God makes men...Father's Day 2015

•  God makes men, courageous.

•  We choose everyday to be courageous or to be cowards. 

•  Every decision we make can make us more courageous for God or make us more fearful of our enemy, our oppressor.

•  Feed your faith or feed your fear, you decide.

•  We all face insecurities, disappointments, financial loads but we have to make right choices because the fear is the same.

•  I believe when God is forming men He shapes them to be courageous.

•  God makes men, fighters.

•  Fighters are found right in the middle of adversity, trial, the struggle, the battle and fear.

"Learn to control my fear and I feed his fear by taunting other boxers." Muhammad Ali

Joshua 8:1-8 NLT "[1] Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land. [2] You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town." [3] So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night [4] with these orders: "Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action. [5] When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them. [6] We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, 'The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.' Then, while we are running from them, [7] you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the Lord your God will give it to you. [8] Set the town on fire, as the Lord has commanded. You have your orders."

•  Don't be afraid, don't be discouraged, get your fight together.

•  Joshua chose a fighting crew.

•  Tested men of battle.

•  I have run from some enemies before.

•  Ran away because of fear, ran away because of insecurity, ran away because of shame and refused to stand up and fight.

•  Joshua says we're returning to fight and this time we're not running away, we're not gonna be chased away, we're gonna glove up and get it on.

•  If we will stand up to our sin, stand up to our temptations, stand up to our enemies, stand in unity of our mission, we will defeat the Devil every time!

•  If the men of God will get right then they will lead their families to, in, and through battle.

•  Too many men running from their families, running from their responsibilities, running from their sin, running from their brokenness  instead of into battle against the enemy.

•  Men living in fear today because of what culture tells them they need to be and they've never read or heard about how God created them to be.

•  Men questioning their role, questioning their identity, questioning their responsibility, questioning their authority.

•  God makes responsible men.

•  God makes men who identify their role, identify their enemy, and identify their mission.

•  We must face our enemy.

•  We must confront him with strength, courage, fight, and truth.

Joshua 8:18-22, 26 "Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you." Joshua did as he was commanded. [19] As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire. [20] When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers. [21] When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai. [22] Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped. [26] For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed."

•  Holding steady in the cause he was commissioned, Joshua never stopped till the work was done.

•  God makes men who identify, live out, and fulfill their mission.

•  God makes finishers. 

•  I don't want to be known for starting a thing but not having the strength, the conviction, the audacity and the will power to finish my cause, my purpose, my duty, my call, and my God mission.

•  When you stretch out your hands against your spiritual enemies, you must never draw them back.

•  That's a major problem with Christianity today, the fight is real, the enemies are real but our determination to destroy isn't real.

•  God makes men truthful.

•  God makes men transparent.

•  The American porn industry grosses more revenue than the NFL, MLB, and NBA sports put together.

•  94% of kids reported having "difficulty trusting others" after discovering a parent's sex or porn addiction.

•  Many times we run him off but we don't destroy him.

•  We must finish the enemy off!

•  You have to chalkline and body bag the enemy of your soul, daily.

1. Training will determine outcome.

•  Train well for in your training are the foundational principles, rules, or codes of conduct you will live by, be guided by, and treat others by.

•  Training is the most important tool to a fighter, and to a Christian.

•  If you cheat your only cheating yourself.

•  Cheating isn't a Godly principle.

Proverbs 22:6 KJV "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Proverbs 22:6 NLT "Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it."

•  Train, direct, show, lead our children to this path, on this path, and in this path.

•  Lots of people live the do as I say not as I do lifestyle and it simply does not work.

•  God makes men, leaders.

•  God makes men, trainers, disciples, who disciple others.

•  How will your family know the right path if you never lead them down it?

"I will do today what others won't so tomorrow I can do what others can't."

•  You have to have a fight about you.

•  Success isn't given. It's earned.

•  On the track, on the field, in the gym, in relationships, in marriage, in child rearing, in your career, or in your ministry calling.

•  With blood, sweat and the occasional tear.

2. Choices will determine outcome.

•  When doubt arises in you, you have two roads you can take.

•  They’ll tell you failure is not an option.

•  That is most ridiculous lie I've ever heard.

•            Failure is the most readily available option at all times, but it’s a choice.

•  You can speak encouragement, belief and get down the road to success, or speak self-doubt, negativity, and that is the road to failure.

•  Joshua 24:15 Choose today whom you will serve but as for me and my house we will serve God.

•  Choose Christ and beat failure every time.

1.      I would rather fail the entire world one by one then to ever fail my family.

•  That's the type of tenacity and fervor that dwells in me.

•  I have many missions in this life but my first and foremost mission is to my wife and children.

•  God has entrusted them to me.

•  He has given the responsibility to me.

•  The responsibility of fatherhood/husbandry.

•  The friendship of fatherhood/husbandry.

•  The power of fatherhood/husbandry.

•  The rewards of fatherhood/husbandry.

•  The privilege of being a Father/Husband so outweighs the responsibilities.

3. Heart will determine outcome.

“When someone is fearless, when pain isn’t a factor, it’s impossible to break their spirit. A fighter with heart will almost always win out against a fighter with skill but no will.”

Chuck Liddell UFC Hall of Fame

•  Heart separates those that want it from those who will pay the price to get it.

•  Heart is regarded as the center of your thoughts, emotions, love, compassion, courage and enthusiasm.

•  Say it from your heart, settle it from your heart, operate from your heart.

•  Fight has nothing to do with size but has everything to do with heart.

Proverbs 3:1 NLT "[1] My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart."

4. Fight will determine outcome.

•  To me, living is fighting.

•  It’s about persevering, it’s about testing yourself, it’s about refusing complacency.

•  Your connected to that situation, that circumstance and everything deep inside comes carbonating to the surface to explode and reminds me of my reason for the fight.

•  We're in a fight for our soul, our destiny, our purpose, our families, but Jesus Christ has defeated all enemies.

•  Don't lay down, don't give in, don't give up, don't sit around dreaming for the beat down.

•  Fight for it.

5. God will determine outcome.

Psalm 57:3 NLT "[3] He will send help from heaven to rescue me, disgracing those who hound me. My God will send forth His unfailing love and faithfulness."

•  God makes men who fight for their faith.

•  God makes men who fight for their calling.

•  God makes men who fight for their marriage.

•  God makes men who fight for their children/grandchildren.

•  Fight for the next generation.

•  God makes men who fight for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

•  Be a Fighter.

•  Quit making excuses, putting it off, complaining about it, dreaming about it, believing you can't, worrying if you can, waiting until you are older, richer, braver, or all around better.

•  Suck it up, hold on tight, say a prayer, make a plan and fight.

•  How do you respond to the fear, the taunting, and the fight?

•  How I respond to fear will determine the outcome of my life as a man or woman of God.

•  For there will be no victories without battles.

•  Body, mind, spirit.

Romans 8:14 (NLT) "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."

•  If we allow our bodies to control us we go on feeling.

•  If we allow our minds to control us we go on reason.

•  If we allow our spirits to control us we go on faith.

•  Your feelings are a quick trip to depression.

•  Reasoning is a quick trip to confusion.

•  Spirit is a trip to the plan, purpose, and propulsion of God.  

•  Determine that God has greater purpose for us, in us, and would like to live it out through us.

1 John 5:5 NLT "[5] And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God."

•  Feelings you'll quit.

•  Reasoning, you never figure out.

•  But it's The Spirit that repeats, "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world."

Joshua 8:30-32,34-35 NLT "[30] Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal. [31] He followed the commands that Moses the LORD's servant had written in the Book of Instruction: "Make me an altar from stones that are uncut and have not been shaped with iron tools." Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD. [32] And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altar the instructions Moses had given them. [34] Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction. [35] Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them."

•  When was the last time you built an altar in front of your family?

•  When was the last time you renewed your love and commitment to God in front of the world?

•  When was the last time you offered your self on the altar as a sacrifice unto God?

•  When was the last time you used God's Word as your life's instruction manual?

•  Battles are won in the mental cage.

•  Your body will continue to do what your mind and your spirit tell it to do.

Micah 6:8 NLT "No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

Do what is right.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly with your God.