard his eloquent speeches would disagree. Still fewer would suspect he was anything but a natural. But the truth is, Churchill had a distracting lisp which made him the butt of many jokes and resulted in his inability to be spontaneous in public speaking. Yet he became famous for his speeches and his seemingly impromptu remarks. To open this book and find someone taking seriously the biblical call of 'agonizing to enter the kingdom' and ... boxing and sweating like a champion to get victory over sin is the most refreshing thing I could have set my eyes on." And I became good. Good enough, in fact, that as a twelve-and-a-half-yearold, one-hundred-and-ten-pound freshman I was second man on the varsity tennis team of my large 3,000-student California high school.

The letters of Paul say a great deal about what we say, distilled below into seven lessons (a list that is by no means comprehensive). Before we get into the seven, though, one verse in particular might serve as a worthy banner over the rest: A face lit by a luminous screen is a study in passivity. Fleeting images, intermingled with the thousand commercials and banner ads of an average week’s viewing, instill passiveness. . . . The viewer becomes a passive, munching, sipping drone. . . . There are guys, voyeurs, who have substituted viewing for doing and imagine that they have scored a touchdown or taken a hill by virtue of having watched it—passive living legends in their own inert minds.When his intent became apparent to his servants, one tried to dissuade him, saying, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" But David would not be rebuffed... " the mind controlled by lust has an infinite capacity for rationalization" [pg. 36]. This leads us to an inescapable conclusion: The contemporary evangelical Church, broadly considered, is Corinthian to the core. It is being stewed in the molten juices of its own sensuality so that it is: Sign-up for the Crossway Newsletter for updates on special offers, new resources, and exciting global ministry initiatives: Sensuality is easily the biggest obstacle to godliness among men today and is wreaking havoc in the Church. Godliness and sensuality are mutually exclusive, and those in the grasp of sensuality can never rise to godliness while in its sweaty grip. If we are to discipline [ourselves] for the purpose of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7, NASB), we must begin with the discipline of purity. There has to be some holy heat, some holy sweat! LESSONS FROM A FALLEN KING Sensuality is easily the biggest obstacle to godliness among men today, and it is wreaking havoc in the church. Godliness and sensuality are mutually exclusive, and those in the grasp of sensuality can never rise to godliness while in its [sic] grip.

You first published your book, Disciplines of a Godly Man thirty years ago. Since that time, the book has sold somewhere in the realm of 400,000 copies. My first question is, when you think about that number—400,000 people who have bought or received the book as a gift—how does that make you feel? It strikes me that there's probably at least two types of Christians: some Christians are going to be tempted towards a legalistic kind of view; but then on the other hand, it seems like more broadly in our culture today the idea that our spiritual lives would require hard work is something that seems foreign to a lot of people. Maybe because of this fear of legalism we go too far in the other direction. I wonder if you could speak to that—why do you think that is the case with so many Christians today?The difference between legalism and discipline is one of motivation: legalism is self-centered; discipline is God-centered. Discipline—Religious aspects—Christianity.2. Spiritual life—Christianity.3. Men—Religious life.I. Title. Setting an example begins with emptying our speech of corruption, and the best way to force corruption out is to fill our speech with something else. “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4). Do you want your words to radiate grace? Thank God often, and out loud, for everything. Make sure that everyone in your life knows that everything you have is a gift of God (James 1:17). Strive to be unusually, stubbornly, even a little socially awkwardly thankful (Colossians 2:7). Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31; 2 Corinthians 10:17). Humble, faithful, joy-filled speech boasts less and less in self and more and more in God. Lord, Guard Our Mouths There are some books, though very few, that remain ‘evergreen’—that through the years remain as useful and challenging as the day they were written. There’s little doubt that Disciplines of a Godly Man is one of these. For that reason, I’m delighted to see it just so slightly refreshed as it’s prepared to challenge a whole new generation of men with its biblical principles and timeless wisdom. I trust it will prove itself as edifying to them as it has to me and so many others.”