Boyz 2 Men-How God makes men

Manhood principles that I desire to teach, instill, and reproduce.

Manhood Principles:

•   A Real Man Rejects Passivity.

•   A Real Man Accepts Responsibility.

•   A Real Man Leads Courageously.

•   A Real Man Expects The Greater Reward.

1.      A real man rejects passivity.

1.      Passivity is the quiet inside of all of us that refuses to stand up to culture and speak truth.

1.      Could be a measure of fear.

2.      Could be a measure of pride.

3.      Could be a measure of unbelief.

4.      Could be a measure of disdain.

1.      "You are what you are when no one is looking."

2.      When God creates men He chisels the childishness off of the man.

1.      He chisels off the sin and it begins to expose the image of His Son Jesus Christ.

1.      God chisels off the selfishness, the pride and the impurities.

2.      God chisels off the inaction, the laziness, the rebellion, and the lack of leadership.

3.      Inside of each of us professing Christians lives the Son of God and for us to live in and operate in that fullness takes heavens tools of change.

1.      Chiseling to expose peace, generosity, kindness, humility, character, and cause.

1.      When Christians impart a code of conduct, when they establish boundaries and reinforce truth, it's forever strengthened.

2.      Ethical standards become a beacon in the midst of a darkened society, a lighthouse that steers us away from the rugged coastline of moral destruction.

Proverbs 11:3 "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them."

4.      Christians become more like Christ or they become religious.

1.      Christ is patient.

2.      Religion is judgmental.

3.      Christ is love.

4.      Religion breeds hate.

1.      Become exactly like me or you don't fit into our mold.

5.      Christ is joy unspeakable, religion is depressing.

6.      Christ embodies compassion.

7.      Religion embodies works.

8.      Christ is mature.

9.      Religion is childish.

5.      Men allow God to shape them, boys throw a tantrum.

6.      Men receive correction boys work to function in rebellion.

7.      Men embrace responsibility boys dodge process.

8.      Men fulfill their mission boys plan play dates.

9.      Men treat women with respect and honor boys play with their emotions and feelings.

1.      Man up, boy!

2.      It's time to Man up!

10.Men live by a code of conduct boys live for the moment.

1.      A real man rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously and he expects the greater reward.

Proverbs 20:7 NLT "The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them."

2.      A real man accepts responsibility.

1.      God makes men of standard.

1.      Some standards are demanded, some are expected, some are given merely out of respect but all of them are important.

2.      Standards are those things you hold  yourself to most importantly.

1.      Many have standards for others but refuse to live any themselves.

1.      Unloading, placing, and creating, even demanding greater standards on others!

2.      Requiring high standards, impossible standards for others but requiring very little for themselves, human nature.

3.      Standards are something you can encourage in others but we must be careful on whom we demand them.

1.      I believe we can demand standards in Christian Leadership because the bible declares we should.

2.      I believe we can formulate and instill standards into our children and into the next generation.

3.      Finally, I believe we can inspire and impart standards with our lives into others.

4.      You can not demand standards upon others.

1.      You can teach them, you can communicate them but in demanding them we can become judgmental, critical and demeaning.

1.      Many do it, and many think they can do so privately and publicly.

1.      I mean it truly makes us feel better when we tear others down measured by our own greatness.

2.      Now the Word of God can demand standards and it does.

1.      Jesus Christ can, God can, and the Holy Spirit can and all of them do!

1.      Belief in Jesus Christ and Him as the way, the truth and the life is the standard!

2.      There is no substitute for personal character and integrity, by it disciples of Christ become advantaged, empowered, and inspired.

3.      A real man leads courageously.

1.      This culture gets so upset when truth is shared.

1.      This culture can not redefine marriage because it didn't create marriage, God did.

1.      Of this, be sure: No declaration by any government can change a definition from God. Genesis 2:24

1.      This culture can work to redefine any thing they wish it but it does not mean that it's truth.

2.      The Supreme Court can rule in accord with the truth or in opposition to the truth but they can't "change" truth.

Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way which seems right unto a man but in the end thereof are the ways of death."

1.      The Devil has been working to redefine sin for thousands of years.

1.      Lying is still lying.

2.      Murder is still murder.

3.      Gossip is gossip.

4.      Judging is judging.

5.      Adultery is adultery.

6.      Pride is still pride.

1.      And truth is what defines all of those sins.

2.      Wise men recognize their privileged position and build upon it by modeling the message they preach.

1.      They know that words are only as strong as the source from which they arise.

1.      The Bible is still the unadulterated, unashamed, uncompromising Words of God.

1.      We are to align our selves with it!

2.      God makes men as they measure themselves by it!

1.      I will not be paralyzed by fear.

2.      I will not be directed by frustration.

3.      I will not be driven by government, religion, policy or culture.

4.      I will not be ruled by inaction.

5.      I will not be swayed, controlled, or influenced by the Devil and his mission to destroy belief, faith, Christianity, the bible and miracles. 

1.      I will declare the Good News of Jesus Christ, His birth, His healing, His miracles, His Word, His truth, His trial, His death, His burial, His resurrection and His second coming!

2.      He is the Son of God and beside Him there is no other.

3.      God has formed this boy into a man, a man of God.

1.      A man continually growing in standard, principle, honor, ethics, holiness, and purity.

1.      A man of His word and a man unwaveringly possessed of the Holy Spirit to reach, teach and baptize.

4.      A real man expects the greater reward.

1.      God makes men that appreciate people, never taking them for granted.

2.      God takes us from boys to men by teaching us to reach out the less fortunate and refuse bigotry.

3.      We must display patience and trust into the next generation.

4.      Teaching them to do their very best in every thing and trusting the promises of God more than any thing.

1.      The chilvaric code of conduct stated that a knight would choose even unto death to: "Live pure, speak truth, right wrong, follow the King."

2.      This ancient decree is a powerful principle of manhood: Only the son of a knight (a real man) can become a knight (a real man).

1.      This next generation is desperately crying out for men who live like knights.

1.      Men who not only know what they believe but live out what they believe.

1 Thessalonians 2:10-13 NLT "[10] You yourselves are our witnesses-and so is God-that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. [11] And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. [12] We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For He called you to share in His Kingdom and glory. [13] Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received His message from us, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God-which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe."

3.      The Word of God works in those who, believe.

5.      Expecting God's rewards, expecting His promises to overtake my life.

1.      When God makes men He makes them passionate about their standards so much so they would be willing to battle fear, frustration, anxiety, stress, the Devil, and even death!

1.      Manhood teaches, models, imparts, empowers, shares, and challenges!

1.      From principles, I was taught the meaning of hard work, discipline, absolutes, values, and the true definition of family.

2.      Those of us engaged in the war for our heart must exercise spiritual discipline.

1.      We must prepare ourselves for spiritual combat as though our life depended on it.

1.      Because it does!

6.      Our identity in Christ is so vital.

7.      He is the source of our life and power.

1.      Grace is the means by which God transforms us, we must prepare our hearts for that grace to be released.

Galatians 6:8 NLT "Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit."

8.      A farmer is helpless to grow grain.

1.      He can provide the right conditions.

2.      He can plow the ground, plant the seed, and water the ground, but then all he can do is allow the natural forces of the earth to take over.

3.      After a few weeks, the life in the seed germinates and up comes a plant.

9.      In the very same way spiritual disciplines do not produce spiritual growth.

1.      They are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where He can work within us and transform us.

2.      They are the environment where the grace of God can produce the life of Christ in us.

10.As I encourage men to strengthen the warrior within I suggest they make four spiritual disciplines a part of their daily routine.

1.      Read the Bible.

1.      Before you read it ask God to use His Word to show you areas of your life that need change.

2.      Pray.

1.      Get a hold of God through communicating with Him.

3.      Express love to your family.

1.      Take time each day to tell your wife and kids you love them.

2.      If you’re single, make a habit of expressing appreciation to family, friends, and fellow employees.

4.      Maintain sexual purity.

1.      Begin each day with a fresh commitment not to let your eyes look for or linger on an erotic image.

2.      If you’re married, focus your thoughts on your wife.

3.      Dwell on images that you know would please God.

1.      You alone control your eyes and ears they are the primary gates through which impurity enters.

11.Self control is a fruit of the Spirit.

1.      Imagine an out-of-shape and overweight man approached a personal trainer and said, “I want to get in shape.”

2.      Showing the trainer a picture of what he wanted his body to look like—washboard abs, steel pecs, and gruesome biceps.

1.      Would the personal trainer tell him, "Tomorrow I want you to run seven miles and work out with weights for an hour."

1.      He'd start with a light workout.

2.      Over time the exercise routine would expand.

3.      If the man faithfully followed the regimen, his body would begin to resemble the picture.

12.If you wish to resemble Jesus, you must work out.

1.      Commit to a regimen of daily spiritual disciplines.

13.Even a small change in your behavior will radically transform your life.

1.      Let's say a plane departs London, England heading for Seattle, Washington.

2.      If the pilot makes a one percent change in the trajectory of the plane, it will end up in Portland, Oregon—a very different destination than the pilot had planned.

1.      That's 173 miles.

14.A small change in the trajectory of your life will put you in a dramatically better place in one year.

1.      How much difference God can make as we allow Him to work?

Psalm 34:8 NLT "Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in Him!"

2.      Experiencing His presence is contagious and compelling.

1.      You will crave His Word and celebrate the way He uses it to change your life.

1.      Your family, and this city desperately needs people who will lead courageously, live missional, love relentlessly, and leave legacy.